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Astrophysics and Astronomy

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2016

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Articles 61 - 90 of 421

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Very High Energy Observations Of The Binaries V 404 Cyg And 4u 0115+634 During Giant X-Ray Outbursts, P. T. Reynolds, Et Al Oct 2016

Very High Energy Observations Of The Binaries V 404 Cyg And 4u 0115+634 During Giant X-Ray Outbursts, P. T. Reynolds, Et Al

Physical Sciences Publications

Transient X-ray binaries produce major outbursts in which the X-ray flux can increase over the quiescent level by factors as large as 107. The low-mass X-ray binary V 404 Cyg and the high-mass system 4U 0115+634 underwent such major outbursts in 2015 June and October, respectively. We present here observations at energies above hundreds of GeV with the VERITAS observatory taken during some of the brightest X-ray activity ever observed from these systems. No gamma-ray emission has been detected by VERITAS in 2.5 hr of observations of the microquasar V 404 Cyg from 2015, June 20–21. The upper flux limits …

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Siuc Dark Site Observatory, Teresa M. Meyer Ms. Oct 2016

Siuc Dark Site Observatory, Teresa M. Meyer Ms.

ASA Multidisciplinary Research Symposium

A joint venture between the SIUC Physics department, which houses the astronomy curriculum, and the Architecture department has begun the planning for the two upcoming total solar eclipses in 2017 and 2024.

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Designing An Anti-Coincidence Shielding System For The Alfred Project, Active Luminescence For X-Ray Emission Detection (Alfred) Team, Francis Wessling Oct 2016

Designing An Anti-Coincidence Shielding System For The Alfred Project, Active Luminescence For X-Ray Emission Detection (Alfred) Team, Francis Wessling

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

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Earthkam: A Classroom With The Ultimate View!, Jeremy Frost, Tyler Finley, Tim Klug, Angela Burke, Robert Griffin Oct 2016

Earthkam: A Classroom With The Ultimate View!, Jeremy Frost, Tyler Finley, Tim Klug, Angela Burke, Robert Griffin

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

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Enhancing The Science Return Of Lunar Surface Studies: Analysis Of Rediscovered Data From Apollo 17'S Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment, Deanna Phillips, Richard Miller Oct 2016

Enhancing The Science Return Of Lunar Surface Studies: Analysis Of Rediscovered Data From Apollo 17'S Lunar Seismic Profiling Experiment, Deanna Phillips, Richard Miller

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

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The Intermediate-Line Region In Active Galactic Nuclei, T. P. Adhikari, A. Różańska, B. Czerny, K. Hryniewicz, Gary J. Ferland Oct 2016

The Intermediate-Line Region In Active Galactic Nuclei, T. P. Adhikari, A. Różańska, B. Czerny, K. Hryniewicz, Gary J. Ferland

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We show that the recently observed suppression of the gap between the broad-line region (BLR) and the narrow-line region (NLR) in some active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can be fully explained by an increase of the gas density in the emitting region. Our model predicts the formation of the intermediate-line region (ILR) that is observed in some Seyfert galaxies by the detection of emission lines with intermediate-velocity FWHM ~ 700–1200 km s−1. These lines are believed to be originating from an ILR located somewhere between the BLR and NLR. As was previously proved, the apparent gap is assumed to …

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Improving The Efficiency Of Gravitational Wave Detection, Jessica Page, Tyson Littenberg Oct 2016

Improving The Efficiency Of Gravitational Wave Detection, Jessica Page, Tyson Littenberg

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

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Structure And Physical Conditions In The Huygens Region Of The Orion Nebula, C. R. O'Dell, Gary J. Ferland, M. Peimbert Oct 2016

Structure And Physical Conditions In The Huygens Region Of The Orion Nebula, C. R. O'Dell, Gary J. Ferland, M. Peimbert

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Hubble Space Telescope images, MUSE maps of emission lines, and an atlas of high velocity resolution emission-line spectra have been used to establish for the first time correlations of the electron temperature, electron density, radial velocity, turbulence, and orientation within the main ionization front of the nebula. From the study of the combined properties of multiple features, it is established that variations in the radial velocity are primarily caused by the photoevaporating ionization front being viewed at different angles. There is a progressive increase of the electron temperature and density with decreasing distance from the dominant ionizing star θ1 …

