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Astrophysics and Astronomy

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2013

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Articles 31 - 60 of 91

Full-Text Articles in Physics

Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem In An Isolated System Of Quantum Dipolar Bosons After A Quench, Ehsan Khatami, Guido Pupillo, Mark Srednicki, Marcos Rigol Jul 2013

Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem In An Isolated System Of Quantum Dipolar Bosons After A Quench, Ehsan Khatami, Guido Pupillo, Mark Srednicki, Marcos Rigol

Faculty Publications

We examine the validity of fluctuation-dissipation relations in isolated quantum systems taken out of equilibrium by a sudden quench. We focus on the dynamics of trapped hard-core bosons in one-dimensional lattices with dipolar interactions whose strength is changed during the quench. We find indications that fluctuation-dissipation relations hold if the system is nonintegrable after the quench, as well as if it is integrable after the quench if the initial state is an equilibrium state of a nonintegrable Hamiltonian. On the other hand, we find indications that they fail if the system is integrable both before and after quenching.

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Interstellar H2O Masers From J Shocks, David Hollenbach, Moshe Elitzur, Christopher F. Mckee Jul 2013

Interstellar H2O Masers From J Shocks, David Hollenbach, Moshe Elitzur, Christopher F. Mckee

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present a model in which the 22 GHz H2O masers observed in star-forming regions occur behind shocks propagating in dense regions (preshock density n 0 ~ 106-108 cm–3). We focus on high-velocity (vs ≳ 30 km s–1) dissociative J shocks in which the heat of H2 re-formation maintains a large column of ~300-400 K gas; at these temperatures the chemistry drives a considerable fraction of the oxygen not in CO to form H2O. The H2O column densities, the hydrogen densities, and the warm …

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The Jet-Disk Connection: Evidence For A Reinterpretation In Radio-Loud And Radio-Quiet Active Galactic Nuclei, David Garofalo Jul 2013

The Jet-Disk Connection: Evidence For A Reinterpretation In Radio-Loud And Radio-Quiet Active Galactic Nuclei, David Garofalo

Faculty and Research Publications

To constrain models of the jet-disc connection, we explore Eddington ratios reported in Foschini (2011) and interpret them in relation to the values in Sikora et al. across the active galactic nuclei population from radio loud quasars, their flat spectrum radio quasar subclass, the recently discovered gamma-ray loud narrow-line type 1 Seyfert galaxies, Fanaroff-Riley type I (FRI) radio galaxies and radio quiet quasars of the Palomar Green survey. While appeal to disc truncation in radiatively inefficient flow appears to explain the observed inverse relation between radio loudness and Eddington ratio in radio loud and radio quiet quasars, FR I objects, …

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The Importance Of Major Mergers In The Build Up Of Stellar Mass In Brightest Cluster Galaxies At Z = 1, C. Lidman, G. Iacobuta, A. E. Bauer, L. F. Barrientos, P. Cerulo, W. J. Couch, L. Delaye, R. Demarco, E. Ellingson, A. J. Faloon, D. Gilbank, M. Huertas-Company, S. Mei, J. Meyers, A. Muzzin, A. Noble, J. Nantais, A. Rettura, P. Rosati, R. Sánchez-Janssen, V. Strazzullo, T. M. A. Webb, G. Wilson, Renbin Yan, H. K. C. Yee Jul 2013

The Importance Of Major Mergers In The Build Up Of Stellar Mass In Brightest Cluster Galaxies At Z = 1, C. Lidman, G. Iacobuta, A. E. Bauer, L. F. Barrientos, P. Cerulo, W. J. Couch, L. Delaye, R. Demarco, E. Ellingson, A. J. Faloon, D. Gilbank, M. Huertas-Company, S. Mei, J. Meyers, A. Muzzin, A. Noble, J. Nantais, A. Rettura, P. Rosati, R. Sánchez-Janssen, V. Strazzullo, T. M. A. Webb, G. Wilson, Renbin Yan, H. K. C. Yee

