Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Find The Distance To The Moon, Dean Smith

AI Assignment Library

This assignment leads students through a series of measurements that lead the student to calculate the distance to the Moon. Students who complete this assignment will see how knowledge that they would normally look up is gathered through experiment and observation.

Elevation-Distributed Multistage Reverse Osmosis Desalination With Seawater Pumped Storage, Hani E. Elsayed-Ali

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A seawater reverse osmosis (RO) plant layout based on multistage RO with stages located at different elevations above sea level is described. The plant uses the weight of a seawater column from pumped storage as head pressure for RO (gravity-driven multistage RO) or to supplement high-pressure pumps used in RO (gravity-assisted multistage RO). The use of gravitational force reduces the specific energy for RO compared to using high-pressure pumps. By locating the RO stages at different elevations based on demand sites, the total specific energy consumption for RO and permeate transport to different elevations above sea level is reduced from …

Ds2 As Excitation Of Ads2, Florian Ecker, Daniel Grumiller, Robert Mcnees

Physics: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Title- dS₂ as excitation of AdS₂

We introduce a family of 2D dilaton gravity models with state-dependent constant curvature so that dS₂ emerges as an excitation of AdS₂. Curiously, the strong coupling region corresponds to the asymptotic region geometrically. Apart from these key differences, many features resemble the Almheiri–Polchinski model. We discuss perturbative and non-perturbative thermodynamical stability, bubble nucleation through matter shockwaves, and semiclassical backreaction effects. In some of these models, we find that low temperatures are dominated by AdS₂ but high temperatures are dominated by dS₂, concurrent with a recent proposal …

Characteristics Of Mesospheric Temperature And Gravity Waves Over Chile In 2020-2021, Damien M. Devitt, Kenneth Zia

Physics Capstone Projects

Gravity waves (GWs) are often confused with gravitational waves in the fabric of space time. However, there is a clear distinction between them. Gravity wave is a term used by the atmospheric research field to describe perturbations in the atmosphere. Gravity pulls the perturbations down and causes oscillations, these present in the form of waves. The best visualization is to think of ripples on a pond, as the ripple reaches its peak gravity pulls the ripple down and creates an oscillating effect.

Comparing Satellite Vs Marine Potential Fields Data Over The Bathymetrists Seamounts, Alexa Fernandez, Irina Filina

UNL Student Research Days Posters, Graduate

The Bathymetrists Seamounts (BSM) are located north of the Sierra Leone Rise (SLR) in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. The seamounts reside on oceanic crust that is 105 to 45 million years old. However, dredging over the Bathymetrists Seamounts dated rocks at ~40 Myr. The general trend of the seamounts contradicts the eastward motion of the African tectonic plate. The origin and tectonic history of the Bathymetrists Seamounts remains debated in literature. Potential fields (gravity and magnetic) data can provide important insight into the formation and evolution of the seamounts. The purpose of this study is to compare available gravity and magnetic …

Perturbative Unitarity And Nec Violation In Genesis Cosmology, Yong Cai, Ji Xu, Shuai Zhao, Siyi Zhou

Physics Faculty Publications

Explorations of the violation of null energy condition (NEC) in cosmology could enrich our understanding of the very early universe and the related gravity theories. Although a fully stable NEC violation can be realized in the “beyond Horndeski” theory, it remains an open question whether a violation of the NEC is allowed by some fundamental properties of UV-complete theories or the consistency requirements of effective field theory (EFT). We investigate the tree-level perturbative unitarity for stable NEC violations in the contexts of both Galileon and “beyond Horndeski” genesis cosmology, in which the universe is asymptotically Minkowskian in the past. We …

Developing A Database Of Seismic Data Over The Cascadia Subduction Zone, Khawlh Al Farsi

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

An inevitable megathrust earthquake is expected in the Cascadia subduction zone that will affect the population of the coast of southwestern British Columbia and the northwest of the United States. In this active tectonic margin, the Juan de Fuca oceanic plate is subducting beneath the North American continental plate, causing unevenly distributed seismic activity. The major goal of this geophysical research project is to study the tectonic structures of the Cascadia subduction zone in order to comprehend the geology of the region and investigate the seismic hazards. The primary objective of this project is to develop a geophysical database of …