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Sdss-Iv Manga: Stellar Population Gradients As A Function Of Galaxy Environment, D. Goddard, D. Thomas, C. Maraston, K. Westfall, J. Etherington, R. Riffel, M. D. Mallmann, Z. Zheng, M. Argudo-Fernández, M. A. Bershady, K. Bundy, N. Drory, D. Law, Renbin Yan, D. Wake, A. Weijmans, D. Bizyaev, J. Brownstein, R. R. Lane, R. Maiolino, K. Masters, M. Merrifield, C. Nitschelm, K. Pan, A. Roman-Lopes, T. Storchi-Bergmann Oct 2016

Sdss-Iv Manga: Stellar Population Gradients As A Function Of Galaxy Environment, D. Goddard, D. Thomas, C. Maraston, K. Westfall, J. Etherington, R. Riffel, M. D. Mallmann, Z. Zheng, M. Argudo-Fernández, M. A. Bershady, K. Bundy, N. Drory, D. Law, Renbin Yan, D. Wake, A. Weijmans, D. Bizyaev, J. Brownstein, R. R. Lane, R. Maiolino, K. Masters, M. Merrifield, C. Nitschelm, K. Pan, A. Roman-Lopes, T. Storchi-Bergmann

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We study the internal radial gradients of stellar population properties within 1.5 Re and analyse the impact of galaxy environment. We use a representative sample of 721 galaxies with masses ranging between 109 M⊙ and 1011.5 M⊙ from the SDSS-IV survey MaNGA. We split this sample by morphology into early-type and late-type galaxies. Using the full spectral fitting code firefly, we derive the light and mass-weighted stellar population properties, age and metallicity, and calculate the gradients of these properties. We use three independent methods to quantify galaxy environment, namely the Nth nearest neighbour, the …

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Improved Analysis Of Gw150914 Using A Fully Spin-Precessing Waveform Model, B. P. Abbott, K. Gill, B. Hughey, M. J. Szczepańczyk, M. Zanolin, Et Al. Oct 2016

Improved Analysis Of Gw150914 Using A Fully Spin-Precessing Waveform Model, B. P. Abbott, K. Gill, B. Hughey, M. J. Szczepańczyk, M. Zanolin, Et Al.

Publications

This paper presents updated estimates of source parameters for GW150914, a binary black-hole coalescence event detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) in 2015 [Abbott et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 061102 (2016).]. Abbott et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 241102 (2016).] presented parameter estimation of the source using a 13-dimensional, phenomenological precessing-spin model (precessing IMRPhenom) and an 11-dimensional nonprecessing effective-one-body (EOB) model calibrated to numerical-relativity simulations, which forces spin alignment (nonprecessing EOBNR). Here, we present new results that include a 15-dimensional precessing-spin waveform model (precessing EOBNR) developed within the EOB formalism. (See article for remainder of abstract.)

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Ultraluminous X-Ray Bursts In Two Ultracompact Companions To Nearby Elliptical Galaxies, Jimmy Irwin, W. Maksym, Gregory Sivakoff, Aaron Romanowsky, Dacheng Lin, Tyler Speegle, Ian Prado, David Mildebrath, Jay Strader, Jifeng Liu, Jon Miller Oct 2016

Ultraluminous X-Ray Bursts In Two Ultracompact Companions To Nearby Elliptical Galaxies, Jimmy Irwin, W. Maksym, Gregory Sivakoff, Aaron Romanowsky, Dacheng Lin, Tyler Speegle, Ian Prado, David Mildebrath, Jay Strader, Jifeng Liu, Jon Miller

Faculty Publications

A search of archival X-ray data for 70 nearby galaxies has yielded two flaring sources in globular clusters or ultracompact dwarf companions of parent elliptical galaxies. One source flared once, and the other five times. When not flaring, these sources appear to be normal accreting neutron-star or black-hole X-ray binaries. Unlike magnetars and other bodies that produce repetitive flares of similar luminosity, they are located in old stellar populations.

