Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Losing The Dark: How Light Pollution Impacts Humans And The Environment, And What We Can Do To Win Back The Night, Marc Gagné

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

Professor Marc Gagne, Earth and Space Sciences - Losing the Dark: How light pollution impacts humans and the environment, and what we can do to win back the night

Search For Gravitational Waves From Scorpius X-1 With A Hidden Markov Model In O3 Ligo Data, R. Abbott, H. Abe, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, N. Adhikari, M. G. Benjamin, Teviet Creighton, Mario C. Diaz, Francisco Llamas, Soma Mukherjee, Gaukhar Nurbek, Volker Quetschke, Wenhui Wang

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Results are presented for a semicoherent search for continuous gravitational waves from the low-mass x-ray binary Scorpius X-1, using a hidden Markov model (HMM) to allow for spin wandering. This search improves on previous HMM-based searches of Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory data by including the orbital period in the search template grid, and by analyzing data from the latest (third) observing run. In the frequency range searched, from 60 to 500 Hz, we find no evidence of gravitational radiation. This is the most sensitive search for Scorpius X-1 using a HMM to date. For the most sensitive subband, starting at …

The Roles Of Flux Tube Entropy And Effective Gravity In The Inward Plasma Transport At Saturn, S. Wing, M. F. Thomsen, J. R. Johnson, D. G. Mitchell, R. C. Allen, X. Ma, P. A. Delamere

Faculty Publications

The inward plasma transport at the Saturnian magnetosphere is examined using the flux tube interchange stability formalism developed by Southwood & Kivelson. Seven events are selected. Three cases are considered: (1) the injected flux tube and ambient plasmas are nonisotropic, (2) the injected flux tube and ambient plasmas are isotropic, and (3) the injected flux tube plasma is isotropic, but the ambient plasma is nonisotropic. Case 1 may be relevant for fresh injections, while case 3 may be relevant for old injections. For cases 1 and 2, all but one event have negative stability conditions, suggesting that the flux tube …

Clustering Behavior In Solar Flare Dynamics, Elmer C. Rivera, Jay R. Johnson, Jonathan Homan, Simon Wing

Faculty Publications

The solar magnetic activity cycle provides energy input that is released in intense bursts of radiation known as solar flares. As such, the dynamics of the activity cycle is embedded in the sequence of times between the flare events. Recent analysis shows that solar flares exhibit memory on different timescales. These previous studies showed that the time ordering of flare events is not random, but rather there is dependence between successive flares. In the present work, the clustering of flares is demonstrated through a straightforward nonparametric method where the cumulative distribution function of successive flares is compared with the cumulative …

Dirac Dark Matter, Neutrino Masses, And Dark Baryogenesis, Diego Restrepo, Andrès Rivera, Walter Tangarife

Physics: Faculty Publications and Other Works

We present a gauged baryon number model as an example of models where all new fermions required to cancel out the anomalies help to solve phenomenological problems of the standard model (SM). Dark fermion doublets, along with the isosinglet charged fermions, in conjunction with a set of SM-singlet fermions, participate in the generation of small neutrino masses through the Dirac-dark Zee mechanism. The other SM-singlets explain the dark matter in the Universe, while their coupling to an inert singlet scalar is the source of the CP violation. In the presence of a strong first-order electroweak phase transition, this “dark” CP …

Coupled Surface Plasmon–Phonon Polariton Nanocavity Arrays For Enhanced Mid-Infrared Absorption, Satya R. Kachiraju, Ivan Nekrashevich, Imtiaz Ahmad, Hira Farooq, Long Chang, Sangsik Kim, Myoung-Hwan Kim

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Resonant optical cavities are essential components in mid-infrared applications. However, typical film-type cavities require multilayer stacks with a micronthick spacer due to mid-infrared wavelengths, and their performance is limited by narrow frequency tunability and angular sensitivity. We propose and experimentally demonstrate the subwavelength-scale (≈𝜆0/150) resonant nanocavity arrays that enhance the absorption spectrum of the device in the mid-infrared (10–12 microns) via excitation of coupled surface plasmon–phonon polaritons. The proposed metal–insulator–polar dielectric (gold–silicon–silicon carbide) structure supports a guided mode of the coupled surface polaritons in the lateral direction while vertically confining the mid-infrared wave

