Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Astrophysics and Astronomy

PDF

2010

Clemson University

Articles 1 - 21 of 21

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Modeling The Galactic 511 Kev Positron Annihilation Emission, Production, And Propagation, Bethany Johns Dec 2010

Modeling The Galactic 511 Kev Positron Annihilation Emission, Production, And Propagation, Bethany Johns

All Dissertations

The Galactic 511 keV positron annihilation emission has a strong bulge component to the emission and a weak disk component. The bulge emission is about 1.4 -- 6 times as the disk emission. The bulge emission is defined to be a diffuse emission centered at the Galactic center and extends to about a FWHM of 8 degrees in Galactic longitude and latitude. An asymmetry has also been observed in the disk emission, where the negative longitudes are brighter than the positive longitudes by a factor of 1.8.
This research examines the morphology of the Galactic 511 keV positron annihilation emission …

Go to article

Fuor And Exor Variables: A Nir High-Resolution Spectroscopic Survey, Joseph Liskowsky Dec 2010

Fuor And Exor Variables: A Nir High-Resolution Spectroscopic Survey, Joseph Liskowsky

All Theses

To better understand the labyrinth of heating and cooling processes in YSOs (young stellar objects), we study systems where there exists a large variability in the heating of this gas due to accretion. This research project focuses on several classes of early young eruptable T-Tauri stars, namely the FUors, the EXors and the so-called FU Ori-like, which all have the property of large amplitude oscillations in accretion rate. Each of these categories may well represent specific stages in early low-mass stellar evolution. While these objects have specific spectroscopic and circumstellar diagnostics (as means of identification) our research suggests that there …

Go to article

Libstatmech And Applications To Astrophysics, Tianhong Yu Dec 2010

Libstatmech And Applications To Astrophysics, Tianhong Yu

All Theses

In this work an introduction to Libstatmech is presented and applications especially to astrophysics are discussed. Libstatmech is a C toolkit for computing the statistical mechanics of fermions and bosons, written on top of libxml and gsl (GNU Scientific Library). Calculations of Thomas-Fermi Screening model and Bose-Einstein Condensate based on libstatmech demonstrate the expected results. For astrophysics application, a simple Type Ia Supernovae model is established to run the network calculation with weak reactions, in which libstatmech contributes to compute the electron chemical potential and allows the weak reverse rates to be calculated from detailed balance. Starting with pure 12C …

Go to article

Gamma Ray Bursts As Probes Of Dust In The Evolving Universe, Adria Updike Dec 2010

Gamma Ray Bursts As Probes Of Dust In The Evolving Universe, Adria Updike

All Dissertations

Dust is ubiquitous in the universe. Understanding where it comes from and where we observe it can have major implications to all astronomical observations. In this study, we investigate how gamma ray bursts (GRBs) can be used as probes of dust in the evolving universe. Making the simplification that silicate dust comes from core collapse supernovae and that graphite dust is produced in the winds of low- to intermediate-mass stars, we present numerical simulations of the resulting dust evolution in GRB hosts and show how the SEDs evolve. Dust extinction laws are re-derived from scattering theory of small particles and …

Go to article

Probing The Evolving Massive Star Population In Orion With Kinematic And Radioactive Tracers, R. Voss, R. Diehl, J. S. Vink, Dieter H. Hartmann Sep 2010

Probing The Evolving Massive Star Population In Orion With Kinematic And Radioactive Tracers, R. Voss, R. Diehl, J. S. Vink, Dieter H. Hartmann

Publications

Context. Orion is the nearest star-forming region to host a significant number of young and massive stars. The energy injected by these OB stars is thought to have created the Eridanus superbubble. Because of its proximity, Orion is a prime target for a detailed investigation of the interaction between massive stars and their environment. Aims. We study the massive star population of Orion and its feedback in terms of energy and mass, in order to compare the current knowledge of massive stars with kinematic and radioactive tracers in the surrounding interstellar medium (ISM). Methods. We assembled a census of the …

