Digital Commons Network^™

Constraints On Solar Axions Using The Profile Likelihood Ratio Method With The Supercdms Experiments, Shilun Liu

Physics Theses and Dissertations

Dark matter plays an essential role in understanding modern physics and particles beyond the Standard Model. Evidence suggests that dark matter accounts for approximately 85% of the universe’s matter, and 26.8% of its mass-energy composition. Key candidates for dark matter include unidentified subatomic particles like Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) and axions. The Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) employs direct detection methods to identify these elusive particles using cryogenic technologies. Su- perCDMS Soudan is the latest completed CDMS experiment in Minnesota, in preparation for the next phase experiments of SuperCDMS SNOLAB in Sudbury, Canada. At SNOLAB, the Cryogenic Underground …

Automated Classification Of Extended Astrophysical Objects Using Ai Techniques, Aleksandr Mosenkov

BYU Research Development Office Research Networking Conference

Areas of Interest: Extragalactic astronomy, AI methods, Computer Science

Tuning Electronic Transport And Magnetic Properties Of Layered Magnetic Materials, Md Rafique Un Nabi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Two-dimensional magnetic materials (2DMMs) have gained significant interest due to their potential for novel physical phenomena and device applications. Mn_2-xZn_xSb, with its tunable magnetic properties and stable tetragonal layered structure, offers a rich platform for exploring these phenomena. The introduction of Zn into the Mn₂Sb lattice efficiently tunes magnetic and electronic properties, making it a compelling candidate for high-performance spintronic devices.

With this motivation, we synthesized Mn_2-xZn_xSb (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) single crystals using a flux method. Mn2Sb exhibits ferrimagnetic order below 550 K with antiparallel spins aligned along …

The Integration Of Mathematical Concepts In Physics Curriculum, Paige Poindexter

Masters Projects

Research has shown that students are struggling to grasp mathematical concepts and skills, which carries over to other subjects, such as science. As the need for an improved STEM education approach continues to grow, the use of integration to guide curriculum development has proven to be effective. This project dives into the available research surrounding the overlap of subjects taught in a secondary setting, focusing on the techniques proven to improve student academic success. This project addresses the need to draw clear connections between mathematics and physics courses, with the goal of improving student scores in both areas. The result …

The Radiative And Geometric Properties Of Melting First-Year Landfast Sea Ice In The Arctic, Nathan J. M. Laxague, Christopher J. Zappa, Andrew R. Mahoney, John Goodwin, Cyrus Harris, Robert E. Schaeffer, Roswell Schaeffer, Sarah Betcher, Donna D W Hauser, Carson R. Witte, Jessica M. Lindsay, Ajit Subramaniam, Kate E. Turner, Alex Whiting

Faculty Publications

In polar regions, sea ice is a crucial mediator of the interaction between Earth's atmosphere and oceans. Its formation and breakup is intimately connected with large-scale climatic processes, local weather patterns, and the use of sea ice in coastal Arctic regions by Indigenous people. In order to investigate the physical phenomena at the heart of this process, a set of targeted, intensive observations were made over spring sea ice melt and breakup in Kotzebue Sound, Alaska. These observations were planned and executed through a collaborative effort in which an Indigenous Elder advisory council from Kotzebue and scientists participated in co-production …

The Chemistry Of Heavy Elements: Probing Relativistic Chemical Bonding, Barbara Maria Teixeira Costa Peluzo

Chemistry Theses and Dissertations

The bottommost part of the periodic table has a unique chemistry, where the high velocities of the inner-shell electrons prevent their description by the usual Schrödinger equation. The resulting so-called relativistic effects have numerous chemical implications, on both macro and microscale, ranging from physical properties to reactivity. However, experimental probes on these intriguing atoms are limited by their natural availability and, more importantly, the danger associated with their radioactivity. Quantum chemical calculations, on the other hand, face the challenge of far more complex algebra, which demands substantial computational resources. Relativistic Hamiltonians, which act over all electrons in the system, are …

Persistent Behavior In Solar Energetic Particle Time Series, N V. Sarlis, G Livadiotis, D J. Mccomas, M E. Cuesta, L Y. Khoo, C M S Cohen, D G. Mitchell, Nathan A. Schwadron

Faculty Publications

We investigate the long-term persistence of solar energetic particle (SEP) time series by means of four different methods: Hurst rescaled range R/S analysis, detrended fluctuation analysis, centered moving average analysis, and the fluctuation of natural time under the time reversal method. For these analyses, we use data sets from the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun instrument suite on board NASA's Parker Solar Probe. Background systematic noise is modeled using cross-correlation analysis between different SEP energy channels and subtracted from the original data. The use of these four methods for deriving the time-series persistence allows us to (i) differentiate between …

