Physics Commons^™

Godel, Escherian Staircase And Possibility Of Quantum Wormhole With Liquid Crystalline Phase Of Iced-Water - Part Ii: Experiment Description, Victor Christianto, T. Daniel Chandra, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The present article was partly inspired by G. Pollack’s book, and also Dadoloff, Saxena & Jensen (2010). As a senior physicist colleague and our friend, Robert N. Boyd, wrote in a journal (JCFA, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2022), for example, things and Beings can travel between Universes, intentionally or unintentionally [4]. In this short remark, we revisit and offer short remark to Neil Boyd’s ideas and trying to connect them with geometry of musical chords as presented by D. Tymoczko and others, then to Escherian staircase and then to Jacob’s ladder which seems to pointto possibility to interpret Jacob’s vision …

Godel, Escherian Staircase And Possibility Of Quantum Wormhole With Liquid Crystalline Phase Of Iced-Water - Part I: Theoretical Underpinning, Victor Christianto, T. Daniel Chandra, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

As a senior physicist colleague and our friend, Robert N. Boyd, wrote in a journal (JCFA, Vol. 1,. 2, 2022), Our universe is but one page in a large book [4]. For example, things and Beings can travel between Universes, intentionally or unintentionally. In this short remark, we revisit and offer short remark to Neil’s ideas and trying to connect them with geometrization of musical chords as presented by D. Tymoczko and others, then to Escher staircase and then to Jacob’s ladder which seems to point to possibility to interpret Jacob’s vision as described in the ancient book of Genesis …

The Meaning Of Dark, Light And Shadows: Inferences In Art, Materiality And Cultural Practices, Frank Prendergast

Book/Book Chapter

Our visual awareness relies on light acting on the eye to perceive materiality and colour. Medieval thought wrestled to articulate and comprehend its nature. The notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, for example, included his descriptions to define light and make comparisons so as to differentiate between light and shadow. His focus was on the illumination of surfaces from the perspective of a painter, seeing shadows as ‘the diminution of light by the intervention of an opaque body’ and ‘the counterpart of luminous rays’. In his mind, a shadow ‘stood between light and darkness’, with darkness being ‘the absence of light’. …

Herschel Gould Belt Survey Observations Of Dense Cores In The Cepheus Flare Clouds, James Di Francesco, Jared Keown, Cassandra Fallscheer, Philippe André, Bilal Ladjelate, Vera Könyves, Alexander Men'shchikov, Shaun Stephens-Whale, Quang Nguyen-Luong, Peter Martin, Sarah Sadavoy, Stefano Pezzuto, Eleonora Fiorellino, Milena Benedettini, Nicola Schneider, Sylvain Bontemps, Doris Arzoumanian, Pedro Palmeirim, Jason M. Kirk, Derek Ward-Thompson

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

We present Herschel SPIRE and PACS maps of the Cepheus Flare clouds L1157, L1172, L1228, L1241, and L1251, observed by the Herschel Gould Belt Survey of nearby star-forming molecular clouds. Through modified blackbody fits to the SPIRE and PACS data, we determine typical cloud column densities of (0.5–1.0) × 10²¹ cm⁻² and typical cloud temperatures of 14–15 K. Using the getsources identification algorithm, we extract 832 dense cores from the SPIRE and PACS data at 160–500 μm. From placement in a mass versus size diagram, we consider 303 to be candidate prestellar cores, and 178 of these …

Simulating The Outer Layers Of Rapidly Rotating Stars, Frank J. Robinson, Joel Tanner, Sarbani Basu

Chemistry & Physics Faculty Publications

This paper presents the results of a set of radiative hydrodynamic (RHD) simulations of convection in the near-surface regions of a rapidly rotating star. The simulations use microphysics consistent with stellar models, and include the effects of realistic convection and radiative transfer. We find that the overall effect of rotation is to reduce the strength of turbulence. The combination of rotation and radiative cooling creates a zonal velocity profile in which the motion of fluid parcels near the surface is independent of rotation. Their motion is controlled by the strong up and down flows generated by radiative cooling. The fluid …

Response To Pitkanen’S Solar System Model: Towards Gross-Pitaevskiian Description Of Solar System And Galaxies And More Evidence Of Chiral Superfluid Vortices, Victor Christianto, Florentin Smarandache, Yunita Umniyati