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Deep Chandra Observations Of The Compact Starburst Galaxy Henize 2–10: X-Rays From The Massive Black Hole, Amy E. Reines, Mark T. Reynolds, Jon M. Miller, Gregory R. Sivakoff, Jenny E. Greene, Ryan C. Hickox, Kelsey E. Johnson Oct 2016

Deep Chandra Observations Of The Compact Starburst Galaxy Henize 2–10: X-Rays From The Massive Black Hole, Amy E. Reines, Mark T. Reynolds, Jon M. Miller, Gregory R. Sivakoff, Jenny E. Greene, Ryan C. Hickox, Kelsey E. Johnson

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present follow-up X-ray observations of the candidate massive black hole (BH) in the nucleus of the low-mass, compact starburst galaxy Henize 2–10. Using new high-resolution observations from the Chandra X-ray Observatory totaling 200 ks in duration, as well as archival Chandraobservations from 2001, we demonstrate the presence of a previously unidentified X-ray point source that is spatially coincident with the known nuclear radio source in Henize 2–10 (i.e., the massive BH). We show that the hard X-ray emission previously identified in the 2001 observation is dominated by a source that is distinct from the nucleus, with the properties …

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The Growth Of The Central Region By Acquisition Of Counterrotating Gas In Star-Forming Galaxies, Yan-Mei Chen, Yong Shi, Christy A. Tremonti, Matt Bershady, Michael Merrifield, Eric Emsellem, Yi-Fei Jin, Song Huang, Hai Fu, David A. Wake, Kevin Bundy, David Stark, Lihwai Lin, Maria Argudo-Fernandez, Thaisa Storchi Bergmann, Dmitry Bizyaev, Joel Brownstein, Martin Bureau, John Chisholm, Niv Drory, Qi Guo, Lei Hao, Jian Hu, Cheng Li, Ran Li, Alexandre Roman Lopes, Kai-Ke Pan, Rogemar A Riffel, Daniel Thomas, Lan Wang, Renbin Yan Oct 2016

The Growth Of The Central Region By Acquisition Of Counterrotating Gas In Star-Forming Galaxies, Yan-Mei Chen, Yong Shi, Christy A. Tremonti, Matt Bershady, Michael Merrifield, Eric Emsellem, Yi-Fei Jin, Song Huang, Hai Fu, David A. Wake, Kevin Bundy, David Stark, Lihwai Lin, Maria Argudo-Fernandez, Thaisa Storchi Bergmann, Dmitry Bizyaev, Joel Brownstein, Martin Bureau, John Chisholm, Niv Drory, Qi Guo, Lei Hao, Jian Hu, Cheng Li, Ran Li, Alexandre Roman Lopes, Kai-Ke Pan, Rogemar A Riffel, Daniel Thomas, Lan Wang, Renbin Yan

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Galaxies grow through both internal and external processes. In about 10% of nearby red galaxies with little star formation, gas and stars are counter-rotating, demonstrating the importance of external gas acquisition in these galaxies. However, systematic studies of such phenomena in blue, star-forming galaxies are rare, leaving uncertain the role of external gas acquisition in driving evolution of blue galaxies. Here, based on new measurements with integral field spectroscopy of a large representative galaxy sample, we find an appreciable fraction of counter-rotators among blue galaxies (9 out of 489 galaxies). The central regions of blue counter-rotators show younger stellar populations …

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Exoplanet Research: Differential Photometry For Kepler 6b, Garrett T. Benson, Charlotte Alexandra Olsen Oct 2016

Exoplanet Research: Differential Photometry For Kepler 6b, Garrett T. Benson, Charlotte Alexandra Olsen

IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt

No abstract provided.