Persistent Behavior In Solar Energetic Particle Time Series, N V. Sarlis, G Livadiotis, D J. Mccomas, M E. Cuesta, L Y. Khoo, C M S Cohen, D G. Mitchell, Nathan A. Schwadron

Faculty Publications

We investigate the long-term persistence of solar energetic particle (SEP) time series by means of four different methods: Hurst rescaled range R/S analysis, detrended fluctuation analysis, centered moving average analysis, and the fluctuation of natural time under the time reversal method. For these analyses, we use data sets from the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun instrument suite on board NASA's Parker Solar Probe. Background systematic noise is modeled using cross-correlation analysis between different SEP energy channels and subtracted from the original data. The use of these four methods for deriving the time-series persistence allows us to (i) differentiate between …

2024 Spring Term Sls261/Phy206 Syllabus, Gustavo Machado Monteiro

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Consciousness And Physicalism, Brian Mcgowan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Physicalism is a philosophy of mind which attempts to explain consciousness as resulting from physical causes. The lack of a complete and consistent mathematical theory to explain physical causation has led other philosophers of mind to propose that consciousness is a nonphysical essence, property, or substance. However, the idea that physics can be defined atomically and/or deterministically leads to explanatory problems for consciousness, as well as for the dualisms which explain consciousness under these assumptions. This thesis advances a position called “continuous physicalism” which takes all material to result from deformations in the physical medium of space, and any changes …

Representation Theory And Its Applications In Physics, Max Varverakis

Master's Theses

Representation theory, which encodes the elements of a group as linear operators on a vector space, has far-reaching implications in physics. Fundamental results in quantum physics emerge directly from the representations describing physical symmetries. We first examine the connections between specific representations and the principles of quantum mechanics. Then, we shift our focus to the braid group, which describes the algebraic structure of braids. We apply representations of the braid group to physical systems in order to investigate quasiparticles known as anyons. Finally, we obtain governing equations of anyonic systems to highlight the differences between braiding statistics and conventional Bose-Einstein/Fermi-Dirac …

Variability Of High-Degree Modes Over Multiple Solar Cycles Using Local Helioseismic Data From Gong, Nicholas Cebula, Sushanta Tripathy, Kiran Jain, John M. Cannon

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

In this investigation we use the local helioseismic technique of ring diagrams to study the power, energy, and damping rates of high degree solar acoustic modes. Our data covers the period from the maximum phase of solar cycle 23 to the ascending phase of cycle 25. The goal is to examine the variations in the mode parameters with solar activity as well as the differences between different cycles. For this, we use different proxies of solar activity. We use 10.7 cm radio flux measurements and a measure of magnetic flux known as magnetic activity index from magnetograms.

Analysis And Computation Of Constrained Sparse Coding On Emerging Non-Von Neumann Devices, Kyle Henke

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

This dissertation seeks to understand how different formulations of the neurally inspired Locally Competitive Algorithm (LCA) represent and solve optimization problems. By studying these networks mathematically through the lens of dynamical and gradient systems, the goal is to discern how neural computations converge and link this knowledge to theoretical neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI). Both classical computers and advanced emerging hardware are employed in this study. The contributions of this work include:

1. Theoretical Work: A comprehensive convergence analysis for networks using both generic Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) and Rectified Sigmoid activation functions. Exploration of techniques to address the binary …

Global Fits In The Supersymmetric Georgi-Machacek Model, Yingnan Xu

Physics Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we study a supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model with Higgs triplets in the scalar sector. We begin with a review of the Standard Model (SM), particularly the electroweak sector and the Higgs mechanism. In the SM, the Higgs mechanism requires the presence of a complex Higgs doublet to break the electroweak symmetry and endow particles with a mass; this process is called Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking (SSB). Although this is the simplest possibility, higher scalar representations may also contribute to the electroweak breaking process (EWSB). The extent to which these higher representations contribute to EWSB is constrained …

Going Down An Incline With Chatgpt, Corey R. Sissons

Student Research Symposium

In our Large Language Model (LLM) research, examining ChatGPT 4, we devised a physics problem involving an object descending an inclined plane. Through variations in terminology such as "rolling," "sliding," "solid sphere," "hollow sphere," "wooden ramp," "no-slip ramp," and more, we sought to evaluate LLM responses for different scenarios. Our analysis aimed to discern whether the LLM’s answers exhibited expertise in the field of physics. This experiment sheds light on LLM’s ability to give accurate and precise physics answers as well as variation in responses to nuanced changes in problem formulation. This provides valuable insights into its proficiency and potential …

Toward The Development Of An Ultra-Fast, Bright Photoelectron Emission Source Using Tip Enhancement, Pei-Hsiang Yen, Erik J. Sanchez