Nustar Observations Of Intrinsically X-Ray Weak Quasar Candidates: An Obscuration-Only Scenario, Chaojun Wang, B. Luo, W. N. Brandt, D. M. Alexander, F. E. Bauer, Sarah C. Gallagher, Jian Huang, Hezhen Liu, D. Stern

Physics and Astronomy Publications

We utilize recent NuSTAR observations (co-added depth ≈55-120 ks) of PG 1001+054, PG 1254+047, and PHL 1811 to constrain their hard X-ray (≳5 keV) weakness and spectral shapes and thus to investigate the nature of their extreme X-ray weakness. These quasars showed very weak soft X-ray emission, and they were proposed to be intrinsically X-ray weak, with the X-ray coronae producing weak continuum emission relative to their optical/UV emission. However, the new observations suggest an alternative explanation. The NuSTAR 3-24 keV spectral shapes for PG 1001+054 and PHL 1811 are likely flat (effective power-law photon indices Γeff=1.0-0.6+0.5 and Γeff=1.4-0.7+0.8, respectively), …

The Physical Properties Of Low-Redshift Felobal Quasars. Iii. The Location And Geometry Of The Outflows, Hyunseop Choi, Karen M. Leighly, Collin Dabbieri, Donald M. Terndrup, Sarah C. Gallagher, Gordon T. Richards

Physics and Astronomy Publications

We present continued analysis of a sample of low-redshift iron low-ionization broad-absorption-line quasars (FeLoBALQs). Choi et al. presented SimBAL spectral analysis of broad-absorption-line (BAL) outflows in 50 objects. Leighly et al. analyzed the optical emission lines of 30 of those 50 objects and found that they are characterized by either a high accretion rate (L Bol/L Edd > 0.3) or low accretion rate (0.03 < L Bol/L Edd < 0.3). We report that the outflow velocity is inversely correlated with the BAL location among the high-accretion-rate objects, with the highest velocities observed in parsec-scale outflows. In contrast, the low-Eddington-ratio objects showed the opposite trend. We confirmed the known relationship between the outflow velocity and L Bol/L Edd and found that the scatter plausibly originates in the force multiplier (launch radius) in the low(high)-accretion-rate objects. A log volume filling factor between −6 and −4 was found in most outflows but was as high as −1 for low-velocity compact outflows. We investigated the relationship between the observed [O iii] emission and that predicted from the BAL gas. We found that these could be reconciled if the emission-line covering fraction depends on the Seyfert type and BAL location. The difference between the predicted and observed [O iii] luminosity is correlated with the outflow velocity, suggesting that [O iii] emission in high-Eddington-ratio objects may be broad and hidden under Fe ii emission. We suggest that the physical differences in the outflow properties as a function of location in the quasar and accretion rate point to different formation, acceleration, and confinement mechanisms for the two FeLoBALQ types.

Passages: The Large Millimeter Telescope And Alma Observations Of Extremely Luminous High-Redshift Galaxies Identified By The Planck, Derek A. Berman, Min S. Yun, K. C. Harrington, P. Kamieneski, J. Lowenthal, B. L. Frye, Q. D. Wang, G. W. Wilson, I. Aretxaga, M. Chavez, R. Cybulski, V. De La Luz, N. Erickson, D. Ferrusca, D. H. Hughes, A. Montaña, G. Narayanan, D. Sánchez-Argüelles, F. P. Schloerb, K. Souccar, E. Terlevich, R. Terlevich, J. A. Zavala

Astronomy: Faculty Publications

The Planck All-Sky Survey to Analyze Gravitationally-lensed Extreme Starbursts project aims to identify a population of extremely luminous galaxies using the Planck all-sky survey and to explore the nature of their gas fuelling, induced starburst, and the resulting feedback that shape their evolution. Here, we report the identification of 22 high-redshift luminous dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) at z = 1.1-3.3 drawn from a candidate list constructed using the Planck Catalogue of Compact Sources and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer all-sky survey. They are confirmed through follow-up dust continuum imaging and CO spectroscopy using AzTEC and the Redshift Search Receiver on the …

India’S First Robotic Eye For Time-Domain Astrophysics: The Growth-India Telescope, Harsh Kumar, Varun Bhalerao, G. C. Anupama, Sudhanshu Barway, Judhajeet Basu, Kunal Deshmukh, Kishalay De, Anirban Dutta, Christoffer Fremling, Hrishikesh Iyer, Adeem Jassani, Simran Joharle, Viraj Karambelkar, Maitreya Khandagale, K. Adithya Krishna, Sumeet Kulkarni, Sujay Mate, Atharva Patil, D. V. S. Phanindra