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The Circumstellar Environments Of B-Emission Stars By Optical Interferometry, Bethany Grzenia Oct 2016

The Circumstellar Environments Of B-Emission Stars By Optical Interferometry, Bethany Grzenia

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A series of B-emission (Be) stars was observed interferometrically and numerically modelled to be consistent with the observations. Uniform geometrical disks were used to make first-order inferences about the configuration of the disk systems’ extended structures and their extent on the sky. Later, the Bedisk-Beray-2dDFTpipeline was used to make sophisticated non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) calculations of the conditions within the disks. In the first instance, sixteen stars were observed in the near-infrared (K-band, 2.2 micron) with the Palomar Testbed Interferometer (PTI). The Bedisk portion of the pipeline was used to model disk temperature and density structures for B0, B2, B5 …

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Three Temperate Neptunes Orbiting Nearby Stars, Benjamin J. Fulton, Andrew W. Howard, Lauren M. Weiss, Evan Sinukoff, Erik A. Petigura, Howard Isaacson, Lea A. Hirsch, Geoffrey W. Marcy, Gregory W. Henry, Samuel K. Grunblatt, Daniel Huber, Kaspar Von Braun, Tabetha S. Boyajian, Stephen R. Kane, Justin Wittrock, Elliott P. Horch, David R. Ciardi, Steve B. Howell, Jason T. Wright, Eric B. Ford Oct 2016

Three Temperate Neptunes Orbiting Nearby Stars, Benjamin J. Fulton, Andrew W. Howard, Lauren M. Weiss, Evan Sinukoff, Erik A. Petigura, Howard Isaacson, Lea A. Hirsch, Geoffrey W. Marcy, Gregory W. Henry, Samuel K. Grunblatt, Daniel Huber, Kaspar Von Braun, Tabetha S. Boyajian, Stephen R. Kane, Justin Wittrock, Elliott P. Horch, David R. Ciardi, Steve B. Howell, Jason T. Wright, Eric B. Ford

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

We present the discovery of three modestly irradiated, roughly Neptune-mass planets orbiting three nearby Solar-type stars. HD 42618 b has a minimum mass of 15.4 ± 2.4 ${M}_{\oplus }$, a semimajor axis of 0.55 au, an equilibrium temperature of 337 K, and is the first planet discovered to orbit the solar analogue host star, HD 42618. We also discover new planets orbiting the known exoplanet host stars HD 164922 and HD 143761 (ρ CrB). The new planet orbiting HD 164922 has a minimum mass of 12.9 ± 1.6 ${M}_{\oplus }$ and orbits interior to the previously known Jovian mass planet …

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An Eccentric Binary Millisecond Pulsar With A Helium White Dwarf Companion In The Galactic Field, John Antoniadis, David L. Kaplan, Kevin Stovall, Paulo C.C. Freire, Julia S. Deneva, Detlev Koester, Fredrick Jenet, Jose G. Martinez Oct 2016

An Eccentric Binary Millisecond Pulsar With A Helium White Dwarf Companion In The Galactic Field, John Antoniadis, David L. Kaplan, Kevin Stovall, Paulo C.C. Freire, Julia S. Deneva, Detlev Koester, Fredrick Jenet, Jose G. Martinez

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Low-mass white dwarfs (LMWDs) are believed to be exclusive products of binary evolution, as the universe is not old enough to produce them from single stars. Because of the strong tidal forces operating during the binary interaction phase, the remnant systems observed today are expected to have negligible eccentricities. Here, we report on the first unambiguous identification of an LMWD in an eccentric (e = 0.13) orbit around the millisecond pulsar PSR J2234+0511, which directly contradicts this picture. We use our spectra and radio-timing solution (derived elsewhere) to infer the WD temperature (Teff = 8600 ±190 K), and peculiar systemic …

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Magnetic Reconnection With A Fast Perpendicular Sheared Flow, Xuanye Ma, Antonius Otto, Peter A. Delamere Oct 2016

Magnetic Reconnection With A Fast Perpendicular Sheared Flow, Xuanye Ma, Antonius Otto, Peter A. Delamere

Publications

Magnetic reconnection at the Earth's low‐latitude magnetopause near the flank region is likely associated with a large sheared flow, being frequently quasi‐perpendicular to the antiparallel magnetic field components. The magnitude of a fast sheared flow can be super‐Alfvénic and even overcome the local fast mode speed. A scaling analysis implies a contradiction between the Walén relation and the balance of the total pressure for magnetic reconnection with a supercritical perpendicular sheared flow. This study uses one‐ and two‐dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to demonstrate that the traditional reconnection layer violates the Walén relation but still maintains the total pressure balance in …

