Digital Commons Network^™

Fiber Bundles Of The Complex Projective Space And Their Relation To Quantum Physics, Emily Wessman

Student Research Symposium

The complex projective space CPⁿ is the space of lines through the origin in Cⁿ⁺¹ with an equivalence relation defined by Z ~ λZ' for λ ∈ C*. We define the points under the equivalence relation as homogeneous coordinates, represented by [Z₀ : Z₁ : ... Z_n]. Since all Z,sub>i cannot equal zero, we can find a unique set of n coordinates (z₁,...,z_n) such that [Z₀ : Z₁ : ... : Z_n] ~ [1 : z₁ : ... : z_n] where z …

Synthesis Of Pristine Graphene On Cu Substrates Within A 3d Parameter Space, Max Haehnel

Student Research Symposium

We designed a low-pressure chemical vapor deposition system wherein the toluene combines with the carrier gas flow to contact with the substrate within the quartz tube. As toluene is a liquid at room temperature, we froze the toluene using liquid nitrogen before pumping down the chamber to low pressure. Substrate cleanliness and preparation proved to be essential in the synthesis process.

Microcanonical Analysis Of Semiflexible Homopolymers With Variable Bending Potential Width, Michael Gray

Scholars Week

I have developed an algorithm for finding phase transition in microcanonical data of simulations of homopolymers. These simulations model the behavior of homopolymers in an array of different conditions. This algorithm is generalized and can be applied to a variety of different systems. It works by taking repeated derivatives of the microcanonical entropy of the system and applying several filters, whose parameters are tuned algorithmically as well. Identification of phase transitions allows for the construction of a phase diagram.

32 - Nested Two Level Decomposition For Quantum Computing, Andrew Maciejunes, John Stenger, Dan Gunlycke, Nikos Chrisochoides

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Abstract—We present a two-level decomposition strategy for solving the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) using the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA). A Problem-Level Decomposition (PLD) partitions a 9-node (72-qubit) VRP into smaller Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) instances. Each TSP is then further simplified via Circuit-Level Decomposition (CLD), enabling execution on near-term quantum devices. Our approach achieves up to 90% reductions in circuit depth and qubit count. These results demonstrate the feasibility of solving VRPs previously too complex for quantum simulators and provide early evidence of potential quantum utility.

Highly Regenerable Magnetic Sulfonated Chitosan Crosslinked With Glutaraldehyde Composite Beads (Iron Sand/Naso3-Chi-G) For Aqueous Mercury Removal, Fathurrahmi Fathurrahmi, Rahmi Rahmi, Lelifajri Lelifajri, Anggun Sixthia Wulan Ayu, Muhammad Iqhrammullah

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

We developed a novel adsorbent from sulfonated, glutaraldehyde-crosslinked chitosan embedded with magnetic iron sand. The adsorbent was synthesized through a two-step process: (1) sulfonation with N(SO₃Na)₃ to introduce sulfonate groups, and (2) crosslinking with glutaraldehyde to enhance structural stability. The optimal formulation, containing 43.5% iron sand and crosslinked with 0.17 M glutaraldehyde, exhibited the highest Hg²⁺ adsorption capacity (30.74 mg/g) at pH 3. The adsorbents were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopic (FT-IR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. Adsorption equilibrium was achieved within 60 minutes, and isotherm modeling showed that the process followed the Freundlich model …

Constructing And Confirming The Viability Of Nested Helmholtz Coils As An Education Model For Clinical Mri Systems, Yoel Kim

Honors Theses

Our goal was to construct a viable laboratory model utilizing oscillating compasses as a visual and manipulable analogue for magnetically resonant proton procession in a clinical magnetic resonance (MR) system for students without a strong background in nuclear physics. The constructed model -- which utilized concentric perpendicular helmholtz coils -- was tested for its ability to replicate the 3 central components in the clinical MR system: the main coils, the RF coils and the gradient coils. Experiments were conducted to demonstrate that each portion of the apparatus was successfully able to model its analogue in the clinical MR system, as …

A New Weighting Scheme To Optimize The Full Fisher Information In Multi-Tracer Surveys Of The Large-Scale Structure, Cole Rischbieter, Shun Saito

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

No abstract provided.

An Open-Framework Iron-Selenite As Cathode For Li- Ion Batteries, Sutapa Bhattacharya, Aleksandr V. Chernatynskiy, Amitava Choudhury

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

No abstract provided.

The Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (Ceers), Steven L. Finkelstein, Micaela B. Bagley, Pablo Arrabal Haro, Mark Dickinson, Henry C. Ferguson, Jeyhan S. Kartaltepe, Dale D. Kocevski, Anton M. Koekemoer, Jennifer M. Lotz, Casey Papovich, Pablo G. Pérez-González, Nor Pirzkal, Rachel S. Somerville, Jonathan R. Trump, Guang Yang, L.Y. Aaron Yung, Adriano Fontana, Andrea Grazian, Norman A. Grogin, Lisa J. Kewley, Allison Kirkpatrick

Pacific Faculty Work

We present the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) Survey, a 77.2 hr Director’s Discretionary Early Release Science Program. CEERS demonstrates, tests, and validates efficient extragalactic surveys using coordinated, overlapping parallel observations with the JWST instrument suite, including NIRCam and MIRI imaging, NIRSpec low- (R ∼ 100) and medium- (R ∼ 1000) resolution spectroscopy, and NIRCam slitless grism (R ∼ 1500) spectroscopy. CEERS targets the Hubble Space Telescope-observed region of the Extended Groth Strip field, supported by a rich set of multiwavelength data. CEERS facilitated immediate community science in both of the extragalactic core JWST science drivers “First Light” and …

Seoul National University Agn Monitoring Project. V. Velocity-Resolved Hβ Reverberation Mapping And Evidence Of Kinematics Evolution, Shu Wang, Jong-Hak Woo, Aaron J. Barth, Vardha N. Bennert, Elena Gallo, Edmund Hodges-Kluck, Minjin Kim, Suvendu Rakshit, Tommaso Treu, Hojin Cho

Physics

We present velocity-resolved reverberation lags of Hβ for 20 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) from the Seoul National University AGN Monitoring Project. We detect unambiguous velocity-resolved structures in 12 AGNs, among which eight objects exhibit symmetric structures, two objects show inflow-like characteristics, and two objects display outflow-like signatures. For two AGNs, we successfully measure the velocity-resolved lags in different years, revealing evidence of evolving broad-line region (BLR) kinematics. By combining our sample with the literature velocity-resolved lags, we find that the symmetric velocity-resolved lags are the most common (40%) type among this sample. The frequency of inflow kinematics is also …

Replicating And Testing The First Point-Contact Transistor, Lucas Ethington, Lana Herkenhoff, Braden Stillmaker, Punit Turlapati

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Amorphous Metal Transparent Conducting Oxide P-Type Semiconductors, Joshua Santy

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Fractional Brownian Motion With Mean-Density Interaction, Jonathan House, Skirmantas Janusonis, Ralf Metzler, Thomas Vojta

Miners Solving for Tomorrow Research Conference

No abstract provided.

Optimizing Fisher Information In Quantum Technology, Bran Purvis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Fisher information is a statistical metric whose inverse represents a lower bound on the variance of an unbiased estimator. Naturally, in order to make the best estimates of a given unknown parameter, one would desire to find ways to minimize the value of this lower bound. Thus, the Fisher information can also be used to compare the quality of different estimators for a given parameter: whichever estimator has a lower value for its Fisher information must also provide better estimates. The same holds true in the framework of quantum information theory, where an analog to the Fisher information, dubbed quantum …

Parameter Estimation Of Binary Black Hole Coalescence Using Lstm Neural Networks, Lane Scheel

Undergraduate Honors Papers

The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (aLIGO) made its first detection of gravitational waves in 2015. Since then, the rate of event detection has only increased, with a detection being made every 2-3 days during the current observing run, O4. This rapid influx of data has the potential to create bottle-necks in data analysis efforts, and can delay the scientific progress which require those efforts. Traditional gravitational wave data analysis techniques, such as matched filtering, require extremely large template banks of synthetic gravitational waveforms and can often fail to provide meaningful limits on system parameters. Not only is this …

Using Physics Simulations To Find Targeting Strategies In Competitive Tenpin Bowling, S. S. M. Ji, S. Yang, W. Dominguez, C. G. Hooper, Cacey Stevens Bester

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

A new approach to finding the ideal location for a bowler to target on a bowling lane is demonstrated. To model bowling ball behavior, a system of six coupled differential equations is derived using Euler’s equations for a rotating rigid body. The numerical solution to the equations of motion shows the path of the ball on the lane, demonstrates the phases of ball motion, and is ultimately used to output a plot that displays the optimal initial conditions for the shot trajectory that leads to a strike for a typical competitive bowler. When the bowler is modeled to be imperfect …

Doppler Free Laser Spectroscopy, Luis F. Ayala

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Using Doppler Free laser spectroscopy we observed ground state and excited state Hyperfine structure of Rb atoms Isotopes 85 and 87.