Go to article

Monster In The Dark: The Ultraluminous Grb 080607 And Its Dusty Environment, Dieter H. Hartmann, D. A. Perley, A. N. Morgan, A. Updike, F. Yuan, C. W. Awkerlof, A. A. Miller, J. S. Bloom, S. B. Cenko, W. Li Aug 2010

Monster In The Dark: The Ultraluminous Grb 080607 And Its Dusty Environment, Dieter H. Hartmann, D. A. Perley, A. N. Morgan, A. Updike, F. Yuan, C. W. Awkerlof, A. A. Miller, J. S. Bloom, S. B. Cenko, W. Li

Publications

We present early-time optical through infrared photometry of the bright gamma-ray burst GRB 080607, starting only 6 s following the initial trigger in the rest frame. Complemented by our previously published spectroscopy, this high-quality photometric dataset allows us to solve for the extinction properties of the redshift 3.036 sightline, giving perhaps the most detailed information on the ultraviolet continuum absorption properties of any sightline outside our Local Group to date. The extinction properties are not adequately modeled by any ordinary extinction template (including the average Milky Way, Large Magellanic Cloud, and Small Magellanic Cloud curves), partially because the 2175 A …

Go to article

Locating The Accretion Footprint On A Herbig Ae Star: Mwc 480, C A. Grady, K Hamaguchi, G Schneider, B Stecklum, B E. Woodgate, J E. Mccleary, G M. Williger, M L. Sitko, F Menard, Th. Henning, Sean D. Brittain Aug 2010

Locating The Accretion Footprint On A Herbig Ae Star: Mwc 480, C A. Grady, K Hamaguchi, G Schneider, B Stecklum, B E. Woodgate, J E. Mccleary, G M. Williger, M L. Sitko, F Menard, Th. Henning, Sean D. Brittain

Publications

Accretion is a fundamental process which establishes the dynamics of the protoplanetary disk and the final properties of the forming star. In solar-type stars, the star–disk coupling is determined by the magnetic field structure, which is responsible for funneling material from the disk midplane to higher latitudes on the star. Here, we use pan-chromatic data for the Herbig Ae star MWC 480 to address whether similar processes occur in intermediatemass stars. MWC 480 has X-ray emission typical of actively accreting Herbig Ae stars, but with ∼10× more photoelectric absorption than expected from optical and FUV data. We consider three sources …

Go to article

Spectroscopic Abundances And Membership In The Wolf 630 Moving Group, Eric J. Bubar, Jeremy R. King Aug 2010

Spectroscopic Abundances And Membership In The Wolf 630 Moving Group, Eric J. Bubar, Jeremy R. King

Publications

The concept of kinematic assemblages evolving from dispersed stellar clusters has remained contentious since Eggen’s initial formulation of moving groups in the 1960s. With high-quality parallaxes from the Hipparcos space astrometry mission, distance measurements for thousands of nearby, seemingly isolated stars are currently available. With these distances, a high-resolution spectroscopic abundance analysis can be brought to bear on the alleged members of these moving groups. If a structure is a relic of an open cluster, the members can be expected to be monolithic in age and abundance in as much as homogeneity is observed in young open clusters. In this …

Go to article

Internal Transitions In Nuclei And Applications To Astrophysics And Cosmochemistry, Joseph Johnson Aug 2010

Internal Transitions In Nuclei And Applications To Astrophysics And Cosmochemistry, Joseph Johnson

All Dissertations

In this dissertation I analyze internal transitions in nuclei and their potential effects on s-process branching and on accelerated β-decay in cosmochemical samples. To accomplish my analysis, I have constructed a number of computational tools, which I have publicly released or make available through this thesis. I apply my analysis to the question of s-process branching at 186Re and study the implications for the osmium isotopes in mainstream presolar SiC grains. My essential conclusion is that the problem of the large neutron flux inferred from the SiC osmium isotopic abundances cannot be solved by branching through an out-of-equilibrium isomer of …