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In a new paper in recent issue of this journal (PSTJ), Prof. M. Pitkanen describes a solar system model inspired by spiral galaxies. While we appreciate his new approach, we find it lacks substantial discussion on the nature of vortices and chirality in galaxy. Therefore we submit a viewpoint that Gross-Pitaevskii model can be a more complete description of both solar system and also spiral galaxies, especially taking into account the nature of chirality and vortices in galaxies. In this article, we also hope to bring out some correspondence among existing models, so we discuss shortly: the topological vortice approach, …

Wallaby Early Science − V. Askap Hi Imaging Of The Lyon Group Of Galaxies 351, B. Q. For, L. Staveley-Smith, T. Westmeier, M. Whiting, S. -H. Oh, B. Koribalski, J. Wang, O. I. Wong, G. Bekiaris, L. Cortese, A. Elagali, D. Kleiner, K. Lee-Waddell, Juan P. Madrid, A. Popping, J. Rhee, T. N. Reynolds, J. D. Collier, C. J. Phillips, M. A. Voronkov, O. Mueller, H. Jerjen

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present an HI study of the galaxy group LGG 351 usingWidefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind Survey (WALLABY) early science data observed with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). LGG 351 resides behind the M 83 group at a velocity range (cz) of ∼3500–4800 km s−1 within the rich Hydra-Centaurus overdensity region. We detect 40 sources with the discovery of a tidally interacting galaxy pair and two new HI sources that are not presented in previous optical catalogues. 23 out of 40 sources have new redshifts derived from the new HI data. This study is the largest WALLABY …

New Constraints On Early-Type Galaxy Assembly From Spectroscopic Metallicities Of Globular Clusters In M87, Alexa Villaume, Aaron Romanowsky, Jean Brodie, Jay Strader

Faculty Publications

The observed characteristics of globular cluster (GC) systems, such as metallicity distributions, are commonly used to place constraints on galaxy formation models. However, obtaining reliable metallicity values is particularly difficult because of our limited means to obtain high quality spectroscopy of extragalactic GCs. Often, "color–metallicity relations" are invoked to convert easier-to-obtain photometric measurements into metallicities, but there is no consensus on what form these relations should take. In this paper we make use of multiple photometric data sets and iron metallicity values derived from applying full-spectrum stellar population synthesis models to deep Keck/LRIS spectra of 177 GCs centrally located around …

Thinking Out Loud On Early Creation Through The Lens Of Hermeneutics Of Sherlock Holmes (Towards A Model Of Universe Based On Turbulence-Generated Sound Theory), Victor Christianto, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In recent years, apparently the Big Bang as described by the Lambda CDM-Standard Model Cosmology has become widely accepted by majority of physics and cosmology communities. Even some people have concluded that it has no serious alternative in horizon. Is that true? First, as we argued elsewhere, Big Bang story relies on singularity. In other words, when we are able to describe the observed data without invoking singularity, then Big Bang model is no longer required. Therefore, here we explore a few alternative stories other than Big Bang story, which most cosmologists believe it is the nearest to Biblical account …

The Growth Of The Central Region By Acquisition Of Counterrotating Gas In Star-Forming Galaxies, Yan-Mei Chen, Yong Shi, Christy A. Tremonti, Matt Bershady, Michael Merrifield, Eric Emsellem, Yi-Fei Jin, Song Huang, Hai Fu, David A. Wake, Kevin Bundy, David Stark, Lihwai Lin, Maria Argudo-Fernandez, Thaisa Storchi Bergmann, Dmitry Bizyaev, Joel Brownstein, Martin Bureau, John Chisholm, Niv Drory, Qi Guo, Lei Hao, Jian Hu, Cheng Li, Ran Li, Alexandre Roman Lopes, Kai-Ke Pan, Rogemar A Riffel, Daniel Thomas, Lan Wang, Renbin Yan

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Galaxies grow through both internal and external processes. In about 10% of nearby red galaxies with little star formation, gas and stars are counter-rotating, demonstrating the importance of external gas acquisition in these galaxies. However, systematic studies of such phenomena in blue, star-forming galaxies are rare, leaving uncertain the role of external gas acquisition in driving evolution of blue galaxies. Here, based on new measurements with integral field spectroscopy of a large representative galaxy sample, we find an appreciable fraction of counter-rotators among blue galaxies (9 out of 489 galaxies). The central regions of blue counter-rotators show younger stellar populations …