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Recent independent results from numerical simulations and observations have shown that brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) have increased their stellar mass by a factor of almost 2 between z ∼ 0.9 and z ∼ 0.2. The numerical simulations further suggest that more than half this mass is accreted through major mergers. Using a sample of 18 distant galaxy clusters with over 600 spectroscopically confirmed cluster members between them, we search for observational evidence that major mergers do play a significant role. We find a major merger rate of 0.38 ± 0.14 mergers per Gyr at z ∼ 1. While the uncertainties, …

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The Spacetime Geometry Of A Null Electromagnetic Field, Charles G. Torre Jul 2013

The Spacetime Geometry Of A Null Electromagnetic Field, Charles G. Torre

Presentations and Publications

We give a set of local geometric conditions on a spacetime metric which are necessary and sufficient for it to be a null electrovacuum, that is, the metric is part of a solution to the Einstein-Maxwell equations with a null electromagnetic field. These conditions are restrictions on a null congruence canonically constructed from the spacetime metric, and can involve up to five derivatives of the metric. The null electrovacuum conditions are counterparts of the Rainich conditions, which geometrically characterize non-null electrovacua. Given a spacetime satisfying the conditions for a null electrovacuum, a straightforward procedure builds the null electromagnetic field from …

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Maximum Likelihood Analysis Of Systematic Errors In Interferometric Observations Of The Cosmic Microwave Background, Le Zhang, Ata Karakci, Paul M. Sutter, Emory F. Bunn, Andrei Korotkov, Peter Timbie, Gregory S. Tucker, Benjamin D. Wandelt Jun 2013

Maximum Likelihood Analysis Of Systematic Errors In Interferometric Observations Of The Cosmic Microwave Background, Le Zhang, Ata Karakci, Paul M. Sutter, Emory F. Bunn, Andrei Korotkov, Peter Timbie, Gregory S. Tucker, Benjamin D. Wandelt

Physics Faculty Publications

We investigate the impact of instrumental systematic errors in interferometric measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization power spectra. We simulate interferometric CMB observations to generate mock visibilities and estimate power spectra using the statistically optimal maximum likelihood technique. We define a quadratic error measure to determine allowable levels of systematic error that does not induce power spectrum errors beyond a given tolerance. As an example, in this study we focus on differential pointing errors. The effects of other systematics can be simulated by this pipeline in a straightforward manner. We find that, in order to accurately …

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Spectro-Astrometry Of Water In Dr Tauri, Logan Brown, Matthew Troutman, Erika Gibb May 2013

Spectro-Astrometry Of Water In Dr Tauri, Logan Brown, Matthew Troutman, Erika Gibb

Physics Faculty Works

We present high-resolution, near-infrared spectro-astrometric (SA) data for the T Tauri star DR Tau using NIRSPEC at the Keck II telescope. Spectro-astrometry obtains sub-seeing spatial information from emission lines originating in a non-point source object, such as a circumstellar disk. We report the first detection of water SA signatures in a protoplanetary disk. Three water features near 3 μm were averaged together to produce the total signal analyzed. Using a disk model, we constrained the position angle of the disk (~140°), the inclination of the disk (~13°), and the emitting region of the emission lines (~0.056-0.38 AU).

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Discontinuities And Alfvenic Fluctuations In The Solar Wind, G. Paschmann, S. Haaland, B. Sonnerup, T. Knetter May 2013

Discontinuities And Alfvenic Fluctuations In The Solar Wind, G. Paschmann, S. Haaland, B. Sonnerup, T. Knetter

Dartmouth Scholarship

We examine the Alfvenicity of a set of 188 solar wind directional discontinuities (DDs) identified in the Cluster data from 2003 by Knetter (2005), with the objective of separating rotational discontinuities (RDs) from tangential ones (TDs). The DDs occurred over the full range of solar wind velocities and magnetic shear angles. By performing the Walen test in the de Hoffmann–Teller (HT) frame, we show that 77 of the 127 crossings for which a good HT frame was found had plasma flow speeds exceeding 80 % of the Alfven speed at an average angular deviation of 7.7◦; 33 cases had speeds …