Go to article

Observing Co In Circumstellar Disks, Matthew Troutman Aug 2010

Observing Co In Circumstellar Disks, Matthew Troutman

All Dissertations

This dissertation includes high-resolution, near-infrared spectroscopy to study CO in circumstellar disks around Herbig Ae/Be stars. The velocity-resolved spectra was used to measure the distribution of gas in the circumstellar disk and thus determine the evolutionary state of the system. Near-infrared spectra were obtained on over 30 young circumstellar disks around Herbig Ae/Be stars to study the physical processes in the disk. The radial location of the CO emitting gas bears directly on the evolutionary state of the transition objects in the sample. This study included a detailed study of the debris disk star β Pictoris where the disk mass …

Go to article

Evidence For The Supernova-Synthesized Dust From The Rising Afterglow Of Grb071025 At Z ∼ 5, Daniel A. Perley, J. S. Bloom, C. R. Klein, S. Covino, T. Minezaki, P. Wozniak, W. T. Vestrand, G. G. Williams, P. Milne, N R. Butler, A C. Updike, T Kruhler, P Afonso, A Antonelli, L Cowie, P Ferrero, J Greiner, Dieter H. Hartmann, Y Kakazu, A Küpcü Yoldaş, A N. Morgan, P A. Price, J X. Prochaska, Y Yoshii Jul 2010

Evidence For The Supernova-Synthesized Dust From The Rising Afterglow Of Grb071025 At Z ∼ 5, Daniel A. Perley, J. S. Bloom, C. R. Klein, S. Covino, T. Minezaki, P. Wozniak, W. T. Vestrand, G. G. Williams, P. Milne, N R. Butler, A C. Updike, T Kruhler, P Afonso, A Antonelli, L Cowie, P Ferrero, J Greiner, Dieter H. Hartmann, Y Kakazu, A Küpcü Yoldaş, A N. Morgan, P A. Price, J X. Prochaska, Y Yoshii

Publications

We present observations and analysis of the broad-band afterglow of Swift GRB 071025. Using optical and infrared (RIYJHK) photometry, we derive a photometric redshift of 4.4 < 5.2; at this redshift our simultaneous multicolour observations begin at ∼30 s after the gamma-ray burst trigger in the host frame, during the initial rising phase of the afterglow. We associate the light-curve peak at ∼580 s in the observer frame with the formation of the forward shock, giving an estimate of the initial Lorentz factor 0 ∼ 200. The red spectral energy distribution (even in regions not affected by the Lyman α break) provides secure evidence of a large dust column. However, the inferred extinction curve shows a prominent flat component between 2000 and 3000 Å in the rest frame, inconsistent with any locally observed template but well fitted by models of dust formed by supernovae. Time-dependent fits to the extinction profile reveal no evidence of dust destruction and limit the decrease in the extinction column to A3000 < 0.54 mag after t = 50 s in the rest frame. Together with studies of high-z quasars, our observations suggest a transition in dust properties in the early Universe, possibly associated with a transition between supernova-dominated and asymptotic giant branch-dominated modes of dust production.

Go to article

Modeling Gas Distribution In Protoplanetary Accretion Disks, Martin Kronberg, Josiah Lewis, Sean D. Brittain Jul 2010

Modeling Gas Distribution In Protoplanetary Accretion Disks, Martin Kronberg, Josiah Lewis, Sean D. Brittain

Publications

Protoplanetary accretion disks are disks of dust and gas which surround and feed material onto a forming star in the earliest stages of its evolution. One of the most useful methods for studying these disks is near infrared spectroscopy of rovibrational CO emission. This paper presents the methods in which synthetically generated spectra are modeled and fit to spectral data gathered from protoplanetary disks. This paper also discussed the methods in which this code can be improved by modifying the code to run a Monte Carlo analysis of best fit across the CONDOR cluster at Clemson University, thereby allowing for …