Faculty and Student Publications

We present the design and performance of the GROWTH-India telescope, a 0.7 m robotic telescope dedicated to time-domain astronomy. The telescope is equipped with a 4k back-illuminated camera that gives a 0.°82 field of view and a sensitivity of m g′ ∼ 20.5 in 5 minute exposures. Custom software handles observatory operations: attaining high on-sky observing efficiencies (≳80%) and allowing rapid response to targets of opportunity. The data processing pipelines are capable of performing point-spread function photometry as well as image subtraction for transient searches. We also present an overview of the GROWTH-India telescope’s contributions to the studies of gamma-ray …

The Jwst Early Release Science Program For The Direct Imaging And Spectroscopy Of Exoplanetary Systems, Sasha Hinkley, Aarynn L. Carter, Shrishmoy Ray, Andrew Skemer, Beth Biller, Elodie Choquet, Maxwell A. Millar-Blanchaer, Stephanie Sallum, Brittany Miles, Niall Whiteford, Polychronis Patapis, Marshall Perrin, Laurent Pueyo, Glenn Schneider, Karl Stapelfeldt, Jason Wang, Kimberly Ward-Duong, Brendan P. Bowler, Anthony Boccaletti, Julien H. Girard, Dean Hines, Paul Kalas, Jens Kammerer, Pierre Kervella, Jarron Leisenring, Eric Pantin, Yifan Zhou, Michael Meyer, Michael C. Liu, Mickael Bonnefoy, Thayne Currie, Michael Mcelwain

Astronomy: Faculty Publications

The direct characterization of exoplanetary systems with high-contrast imaging is among the highest priorities for the broader exoplanet community. As large space missions will be necessary for detecting and characterizing exo-Earth twins, developing the techniques and technology for direct imaging of exoplanets is a driving focus for the community. For the first time, JWST will directly observe extrasolar planets at mid-infrared wavelengths beyond 5 μm, deliver detailed spectroscopy revealing much more precise chemical abundances and atmospheric conditions, and provide sensitivity to analogs of our solar system ice-giant planets at wide orbital separations, an entirely new class of exoplanet. However, in …

Gj 3090 B: One Of The Most Favourable Mini-Neptune For Atmospheric Characterisation, J. M. Almenara, X. Bonfils, J. F. Otegi, O. Attia, M. Turbet, N. Astudillo-Defru, K. A. Collins, A. S. Polanski, V. Bourrier, C. Hellier, C. Ziegler, F. Bouchy, C. Briceno, D. Charbonneau, M. Cointepas, K. I. Collins, I. Crossfield, X. Delfosse, R. F. Diaz, C. Dorn, J. P. Doty, T. Forveille, G. Gaisné, T. Gan, R. Helled, K. Hesse, J. M. Jenkins, Eric L.N. Jensen, D. W. Latham, N. Law, A. W. Mann, S. Mao, B. Mclean, F. Murgas, G. Myers, S. Seager, A. Shporer, T. G. Tan, J. D. Twicken, J. Winn

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

We report the detection of GJ 3090 b (TOI-177.01), a mini-Neptune on a 2.9-day orbit transiting a bright (K = 7.3 mag) M2 dwarf located at 22 pc. The planet was identified by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and was confirmed with the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher radial velocities. Seeing-limited photometry and speckle imaging rule out nearby eclipsing binaries. Additional transits were observed with the LCOGT, Spitzer, and ExTrA telescopes. We characterise the star to have a mass of 0.519 ± 0.013 M_⊙ and a radius of 0.516 ± 0.016 R_⊙. We modelled …

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (Gama): Bulge-Disc Decomposition Of Kids Data In The Nearby Universe, Sarah Casura, Jochen Liske, Aaron S G Robotham, Sarah Brough, Simon P. Driver, Alister W. Graham, Boris Häußler, Benne Holwerda, Andrew M. Hopkins, Lee S. Kelvin, Amanda J. Moffett, Dan S. Taranu, Edward N. Taylor