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Estimations Of The Magnetic Field Strength In The Torus Of Ic 5063 Using Near-Infrared Polarimetry, E. Lopez-Rodriguez, C. Packham, S. Young, Moshe Elitzur, N. A. Levenson, R. E. Mason, C. Ramos Almeida, A. Alonso-Herrero, T. J. Jones, E. Perlman May 2013

Estimations Of The Magnetic Field Strength In The Torus Of Ic 5063 Using Near-Infrared Polarimetry, E. Lopez-Rodriguez, C. Packham, S. Young, Moshe Elitzur, N. A. Levenson, R. E. Mason, C. Ramos Almeida, A. Alonso-Herrero, T. J. Jones, E. Perlman

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

An optically and geometrically thick torus obscures the central engine of active galactic nuclei (AGN) from some lines of sight. From a magnetohydrodynamical framework, the torus can be considered to be a particular region of clouds surrounding the central engine where the clouds are dusty and optically thick. In this framework, the magnetic field plays an important role in the creation, morphology and evolution of the torus. If the dust grains within the clouds are assumed to be aligned by paramagnetic alignment, then the ratio of the intrinsic polarization and visual extinction, P(per cent)/Av, is a …

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The X-Ray Properties Of Optically Selected Clusters Of Galaxies, A. K. Hicks, G. W. Pratt, M. Donahue, E. Ellingson, M. Gladders, H. Böhringer, H. K. C. Yee, Renbin Yan, J. H. Croston, D. G. Gilbank May 2013

The X-Ray Properties Of Optically Selected Clusters Of Galaxies, A. K. Hicks, G. W. Pratt, M. Donahue, E. Ellingson, M. Gladders, H. Böhringer, H. K. C. Yee, Renbin Yan, J. H. Croston, D. G. Gilbank

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present the results of Chandra and Suzaku X-ray observations of nine moderate-redshift (0.16 < z < 0.42) clusters discovered via the Red-sequence Cluster Survey (RCS). Surface brightness profiles are fitted to β-models, gas masses are determined, integrated spectra are extracted within R2500, and X-ray temperatures and luminosities are inferred. TheLX–TX relationship expected from self-similar evolution is tested by comparing this sample to our previous X-ray investigation of nine high-redshift (0.6 < z < 1.0) optically selected clusters. We find that optically selected clusters are systematically less luminous than X-ray selected clusters of similar X-ray temperature at both moderate and high z. We are unable to constrain evolution in the LX–TX relation with these data, but find it consistent with no evolution, within relatively large uncertainties. To investigate selection effects, we compare the X-ray properties of our sample to those of clusters in the …

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Studies Of Ngc 6720 With Calibrated Hst/Wfc3 Emission-Line Filter Images. Iii. Tangential Motions Using Astrodrizzle Images, C. R. O'Dell, Gary J. Ferland, W. J. Henney, M. Peimbert May 2013

Studies Of Ngc 6720 With Calibrated Hst/Wfc3 Emission-Line Filter Images. Iii. Tangential Motions Using Astrodrizzle Images, C. R. O'Dell, Gary J. Ferland, W. J. Henney, M. Peimbert

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We have been able to compare with astrometric precision AstroDrizzle processed images of NGC 6720 (the Ring Nebula) made using two cameras on the Hubble Space Telescope. The time difference of the observations was 12.925 yr. This large time base allowed the determination of tangential velocities of features within this classic planetary nebula. Individual features were measured in [N II] images as were the dark knots seen in silhouette against background nebular [O III] emission. An image magnification and matching technique was also used to test the accuracy of the usual assumption of homologous expansion. We found that homologous …

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Improving The Catalytic Activity Of Semiconductor Nanocrystals Through Selective Domain Etching, Elena Khon, Kelly Lambright, Rony S. Khnayzer, Pavel Moroz, Dimuthu Perera, Evgeniia Butaeva, Scott Lambright, Felix N. Castellano, Mikhail Zamkov May 2013