Go to article

Probing Protoplanetary Disk Upper Atmospheres For Heating And Dust Settling Using Synthetic Co Spectra, Josiah Lewis, Martin Kronberg, Sean D. Brittain Jul 2010

Probing Protoplanetary Disk Upper Atmospheres For Heating And Dust Settling Using Synthetic Co Spectra, Josiah Lewis, Martin Kronberg, Sean D. Brittain

Publications

CO emission is a useful probe of the warm gas distribution in the planet forming regions of disks around Herbig Ae/Be (HAeBe) stars. We model UV fluoresced and thermally excited CO in the circumstellar disks of several HAeBes. We find indications of dust settling in the upper atmospheres of HD 141569 and HD 97048 and a correlation between PAH luminosity and gas heating in these two systems.

Go to article

Gas In The Protoplanetary Disc Of Hd 169142: Herschel's View, G Meeus, C Pinte, P Woitke, B Montesinos, I Mendigutia, P Riviere-Marichalar, C Eiroa, G S. Mathews, B Vandenbussche, C D. Howard, A Roberge, G Sandell, G Duchene, F Menard, C A. Grady, W.R.F. Dent, I Kamp, J C. Augereau, W F. Thi, I Tilling, J M. Alacid, S Andrews, D R. Ardila, G Aresu, D Barrado, Sean D. Brittain Jul 2010

Gas In The Protoplanetary Disc Of Hd 169142: Herschel's View, G Meeus, C Pinte, P Woitke, B Montesinos, I Mendigutia, P Riviere-Marichalar, C Eiroa, G S. Mathews, B Vandenbussche, C D. Howard, A Roberge, G Sandell, G Duchene, F Menard, C A. Grady, W.R.F. Dent, I Kamp, J C. Augereau, W F. Thi, I Tilling, J M. Alacid, S Andrews, D R. Ardila, G Aresu, D Barrado, Sean D. Brittain

Publications

In an effort to simultaneously study the gas and dust components of the disc surrounding the young Herbig Ae star HD 169142, we present far-IR observations obtained with the PACS instrument onboard the Herschel Space Observatory. This work is part of the open time key program GASPS, which is aimed at studying the evolution of protoplanetary discs. To constrain the gas properties in the outer disc, we observed the star at several key gas-lines, including [OI] 63.2 and 145.5 mum, [CII] 157.7 mum, CO 72.8 and 90.2 mum, and o-H2O 78.7 and 179.5 mum. We only detect the [OI] 63.2 …

Go to article

Herschel-Pacs Observation Of The 10 Myr Old T Tauri Disk Tw Hya. Constraining The Disk Gas Mass, W F. Thi, G Mathews, F Menard, P Woitke, G Meeus, P Riviere-Marichalar, C Pinte, C D. Howard, A Roberge, G Sandell, I Pascucci, B Riaz, C A. Grady, W.R.F. Dent, I Kamp, G Duchene, J.-C. Augereau, E Pantin, B Vandenbussche, I Tilling, J P. Williams, C Eiroa, D Barrado, J M. Alacid, S Andrews, D R. Ardila, G Aresu, Sean D. Brittain, D R. Ciardi, W Danchi Jul 2010

Herschel-Pacs Observation Of The 10 Myr Old T Tauri Disk Tw Hya. Constraining The Disk Gas Mass, W F. Thi, G Mathews, F Menard, P Woitke, G Meeus, P Riviere-Marichalar, C Pinte, C D. Howard, A Roberge, G Sandell, I Pascucci, B Riaz, C A. Grady, W.R.F. Dent, I Kamp, G Duchene, J.-C. Augereau, E Pantin, B Vandenbussche, I Tilling, J P. Williams, C Eiroa, D Barrado, J M. Alacid, S Andrews, D R. Ardila, G Aresu, Sean D. Brittain, D R. Ciardi, W Danchi

