Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons^™

Automated Identification And Mapping Of Interesting Mineral Spectra In Crism Images, Arun M. Saranathan

Doctoral Dissertations

The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) has proven to be an invaluable tool for the mineralogical analysis of the Martian surface. It has been crucial in identifying and mapping the spatial extents of various minerals. Primarily, the identification and mapping of these mineral spectral-shapes have been performed manually. Given the size of the CRISM image dataset, manual analysis of the full dataset would be arduous/infeasible. This dissertation attempts to address this issue by describing an (machine learning based) automated processing pipeline for CRISM data that can be used to identify and map the unique mineral signatures present in …

Toltec: A New Multichroic Imaging Polarimeter For The Large Millimeter Telescope, Nat S. Denigris

Doctoral Dissertations

The TolTEC camera is a new millimeter-wave imaging polarimeter designed to fill the focal plane of the 50-m diameter Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT). Combined with the LMT, TolTEC offers high angular resolution (5", 6.3", 9.5") for simultaneous, polarization-sensitive observations in its three wavelength bands: 1.1, 1.4, and 2.0 mm. Additionally, TolTEC is designed to reach groundbreaking mapping speeds in excess of 1 deg²/mJy²/hr, which will enable the completion of deep surveys of large-scale structure, galaxy evolution, and star formation that are currently limited when considering practical observation times for other ground-based observatories. This thesis covers the …

Uncover: Jwst Spectroscopy Of Three Cold Brown Dwarfs At Kiloparsec-Scale Distances, Sam E. Cutler, Et. Al.

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

We report JWST/NIRSpec spectra of three distant T-type brown dwarfs identified in the Ultradeep NIRSpec and NIRCam ObserVations before the Epoch of Reionization (UNCOVER) survey of the Abell 2744 lensing field. One source was previously reported as a candidate T dwarf on the basis of NIRCam photometry, while two sources were initially identified as candidate active galactic nuclei. Low-resolution 1–5 μm spectra confirm the presence of molecular features consistent with T dwarf atmospheres, and comparison to spectral standards infers classifications of sdT1, T6, and T8–T9. The warmest source, UNCOVER-BD-1, shows evidence of subsolar metallicity, and atmosphere model fits indicate …

X-Ray Detection Of The Most Extreme Star-Forming Galaxies At The Cosmic Noon Via Strong Lensing, Q Daniel Wang, Carlos Garcia Diaz, Min S. Yun, Et. Al.

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

Hyperluminous infrared galaxies (HyLIRGs) are the most extreme star-forming systems observed in the early Universe, and their properties still elude comprehensive understanding. We have undertaken a large XMM–Newton observing programme to probe the total accreting black hole population in three HyLIRGs at z = 2.12, 3.25, and 3.55, gravitationally lensed by foreground galaxies. Selected from the Planck All-Sky Survey to Analyse Gravitationally lensed Extreme Starbursts (PASSAGES), these HyLIRGs have apparent infrared luminosities >1014 L_⊙. Our observations revealed X-ray emission in each of them. PJ1336+49 appears to be dominated by high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs). Remarkably, the luminosity …

Alma-Legus. Ii. The Influence Of Subgalactic Environments On Molecular Cloud Properties, Daniela Calzetti, Et. Al.

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

We compare the molecular cloud properties in subgalactic regions of two galaxies, barred spiral NGC 1313, which is forming many massive clusters, and flocculent spiral NGC 7793, which is forming significantly fewer massive clusters despite having a similar star formation rate to NGC 1313. We find that there are larger variations in cloud properties between different regions within each galaxy than there are between the galaxies on a global scale, especially for NGC 1313. There are higher masses, line widths, pressures, and virial parameters in the arms of NGC 1313 and the center of NGC 7793 than in the interarm …

Uncover Spectroscopy Confirms The Surprising Ubiquity Of Active Galactic Nuclei In Red Sources At Z > 5, Sam E. Cutler, John R. Weaver, Katherine E. Whitaker, Et. Al.