Faculty Scholarship

We derive single Sérsic fits and bulge-disc decompositions for 13 096 galaxies at redshifts z < 0.08 in the GAMA II equatorial survey regions in the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS) g, r, and i bands. The surface brightness fitting is performed using the Bayesian two-dimensional profile fitting code PROFIT. We fit three models to each galaxy in each band independently with a fully automated Markov chain Monte Carlo analysis: a single Sérsic model, a Sérsic plus exponential and a point source plus exponential. After fitting the galaxies, we perform model selection and flag galaxies for which none of our models are appropriate (mainly mergers/Irregular galaxies). The fit quality is assessed by visual inspections, comparison …

Project Khepri: Asteroid Mining Project. Final Policy Report, Aaron Groh, Brieanna Miklaucic, Valerie Oosterveld, Elizabeth Steyn

Institute for Earth and Space Exploration White Papers

Much like outer space, our legal system consists of many unknowns. This is especially true for new developments in emerging technologies, particularly those related to the exploration, exploitation, and utilization of space resources. The recently developed technical feasibility of space mining has advanced ahead of existing international space treaties. While certain articles of the major UN treaties can be interpreted to adapt to the utilization of space resources, most of these provisions were not originally designed to be applied to a space mining regime.

Keeping in mind this context, this paper sets out the current international law landscape, including the …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 93, No. 1, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• The Great American Eclipse
• Kast, Monica. Timothy Caboni Talks Budget in Meeting with Editors
• DeLetter, Emily. Back Home – Timothy Caboni
• Collins, Emma. Campus Construction Continues with Completion of Restaurant – The Den
• Ziege, Nicole. Student Government Association President Signs Anti-discrimination Letter – Andi Dahmer
• Alvey, Rebekah. New Space Serves as Link to Downtown Businesses – Gordon Ford College of Business
• Henderson, Andrew. Hey, How Are Ya?
• Editorial Cartoon re: Eclipsse
• Huff, Taylor. Eclipse of Morality – U.S. Government
• Gabhart, Ebonee. Analyzing What Constitutes a …

Reverberation Mapping Of Markarian 421 Using V,R, I, And Ha Filters, Alex Whitman

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) at their most basic level are supermassive blackholes that emit light. While that sounds paradoxical, it speaks volumes to how little we know about these extraordinary objects. One technique that can be used, and was used here to better understand these objects is reverberation mapping. We employed this method on the AGN Markarian 421 (Mrk 421) at Bridgewater State University (BSU). Mrk 421 was chosen because it is the brightest known AGN, averaging 12.7 magnitudes, and the observational abilities of BSU are best suited for objects brighter than 18 magnitudes in optical wavelengths. We observed Mrk …

X-Ray Properties Of Early-Type Stars In The Tarantula Nebula From T-Rex, Paul A. Crowther, Patrick S. Broos, Leisa K. Townsley, Andy M. T. Pollock, Katie A. Tehrani, Marc Gagné

Earth & Space Sciences Faculty Publications

We reassess the historical L-X/L-Bol relation for early-type stars from a comparison between T-ReX, the Chandra ACIS X-ray survey of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), and contemporary spectroscopic analysis of massive stars obtained primarily from VLT/FLAMES, VLT/MUSE, and HST/STIS surveys. For 107 sources in common (some host to multiple stars), the majority of which are bolometrically luminous (40 per cent exceed 10(6)L(circle dot)), we find an average log L-X/L-Bol = -6.90 +/- 0.65. Excluding extreme systems Mk 34 (WN5h+WN5h), R140a (WC4+WN6+), and VFTS 399 (O9 IIIn+?), plus four WR sources with anomalously hard X-ray components (R130, …

Galaxy And Mass Assembly: Galaxy Zoo Spiral Arms And Star Formation Rates, R Porter-Temple, Benne Holwerda, A M. Hopkins, L E. Porter, C Henry, T Geron, B Simmons, K Masters, S Kruk

Faculty Scholarship

Understanding the effect spiral structure has on star formation properties of galaxies is important to complete our picture of spiral structure evolution. Previous studies have investigated connections between spiral arm properties and star formation, but the effect that the number of spiral arms has on this process is unclear. Here, we use the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey paired with the citizen science visual classifications from the Galaxy Zoo project to explore galaxies’ spiral arm number and how it connects to the star formation process. We use the votes from the GAMA-Kilo Degree Survey Galaxy Zoo classification to investigate …

Search For Continuous Gravitational Wave Emission From The Milky Way Center In O3 Ligo-Virgo Data, R. Abbott, H. Abe, F. Acernese, M. G. Benjamin, Teviet Creighton, Mario C. Diaz, F. Llamas, Soma Mukherjee, Gaukhar Nurbek, Volker Quetschke, Wenhui Wang