"Blinded By The Lines: Mid-Ir Spectra Of Mira Variables Taken With Spitzer", Dana Baylis-Aguirre, Michelle J. Creech-Eakman, Donald G. Luttermoser, Tina Gueth

ETSU Faculty Works

We present preliminary analysis of mid-infrared spectra of M-type and C-type Mira variables. Due to the brightness of this sample, it is straightforward to monitor changes with phase in the infrared spectral features of these regular pulsators. We have spectra of 25 Mira variables, taken with phase, using the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) high-resolution module. Each star has multiple spectra obtained over a one-year period from 2008-09. This is a rich, unique data set due to multiple observations of each star and the high signal-to-noise ratio from quick exposure times to prevent saturation of the IRS instrument. This paper focuses …

A Multi-Wavelength Analysis Of Cold Evolving Interstellar Clouds, Mary Spraggs

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The interstellar medium (ISM) is the dynamic system of gas and dust that fills the space between the stars within galaxies. Due to its integral role in star formation and ga-lactic structure, it is important to understand how the ISM itself evolves over time, in-cluding the process of cooling and condensing required to form new stars. This work aims to constrain and better understand the physical properties of the cold ISM with sev-eral different types of data, including large surveys of neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) 21cm spectral line emission and absorption, carbon monoxide (CO) 2.6mm line emission, and multi-band infrared …

Possible Evolution Of Supermassive Black Holes From Fri Quasars, Matthew I. Kim, Damian J. Christian, David Garofalo, Jaclyn D'Avanzo

Faculty and Research Publications

We explore the question of the rapid buildup of black hole mass in the early universe employing a growing black hole mass-based determination of both jet and disc powers predicted in recent theoretical work on black hole accretion and jet formation. Despite simplified, even artificial assumptions about accretion and mergers, we identify an interesting low probability channel for the growth of one billion solar mass black holes within hundreds of millions of years of the big bang without appealing to super Eddington accretion. This result is made more compelling by the recognition of a connection between this channel and an …

Scale Invariant Jet Suppression Across The Black Hole Mass Scale, David Garofalo, Chandra B. Singh

Faculty and Research Publications

We provide a schematic framework for understanding observations of jet suppression in soft state black hole X-ray binaries based on the Blandford-Payne process and the net magnetic flux threading the black hole. Due to the geometrical thinness of soft state disks, mass-loading of field lines is ineffective compared to both geometrically thick disks as well as thin disks with greater black hole threading flux, a simple physical picture that allows us to understand the weakness of jets in radiatively efficient thin disks accreting in the prograde direction around high-spinning black holes. Despite a simplicity that forbids insights into the complexity …

Reconciling Ag-Star Formation, The Soltan Argument, And Meier's Paradox, David Garofalo, Matthew I. Kim, Damian J. Christian, Emily Hollingworth

Faculty and Research Publications

We provide a theoretical context for understanding the recent work of Kalfountzou et al. showing that star formation is enhanced at lower optical luminosity in radio-loud quasars. Our proposal for coupling the assumption of collimated FRII quasar-jet-induced star formation with lower accretion optical luminosity also explains the observed jet power peak in active galaxies at higher redshift compared to the peak in accretion power, doing so in a way that predicts the existence of a family of radio-quiet active galactic nuclei associated with rapidly spinning supermassive black holes at low redshift, as mounting observations suggest. The relevance of this work …

Higgs Shifts From Electron–Positron Annihilations Near Neutron Stars, Gary A. Wegner, Roberto Onofrio

Dartmouth Scholarship

We discuss the potential for using neutron stars to determine bounds on the Higgs-Kretschmann coupling by looking at peculiar shifts in gamma-ray spectroscopic features. In particular, we reanalyze multiple lines observed in GRB781119 detected by two gamma-ray spectrometers, and derive an upper bound on the Higgs-Kretschmann coupling that is much more constraining than the one recently obtained from white dwarfs. This calls for targeted analyses of spectra of gamma-ray bursts from more recent observatories, dedicated searches for differential shifts on electron–positron and proton–antiproton annihilation spectra in proximity of compact sources, and signals of electron and proton cyclotron lines from the …

Symmetry And The Arrow Of Time In Theoretical Black Hole Astrophysics, David Garofalo