Roller Coaster Acceleration, Olivia Briggs

Honors Program Theses and Projects

In classical mechanics, Newton’s Second Law (NSL) is often used when talking about acceleration. NSL states that the acceleration of an object is directly related to the net force and inversely related to its mass. It can be written as F~ = m~a. This concept can be applied to many real life situations, one of them being roller coasters. Passengers on roller coasters can accelerate in all directions. Some accelerations are due to gravity while others are due to launch systems that apply a mechanical force to a train. Roller coasters are often described by how many G forces riders …

Large-Volume And Shallow Magma Intrusions In The Blackfoot Reservoir Volcanic Field (Idaho, Usa), M. S. Hastings, C. B. Connor, P. Wetmore, R. Malservisi, L. J. Connor, M. Rodgers, P. C. Femina

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

he Blackfoot Reservoir volcanic field (BRVF), Idaho, USA, is a bimodal volcanic field that has hosted silicic eruptions during at least two episodes, as recently as 58 ka. Using newly collected ground and boat-based gravity data, two large negative anomalies (-16 mGal) are modeled as shallow (< 1  km) intrusions beneath a NE-trending alignment of BRVF rhyolite domes and tuff rings. Given the trade-off between density contrast and model volume, best-fit gravity inversion models yield a total intrusion volume of 50-120 km³; a density contrast of -400 kg m^-3 results in two intrusions, each ~9 km x 4.5 km and about 0.5 km thick, with cumulative volume of 100 km³. A network of 340°-360° trending faults lies directly above and on the margins of the mapped gravity anomalies. Most of …

Dynamic Magma Storage At Near-Ridge Hot Spots: Evidence From New Galápagos Gravity Data, Z. Cleary, D. M. Schwartz, E. Mittelstaedt, K. Harpp

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

A morphological dichotomy exists between the active western and older (>1–2.5 Ma) eastern volcanoes of the Galápagos Archipelago. All of the young shield volcanoes in the west have calderas, but none are present on the older volcanoes in the east. This striking difference suggests that there has been a change in volcanic construction and magmatic supply processes, a finding dissimilar to the prevailing Hawaiian model of hot spot evolution. Bouguer anomaly highs (30–50 mGal) consistent with dense cumulate bodies are measured over these calderas. In contrast, we present new gravity data from Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal islands that …

Crustal Composition And Moho Variations Of The Central And Eastern United States: Improving Resolutionand Geologic Interpretation Of Earthscope Usarray Seismic Images Using Gravity, H. L. Zhang, D. Ravat, Anthony R. Lowry

Geosciences Faculty Publications

EarthScope's USArray Transportable Array has shortcomings for the purpose of interpreting geologic features of wavelengths less than the Transportable Array station spacing, but these can be overcome by using higher spatial resolution gravity data. In this study, we exploit USArray receiver functions to reduce nonuniqueness in the interpretation of gravity anomalies. We model gravity anomalies from previously derived density variations of sedimentary basins, crustal V_p/V_s variation, Moho variation, and upper mantle density variation derived from body wave imaging informed by surface wave tomography to estimate V_p/V_s. Although average densities and density contrasts for …

Dynamics And Stability Of The Two Body Problem With Yukawa Correction, Eli Cavan, Ioannis Haranas, Ioannis Gkigkitzis

Physics and Computer Science Faculty Publications

We explore the dynamics and stability of the two body problem by modifying the Newtonian potential with the Yukawa potential. This model may be considered a theory of modified gravity; where the interaction is not simply the kepler solution for large distance. The stability is investigated by deriving the Jacobian of the linearized matrix equation and evaluating the eigenvalues of the various equilibrium points calculated during the analysis. The subcases of a purely Yukawa and purely Newtonian potential are also explored.