Are The Vibrational Modes Of Molecules Quantized, Aniol Majoral Obradors

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

In electron scattering from N2 molecules we observe quantized vibrational levels of N2-. These vibrational levels are well suited for energy calibration when electron transmission of unknown molecules is performed.

Particle-In-Cell Coupled With Monte-Carlo Collisions And External Circuitry For Low Temperature Plasma Reactors, Richard Lombardini

Presentations - 2025

Low-temperature plasma reactors used for chip fabrication involve complex physical processes that affect the quality of pattern transfer on the semiconductor substrate. Detailed investigations of the near-surface plasma environment require fully-kinetic approaches. We use a particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision (PIC/MCC) approach coupled with external circuitry to model realistic operating conditions capture the kinetic effects and measure ion energy and angle distribution functions. We build on the exascale-capable PIC/MCC code, WarpX, and leverage Python interfaces to couple external circuitry. In this talk, we will demonstrate this inexpensive, non-iterative coupled strategy using a two-dimensional Gaseous Electronics Conference reference cell.

First Study Of Neutrino Angle Reconstruction Using Quasielastic-Like Interactions In Microboone, The Microboone Collaboration, Brandon Eberly

USM Physics Program

We investigate the expected precision of the reconstructed neutrino direction using a νμ-argon quasielastic-like event topology with one muon and one proton in the final state and the reconstruction capabilities of the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber. This direction is of importance in the context of DUNE sub-GeV atmospheric oscillation studies. MicroBooNE allows for a data-driven quantification of this resolution by investigating the deviation of the reconstructed muon-proton system orientation with respect to the well-known direction of neutrinos originating from the Booster Neutrino Beam with an exposure of 1.3 × 1021 protons on target. Using simulation studies, we derive …

Skyforge Core: A Triple Modular Redundant Computing Architecture For Small Satellites, Peter Staritz, Harrison Schmitt, Thomas Mcwatters, Ethan Hoyt, Josh Ellman, Sameer Sikander, Nate Westrum, Jordan Clark, Taebaeksanmaek Jung, Micah Williams, Lauren Myers, Kelden Wright, Matthew Homburg, Alex Roth, Jinran Zhang

Physics & Engineering Student Papers

As small satellite missions grow in complexity, there is increasing demand for greater onboard computational performance. Traditional radiation-hardened processors, while reliable, are expensive, slow, and suffer from long procurement timelines. In contrast, commercial off-the-shelf processors like the Raspberry Pi offer high performance at low cost but are vulnerable to radiation-induced faults such as single-event upsets. SkyForge Core is an experimental computing system that addresses this challenge by integrating three Raspberry Pi Zero W units into a triple modular redundant architecture. The system executes identical tasks on each Pi, compares outputs using majority voting, and identifies discrepancies. If a failure occurs, …

Computational Modeling Of Astrophysical Systems, Leleya Iris Stallard

Spring Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

This research project focuses on the computational modeling of astrophysical systems using Femap with NX Nastran. The goal was to simulate and analyze the vibrational behavior and structural deformation of celestial bodies under different material compositions and collision conditions. Materials such as iron, granite, titanium, and models for white dwarf stars were used to investigate how varying physical properties affect the systems' dynamic responses. Both isotropic and anisotropic models were created to represent realistic astrophysical materials. Through static and modal analyses, the study explored how internal structure and material stiffness influence the reaction of celestial objects to applied forces and …

Understanding Microsoft's Qubit, Alexander Escobedo, Eric Deyo

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

In this presentation, we attempt to understand the device that was recently developed by the Microsoft Azure Quantum group that creates, manipulates, and measures qubits using Majorana Zero Modes (MZM).

Spectral Width Of Maximum Deposition Eigenchannels In Diffusive Media, Rohin E. Mcintosh, Arthur Goetschy, Nicholas Bender, Alexey Yamilov, Chia Wei Hsu, Hasan Yllmaz, Hui Cao

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

The maximum deposition eigenchannel provides the largest possible power delivery to a target region inside a diffusive medium by optimizing the incident wavefront of a monochromatic beam. It originates from constructive interference of scattered waves, which is frequency sensitive. We investigate the spectral width of the maximum deposition eigenchannels over a range of target depths using numerical simulations of a 2D diffusive system. Compared to tight focusing into the system, power deposition to an extended region is more sensitive to frequency detuning. The spectral width of enhanced delivery to a large target displays a rather weak, nonmonotonic variation with target …

Radiative Energy And Mass Shifts Of Quantum Cyclotron States, Ulrich D. Jentschura

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Abstract: We discuss relativistic and radiative corrections to the energies of quantum cyclotron states. In particular, it is shown analytically that the leading logarithmic radiative (self-energy) correction to the bound-state energy levels of quantum cyclotron states is state independent and must be interpreted as a magnetic field-dependent correction to the electron's mass in a Penning trap.