Faculty and Research Publications

While the basic laws of physics seem time-reversal invariant, our understanding of the apparent irreversibility of the macroscopic world is well grounded in the notion of entropy. Because astrophysics deals with the largest structures in the Universe, one expects evidence there for the most pronounced entropic arrow of time. However, in recent theoretical astrophysics work it appears possible to identify constructs with time-reversal symmetry, which is puzzling in the large-scale realm especially because it involves the engines of powerful outflows in active galactic nuclei which deal with macroscopic constituents such as accretion disks, magnetic fields, and black holes. Nonetheless, the …

The Optical Luminosity Function Of Gamma-Ray Bursts Deduced From Rotse-Iii Observations, X. H. Cui, X. F. Wu, J. J. Wei, F. Yuan, W. K. Zheng, E. W. Liang, C. W. Akerlof, M. C. B. Ashley, H A. Flewelling, E. Göǧüş, T. Güver, Ü. Kızıloǧlu, T. A. Mckay, S. B. Pandey, E. S. Rykoff, W. Rujopakarn, B. E. Schaefer, J. C. Wheeler, Sarah A. Yost

Physics Faculty Publications

We present the optical luminosity function (LF) of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) estimated from a uniform sample of 58 GRBs from observations with the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment III (ROTSE-III). Our GRB sample is divided into two sub-samples: detected afterglows (18 GRBs) and those with upper limits (40 GRBs). We derive R-band fluxes for these two sub-samples 100 s after the onset of the burst. The optical LFs at 100 s are fitted by assuming that the co-moving GRB rate traces the star formation rate. While fitting the optical LFs using Monte Carlo simulations, we take into account the …

Maximizing Precision Of Variable Star Photometry With Digital Cameras In Suburban Environments, David Hergesheimer

STAR Program Research Presentations

Photometry is the measure of the brightness of an object. When making such measurements on stars, it is done is units of magnitude, which is on a logarithmic scale with a base of ~2.512. Variable star photometry using a commercially available digital camera is not going to be as accurate and precise as equipment used by astronomers, and because of the logarithmic scale of magnitude used, determining how much of an effect different error reduction strategies have is not straightforward, and is best done experimentally.

My research is conducting photometry on variable stars (changing brightness) with a digital camera, and …

Constraints Of The Radio-Loud/Radio-Quiet Dichotomy From The Fundamental Plane, David Garofalo, Matthew I. Kim, Damian J. Christian

Faculty and Research Publications

The Fundamental Plane for black hole activity constitutes a tight correlation between jet power, X-ray luminosity, and black hole mass. Under the assumption that a Blandford–Znajek-type mechanism, which relies on black hole spin, contributes non-negligibly to jet production, the sufficiently small scatter in the Fundamental Plane shows that black hole spin differences of |Δa| ∼ 1 are not typical among the active galactic nuclei population. If – as it seems – radio-loud and radio-quiet objects are both faithful to the Fundamental Plane, models of black hole accretion in which the radio-loud/radio-quiet dichotomy is based on a spin dichotomy of a∼1/a∼0, …

Secular Damping Of Stellar Bars In Spinning Dark Matter Halos, Stacy Long, Isaac Shlosman, Clayton Heller

Department of Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We demonstrate using numerical simulations of isolated galaxies that growth of stellar bars in spinning dark matter halos is heavily suppressed in the secular phase of evolution. In a representative set of models, we show that for values of the cosmological spin parameter λ ≳ 0.03, bar growth (in strength and size) becomes increasingly quenched. Furthermore, the slowdown of the bar pattern speed weakens considerably with increasing λ until it ceases completely. The terminal structure of the bars is affected as well, including extent and shape of their boxy/peanut bulges. The essence of this effect lies in the modified angular …

Characterization Of Samples For Optimization Of Infrared Stray Light Coatings, Carey L. Baxter, Rebecca Salvemini, Zaheer A. Ali, Patrick Waddell, Greg Perryman, Bob Thompson

STAR Program Research Presentations

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a converted 747SP that houses a 2.5 m telescope that observes the sky through an opening in the side of the aircraft. Because it flies at altitudes up to 45,000 feet, SOFIA gets 99.99% transmission in the infrared. Multiple science instruments mount one at a time on the telescope to interpret infrared and visible light from target sources. Ball Infrared Black (BIRB) currently coats everything that the optics sees inside the telescope assembly (TA) cavity in order to eliminate noise from the glow of background sky, aircraft exhaust, and other sources. A …

Flitecam Data Process Validation, Jesse K. Tsai, Sachindev S. Shenoy, Brent Cedric Nicklas, Zaheer Ali, William T. Reach

STAR Program Research Presentations

FLITECAM Data Processing Validation

Many of the challenges that come from working with astronomical imaging arise from the reduction of raw data into scientifically meaningful data. First Light Infrared Test CAMera (FLITECAM) is an infrared camera operating in the 1.0–5.5 μm waveband on board SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy). Due to the significant noise from the atmosphere and the camera itself, astronomers have developed many methods to reduce the effects of atmospheric and instrumental emission. The FLITECAM Data Reduction Program (FDRP) is a program, developed at SOFIA Science Center, subtracts darks, removes flats, and dithers images.