Publications

Planets are formed in disks around young stars. With an age of ~10 Myr, TW Hya is one of the nearest T Tauri stars that is still surrounded by a relatively massive disk. In addition a large number of molecules has been found in the TW Hya disk, making TW Hya the perfect test case in a large survey of disks with Herschel–PACS to directly study their gaseous component. We aim to constrain the gas and dust mass of the circumstellar disk around TW Hya. We observed the fine-structure lines of [O i] and [C ii] as part of the …

Go to article

Fe I And Fe Ii Abundances Of Solar-Type Dwarfs In The Pleiades Open Cluster, Simon C. Schuler, Adele L. Plunkett, Jeremy R. King, Marc H. Pinsonneault May 2010

Fe I And Fe Ii Abundances Of Solar-Type Dwarfs In The Pleiades Open Cluster, Simon C. Schuler, Adele L. Plunkett, Jeremy R. King, Marc H. Pinsonneault

Publications

We have derived Fe abundances of 16 solar-type Pleiades dwarfs by means of an equivalent width analysis of Fe I and Fe II lines in high-resolution spectra obtained with the Hobby - Eberly Telescope and High Resolution Spectrograph. Abundances derived from Fe II lines are larger than those derived from Fe I lines (herein referred to as over-ionization) for stars with Teff < 5400 K, and the dis-crepancy (∆Fe = [Fe II/H] - [Fe I/H]) increases dramatically with decreasing Teff, reaching over 0.8 dex for the coolest stars of our sample. The Pleiades joins the open clusters M34, the Hyades, IC2602, and IC2391, and the Ursa Major moving group, demonstrating ostensible over-ionization trends. The Pleiades ∆Fe abun-dances are correlated with Ca II infrared triplet and Hα chromospheric emission indicators and relative differences therein. Oxygen abundances of our Pleiades sample derived from the high-excitation O I triplet have been previously shown to increase with decreasing Teff, and a comparison with the ∆Fe abundances sug-gests that the over-excitation (larger abundances derived from high excitation lines relative to low excitation lines) and over-ionization effects that have been observed in cool open cluster and disk field main sequence (MS) dwarfs share a common origin. Curiously, a correlation between the Pleiades O I abundances and chromospheric emission indicators does not exist. Star-to-star Fe I abun-dances have low internal scatter (< 0.11 dex), but the abundances of stars with Teff< 5400 K are systematically higher compared to the warmer stars. The cool star [Fe I/H] abundances cannot be connected directly to over-excitation effects, but similarities with the ∆Fe and O I triplet trends suggest the abundances are dubious. Using the [Fe I/H] abundances of five stars with Teff > 5400 K, we derive a mean Pleiades cluster metallicity of [Fe/H] = +0.01 ± 0.02.

Go to article

Co And H+3 Toward Mwc 1080, Mwc 349, And Lkhα 101, E L. Gibb, Sean D. Brittain, T W. Rettig, M Troutman, Theodore Simon, C Kulesa May 2010

Co And H+3 Toward Mwc 1080, Mwc 349, And Lkhα 101, E L. Gibb, Sean D. Brittain, T W. Rettig, M Troutman, Theodore Simon, C Kulesa

Publications

We present high-resolution, near-infrared NIRSPEC observations of the fundamental rovibrational CO and H+ 3 R(1,0), R(1,1) u , and Q(1,0) transitions toward three early-type young stars: MWC 1080, MWC 349, and LkHα 101. These observations were performed for the purpose of constraining the physical characteristics of the interstellar material along each line of sight. Toward MWC 1080, we detected strong CO absorption and determined a column density upper limit of 1.4 × 1014 cm–2 for H+ 3. We infer that there is very little diffuse material along the line of sight toward MWC 1080 and that the CO absorption is …

Go to article

Recent Discoveries Of Supersoft X-Ray Sources In M 31, M. Henze, W. Pietsch, E. Haberl, G. Sala, M. Hernanz, D. Hartzidimitriou, A. Rau, Dieter H. Hartmann, J. Greiner, M. Orio, H Stiele, M.J. Freyberg Feb 2010