Student Research Symposium

With the advancement of technology, people are pursuing even higher-resolution analysis results from metrology tools. When results are provided with temporal information, one can add a new dimension to the results. This research involves the development of a new temporal electron source by utilizing tip enhancement, which necessitates the creation of a novel type of emitter that emits electrons on a femtosecond (fs) time scale. Due to the nature of the electron’s mass, under the influence of an electric field they move quickly. To achieve our goal is the design of a resonant nano antenna (or known as a nantenna) …

Bioactive Glass Bead Characterization: Further Applications In Passive Drug Delivery, Marie O. Sykes

Physics and Astronomy Honors Papers

Bioactive glass beads were discovered for their bone repair properties in 1969. This properties, along with their bactericidalness, high ability to be engineered, bioactiveness and their versatile structures, mark them as excellent candidates for explorations in other biomedical applications in addition to bone repair. One alternative application includes passive drug delivery, especially when the biomaterial is in a porous, microsphere structure. In this work, we first explore various samples of bioactive glass compositions and structures in order to target the best bead for the application of drug delivery. The targeted beads are then thoroughly characterized using optical microscopy, Scanning Electron …

The Search For Photonuclear Interactions Of Muons Utilizing Test Beam Data At The Large Hadron Collider, Miranda M. Williams

2024 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

The ATLAS Detector is one of four different types of detectors within the Large Hadron Collider and is used to study the fundamental theories of the universe. Within the ATLAS experiment, beams of known composition and energies – otherwise known as “test beams” – are one of the many methods used to study specific physical phenomena. In this study, a test beam of muons with an energy of 160 GeV was analyzed to search for evidence of photonuclear interactions. This necessitated analyzing and filtering over 50,000 total events using specific parameters that would indicate such an event had occurred. To …

Time Resolved X-Ray Spectroscopy Of Highly Charged Ar, Nd, And Pr, Timothy Burke

All Dissertations

Highly Charged Ions (HCIs) may be considered ideal mini-laboratory in which one can study the physics of matter and light in an environment of high internal electric field that can not be recreated with standard lab equipment. The remaining electron(s) exist in the extremely large electric field of the nucleus and therefore measurements of electronic transitions in these systems provide stringent tests of our understanding of physics in extreme conditions. Quantum electrodynamics (QED) despite being a powerful theory exhibits large discrepancies for systems under extreme conditions. The work here investigates the atomic properties within non-Maxwellian plasmas. The HCI plasmas studied …

Experimental Analyses Of Emission Lines In The Uv/Vis/Nir Range For Astrophysically-Important Elements: From The Iron Group To R-Process Elements, Brynna Neff

All Dissertations

Analysis of astrophysical phenomena requires an understanding of the electronic

structure and transition probabilities of the elements present in that environment,

yet there are still many charge states of heavy elements whose electronic

structures and spectroscopic properties are not yet well understood. To address this,

we investigated the spectroscopic properties of three different elements through an

analysis of spectra collected from three different experimental apparatuses.

In order to better understand the spectroscopic properties of Ni I and II, we

analyzed spectra collected from the Compact Toroidal Hybrid (CTH) apparatus at

Auburn University. In this experiment, a nickel sample was inserted …

Thermodynamics Of Variable Thermophysical Properties Of Non-Newtonian Fluids With The Exploration Of Antiviral And Antibacterial Mechanisms Using Silver Nanoparticles, Ogiboina Ramakrishna, Bidemi Olumide Falodun, Oluwadamilare Joseph Akinremi, Ezekiel Olaoluwa Omole, Ahmed Senior Ismail, Femi Emmanuel Amoyedo

Faculty Publications

This research is aimed at examining the thermodynamics of variable thermophysical properties of non-Newtonian fluids with the exploration of antiviral and antibacterial mechanisms. The mechanism of antiviral together with antibacterial was separately considered by utilizing the silver nanoparticles. The physical phenomenon comprising thermal radiation, magnetic field, chemical reaction, heat generation parameters, etc are presented as partial differential equations (PDEs). The formulated PDEs are changed into ordinary differential equations using suitable similarity variables. The spectral relaxation method (SRM) was employed to numerically solve the set of equations. The SRM is an iterative method that employs the basic techniques of the Gauss–Seidel …

Thermodynamics Of Variable Thermophysical Properties Of Non-Newtonian Fluids With The Exploration Of Antiviral And Antibacterial Mechanisms Using Silver Nanoparticles, Ogiboina Ramakrishna, Bidemi Olumide Falodun, Oluwadamilare Joseph Akinremi, Ezekiel Olaoluwa Omole, Ahmed Senior Ismail, Femi Emmanuel Amoyedo

Faculty Publications

This research is aimed at examining the thermodynamics of variable thermophysical properties of non-Newtonian fluids with the exploration of antiviral and antibacterial mechanisms. The mechanism of antiviral together with antibacterial was separately considered by utilizing the silver nanoparticles. The physical phenomenon comprising thermal radiation, magnetic field, chemical reaction, heat generation parameters, etc are presented as partial differential equations (PDEs). The formulated PDEs are changed into ordinary differential equations using suitable similarity variables. The spectral relaxation method (SRM) was employed to numerically solve the set of equations. The SRM is an iterative method that employs the basic techniques of the Gauss–Seidel …

High Powered Rocket Modification, Joshua Gage

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Rocketry has always been a fun challenge for me. Since not only was I able to learn something new every time I did it, but I was able to do something with my hands as well. One area that has been very challenging for me is how to put a tracker onto a rocket that has no electronics bay. And studying for the L2 Certification tests. And this poster shows my thoughts and process I did to pass my L2 Certification Flight.