Improving The Catalytic Activity Of Semiconductor Nanocrystals Through Selective Domain Etching, Elena Khon, Kelly Lambright, Rony S. Khnayzer, Pavel Moroz, Dimuthu Perera, Evgeniia Butaeva, Scott Lambright, Felix N. Castellano, Mikhail Zamkov

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Colloidal chemistry offers an assortment of synthetic tools for tuning the shape of semiconductor nanocrystals. While many nanocrystal architectures can be obtained directly via colloidal growth, other nanoparticle morphologies require alternative processing strategies. Here, we show that chemical etching of colloidal nanoparticles can facilitate the realization of nanocrystal shapes that are topologically inaccessible by hot-injection techniques alone. The present methodology is demonstrated by synthesizing a two-component CdSe/CdS nanoparticle dimer, constructed in a way that both CdSe and CdS semiconductor domains are exposed to the external environment. This structural morphology is highly desirable for catalytic applications as it enables both reductive …

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Higher Frequency Network Activity Flow Predicts Lower Frequency Node Activity In Intrinsic Low-Frequency Bold Fluctuations, Sahil Bajaj, Bhim M. Adhikari, Mukesh Dhamala May 2013

Higher Frequency Network Activity Flow Predicts Lower Frequency Node Activity In Intrinsic Low-Frequency Bold Fluctuations, Sahil Bajaj, Bhim M. Adhikari, Mukesh Dhamala

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

The brain remains electrically and metabolically active during resting conditions. The low-frequency oscillations (LFO) of the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) coherent across distributed brain regions are known to exhibit features of this activity. However, these intrinsic oscillations may undergo dynamic changes in time scales of seconds to minutes during resting conditions. Here, using wavelet-transform based timefrequency analysis techniques, we investigated the dynamic nature of default-mode networks from intrinsic BOLD signals recorded from participants maintaining visual fixation during resting conditions. We focused on the default-mode network consisting of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), the …

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The Fine-Tuning Of Nomic Behavior In Multiverse Scenarios, Max Lewis Edward Andrews May 2013

The Fine-Tuning Of Nomic Behavior In Multiverse Scenarios, Max Lewis Edward Andrews

Masters Theses

The multiverse hypothesis (the view that there is not just one world or universe in existence, bur rather that there are many) is the leading alternative to the competing fine-tuning hypothesis (the laws of physics and constants are fine-tuned for the existence of life). The multiverse dispels many aspects of the fine-tuning argument by suggesting that there are different initial conditions in each universe, varying constants of physics, and the laws of nature lose their known arbitrary values; thus, making the previous single-universe argument from fine- tuning incredibly weak. The position that will be advocated will be that a form …

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Neutral Pion Background Analysis At Star, Adam Clark Apr 2013

Neutral Pion Background Analysis At Star, Adam Clark

Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

The STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory takes measurements of polarized proton collisions which can then be used to extract cross sections and spin asymmetries. The Endcap Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EEMC) in STAR allows measurements of electromagnetic particles in the forward direction, 1 < η < 2. The EEMC will be used to determine the neutral pion (π0) cross section and the double longitudinal spin asymmetry (ALL) which gives us information about the gluon contribution to the proton’s spin. The π0 cross section is an important supporting measurement to verify our signal reconstruction and the background characterization for the π0 asymmetry. In order to measure the π0 cross section and asymmetry, the backgrounds must be well understood (such as those from photon conversions and reconstruction errors where one photon reconstructs as two clusters). Efforts toward the π0 cross section and asymmetry measurements and, specifically, those to understand π0 backgrounds are discussed.