Recent Discoveries Of Supersoft X-Ray Sources In M 31, M. Henze, W. Pietsch, E. Haberl, G. Sala, M. Hernanz, D. Hartzidimitriou, A. Rau, Dieter H. Hartmann, J. Greiner, M. Orio, H Stiele, M.J. Freyberg

Publications

Classical novae (CNe) have recently been reported to represent the major class of supersoft X-ray sources (SSSs) in the central area of our neighbouring galaxy M 31. This paper presents a review of results from recent X-ray observations of M 31 with XMM-Newton and Chandra. We carried out a dedicated optical and X-ray monitoring program of CNe and SSSs in the central area of M 31. We discovered the first SSSs in M 31 globular clusters (GCs) and their connection to the very first discovered CN in a M 31 GC. This result may have an impact on the CN …

Go to article

Dual Gamma-Ray Mission, S. Boggs, C. Wunderer, P. Von Ballmoos, T. Takahashi, N. Gehrels, J. Tueller, M. Baring, J. Beacom, R. Diehl, J Greiner, E Grove, Dieter H. Hartmann Jan 2010

Dual Gamma-Ray Mission, S. Boggs, C. Wunderer, P. Von Ballmoos, T. Takahashi, N. Gehrels, J. Tueller, M. Baring, J. Beacom, R. Diehl, J Greiner, E Grove, Dieter H. Hartmann

Publications

Gamma-rays at MeV energies provide a unique window on the high energy Universe, especially so for nuclear astrophysics. The potential for significant contributions, e.g., to the understanding of SNe Ia as well as the large potential for new discoveries has long been recognized, but technical progress in this challenging energy band has been slow. The groundbreaking discoveries of CGRO’s COMPTEL, however, have inspired and driven the development of powerful new instrumentation over the past decade. Novel detector technologies developed in the US and Japan enable compact Compton telescopes, greatly improving the efficiency and field-of-view achievable with this technique successfully employed …

Go to article

The Dynamic X-Ray Sky Of The Local Universe, S. Boggs, C. Wunderer, P. Von Ballmoos, T. Takahashi, N. Gehrels, J. Tueller, M. Baring, J. Beacom, R. Diehl, Dieter H. Hartmann Jan 2010

The Dynamic X-Ray Sky Of The Local Universe, S. Boggs, C. Wunderer, P. Von Ballmoos, T. Takahashi, N. Gehrels, J. Tueller, M. Baring, J. Beacom, R. Diehl, Dieter H. Hartmann

Publications

Over the next decade, we can expect time domain astronomy to flourish at optical and radio wavelengths. In parallel with these efforts, a dedicated transient "machine" operating at higher energies (X-ray band through soft gamma-rays) is required to reveal the unique subset of events with variable emission predominantly visible above 100 eV. Here we focus on the transient phase space never yet sampled due to the lack of a sensitive, wide-field and triggering facility dedicated exclusively to catching high energy transients and enabling rapid coordinated multi-wavelength follow-up. We first describe the advancements in our understanding of known X-ray transients that …

Go to article

On The Origin Of The Highest Redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts, Krzysztof Belczynski, Daniel E. Holz, Chris L. Fryer, Edo Berger, Dieter H. Hartmann, Brain O'Shea Jan 2010

On The Origin Of The Highest Redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts, Krzysztof Belczynski, Daniel E. Holz, Chris L. Fryer, Edo Berger, Dieter H. Hartmann, Brain O'Shea

Publications

GRB 080913 and GRB 090423 are the most distant gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) known to date, with spectroscop-ically determined redshifts of z = 6.7 and z = 8.1, respectively. The detection of bursts at this early epoch of the universe significantly constrains the nature of GRBs and their progenitors. We perform population synthesis studies of the formation and evolution of early stars, and calculate the resulting formation rates of short- and long-duration GRBs at high redshift. The peak of the GRB rate from Population II stars occurs at z ∼ 7for a model with efficient/fast mixing of metals, while it is …

Go to article