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

The James Webb Space Telescope is revealing a new population of dust-reddened broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGN) at redshifts z ≳ 5. Here we present deep NIRSpec/Prism spectroscopy from the Cycle 1 Treasury program Ultradeep NIRSpec and NIRCam ObserVations before the Epoch of Reionization (UNCOVER) of 15 AGN candidates selected to be compact, with red continua in the rest-frame optical but with blue slopes in the UV. From NIRCam photometry alone, they could have been dominated by dusty star formation or an AGN. Here we show that the majority of the compact red sources in UNCOVER are dust-reddened AGN: 60% …

Probing The Physical Mechanisms Responsible For Brown Dwarf And Giant Planet Formation, Sarah Betti

Doctoral Dissertations

The disks that form around young stellar objects provide the essential material for their continued growth as well as the formation of planets, making them ideal laboratories to investigate the mechanisms and environments key for substellar and planetary formation. In this dissertation, I explore two main formation processes: the transportation of water necessary for giant planet formation, and the accretion and growth of young brown dwarfs. First, I study the water ice content in the circumstellar disk of AB Aurigae, a young Herbig Ae star. I detect and map icy grains on the disk surface using high contrast observations taken …

The Coeval Mass Assembly Of The Universe Via Supermassive Black Hole Accretion And Star Formation In Galaxies, Alyssa Sokol

Doctoral Dissertations

The possible co-evolution between galaxies and their central supermassive black holes is supported by the similarity in shape between the Star Formation Rate Density (SFRD) and Black Hole Accretion Rate Density (BHARD) out to z$\sim$ 3. This apparent connection between BH growth and star formation is only established globally; while both trends peak at z$\sim$ 2, the amount of stellar and black hole mass assembly occurring within the same galaxies is unknown. Computing these trends for the same galaxies will mitigate the present sample mismatch and can be accomplished with an IR-selected sample; however, the approach relies on a robust …

Dissecting The Most Extreme Starburst Events In The Universe With Gravitational Lensing, Patrick S. Kamienski

Doctoral Dissertations

Three billions years after the Big Bang, the rate at which galaxies in the Universe were forming stars was at its peak. Colloquially known as Cosmic Noon, this epoch (redshift z ~ 2) is crucial to our understanding of how galaxies evolve with time. Dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) offer important clues to such fueling and quenching of star formation. With extreme infrared luminosities (10¹² − 10¹⁴ solar luminosities), their inferred star formation rates are 100−10000 solar masses per year. Yet, the physical mechanisms by which they fuel this short-lived maximal starburst phase remain poorly understood. With this dissertation, …

Hsc-Clauds Survey: The Star Formation Rate Functions Since Z  ∼  2 And Comparison With Hydrodynamical Simulations, V. Picouet, S. Arnouts, E. Le Floc'h, T. Mountard, K. Kraljic, O. Illbert, M. Sawicki, G. Desprez, C. Laigle, D. Schiminovich, S. De La Torre, S. Gwyn, H. J. Mccracken, Y. Dobois, R. Davé, S. Toft, J. R. Weaver, M. Shuntov, O. B. Kauffmann

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

Context. Star formation rate functions (SFRFs) give an instantaneous view of the distribution of star formation rates (SFRs) in galaxies at different epochs. They are a complementary and more stringent test for models than the galaxy stellar mass function, which gives an integrated view of the past star formation activity. However, the exploration of SFRFs has been limited thus far due to difficulties in assessing the SFR from observed quantities and probing the SFRF over a wide range of SFRs.

Aims. We overcome these limitations thanks to an original method that predicts the infrared luminosity from the rest-frame UV/optical color …

Rapid Quenching Of Galaxies At Cosmic Noon, Minjung Park, Sirio Belli, Charlie Conroy, Sandro Tacchella, Joel Leja, Sam E. Cutler, Benjamin D. Johnson, Erica J. Nelson, Razieh Emami

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

The existence of massive quiescent galaxies at high redshift seems to require rapid quenching, but it is unclear whether all quiescent galaxies have gone through this phase and what physical mechanisms are involved. To study rapid quenching, we use rest-frame colors to select 12 young quiescent galaxies at z ∼ 1.5. From spectral energy distribution fitting, we find that they all experienced intense starbursts prior to rapid quenching. We confirm this with deep Magellan/FIRE spectroscopic observations for a subset of seven galaxies. Broad emission lines are detected for two galaxies, and are most likely caused by active galactic nucleus (AGN) …

A Milky Way-Like Barred Spiral Galaxy At A Redshift Of 3, Yingjie Cheng, Mauro Giavalisco, Et. Al.