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Very Low-Mass Stellar And Substellar Companions To Solar-Like Stars From Marvels. Vi. A Giant Planet And A Brown Dwarf Candidate In A Close Binary System Hd 87646, Bo Ma, Jian Ge, Alex Wolszczan, Matthew W. Muterspaugh, Brian Lee, Gregory W. Henry, Donald P. Schneider, Eduardo L. Martín, Andrzej Niedzielski, Jiwei Xie, Scott W. Fleming, Neil Thomas, Michael Williamson, Zhaohuan Zhu, Eric Agol, Dmitry Bizyaev, Luiz Nicolaci Da Costa, Peng Jiang, Aldo Fabricio Martinez Fiorenzano, Jonay I. González Hernández, Pengcheng Guo, Nolan Grieves, Rui Li, Jane Liu, Suvrath Mahadevan, Tsevi Mazeh, Duy Cuong Nguyen, Martin Paegert, Sirinrat Sithajan, Keivan Stassun, Sivarani Thirupathi, Julian C. Van Eyken, Xiaoke Wan, Ji Wang, John P. Wisniewski, Bo Zhao, Shay Zucker Oct 2016

Very Low-Mass Stellar And Substellar Companions To Solar-Like Stars From Marvels. Vi. A Giant Planet And A Brown Dwarf Candidate In A Close Binary System Hd 87646, Bo Ma, Jian Ge, Alex Wolszczan, Matthew W. Muterspaugh, Brian Lee, Gregory W. Henry, Donald P. Schneider, Eduardo L. Martín, Andrzej Niedzielski, Jiwei Xie, Scott W. Fleming, Neil Thomas, Michael Williamson, Zhaohuan Zhu, Eric Agol, Dmitry Bizyaev, Luiz Nicolaci Da Costa, Peng Jiang, Aldo Fabricio Martinez Fiorenzano, Jonay I. González Hernández, Pengcheng Guo, Nolan Grieves, Rui Li, Jane Liu, Suvrath Mahadevan, Tsevi Mazeh, Duy Cuong Nguyen, Martin Paegert, Sirinrat Sithajan, Keivan Stassun, Sivarani Thirupathi, Julian C. Van Eyken, Xiaoke Wan, Ji Wang, John P. Wisniewski, Bo Zhao, Shay Zucker

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

We report the detections of a giant planet (MARVELS-7b) and a brown dwarf (BD) candidate (MARVELS-7c) around the primary star in the close binary system, HD 87646. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first close binary system with more than one substellar circumprimary companion that has been discovered. The detection of this giant planet was accomplished using the first multi-object Doppler instrument (KeckET) at the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) telescope. Subsequent radial velocity observations using the Exoplanet Tracker at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, the High Resolution Spectrograph at the Hobby Eberley telescope, the "Classic" spectrograph …

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Fluctuations In A Cosmology With A Spacelike Singularity And Their Gauge Theory Dual Description, Robert H. Brandenberger, Elisa G. M. Ferreira, Ian A. Morrison, Yi-Fu Cai, Sumit R. Das, Yi Wang Oct 2016

Fluctuations In A Cosmology With A Spacelike Singularity And Their Gauge Theory Dual Description, Robert H. Brandenberger, Elisa G. M. Ferreira, Ian A. Morrison, Yi-Fu Cai, Sumit R. Das, Yi Wang

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We consider a time-dependent deformation of anti–de Sitter (AdS) space-time which contains a spacelike “singularity”—a spacelike region of high curvature. Making use of the AdS/CFT correspondence we can map the bulk dynamics onto the boundary. The boundary theory has a time dependent coupling constant which becomes small at times when the bulk space-time is highly curved. We investigate the propagation of small fluctuations of a test scalar field from early times before the bulk singularity to late times after the singularity. Under the assumption that the AdS/CFT correspondence extends to deformed AdS space-times, we can map the bulk evolution of …