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An Event-By-Event Comparison Of Clustering Algorithms For Photon Detection In The Star Endcap Calorimeter, William J. Pochron Apr 2013

An Event-By-Event Comparison Of Clustering Algorithms For Photon Detection In The Star Endcap Calorimeter, William J. Pochron

Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

The STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory uses polarized proton collisions to determine the origin of the proton spin, using measurements such as neutral pion asymmetries. The Endcap Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EEMC) in the STAR detector is especially useful for detecting photons from π° decays at forward angles. This latter measurement is obtained from the Shower Maximum Detector (SMD) in the EEMC where narrow crossed scintillator strips measure the energy deposited in them and can be used to identify the location of the photon shower. The electromagnetic shower most often deposits energy in a …

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Dispersion Of Radon-222 Gas In Air, Erin Beckmeyer Apr 2013

Dispersion Of Radon-222 Gas In Air, Erin Beckmeyer

Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

Radon-222 is a heavy radioactive gas with a half-life of 3.8 days, often found in basements and other enclosed, underground spaces. It is produced by decaying deposits of uranium-238, and presents a significant health risk to those who encounter it in their homes and places of work. The only gas in the uranium decay chain, radon atoms work their way through layers of soil, usually to dissipate harmlessly into the atmosphere. In buildings, however, the gas accumulates and causes dangerous environmental radiation. Much work has been done to measure the transmission of the gas through water and solid materials, but …

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Generating A ‘Clean’ Pi0 Spectrum In Star, William J. Pochron Apr 2013

Generating A ‘Clean’ Pi0 Spectrum In Star, William J. Pochron

Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

The STAR detector at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider uses polarized proton collisions to investigate the origin of the proton spin, using measurements such as neutral pion (π0) asymmetries. STAR’s Endcap Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EEMC) is especially useful for detecting photons from π0 decays at forward-angle scattering from ≈15 to ≈40 degrees above the beam direction. We identify π0’s by constructing invariant mass spectra from these photons. Large background contributions are present in these spectra and distort the true value of the π0 invariant mass. By applying constraints (cuts) on parameters such as the opening angle of the photons …

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Stability Of The Gains Of The Star Endcap Calorimeter From 2006 To 2011, Kayla Kutz Apr 2013

Stability Of The Gains Of The Star Endcap Calorimeter From 2006 To 2011, Kayla Kutz

Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

The Solenoid Tracker at RHIC (STAR) experiment, based at Brookhaven National Laboratory's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), uses polarized-proton collisions to investigate sea quark and gluon contributions to the fundamental proton property called “spin.” The STAR detector's Endcap Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EEMC) measures the energy of particles produced by those collisions using a lead-scintillator sampling calorimeter, consisting of several layers that include pre-shower, shower maximum, tower, and post-shower detectors. In these detectors, the energy gains, which convert a measured pulse into an energy deposition, have been determined using data taken from the years 2006, 2009, and 2011. Changes in the gains …

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Testing The Klein-Nishina Model For Compton Scattering Of 0.662 Mev Photons With A Focus On Lower Scattering Angles, Joel Rogers Apr 2013

Testing The Klein-Nishina Model For Compton Scattering Of 0.662 Mev Photons With A Focus On Lower Scattering Angles, Joel Rogers

Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

The Thomson and Klein-Nishina equations for obtaining the differential cross section by Compton scattering of photons from free electrons in aluminum will be tested using 0.662 MeV photons from a Cesium-137 source. A NaI detector will be used to count the number of photons scattering from the target as a function of the scattering angle. A previous experiment carried out by VU student Josh Vredevoogd showed good agreement with the Klein-Nishina theory for angles greater than 45 but discrepancies with angles less than 45 degrees. This experiment will concentrate on testing the Klein-Nishina theory at angles less than 45 degrees.

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A Study Of Light Variability In Dying Stars, Hannah Rotter, Aaron Seider, Austin Bain Apr 2013

A Study Of Light Variability In Dying Stars, Hannah Rotter, Aaron Seider, Austin Bain

Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

In this research project, we observed and analyzed the light variability in a class of dying stars that are in the stage between Red Giant and White Dwarf in the evolution of stars like the Sun. Our observations were carried out during the summer and fall of 2012 at the Valparaiso Observatory. Thirty-two of these objects were observed in total. We analyzed a subset of 18 of these and found that they all varied in visual brightness by 10-70 percent. Periods for the variability were found for 8 out of 18 objects, and they range from 27 to 125 days, …

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Classification And Analysis Of Emission-Line Galaxies Using Mean Field Independent Component Analysis, James T. Allen, Paul C. Hewett, Chris T. Richardson, Gary J. Ferland, Jack A. Baldwin Apr 2013