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

The majority of massive disk galaxies in the local Universe show a stellar barred structure in their central regions, including our Milky Way. Bars are supposed to develop in dynamically cold stellar disks at low redshift, as the strong gas turbulence typical of disk galaxies at high redshift suppresses or delays bar formation. Moreover, simulations predict bars to be almost absent beyond z = 1.5 in the progenitors of Milky Way-like galaxies. Here we report observations of ceers-2112, a barred spiral galaxy at redshift zphot ≈ 3, which was already mature when the Universe was only 2 Gyr old. The …

Dynamical Hotness, Star Formation Quenching, And Growth Of Supermassive Black Holes, Hui Hong, Huiyuan Wang, H. J. Mo, Ziwen Zhang, Guangwen Chen, Wentao Luo, Tinggui Wang, Pengfei Li, Yao Yao, Aoxiang Jiang

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

A stellar system is dynamically hot when its kinetic energy is dominated by random motion represented by the velocity dispersion σhot. We use MaNGA data to obtain the inner and outer dispersion of a galaxy, σin and σout, to characterize its dynamical status and study its connection with star formation quenching and the growth of its supermassive black hole (SMBH). We divide galaxies into fully quenched (FQGs), partially quenched (PQGs), and fully star-forming (FSGs) populations, and identify quenched central cores (QCCs) in PQGs. The galaxy distribution in (σin/σhot)–(σout/σhot) diagram …

Introducing The Texas Euclid Survey For Lyα (Tesla) Survey: Initial Study Correlating Galaxy Properties To Lyα Emission, John R. Weaver, Et. Al.

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

We present the Texas Euclid Survey for Lyα (TESLA), a spectroscopic survey in the 10 deg2 of the Euclid North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) field. Using TESLA, we study how the physical properties of Lyα emitters (LAEs) correlate with Lyα emission to understand the escape of Lyα emission from galaxies at redshifts of 2–3.5. We present an analysis of 43 LAEs performed in the NEP field using early data from the TESLA survey. We use Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam imaging in the grizy bands, Spitzer/IRAC channels 1 and 2 from the Hawaii 20 deg2 (H20) survey, and spectra …

The Jwst Pearls View Of The El Gordo Galaxy Cluster And Of The Structure It Magnifies, Carlos Diaz, Daniel Wang, Et. Al.

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

The massive galaxy cluster El Gordo (z = 0.87) imprints multitudes of gravitationally lensed arcs onto James Webb Space Telescope Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) images. Eight bands of NIRCam imaging were obtained in the "Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science" ("PEARLS") program. Point-spread function–matched photometry across Hubble Space Telescope and NIRCam filters supplies new photometric redshifts. A new light-traces-mass lens model based on 56 image multiplicities identifies the two mass peaks and yields a mass estimate within 500 kpc of (7.0 ± 0.30) × 1014M⊙. A search for substructure in the 140 cluster members with spectroscopic …

Near-Infrared Emission Line Diagnostics For Agn From The Local Universe To Z ∼ 3*, Mauro Giavalisco, Et. Al.

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

Optical rest-frame spectroscopic diagnostics are usually employed to distinguish between star formation and active galactic nucleus (AGN) powered emission. However, this method is biased against dusty sources, hampering a complete census of the AGN population across cosmic epochs. To mitigate this effect, it is crucial to observe at longer wavelengths in the rest-frame near-infrared (near-IR), which is less affected by dust attenuation and can thus provide a better description of the intrinsic properties of galaxies. AGN diagnostics in this regime have not been fully exploited so far, due to the scarcity of near-IR observations of both AGN and star-forming galaxies, …

Uncover: Illuminating The Early Universe—Jwst/Nirspec Confirmation Of Z > 12 Galaxies, Sam E. Cutler, John R. Weaver, Katherine E. Whitaker, Et. Al.

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

Observations of high-redshift galaxies provide a critical direct test to the theories of early galaxy formation, yet to date, only three have been spectroscopically confirmed at z > 12. Due to strong gravitational lensing over a wide area, the galaxy cluster field A2744 is ideal for searching for the earliest galaxies. Here we present JWST/NIRSpec observations of two galaxies: a robust detection at zspec 12.393 0.001 0.004 = - + , and a plausible candidate at zspec 13.079 0.001 0.013 = - + . The galaxies are discovered in JWST/NIRCam imaging and their distances are inferred with JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy, all from …

Unveiling The Nature Of Infrared Bright, Optically Dark Galaxies With Early Jwst Data, L Barrufet, P A. Oesch, A Weibel, G Brammer, R Bezanson, R Bouwens, Y Fudamoto, V Gonzalez, R Gottumkkala, G Illingworth, K E. Heintz, B Holden, I Labbe, D Magee, R P. Naidu, E Nelson, M Stefanon, R Smit, P Van Dokkum, J R. Weaver, C C. Williams

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

Over the last few years, both Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and Spitzer observations have revealed a population of likely massive galaxies at z > 3 that was too faint to be detected inHubble Space Telescope(HST) rest-frame ultraviolet imaging. However, due to the very limited photometry for individual galaxies, the true nature of these so-called HST-dark galaxies has remained elusive. Here, we present the first sample of such galaxies observed with very deep, high-resolution NIRCam imaging from the Early Release Science programme CEERS. 30 HST-dark sources are selected based on their red colours across 1.6–4.4 …

An Xmm-Newton View Of The Andromeda Galaxy As Explored In A Legacy Survey (New-Angels). I. The X-Ray Source Catalog, Q. Daniel Wang, Et. Al.