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Large Linear Magnetoresistance In Heavily-Doped Nb:Srtio3 Epitaxial Thin Films, Hyunwoo Jin, Keundong Lee, Seung-Hyub Baek, Jin-Sang Kim, Byung-Ki Cheong, Bae Ho Park, Sungwon Yoon, B. J. Suh, Changyoung Kim, Sung S. Ambrose Seo, Suyoun Lee Oct 2016

Large Linear Magnetoresistance In Heavily-Doped Nb:Srtio3 Epitaxial Thin Films, Hyunwoo Jin, Keundong Lee, Seung-Hyub Baek, Jin-Sang Kim, Byung-Ki Cheong, Bae Ho Park, Sungwon Yoon, B. J. Suh, Changyoung Kim, Sung S. Ambrose Seo, Suyoun Lee

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Interaction between electrons has long been a focused topic in condensed-matter physics since it has led to the discoveries of astonishing phenomena, for example, high-Tc superconductivity and colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) in strongly-correlated materials. In the study of strongly-correlated perovskite oxides, Nb-doped SrTiO3 (Nb:SrTiO3) has been a workhorse not only as a conducting substrate, but also as a host possessing high carrier mobility. In this work, we report the observations of large linear magnetoresistance (LMR) and the metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) induced by magnetic field in heavily-doped Nb:STO (SrNb0.2Ti0.8O3) epitaxial thin …

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High Temperature Condensate Clouds In Super-Hot Jupiter Atmospheres, H. R. Wakeford, Channon Visscher, Nikole K. Lewis, Avi M. Mandell Oct 2016

High Temperature Condensate Clouds In Super-Hot Jupiter Atmospheres, H. R. Wakeford, Channon Visscher, Nikole K. Lewis, Avi M. Mandell

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Deciphering the role of clouds is central to our understanding of exoplanet atmo- spheres, as they have a direct impact on the temperature and pressure structure, and observational properties of the planet. Super-hot Jupiters occupy a temperature regime similar to low mass M-dwarfs, where minimal cloud condensation is expected. However, observations of exoplanets such as WASP-12b (Teq∼2500 K) result in a transmission spectrum indicative of a cloudy atmosphere. We re-examine the temperature and pressure space occupied by these super-hot Jupiter atmospheres, to explore the role of the initial Al- and Ti-bearing condensates as the main source of cloud material. Due …

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Optimizing The Telescope Assembly Alignment Simulator For Sofia, Zoe E. Sharp, Alex Quyenvo, Jennifer Briggs, Brian Eney Oct 2016

Optimizing The Telescope Assembly Alignment Simulator For Sofia, Zoe E. Sharp, Alex Quyenvo, Jennifer Briggs, Brian Eney

STAR Program Research Presentations

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) conducts research on a modified Boeing 747sp aircraft. By using a variety of infrared science instruments mounted on a 2.7 meter telescope, researchers can make discoveries about the galactic center, star formation, and various topics associated with a deeper understanding of our universe. To efficiently collect data through the SOFIA instruments, the instruments must be tested and prepared prior to being placed on the aircraft. Therefore, with the use of the Telescope Assembly Alignment Simulator (TAAS), researchers can design and construct improvements needed for these instruments to efficiently perform while in flight. The …

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Most Observations Of Our Nearest Neighbor: Flares On Proxima Centauri, James R. A. Davenport, David M. Kipping, Dimitar Sasselov, Jaymie M. Matthews, Chris Cameron Oct 2016

Most Observations Of Our Nearest Neighbor: Flares On Proxima Centauri, James R. A. Davenport, David M. Kipping, Dimitar Sasselov, Jaymie M. Matthews, Chris Cameron

Physics & Astronomy

We present a study of white-light flares from the active M5.5 dwarf Proxima Centauri using the Canadian microsatellite Microvariability and Oscillations of STars. Using 37.6 days of monitoring data from 2014 to 2015, we have detected 66 individual flare events, the largest number of white-light flares observed to date on Proxima Cen. Flare energies in our sample range from 1029 to 1031.5erg. The flare rate is lower than that of other classic flare stars of a similar spectral type, such as UV Ceti, which may indicate Proxima Cen had a higher flare rate in its youth. …