Nrlmsis 2.0: A Whole-Atmosphere Empirical Model Of Temperature And Neutral Species Densities, J. T. Emmert, D. P. Drob, J. M. Picone, D. E. Siskind, M. Jones Jr., M. G. Mlynczak, Peter F. Bernath, X. Chu, E. Doornbos, B. Funke, L. P. Goncharenko, M. E. Hervig, M. J. Schwartz, P. E. Sheese, F. Vargas, B. P. Williams, T. Yuan

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

NRLMSIS® 2.0 is an empirical atmospheric model that extends from the ground to the exobase and describes the average observed behavior of temperature, eight species densities, and mass density via a parametric analytic formulation. The model inputs are location, day of year, time of day, solar activity, and geomagnetic activity. NRLMSIS 2.0 is a major, reformulated upgrade of the previous version, NRLMSISE-00. The model now couples thermospheric species densities to the entire column, via an effective mass profile that transitions each species from the fully mixed region below ~70 km altitude to the diffusively separated region above ~200 km. Other …

Retrieval Of Intrinsic Mesospheric Gravity Wave Parameters Using Lidar And Airglow Temperature And Meteor Radar Wind Data, Robert Reichert, Bernd Kaifler, Natalie Kaifler, Markus Rapp, Pierre-Dominique Pautet, Michael J. Taylor, Alexander Kozlovsky, Mark Lester, Rigel Kivi

Publications

We analyse gravity waves in the upper-mesosphere, lower-thermosphere region from high-resolution temperature variations measured by the Rayleigh lidar and OH temperature mapper. From this combination of instruments, aided by meteor radar wind data, the full set of ground-relative and intrinsic gravity wave parameters are derived by means of the novel WAPITI (Wavelet Analysis and Phase line IdenTIfication) method. This WAPITI tool decomposes the gravity wave field into its spectral component while preserving the temporal resolution, allowing us to identify and study the evolution of gravity wave packets in the varying backgrounds. We describe WAPITI and demonstrate its capabilities for the …

Yang-Mills Sources For Biconformal Gravity, Walter Davis Muhwezi

Physics Capstone Projects

We present a gauge formulation of Yang-Mills matter sources for Biconformal gravity. Biconformal gravity is a 2n-dimensional conformal gauge theory with a curvature linear action that has been shown to reproduce scale invariant general relativity on the cotangent bundle of n-dimensional space time. We present a generalization of Yang-Mills theories in biconformal space and show that the field equations with sources reduce the Yang-Mills sector to n-dimensional Yang-Mills theory in curved spacetime. We compute the restrictive conditions on the energy-momentum tensor required by the gravitational field equations.

Geophysical Analysis Of The Midcontinent Rift’S Subsurface Structure In Southeastern Nebraska, Patrick Szopinski

Honors Theses

The Midcontinent Rift System (MCRS) is a 1.1 billion-year-old failed rift system that spans much of the North American continental interior. The MCRS is exposed at Lake Superior and is buried in the subsurface along its southwest-extending arm through southeastern Nebraska. Due to the presence of buried volcanic rocks, the MCRS has characteristic highly-pronounced potential field anomalies (gravity and magnetic). Despite these large anomalies, not much is known about the subsurface faulting associated with the rift zone in the Midwest. The goal of this project is to attempt to use integrated analysis of collected geophysical data from multiple methods to …

A Complete Analytic Gravitational Wave Model For Undergraduates, Dillon Buskirk, Maria Babiuc-Hamilton

Physics Faculty Research

Gravitational waves are produced by orbiting massive binary objects, such as black holes and neutron stars, and propagate as ripples in the very fabric of space-time. As the waves carry off orbital energy, the two bodies spiral into each other and eventually merge. They are described by Einstein's equations of general relativity. For the early phase of the orbit, called the inspiral, Einstein equations can be linearised and solved through analytical approximations, while for the late phase, near the merger, we need to solve the fully nonlinear Einstein's equations on supercomputers. In order to recover the gravitational wave for the …

Question 1: Clock Variation; Question 2: Recycling Coffee Pods, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

The article presents questions and answers regarding the impact of gravity on pendulum clocks and the recycling of coffee pods.