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

We introduce the New-ANGELS program, an XMM-Newton survey of a ∼7.2 deg2 area around M31, which aims to study the X-ray populations in the M31 disk and the X-ray-emitting hot gas in the inner halo of M31 up to 30 kpc. In this first paper, we report the catalog of 4506 detected X-ray sources and attempt to cross-identify or roughly classify them. We identify 352 single stars in the foreground, 35 globular clusters, and 27 supernova remnants associated with M31, as well as 62 active galactic nuclei, 59 galaxies, and one galaxy cluster in the background. We uniquely classify 236 …

Universal Upper End Of The Stellar Initial Mass Function In The Young And Compact Legus Clusters, Dooseok Escher Jung, Daniela Calzetti, Matteo Messa, Mark Heyer, Mattia Sirressi, Sean T. Linden, Et. Al.

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

We investigate the variation in the upper end of the stellar initial mass function (uIMF) in 375 young and compact star clusters in five nearby galaxies within ∼5 Mpc. All the young stellar clusters (YSCs) in the sample have ages ≲ 4 Myr and masses above 500 M⊙, according to standard stellar models. The YSC catalogs were produced from Hubble Space Telescope images obtained as part of the Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) Hubble treasury program. They are used here to test whether the uIMF is universal or changes as a function of the cluster's stellar mass. We perform …

The Spitzer–Hetdex Exploratory Large-Area Survey. Iv. Model-Based Multiwavelength Photometric Catalog, John R. Weaver, Et. Al.

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

We present a 0.3–4.5 μm 16-band photometric catalog for the Spitzer/HETDEX Exploratory Large-Area (SHELA) survey. SHELA covers an ∼27 deg2 field within the footprint of the Hobby–Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX). Here we present new DECam imaging and an rizKs band–selected catalog of four million sources extracted using a fully model-based approach. We validate our photometry by comparing with the model-based DECam Legacy Survey. We analyze the differences between model-based and aperture photometry by comparing with the previous SHELA catalog, finding that our model-based photometry can measure point sources to fainter fluxes and better capture the full …

Nebular C Ivλ1550 Imaging Of The Metal-Poor Starburst Mrk 71: Direct Evidence Of Catastrophic Cooling, Daniela Calzetti, Et. Al.

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

We use the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys to obtain the first spatially resolved, nebular imaging in the light of C IV λλ1548, 1551 by using the F150LP and F165LP filters. These observations of the local starburst Mrk 71 in NGC 2366 show emission apparently originating within the interior cavity around the dominant super star cluster (SSC), Knot A. Together with imaging in He II λ4686 and supporting Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph far-ultraviolet spectroscopy, the morphology and intensity of the C IV nebular surface brightness and the C IV/He II ratio map provide direct evidence that the mechanical …

How Do Galaxies Form Their Stars Over Cosmic Time?, Jed H. Mckinney

Doctoral Dissertations

Galaxies in the past were forming more stars than those today, but the driving force behind this increase in activity remains uncertain. In this thesis I explore the origin of high star-formation rates today and in the past by studying the properties of gas and dust in the cold interstellar medium (ISM) of dusty galaxies over cosmic time. Critically, we do not yet understand how these galaxies could form so many stars. This work began with my discovery of unusual infrared (IR) emission line ratios in the class of dusty galaxies where most of the Universe’s stars were formed. To …

Hyperspectral Unmixing: A Theoretical Aspect And Applications To Crism Data Processing, Yuki Itoh

Doctoral Dissertations

Hyperspectral imaging has been deployed in earth and planetary remote sensing, and has contributed the development of new methods for monitoring the earth environment and new discoveries in planetary science. It has given scientists and engineers a new way to observe the surface of earth and planetary bodies by measuring the spectroscopic spectrum at a pixel scale. Hyperspectal images require complex processing before practical use. One of the important goals of hyperspectral imaging is to obtain the images of reflectance spectrum. A raw image obtained by hyperspectral remote sensing usually undergoes conversion to a physical quantity representing the intensity of …

