We summarize the science opportunity, design elements, current and projected partner observatories, and anticipated science returns of the Astrophysical Multimessenger Observatory Network (AMON). AMON will link multiple current and future high-energy
, multimessenger, and follow-up observatories together into a single network, enabling near real-time coincidence searches for multimessenger astrophysical transients and their electromagnetic counterparts. Candidate and high-confidence multimessenger transient events will be identified, characterized, and distributed as AMON alerts within the network and to interested external observers, leading to follow-up observations across the electromagnetic spectrum. In this way, AMON aims to evoke the discovery of multimessenger transients from within observatory subthreshold data streams and facilitate the exploitation of these transients for purposes of astronomy and fundamental physics. As a central hub of global multimessenger science, AMON will also enable cross-collaboration analyses of archival datasets in search of rare or exotic astrophysical phenomena.
Astrophysical observations and cosmological data have led to the conclusion that nearly one quarter of the Universe consists of dark matter. Under certain assumptions, an observable signature of dark matter is the annual modulation of the rate of dar
k matter-nucleon interactions taking place in an Earth-bound experiment. To search for this effect, we introduce the concept for a new dark matter experiment using NaI scintillation detectors deployed deep in the South Pole ice. This experiment complements dark matter search efforts in the Northern Hemisphere and will investigate the observed annual modulation in the DAMA/LIBRA and DAMA/NaI experiments. The unique location will permit the study of background effects correlated with seasonal variations and the surrounding environment. This paper describes the experimental concept and explores the sensitivity of a 250 kg NaI experiment at the South Pole.