This project contains …

Designing A Cold Source To Be Integrated With The Existing Telescope Assembly Alignment Simulator, Rebecca L. Salvemini, Carey Baxter, Zaheer Ali, Greg Perryman, Robert Thompson, Daniel Nolan

STAR Program Research Presentations

The stratospheric observatory for infrared astronomy (SOFIA), is a modified Boeing 747-SP with a 2.5m telescope mounted inside. SOFIA flies at an altitude of 45,000 feet, above 99% of the water vapor in the atmosphere, allowing transmission of most infrared radiation. SOFIA has seven different science instruments (SI) that can be used to collect astronomical data, enabling scientists to look at many different wavelengths of infrared and visible radiation.

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, …

Retrograde Versus Prograde Models Of Accreting Black Holes, David Garofalo

Faculty and Research Publications

There is a general consensus that magnetic fields, accretion disks, and rotating black holes are instrumental in the generation of the most powerful sources of energy in the known universe. Nonetheless, because magnetized accretion onto rotating black holes involves both the complications of nonlinear magnetohydrodynamics that currently cannot fully be treated numerically, and uncertainties about the origin of magnetic fields that at present are part of the input, the space of possible solutions remains less constrained. Consequently, the literature still bears witness to the proliferation of rather different black hole engine models. But the accumulated wealth of observational data is …

The Propagation Of Light Through Dark Matter, Audrey Kvam

Summer Research

A concordance of observations indicates that around 80% of the matter in the universe is some unknown dark matter. This dark matter could be comprised of a single structureless particle, but much richer theories exist. Signals from the DAMA, CoGeNT, and CDMS-II dark matter detectors along with the non-observation of dark matter by other detectors motivate theories of composite dark matter along with a “dark” electromagnetic sector. The composite models propose baryon-like or atom-like dark matter. If photons kinetically mix with the “dark” photons, then light traveling through dark matter will experience dispersion. We expect the dispersion to be approximated …

Telescope Assembly Alignment Simulator Performance Optimization, Joshua G. Thompson, Brian Eney, Zaheer Ali, Bob Thompson

STAR Program Research Presentations

The Telescope Assembly Alignment Simulator (TAAS) calibrates scientific instruments (SI’s) that are installed on the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). An SI’s accuracy is directly dependent on the consistent performance of the TAAS, which has never been fully characterized. After designing various thermal and optical experiments to identify the current unknowns of TAAS, we now have a far better grasp on how the equipment behaves.

The Role Of Llnl's Fast Calibration Facility In Diagnosing Nif Fusion Plasmas, Joshua G. Thompson, Carey Scott, Greg V. Brown

STAR Program Research Presentations

The Fusion and Astrophysics (FAST) Calibration and Diagnostic Facility uses the original Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT-I) to profile x-ray filters that are used in the Dante Soft X-Ray Diagnostic at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). FAST has an advantage over any other facility not only for its high accuracy, but also for its proximity to NIF in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). This makes for highly accurate and near-instantaneous filter calibration turnover.

EBIT-I was first constructed to create, trap, and observe static highly charged ions (HCIs) and conduct experimental astrophysics (creating an x-ray spectroscopy catalogue of ions). To …

Laboratory Astrophysics: Using Ebit Measurements To Interpret High Resolution Spectra From Celestial Sources, Carey Scott, Joshua Thompson, N. Hell, Greg V. Brown

STAR Program Research Presentations

Astrophysicists use radiation to investigate the physics controlling a variety of celestial sources, including stellar atmospheres, black holes, and binary systems. By measuring the spectrum of the emitted radiation, astrophysicists can determine a source’s temperature and composition. Accurate atomic data are needed for reliably interpreting these spectra. Here we present an overview of how LLNL’s EBIT facility is used to put the atomic data on sound footing for use by the high energy astrophysics community.