Classification And Analysis Of Emission-Line Galaxies Using Mean Field Independent Component Analysis, James T. Allen, Paul C. Hewett, Chris T. Richardson, Gary J. Ferland, Jack A. Baldwin

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present an analysis of the optical spectra of narrow emission-line galaxies, based on mean field independent component analysis (MFICA), a blind source separation technique. Samples of galaxies were drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and used to generate compact sets of ‘continuum’ and ‘emission-line’ component spectra. These components can be linearly combined to reconstruct the observed spectra of a wider sample of galaxies. Only 10 components – five continuum and five emission line – are required to produce accurate reconstructions of essentially all narrow emission-line galaxies to a very high degree of accuracy; the median absolute deviations …

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Strongly Localized Magnetization Modes In Permalloy Antidot Lattices, J. Sklenar, V. S. Bhat, Lance E. De Long, O. Heinonen, J. B. Ketterson Apr 2013

Strongly Localized Magnetization Modes In Permalloy Antidot Lattices, J. Sklenar, V. S. Bhat, Lance E. De Long, O. Heinonen, J. B. Ketterson

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Antidot lattices (ADLs) patterned into soft magnetic thin films exhibit rich ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spectra corresponding to many different magnetization modes. One of the predicted modes is highly localized at the edges of the antidots; this mode is difficult to detect experimentally. Here we present FMR data for a permalloy thin film patterned into a square array of square antidots. Comparison of these data with micromagnetic simulations permits identification of several edge modes. Our simulations also reveal the effect of the antidot shape on the mode dispersion.

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Suppression Of Dielectronic Recombination Due To Finite Density Effects, D. Nikolić, T. W. Gorczyca, K. T. Korista, Gary J. Ferland, N. R. Badnell Apr 2013

Suppression Of Dielectronic Recombination Due To Finite Density Effects, D. Nikolić, T. W. Gorczyca, K. T. Korista, Gary J. Ferland, N. R. Badnell

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We have developed a general model for determining density-dependent effective dielectronic recombination (DR) rate coefficients in order to explore finite-density effects on the ionization balance of plasmas. Our model consists of multiplying by a suppression factor those highly-accurate total zero-density DR rate coefficients which have been produced from state-of-the-art theoretical calculations and which have been benchmarked by experiment. The suppression factor is based upon earlier detailed collision-radiative calculations which were made for a wide range of ions at various densities and temperatures, but used a simplified treatment of DR. A general suppression formula is then developed as a function of …

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Erratum: 'Improved He I Emissivities In The Case B Approximation', R. L. Porter, Gary J. Ferland, P. J. Storey, M. J. Detisch Apr 2013

Erratum: 'Improved He I Emissivities In The Case B Approximation', R. L. Porter, Gary J. Ferland, P. J. Storey, M. J. Detisch

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Tuning Electronic Structure Via Exipatial Strain In Sr2Iro4 Thin Films, J. Nichols, Jsaminka Terzic, Emily Geraldine Bittle, Oleksandr B. Korneta, Lance E. De Long, Joseph Brill, Gang Cao, Sung S. Ambrose Seo Apr 2013

Tuning Electronic Structure Via Exipatial Strain In Sr2Iro4 Thin Films, J. Nichols, Jsaminka Terzic, Emily Geraldine Bittle, Oleksandr B. Korneta, Lance E. De Long, Joseph Brill, Gang Cao, Sung S. Ambrose Seo

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We have synthesized epitaxial Sr2IrO4 thin-films on various substrates and studied their electronic structure as a function of lattice-strain. Under tensile (compressive) strain, increased (decreased) Ir-O-Ir bond-angle is expected to result in increased (decreased) electronic bandwidth. However, we have observed that the two optical absorption peaks near 0.5 eV and 1.0 eV are shifted to higher (lower) energies under tensile (compressive) strain, indicating that the electronic-correlation energy is also affected by in-plane lattice-strain. The effective tuning of electronic structure under lattice-modification provides an important insight into the physics driven by the coexisting strong spin-orbit coupling and electronic …