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A Dynamical Analysis Of The Kepler-80 System Of Five Transiting Planets, Mariah G. Macdonald, Darin A. Ragozzine Oct 2016

A Dynamical Analysis Of The Kepler-80 System Of Five Transiting Planets, Mariah G. Macdonald, Darin A. Ragozzine

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Faculty Publications

Kepler has discovered hundreds of systems with multiple transiting exoplanets which hold tremendous potential both individually and collectively for understanding the formation and evolution of planetary systems. Many of these systems consist of multiple small planets with periods less than ~50 days known as Systems with Tightly spaced Inner Planets, or STIPs. One especially intriguing STIP, Kepler-80 (KOI-500), contains five transiting planets: f, d, e, b, and c with periods of 1.0, 3.1, 4.6, 7.1, and 9.5 days, respectively. We provide measurements of transit times and a transit timing variation (TTV) dynamical analysis. We find that TTVs cannot reliably detect …

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Measurement And Modeling Of Cosmic Ray Exposure For Supercdms Dark Matter Detectors., Kameron Mccall, John Orrell, Jared Yamaoka Oct 2016

Measurement And Modeling Of Cosmic Ray Exposure For Supercdms Dark Matter Detectors., Kameron Mccall, John Orrell, Jared Yamaoka

STAR Program Research Presentations

Dark matter is an unknown type of matter that composes roughly 27% of the observable universe and, as cosmological structure models suggest, the earth should be passing through a “dark halo” of this unknown matter present in the Milky Way galaxy. As we pass through this halo, the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) experiment aims to directly detect dark -matter particles. Though many dark matter particle candidates exist, SuperCDMS focuses on the detection of particles called WIMPS (weakly interacting massive particles) as predicted by super-symmetric theories beyond the standard model. Due to the high-sensitivity of the germanium detectors employed, …

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The Bright End Of The Z~9 And Z~10 Uv Luminosity Functions Using All Five Candels Fields., R. J. Bouwens, P. A. Oesch, I. Labbe, G. D. Illingworth, G. G. Fazio, D. Coe, Benne W. Holwerda, R. Smit, M. Stefanon, P. G. Van Dokkum, M. Trenti, M. L. N. Ashby, J. S. Huang, L. Spitler, C. Straatman, L. Bradley, D. Magee Oct 2016

The Bright End Of The Z~9 And Z~10 Uv Luminosity Functions Using All Five Candels Fields., R. J. Bouwens, P. A. Oesch, I. Labbe, G. D. Illingworth, G. G. Fazio, D. Coe, Benne W. Holwerda, R. Smit, M. Stefanon, P. G. Van Dokkum, M. Trenti, M. L. N. Ashby, J. S. Huang, L. Spitler, C. Straatman, L. Bradley, D. Magee

Faculty Scholarship

The deep, wide-area (∼800–900 arcmin2 ) near-infrared/WFC3/IR + Spitzer/IRAC observations over the CANDELS fields have been a remarkable resource for constraining the bright end of high-redshift UV luminosity functions. However, the lack of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) 1.05 μm observations over the CANDELS fields has made it difficult to identify z ∼ 9–10 sources robustly, since such data are needed to confirm the presence of an abrupt Lyman break at 1.2 μm. Here, we report on the successful identification of many such z ∼ 9–10 sources from a new HST program (z9-CANDELS) that targets the highest-probability z ∼ 9–10 galaxy …

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Evolution Of Cosmic Filaments And Of Their Galaxy Population From Mhd Cosmological Simulations., C. Gheller, F. Vazza, M. Bruggen, M. Alpaslan, Benne W. Holwerda, A. M. Hopkins, J. Liske Oct 2016

Evolution Of Cosmic Filaments And Of Their Galaxy Population From Mhd Cosmological Simulations., C. Gheller, F. Vazza, M. Bruggen, M. Alpaslan, Benne W. Holwerda, A. M. Hopkins, J. Liske