Gravity's Light In The Shadow Of The Moon, Andri Gretarsson, Preston Jones, Douglas Singleton

Publications

In this essay we look at the possibility of vacuum production of very low frequency electromagnetic radiation from a gravitational wave background (i.e. gravity's light). We also propose that this counterpart electromagnetic radiation should be detectable by a lunar orbiting satellite which is periodically occulted by the Moon (i.e., in the shadow of the Moon). For concreteness we consider the possibility of detection of both the gravitational wave and hypothesized electromagnetic radiation counterpart from the supernova core collapse of Betelgeuse

Relating Noncommutative So(2,3)* Gravity To The Lorentz-Violating Standard-Model Extension, Quentin G. Bailey, Charles D. Lane

Publications

We consider a model of noncommutative gravity that is based on a spacetime with broken local SO(2,3)* symmetry. We show that the torsion-free version of this model is contained within the framework of the Lorentz-violating Standard-Model Extension (SME). We analyze in detail the relation between the torsion-free, quadratic limits of the broken SO(2,3)* model and the Standard-Model Extension. As part of the analysis, we construct the relevant geometric quantities to quadratic order in the metric perturbation around a flat background.

Gravity Then And Now, Paul Ingraham

Student Writing

This paper discusses the theory of gravity from the time it was discovered by Sir Isaac Newton to present time with the discovery of gravitational waves by Albert Einstein, and the detection of gravitational waves. Stephen Hawking's and Leonard Mlodinow's recent book, The Grand Design, provides support for Edward Witten's M-theory. Gravity was the first of the four fundamental forces to be discovered, and that last to be detected. Einstein proposed that gravity was not only a force, but also could be characterized as a wave on the space-time continuum.

Gw170817: Implications For The Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background From Compact Binary Coalescences, B. P. Abbott, K. Aultoneal, S. Gaudio, K. Gill, E. M. Gretarsson, B. Hughey, M. Muratore, J. W. W. Pratt, S. G. Schwalbe, K. Staats, M. J. Szczepańczyk, M. Zanolin, Et Al.

Publications

The LIGO Scientific and Virgo Collaborations have announced the event GW170817, the first detection of gravitational waves from the coalescence of two neutron stars. The merger rate of binary neutron stars estimated from this event suggests that distant, unresolvable binary neutron stars create a significant astrophysical stochastic gravitational-wave background. The binary neutron star component will add to the contribution from binary black holes, increasing the amplitude of the total astrophysical background relative to previous expectations. In the Advanced LIGO-Virgo frequency band most sensitive to stochastic backgrounds (near 25 Hz), we predict a total astrophysical background with amplitude ΩGW(f=25  Hz)=1.8+2.7−1.3×10−9 with …

General Relativity, 3, David Peak

General Relativity

Gravity as geometry: part II

Even in a region of space-time that is so small that tidal effects cannot be detected, gravity still seems to produce curvature. The argument for this point of view starts with the recognition that, for mechanical systems, it is impossible to distinguish a frame of reference with a uniform gravitational field from a uniformly accelerating frame that has no gravity. Thus, for example, in a (small) rocket ship with no windows it is not possible to determine whether the weight one reads standing on a scale at the tail of the rocket is due to …

Investigating The Opal Cubesat’S Ability To Measure Thermospheric Gravity Waves, Kenneth Zia, Michael J. Taylor, Ludger Scherliess

Posters

Understanding the Earth’s lower thermosphere is of high interest to the space science community because of competing forcing due to solar heating above and episodic wave forcing from below. The NSF sponsored OPAL cubesat is designed to measure the temperature profile in this region by observing day-time O2 A time O2 A-band (~760nm) emission on the limb and is expected to be launched from the ISS (International Space Station). To band (~760nm) emission on the limb and is expected to be launched from the ISS (International Space Station). To investigate the instrument’s ability to detect space weather signatures (i.e. solar …

A Gravitational-Wave Standard Siren Measurement Of The Hubble Constant, B. P. Abbott, K. Aultoneal, S. Gaudio, K. Gill, E. M. Gretarrson, B. Hughey, M. Muratore, J. W. W. Pratt, S. G. Schwalde, K. Staats, M. J. Szczepańczyk, M. Zanolin, Et Al.