Silverrush. Xiv. Lyα Luminosity Functions And Angular Correlation Functions From 20,000 Lyα Emitters At Z ∼ 2.2-7.3 From Up To 24 Deg2 Hsc-Ssp And Chorus Surveys: Linking The Postreionization Epoch To The Heart Of Reionization, Hiroya Umeda, Masami Ouchi, Satoshi Kikuta, Yuichi Harikane, Yoshiaki Ono, Takatoshi Shibuya, Akio K. Inoue, Kazuhiro Shimasaku, Yongming Liang, Akinori Matsumoto, Shun Saito, Haruka Kusakabe, Yuta Kageura

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present luminosity functions (LFs) and angular correlation functions (ACFs) derived from 18,960 Lyα emitters (LAEs) at z = 2.2−7.3 over a wide survey area of ≲24 deg² that are identified in the narrowband data of the HSC-SSP and CHORUS surveys. Confirming the large sample with 241 spectroscopically identified LAEs, we determine Lyα LFs and ACFs in the brighter luminosity range down to 0.5L⋆, and confirm that our measurements are consistent with previous studies but offer significantly reduced statistical uncertainties. The improved precision of our ACFs allows us to clearly detect one-halo terms at some redshifts, and provides large-scale …

High-Latitude Ionospheric Irregularities Characterized Through Machine Learning Methods, Anna-Marie Bals

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

This study uses Machine Learning and data-driven techniques to understand plasma irregularities in high-latitude regions better. By combining observations and recent findings from modeling, the goal is to identify and classify scintillation signatures caused by different types of irregularities in the ionosphere. The focus is on irregularities from electron precipitation in the auroral oval and ExB drifts in the polar cap. Using Machine Learning tools, the study aims to distinguish between different scintillation signatures and link them to their sources, improving our ability to detect and characterize these events. Using multiple instruments and advanced filtering, the aim is to enhance …

Acoustic-Gravity Wave Propagation Based On Solutions To The Generalized Multi-Component Transport Equations, Benedict PiñEyro

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Nonlinear atmospheric models have provided important insight into acoustic waves generated by natural and man-made hazards, which may steepen into shocks or N-waves while also dissipating when propagating in the thermosphere. Although models have yielded results that agree with observations of ionospheric perturbations, dynamical models for the diffusive and stratified lower thermosphere often use single gas approximations with height-dependent physical properties that omit the dynamics of the major and minor constituents. Thus, the inter-species diffusion associated with these flows (e.g. variations of mean molecular weight, and specific heat) are not accounted for. This approximation is simpler and less computationally expensive …

College Of Natural Sciences Newsletter, Spring 2025, College Of Natural Sciences

College of Natural Sciences Newsletters and Reports

Page 1 Dean's Message from Dr. Sen Subramanian
Page 2 Student Spotlights
Page 3 Kaushik honored, Three-Minute Thesis, & Ice Cores revealed
Page 4 Alumni Spotlight
Page 5 Day of Scholars
Page 6 Cyanide research, Record Research Expenditures, Adhikari awarded Miller Research Award
Page 8 Hanson Receives NSF Grant
Page 9 Snow Lab Research Team
Page 10 Faculty Awards
Page 11 Drone Day
Page 13 Khalaf Awarded Presidential Award

Contaminated Sweeping Langmuir Probes On Sounding Rocket Platforms, Rachel Conway

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Sweeping Langmuir Probes (SLPs) are one of the most commonly used probes on sounding rocket missions. They offer measurements of plasma density, electron temperature, and both relative and absolute payload charging. One of the major implementation challenges, however, is contamination on the surface of the probe such that collected IV curves become distorted. This distortion can result in deflated densities, inflated temperatures, and erroneous charging measurements. This dissertation aims to expand our understanding of contamination's impact on SLP data and offer new mitigation methods appropriate for the sounding rocket platform.

SPICE, Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis, is used to …