Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons^™

An Investigation Of The Accretion Processes In T Tauri And Herbig Ae/Be Systems Using High Resolution Optical And Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, Joshua Kern

All Dissertations

Star and planet formation is intimately tied to the accretion of material from the environments in which they form. During the formation process, disks of gas and dust develop in young stellar objects through which material is facilitated to the star and forming planets. Theoretical models of these accretion processes invoke viscous spreading via hydrodynamics, as well as more complex interactions with magnetic fields be it from the stellar component or the formation environment in order to catalyze these mass flows. These accretion models predict various scenarios including magnetospheric accretion as well as supersonic accretion flows in the disk atmosphere …

Initiation Criteria For The Onset Of Geomagnetic Substorms Based On Auroral Observations And Electrojet Current Signatures, Mayowa Michael Kayode-Adeoye

<strong> Theses and Dissertations </strong>

In recent years, several substorm onset criteria have been developed, either from auroral observations (many authors) or from auroral electrojet properties such as those described by (Forsyth et al., 2015; Maimaiti et al., 2019; Newell & Gjerloev, 2011; Partamies et al., 2011) The different criteria are being investigated using a low order physics model of the magnetosphere called WINDMI (Spencer et al., 2009) and inferences are being made in line with the WINDMI model. The model variables will be compared with the criteria for substorm onset proposed by examining the SML index.

The WINDMI model uses solar wind and IMF …

Temporal And Spectral Analysis Of 1es 2344+514 In Two Flaring States Observed By Veritas, Connor Poggemann

Physics

VERITAS observed the bright blazar 1ES 2344+514 during two flaring periods, one from Dec. 17 to Dec. 18, 2015 (MJD 57373-57374) with a peak flux of ~60% of the Crab and another from Nov. 28 to Dec. 3, 2021 (MJD 59546-59551) with a peak flux of ~20% of the Crab. This blazar, located at a redshift of z = 0.044, is classified as an extreme high-frequency-peaked BL Lacertae object (HBL). It is known to be variable, including several previous day-scale flares: Whipple on Dec. 20, 1995, VERITAS on Dec. 7, 2007, and MAGIC on Aug. 11, 2016. The VERITAS near-nightly …

Cosmic Diffuse Neutrino And Gamma-Ray Backgrounds In The Mev Regime, Ilukpitiye Samalka Anandagoda

All Dissertations

Cosmic Multi-Messenger backgrounds include relic diffuse components created in the early Universe and contributions from individual sources. In this dissertation, I present the work done in Anandagoda (2019); Anandagoda et al. (2020, 2023) where type Ia (SNe Ia) and core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) contributions to the diffuse neutrino and gamma-ray backgrounds in the MeV regime are studied. These backgrounds are referred to as DSNB and DSGB respectively. Based on this work, the diffuse SN Ia background is ~10⁶ times lower (for electron antineutrinos) than the CCSN background making it negligible. The predicted DSNB electron antineutrino flux at earth in the …

Simulating The Eccentricity Evolution Of Accreting Equal-Mass Binaries: Numerical Sensitivity To The Computational Domain Size And Grid Resolution, Zhongtian Hu

All Theses

With high resolution hydrodynamics simulations, we show that the optimal values of domain radius and grid resolution for the software Sailfish when simulating time-based eccentricity evolution of equal mass, non-circular accreting binaries in a circumbinary disk to be $r_{\rm out} \leq 15a$ and $\delta x / a \le 0.01 $. These values provide a useful guideline for optimizing the performance of simulation runs while maintaining scientific accuracy. Each artificial parameter is probed with 15 runs of 2000 orbits each.

Methods For Preparing And Characterizing Granular Materials For Electron Yield Measurements, Tom Keaton

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This work presents a systematic study on sample preparation methods and accuracy of electron yield (EY) measurements of highly insulating, granular materials. EY measurements of highly insulating materials, especially those with high EY, are challenging due to the effects of sample charging even for very low fluence electron probe beams. EY measurements of particulates are complicated by: (i) roughness effects from particulate size, shape, coverage, and compactness; (ii) particle adhesion; (iii) substrate contributions; and (iv) electrostatic repulsion and potential barriers from charged particles and substrates. Numerous methods were explored to rigidly affix particles on conducting substrates at varying coverages for …

Analysis Of A Controlled Approximation For Explicit Integrations Of Stiff Thermonuclear Networks, Nicholas Brey

Masters Theses

The current standard method to solve stiff coupled differential equations relies on implicit integration methods. Explicit methods are generally avoided due to the extremely small and limiting timesteps they allow when the equations are stiff. However, implicit methods are computationally expensive because of the complex calculations that need to be done at each time step. An explicit integration method can do these calculations quicker and, if allowed to take comparable timesteps to the implicit ones, would allow the entire calculation to be done faster. Previous work by Dr. Guidry, Dr. Endeve, Dr. Hix and Dr. Billings has shown that, in …

Acceptable Title Pending: Probing The Limits Of Precision Measurement And Academic Assessment, Bobby King

Senior Projects Spring 2023

This is a project in two parts. The first is an attempt to impart onto the reader the necessary mental models required to understand a scientific experiment related to the improvement of gravitational wave detectors. Part one is illustrated in collaboration with Simone River Wilding, Sohpie Foley, Roma Taitwood, and Cam Goldberg.

Part two is a technical description of efforts made to reduce speckle in measurements of scattered light. Gravitational wave detection requires extremely high precision measurement, and one source of noise in the detectors is scattering off of defects and surface roughness in optical coatings. Research into the development …

The Radial Quenching Progression Of Nearby Galaxies, Chenyu Zhao

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

In this dissertation, we explore the spatial distribution of quiescent regions within galaxies using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (SDSS-IV MaNGA). Our analysis focuses on a radial range spanning from 0.3 R e to 1.2 R e and involves the development of innovative data selection and processing methods. Through this investigation, we identify two prominent types of transition galaxies: central-star-forming galaxies (C-SF galaxies) and central-quiescent galaxies (C-Q galaxies). Notably, we observe a correlation between galaxy mass and the predominant type of transition, with more massive galaxies tending to be C-Q …