Faculty Scholarship

Despite containing about a half of the total matter in the Universe, at most wavelengths the filamentary structure of the cosmic web is difficult to observe. In this work, we use large unigrid cosmological simulations to investigate how the geometrical, thermodynamical and magnetic properties of cosmological filaments vary with mass and redshift (z ≤ 1). We find that the average temperature, length, volume and magnetic field of filaments scales well with their total mass. This reflects the role of self-gravity in shaping their properties and enables statistical predictions of their observational properties based on their mass. We also focus on …

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The Abundance Discrepancy Factor And T2 In Nebulae: Are Non-Thermal Electrons The Culprits?, Gary J. Ferland, W. J. Henney, C. R. O'Dell, M. Peimbert Oct 2016

The Abundance Discrepancy Factor And T2 In Nebulae: Are Non-Thermal Electrons The Culprits?, Gary J. Ferland, W. J. Henney, C. R. O'Dell, M. Peimbert

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We discuss recent claims that the free electrons in ionized nebulae may not have a significantly Maxwellian velocity distribution. Supra-thermal electrons, electrons with much more energy than is encountered at electron temperatures found in nebulae, may solve the t2/ADF puzzle, the observations that abundances obtained from recombination and collisionally excited lines do not agree, and that different temperature indicators give different results. These non-Maxwellian electrons can be designated by the kappa formalism. We show that the distance over which heating rates change are much longer than the distance supra-thermal electrons can travel, and that the timescale to thermalize …

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Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama) : M–Re Relations Of Z = 0 Bulges, Discs And Spheroids., Rebecca Lange, Amanda J. Moffett, Simon P. Driver, Aaron S. G. Robotham, Claudia Del P. Lagos, Lee S. Kelvin, Christopher Conselice, Berta Margalef-Bentabol, Mehmet Alpaslan, Ivan K. Baldry, Joss Bland-Hawthorn, Malcolm Bremer, Sarah Brough, Michelle Cluver, Matthew Colless, Luke J. M. Davies, Boris Haußler, Benne W. Holwerda, Andrew M. Hopkins, Prajwal R. Kafle, Rebecca Kennedy, Jochen Liske, Steven Phillipps, Cristina C. Popescu, Edward N. Taylor, Richard Tuffs, Eelco Van Kampen, Angus H. Wright Oct 2016

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama) : M–Re Relations Of Z = 0 Bulges, Discs And Spheroids., Rebecca Lange, Amanda J. Moffett, Simon P. Driver, Aaron S. G. Robotham, Claudia Del P. Lagos, Lee S. Kelvin, Christopher Conselice, Berta Margalef-Bentabol, Mehmet Alpaslan, Ivan K. Baldry, Joss Bland-Hawthorn, Malcolm Bremer, Sarah Brough, Michelle Cluver, Matthew Colless, Luke J. M. Davies, Boris Haußler, Benne W. Holwerda, Andrew M. Hopkins, Prajwal R. Kafle, Rebecca Kennedy, Jochen Liske, Steven Phillipps, Cristina C. Popescu, Edward N. Taylor, Richard Tuffs, Eelco Van Kampen, Angus H. Wright

Faculty Scholarship

We perform automated bulge + disc decomposition on a sample of ∼7500 galaxies from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey in the redshift range of 0.002 < z < 0.06 using Structural Investigation of Galaxies via Model Analysis, a wrapper around GALFIT3. To achieve robust profile measurements, we use a novel approach of repeatedly fitting the galaxies, varying the input parameters to sample a large fraction of the input parameter space. Using this method, we reduce the catastrophic failure rate significantly and verify the confidence in the fit independently of χ2. Additionally, using the median of the final fitting values and the 16th and 84th percentile produces more realistic error estimates than those provided by GALFIT, which are known to be underestimated. We use the results of our decompositions to analyse the stellar mass – half-light radius relations of bulges, discs and spheroids. We further investigate the association of components with a parent disc or elliptical relation to provide definite z = 0 disc and spheroid M–Re relations. We conclude by comparing our local disc and spheroid M–Re to simulated data from EAGLE and high-redshift data from Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey-Ultra Deep Survey. We show the potential of using the M–Re relation to study galaxy evolution in both cases but caution that for a fair comparison, all data sets need to be processed and analysed in the same manner.

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