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present a directed search for continuous gravitational wave (CW) signals emitted by spinning neutron stars located in the inner parsecs of the Galactic Center (GC). Compelling evidence for the presence of a numerous population of neutron stars has been reported in the literature, turning this region into a very interesting place to look for CWs. In this search, data from the full O3 LIGO-Virgo run in the detector frequency band [10,2000]  Hz have been used. No significant detection was found and 95% confidence level upper limits on the signal strain amplitude were computed, over the full search band, with …

Search For Subsolar-Mass Binaries In The First Half Of Advanced Ligo’S And Advanced Virgo’S Third Observing Run, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, Teviet Creighton, Mario C. Diaz, F. Llamas, Soma Mukherjee, Volker Quetschke, Wenhui Wang

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications and Presentations

We report on a search for compact binary coalescences where at least one binary component has a mass between 0.2  M⊙ and 1.0  M⊙ in Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo data collected between 1 April 2019 1500 UTC and 1 October 2019 1500 UTC. We extend our previous analyses in two main ways: we include data from the Virgo detector and we allow for more unequal mass systems, with mass ratio q≥0.1. We do not report any gravitational-wave candidates. The most significant trigger has a false alarm rate of 0.14  yr−1. This implies an upper limit on the merger rate …

Improved Measurement Of Neutrino Oscillation Parameters By The Nova Experiment, M. A. Acero, P. Adamson, L. Aliaga, N. Anfimov, A. Antoshkin, E. Arrieta-Diaz, L. Asquith, A. Aurisano, A. Back, C. Backhouse, M. Baird, N. Balashov, P. Baldi, B. A. Bambah, S. Bashar, K. Bays, R. Bernstein, V. Bhatnagar, D. Bhattarai, B. Bhuyan, Roberto Petti, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

We present new ν_μ → ν_e, ν_μ → ν_μ, ⊽ _μ →⊽ _e, and ⊽ _μ → ⊽ _μ oscillation measurements by the NOvA experiment, with a 50% increase in neutrino-mode beam exposure over the previously reported results. The additional data, combined with previously published neutrino and antineutrino data, are all analyzed using improved techniques and simulations. A joint fit to the ν_e, ν_μ, ⊽ _e, and ⊽ _μ candidate samples within the 3-flavor neutrino oscillation framework continues to yield a best-fit point in the normal mass …

Unlocking The Mystery Of Tev J2032+4130 Through Veritas Data, Devon J. Barros

Honors Program Theses and Projects

TeVJ2032+4130 is a high energy celestial object that emits Very High Energy (VHE) gamma rays and is located in the star forming region of the Cygnus constellation. It was first detected by the High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy (HEGRA) experiment. Later observations from the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS2014) were used to determine that the gamma-ray emission from the source could be coming from a Pulsar Wind Nebula (PWN) powered by a binary pulsar named PSR J2032+4127. For the PWN scenario, VERITAS predicted a cutoff in the gamma-ray spectrum above 10 TeV. Using ~33 hours of VERITAS …

Improved Measurement Of Neutrino Oscillation Parameters By The Nova Experiment, M. A. Acero, P. Adamson, L. Aliaga, N. Anfimov, A. Antoshkin, E. Arrieta-Diaz, L. Asquith, A. Aurisano, A. Back, C. Backhouse, M. Baird, N. Balashov, P. Baldi, B. A. Bambah, S. Bashar, K. Bays, R. Bernstein, V. Bhatnagar, D. Bhattarai

Faculty and Student Publications

We present new νμ→νe, νμ→νμ, ν¯μ→ν¯e, and ν¯μ→ν¯μ oscillation measurements by the NOvA experiment, with a 50% increase in neutrino-mode beam exposure over the previously reported results. The additional data, combined with previously published neutrino and antineutrino data, are all analyzed using improved techniques and simulations. A joint fit to the νe, νμ, ν¯e, and ν¯μ candidate samples within the 3-flavor neutrino oscillation framework continues to yield a best-fit point in the normal mass ordering and the upper octant of the θ23 mixing angle, with Δm322=(2.41±0.07)×10-3 eV2 and sin2θ23=0.57-0.04+0.03. The data disfavor combinations of oscillation parameters that give rise to …