Publications

The detection of GW170817 (Abbott et al. 2017a) in both gravitational waves and electromagnetic waves heralds the age of gravitational-wave multi-messenger astronomy. On 17 August 2017 the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) (LIGO Scientific Collaboration et al. 2015) and Virgo (Acernese et al. 2015) detectors observed GW170817, a strong signal from the merger of a binary neutron-star system. Less than 2 seconds after the merger, a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) was detected within a region of the sky consistent with the LIGO-Virgo-derived location of the gravitational-wave source (Abbott et al. 2017b; Goldstein et al. 2017; Savchenko et al. 2017). …

Aeromagnetic, Gravity, And Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar Analyses Reveal The Causative Fault Of The 3 April 2017 MW 6.5 Moiyabana, Botswana, Earthquake, Folarin Kolawole, Estella A. Atekwana, S. Malloy, Dorothy Sarah Stamps, Raphael Grandin, Mohamed G. Abdel Salam, Khumo Leseane, Elisha M. Shemang

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

On 3 April 2017, a M_w 6.5 earthquake struck Moiyabana, Botswana, nucleating at >20 km focal depth within the Paleoproterozoic Limpopo-Shashe orogenic belt separating the Archean Zimbabwe and Kaapvaal Cratons. We investigate the lithospheric structures associated with this earthquake using high-resolution aeromagnetic and gravity data integrated with Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) analysis. Here we present the first results that provide insights into the tectonic framework of the earthquake. The ruptured fault trace delineated by DInSAR aligns with a distinct NW striking and NE dipping magnetic lineament within the Precambrian basement. The fault plane solution and numerical modeling …

Unification Of Gravity And Quantum Theory, Adam Daniels

Faculty-Sponsored Student Research & Capstones

An overview of the four fundamental forces of physics as described by the Standard Model (SM) and prevalent unifying theories beyond it is provided. Background knowledge of the particles governing the fundamental forces is provided, as it will be useful in understanding the way in which the unification efforts of particle physics has evolved, either from the SM, or apart from it. It is shown that efforts to provide a quantum theory of gravity have allowed supersymmetry (SUSY) and M-Theory to become two of the prevailing theories for unifying gravity with the remaining non-gravitational forces.

Gravity Sector Of The Sme, Q. G. Bailey

Publications

In this talk, the gravity sector of the effective field theory description of local Lorentz violation is discussed, including minimal and nonminimal curvature couplings. Also, recent experimental and observational analyses including solar-system ephemeris and short-range gravity tests are reviewed.

Constraints On Sme Coefficients From Lunar Laser Ranging, Very Long Baseline Interferometry, And Asteroid Orbital Dynamics, C. Le Poncin-Lafitte, A. Bourgoin, A. Hees, S. Bouquillon, S. Lambert, Q. G. Bailey, Et Al.

Publications

Lorentz symmetry violations can be parametrized by an effective field theory framework that contains both General Relativity and the Standard Model of particle physics, called the Standard-Model Extension or SME. We consider in this work only the pure gravitational sector of the minimal SME. We present new constraints on the SME coefficients obtained from lunar laser ranging, very long baseline interferometry, and planetary motions.

Schwarzschild Spacetime And Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker Cosmology, Zachary Cohen

Honors Scholar Theses

The advent of General Relativity via Einstein's field equations revolutionized our understanding of gravity in our solar system and universe. The idea of General Relativity posits that gravity is entirely due to the geometry of the universe -- that is, the mass distribution throughout the universe results in the ``curving" of spacetime, which gives us the physics we see on a large scale. In the framework of General Relativity, we find that the universe behaves differently than was predicted in the model of gravitation developed by Newton. We will derive the general relativistic model for a simple system near a …