Igniting Passion:​ A Detailed Journey Through Rocketry Course Activities, Krish M. Patel, Hannah Caycedo, Joshua Gage, Josi Maness, Kevin Park, Mufeng Shen

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

This course is a semester-long adventure in rocketry, led by Dr. Paul Adams. It covers everything about building and flying rockets, starting from the basics to more advanced rocketry. Students learn how to build rockets and use equipment used I payload systems like and altimeter and a GPS. We also learned about the importance of safety involved with building and launching rockets.

Historical Trends In The Astronomy, Math, And Physics Section Of The Virginia Academy Of Science, Joseph D. Rudmin

Virginia Journal of Science

A brief history of the Astronomy, Math, and Physics section of the Virginia Academy of Science is presented, noting trends in participation and content.

Reliable Identification Of Binary Supermassive Black Holes From Rubin Observatory Time-Domain Monitoring, Megan C. Davis, Kaylee E. Grace, Jonathan R. Trump, Jessie C. Runnoe, Amelia Henkel, Laura Blecha, W N. Brandt, J Andrew Casey-Clyde, Maria Charisi, Caitlin A. Witt

Faculty Publications

Periodic signatures in time-domain observations of quasars have been used to search for binary supermassive black holes (SMBHs). These searches, across existing time-domain surveys, have produced several hundred candidates. The general stochastic variability of quasars, however, can masquerade as a false-positive periodic signal, especially when monitoring cadence and duration are limited. In this work, we predict the detectability of binary SMBHs in the upcoming Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). We apply computationally inexpensive sinusoidal curve fits to millions of simulated LSST Deep Drilling Field light curves of both single, isolated quasars and binary quasars. The period …

The Gyrokinetic Dispersion Relation Of Microtearing Modes In Collisionless Toroidal Plasmas, Benjamin D G Chandran, A A. Schekochihin

Faculty Publications

We solve the linearized gyrokinetic equation, quasineutrality condition and Ampere's law to obtain the dispersion relation of microtearing modes (MTMs) in collisionless low- $\beta$ toroidal plasmas. Consistent with past studies, we find that MTMs are driven unstable by the electron temperature gradient and that this instability drive is mediated by magnetic drifts. The dispersion relation that we derive can be evaluated numerically very quickly and may prove useful for devising strategies to mitigate MTM instability in fusion devices.

The Gyrokinetic Dispersion Relation Of Microtearing Modes In Collisionless Toroidal Plasmas, Benjamin D G Chandran, A A. Schekochihin

Faculty Publications

We solve the linearized gyrokinetic equation, quasineutrality condition and Ampere's law to obtain the dispersion relation of microtearing modes (MTMs) in collisionless low- $\beta$ toroidal plasmas. Consistent with past studies, we find that MTMs are driven unstable by the electron temperature gradient and that this instability drive is mediated by magnetic drifts. The dispersion relation that we derive can be evaluated numerically very quickly and may prove useful for devising strategies to mitigate MTM instability in fusion devices.

Physics Alumni Newsletter Spring 2024, Terry Goforth

Physics Alumni Newsletter

Physics Alumni Newsletter

The Physics Alumni Newsletter is produced by the SWOSU Physics Department.

Our Engineering Physics students are recruited in fields such as electronics, aerospace, mechanical engineering, petroleum engineering and software engineering. Graduates also have careers in meteorology, architecture, education and more.

Euhforia Modelling Of The Sun-Earth Chain Of The Magnetic Cloud Of 28 June 2013, G Prete, A Niemela, B Schmieder, Nada Al-Haddad, Bin Zhuang, F Lepreti, V Carbone, S Poedts

Faculty Publications

Context. Predicting geomagnetic events starts with an understanding of the Sun-Earth chain phenomena in which (interplanetary) coronal mass ejections (CMEs) play an important role in bringing about intense geomagnetic storms. It is not always straightforward to determine the solar source of an interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) detected at 1 au. Aims. The aim of this study is to test by a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation the chain of a series of CME events detected from L1 back to the Sun in order to determine the relationship between remote and in situ CMEs. Methods. We analysed both remote-sensing observations and in …