Near-Infrared Accretion Signatures From The Circumbinary Planetary-Mass Companion Delorme 1 (Ab)B, S. K. Betti, K. B. Follette, K. Ward-Duong, Y. Aoyama, G. D. Marleau, J. Bary, C. Robinson, M. Janson, W. Balmer, G. Chauvin, P. Palma-Bifani

Astronomy: Faculty Publications

Accretion signatures from bound brown dwarf and protoplanetary companions provide evidence for ongoing planet formation, and accreting substellar objects have enabled new avenues to study the astrophysical mechanisms controlling the formation and accretion processes. Delorme 1 (AB)b, a ?1/430-45 Myr circumbinary planetary-mass companion, was recently discovered to exhibit strong Hα emission. This suggests ongoing accretion from a circumplanetary disk, somewhat surprising given canonical gas disk dispersal timescales of 5-10 Myr. Here, we present the first NIR detection of accretion from the companion in Paβ, Pa?3, and Br?3 emission lines from SOAR/TripleSpec 4.1, confirming and further informing its accreting nature. The …

Measurement Of The Branching Fractions Of The B+ →Ηâ "+Νâ " And B+ →Η′Â "+Νâ " Decays With Signal-Side Only Reconstruction In The Full Q2 Range, U. Gebauer, C. Beleño, A. Frey, I. Adachi, K. Adamczyk, H. Aihara, S. Al Said, D. M. Asner, H. Atmacan, T. Aushev, R. Ayad, V. Babu, S. Bahinipati, P. Behera, K. Belous, J. Bennett, M. Bessner, V. Bhardwaj, B. Bhuyan

Faculty and Student Publications

The branching fractions of the decays B+→ηâ "+νâ "and B+→η′â "+νâ "are measured, where â "is either an electron or a muon, using a data sample of 711 fb-1 containing 772×106BB¯ pairs collected at the I (4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e-collider. To reduce the dependence of the result on the form factor model, the measurement is performed over the entire q2 range. The resulting branching fractions are B(B+→ηâ "+νâ ")=(2.83±0.55(stat.)±0.34(syst.))×10-5 and B(B+→η′â "+νâ ")=(2.79±1.29(stat.)±0.30(syst.))×10-5.

Tess Discovery Of A Sub-Neptune Orbiting A Mid-M Dwarf Toi-2136, T. Gan, A. Soubkiou, S. X. Wang, Z. Benkhaldoun, S. Mao, É. Artigau, P. Fouqué, L. Arnold, S. Giacalone, C. A. Theissen, C. Aganze, A. Burgasser, K. A. Collins, A. Shporer, K. Barkaoui, M. Ghachoui, S. B. Howell, C. Lamman, O. D. S. Demangeon, A. Burdanov, C. Cadieux, J. Chouqar, K. I. Collins, N. J. Cook, L. Delrez, B.-O. Demory, R. Doyon, G. Dransfield, C. D. Dressing, E. Ducrot, J. Fan, L. Garcia, H. Gill, M. Gillon, C. L. Gnilka, Y. Gómez Maqueo Chew, M. N. Günther, C. E. Henze, C. X. Huang, E. Jehin, Eric L.N. Jensen, Z. Lin, N. Manset, J. Mccormac, C. A. Murray, P. Niraula, P. P. Pedersen, F. J. Pozuelos, D. Queloz, B. V. Rackham, A. B. Savel, N. Schanche, R. P. Schwarz, D. Sebastian, S. Thompson, M. Timmermans, A. H. M. J. Triaud, M. Vezie, R. D. Wells, J. De Wit, G. R. Ricker, R. Vanderspek, D. W. Latham, S. Seager, J. N. Winn, J. M. Jenkins

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

We present the discovery of TOI-2136 b, a sub-Neptune planet transiting a nearby M4.5V-type star every 7.85 d, identified through photometric measurements from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. The host star is located 33 pc away with a radius of R* = 0.34 ± 0.02 R_⊙, a mass of 0.34 ± 0.02 M_⊙, and an effective temperature of 3342 ± 100 K. We estimate its stellar rotation period to be 75 ± 5 d based on archival long-term photometry. We confirm and characterize the planet based on a series of ground-based multiwavelength …