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Expanded Iron Uta Spectra—Probing The Thermal Stability Limits In Agn Clouds, Gary J. Ferland, R. Kisielius, F. P. Keenan, P. A. M. Van Hoof, V. Jonauskas, Matt L. Lykins, R. L. Porter, R. J. R. Williams Apr 2013

Expanded Iron Uta Spectra—Probing The Thermal Stability Limits In Agn Clouds, Gary J. Ferland, R. Kisielius, F. P. Keenan, P. A. M. Van Hoof, V. Jonauskas, Matt L. Lykins, R. L. Porter, R. J. R. Williams

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

The Fe unresolved transition arrays (UTAs) produce prominent features in the ~15-17 Å wavelength range in the spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Here, we present new calculations of the energies and oscillator strengths of inner-shell lines from Fe XIV, Fe XV, and Fe XVI. These are crucial ions since they are dominant at inflection points in the gas thermal stability curve, and UTA excitation followed by autoionization is an important ionization mechanism for these species. We incorporate these, and data reported in previous papers, into the plasma simulation code Cloudy. This updated physics is subsequently employed to reconsider the …

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Electronic Spectral Properties Of The Two-Dimensional Infinite-U Hubbard Model, Ehsan Khatami, Daniel Hansen, Edward Perepelitsky, Marcos Rigol, Sriram Shastry Apr 2013

Electronic Spectral Properties Of The Two-Dimensional Infinite-U Hubbard Model, Ehsan Khatami, Daniel Hansen, Edward Perepelitsky, Marcos Rigol, Sriram Shastry

Faculty Publications

A strong-coupling series expansion for the Green's function and the extremely correlated Fermi liquid (ECFL) theory are used to calculate the moments of the electronic spectral functions of the infinite-U Hubbard model. Results from these two complementary methods agree very well at both low densities, where the ECFL solution is the most accurate, and at high to intermediate temperatures, where the series converge. We find that a modified first moment, which underestimates the contributions from the occupied states and is accessible in the series through the time-dependent Green's function, best describes the peak location of the spectral function in the …

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The Nature Of The H2-Emitting Gas In The Crab Nebula, C. T. Richardson, J. A. Baldwin, Gary J. Ferland, E. D. Loh, C. A. Kuehn, A. C. Fabian, Philippe Salomé Apr 2013

The Nature Of The H2-Emitting Gas In The Crab Nebula, C. T. Richardson, J. A. Baldwin, Gary J. Ferland, E. D. Loh, C. A. Kuehn, A. C. Fabian, Philippe Salomé

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Understanding how molecules and dust might have formed within a rapidly expanding young supernova remnant is important because of the obvious application to vigorous supernova activity at very high redshift. In previous papers, we have mapped the Crab nebula (the Crab) in a rotovibrational H2emission line, and then measured the molecular excitation temperature for a few of the brighter H2-emitting knots that we have found to be scattered throughout the Crab's filaments. We found that H2 emission is often quite strong, correlates with optical low-ionization emission lines and has a surprisingly high excitation temperature. Here, …

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The Thermodynamics Of Dna Loop Formation, From J To Z, Stephen D. Levene, Stefan M. Giovan, Andreas Hanke, Massa J. Shoura Apr 2013

The Thermodynamics Of Dna Loop Formation, From J To Z, Stephen D. Levene, Stefan M. Giovan, Andreas Hanke, Massa J. Shoura

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications and Presentations

The formation of DNA loops is a ubiquitous theme in biological processes, including DNA replication, recombination and repair, and gene regulation. These loops are mediated by proteins bound at specific sites along the contour of a single DNA molecule, in some cases many thousands of base pairs apart. Loop formation incurs a thermodynamic cost that is a sensitive function of the length of looped DNA as well as the geometry and elastic properties of the DNA-bound protein. The free energy of DNA looping is logarithmically related to a generalization of the Jacobson-Stockmayer factor for DNA cyclization, termed the J factor. …

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