Calibration Of The Lux-Zeplin Dual-Phase Xenon Time Projection Chamber With Internally Injected Radioisotopes, Christopher D. Nedlik

Doctoral Dissertations

Self-shielding in ton-scale liquid xenon (LXe) detectors presents a unique challenge for calibrating detector response to interactions in the detector's innermost volume. Calibration radioisotopes must be injected directly into the LXe to reach the central volume, where they must either decay away with a short half life or be purified out. We present an overview of, and results from, the prototype source injection system (SIS) developed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment (LZ). The SIS is designed to refine techniques for the injection and removal of precise activities of various calibration radioisotopes that are useful in …

A New Galactic Wind Model For Cosmological Simulations, Shuiyao Huang

Doctoral Dissertations

The propagation and evolution of cold galactic winds in galactic haloes is crucial to galaxy formation models. However, modelling of this process in hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy formation is over-simplified owing to a lack of numerical resolution and often neglects critical physical processes such as hydrodynamic instabilities and thermal conduction. In this thesis, I propose an analytic model, Physically Evolved Winds (PhEW), that calculates the evolution of individual clouds moving supersonically through a uniform ambient medium. The model reproduces predictions from very high resolution cloud-crushing simulations that include isotropic thermal conduction over a wide range of physical conditions. I also …

Phenomenology Of Fermion Production During Axion Inflation, Michael Roberts

Doctoral Dissertations

We study the production of fermions through a derivative coupling to an axion inflaton and the effects of the produced fermions on the scalar and tensor metric perturbations. We show how such a coupling can arise naturally from supergravity with an axion-like field driving large-field inflation and small instanton-like corrections. We present analytic results for the scalar and tensor power spectra, and estimate the amplitude of the non-Gaussianties in the equilateral regime. The scalar spectrum is found to have a red-tilted spectral index, small non-Gaussianities, and can be dominant over the vacuum contribution. In contrast, the tensor power spectrum from …

Performance Evaluation Of Uavsar And Simulated Nisar Data For Crop/Noncrop Classification Over Stoneville, Ms, Simon Kraatz, S. Rose, M. H. Cosh, N. Torbick, X. Huang, P. Siquiera

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publication Series

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data are well-suited for change detection over agricultural fields, owing to high spatiotemporal resolution and sensitivity to soil and vegetation. The goal of this work is to evaluate the science algorithm for the NASA ISRO SAR (NISAR) Cropland Area product using data collected by NASA's airborne Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle SAR (UAVSAR) platform and the simulated NISAR data derived from it. This study uses mode 129, which is to be used for global-scale mapping. The mode consists of an upper (129A) and lower band (129B), respectively having bandwidths of 20 and 5 MHz. This work uses 129A …

New Precise Spectroscopy Of The Hyperfine Structure In Muonium With A High-Intensity Pulsed Muon Beam, S. Kanda, Y. Fukao, Y. Ikedo, K. Ishida, M. Iwasaki, D. Kawall, N. Kawamura, K. M. Kojima, N. Kurosawa, Y. Matsuda

Physics Department Faculty Publication Series

A hydrogen-like atom consisting of a positive muon and an electron is known as muonium. It is a near-ideal two-body system for a precision test of bound-state theory and fundamental symmetries. The MuSEUM collaboration performed a new precision measurement of the muonium ground-state hyperfine structure at J-PARC using a high-intensity pulsed muon beam and a high-rate capable positron counter. The resonance of hyperfine transition was successfully observed at a near-zero magnetic field, and the muonium hyperfine structure interval of nu(HFS) = 4.463302(4) GHz was obtained with a relative precision of 0.9 ppm. The result was consistent with the previous ones …

The Diurnal Variation In Stratospheric Ozone From Macc Reanalysis, Era-Interim, Waccm, And Earth Observation Data: Characteristics And Intercomparison, Ansgar Schanz, Klemens Hocke, Niklaus Kämpfer, Simon Chabrillat, Antje Inness, Mathias Palm, Justus Notholt, Ian Boyd, Alan Parrish, Yasuko Kasai

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

In this study, we compare the diurnal variation in stratospheric ozone of the MACC (Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate) reanalysis, ECMWF Reanalysis Interim (ERA-Interim), and the free-running WACCM (Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model). The diurnal variation of stratospheric ozone results from photochemical and dynamical processes depending on altitude, latitude, and season. MACC reanalysis and WACCM use similar chemistry modules and calculate a similar diurnal cycle in ozone when it is caused by a photochemical variation. The results of the two model systems are confirmed by observations of the Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) experiment and three selected sites of the …