The Tess Grand Unified Hot Jupiter Survey. I. Ten Tess Planets, S. W. Yee, J. N. Winn, J. D. Hartman, J. E. Rodriguez, G. Zhou, S. N. Quinn, D. W. Latham, A. Bieryla, K. A. Collins, B. C. Addison, I. Angelo, K. Barkaoui, P. Benni, A. W. Boyle, R. Brahm, R. P. Butler, D. R. Ciardi, K. I. Collins, D. M. Conti, J. D. Crane, F. Dai, C. D. Dressing, J. D. Eastman, Z. Essack, R. Forés-Toribio, E. Furlan, T. Gan, S. Giacalone, H. Gill, E. Girardin, T. Henning, C. E. Henze, M. J. Hobson, J. Horner, A. W. Howard, S. B. Howell, C. X. Huang, H. Isaacson, J. M. Jenkins, Eric L.N. Jensen, A. Jordán, S. R. Kane, J. F. Kielkopf, S. Lasota, A. M. Levine, J. Lubin, A. W. Mann, B. Massey, K. K. Mcleod, M. W. Mengel, J. A. Muñoz, F. Murgas, E. Palle, P. Plavchan, A. Popowicz, D. J. Radford, G. R. Ricker, P. Rowden, B. S. Safonov, A. B. Savel, R. P. Schwarz, S. Seager, R. Sefako, A. Shporer, G. Srdoc, I. S. Strakhov, J. K. Teske, C. G. Tinney, D. Tyler, R. A. Wittenmyer, H. Zhang, C. Ziegler

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

Hot Jupiters—short-period giant planets—were the first extrasolar planets to be discovered, but many questions about their origin remain. NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an all-sky search for transiting planets, presents an opportunity to address these questions by constructing a uniform sample of hot Jupiters for demographic study through new detections and unifying the work of previous ground-based transit surveys. As the first results of an effort to build this large sample of planets, we report here the discovery of 10 new hot Jupiters (TOI-2193A b, TOI-2207b, TOI-2236b, TOI-2421b, TOI-2567b, TOI-2570b, TOI-3331b, TOI-3540A b, TOI-3693b, TOI-4137b). All of the planets …

Fermion-Induced Electroweak Symmetry Non-Restoration Via Temperature-Dependent Masses, Yu Hang Ng

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Standard Model (SM) and many extensions of SM predict that the electroweak (EW) symmetry was restored in the early universe when the temperature was around 160 GeV. However, recent studies showed that the interactions between some new scalars and SU(2)_L Higgs doublet(s) can cause the EW symmetry to remain broken at temperatures well above the EW scale in certain renormalizable extensions of SM. In this study, we found that new fermions from renormalizable models can also induce this EW symmetry non-restoration effect, provided that they have the appropriate temperature-dependent masses. These masses can arise naturally from the interactions between the …

Galapagos-2/Galfitm/Gama – Multi-Wavelength Measurement Of Galaxy Structure: Separating The Properties Of Spheroid And Disk Components In Modern Surveys, Boris Häußler, Marina Vika, Steven P. Bamford, Evelyn J. Johnston, Sarah Brough, Sarah Casura, Benne Holwerda, Lee S. Kelvin, Cristina Popescu

Faculty Scholarship

Aims. We present the capabilities of GALAPAGOS-2 and GALFITM in the context of fitting two-component profiles – bulge–disk decompositions – to galaxies, with the ultimate goal of providing complete multi-band, multi-component fitting of large samples of galaxies in future surveys. We also release both the code and the fit results to 234 239 objects from the DR3 of the GAMA survey, a sample significantly deeper than in previous works.

Methods. We use stringent tests on both simulated and real data, as well as comparison to public catalogues to evaluate the advantages of using multi-band over single-band data.

Results. We show …

Revisit Of Open Clusters Upk 39, Upk 41 And Phoc 39 : A New Binary Open Cluster Found, Xianhao Ye, Terry D. Oswalt, Jingkun Zhao, Yong Yang, Gang Zhao

Publications

We investigate the three open clusters near Aquila Rift cloud, named as UPK 39 (c1 hereafter), UPK 41 (c2 hereafter) in Sim et al. (2019) and PHOC 39 (c3 hereafter) in Hunt & Reffert (2021), respectively. Using photometric passpands, reddening, and extinction from Gaia DR3, we construct the color-absolute-magnitude diagram (CAMD). Using isochrone fits their ages are estimated as 6.3 ± 0.9, 8.1 ± 1.4 and 21.8 ± 2.2 Myr, respectively. Their proper motions and radial velocities, estimated using data from Gaia and LAMOST are very similar. From their orbits, relative distances among them at different times, kinematics, ages, and …