Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons^™

The Violent Youth Of Bright And Massive Cluster Galaxies And Their Maturation Over 7 Billion Years, B. Ascaso, B. C. Lemaux, L. M. Lubin, R. R. Gal, Dale D. Kocevski, N. Rumbaugh, G. Squires

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

In this study, we investigate the formation and evolution mechanisms of the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) over cosmic time. At high redshift (z ∼ 0.9), we selected BCGs and most massive cluster galaxies (MMCGs) from the Cl1604 supercluster and compared them to low-redshift (z ∼ 0.1) counterparts drawn from the MCXC meta-catalogue, supplemented by Sloan Digital Sky Survey imaging and spectroscopy. We observed striking differences in the morphological, colour, spectral, and stellar mass properties of the BCGs/MMCGs in the two samples. High-redshift BCGs/MMCGs were, in many cases, star-forming, late-type galaxies, with blue broad-band colours, properties largely absent amongst …

The Gentle Growth Of Galaxies At High Redshifts In Overdense Environments, Emilio Romano-Díaz, Isaac Shlosman, Jun-Hwan Choi, Raphael Sadoun

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We have explored prevailing modes of galaxy growth for redshifts z ~ 6-14, comparing substantially overdense and normal regions of the universe, using high-resolution zoom-in cosmological simulations. Such rare overdense regions have been projected to host high-z quasars. We demonstrate that galaxies in such environments grow predominantly by a smooth accretion from cosmological filaments which dominates the mass input from major, intermediate, and minor mergers. We find that by z ~ 6, the accumulated galaxy mass fraction from mergers falls short by a factor of 10 of the cumulative accretion mass for galaxies in the overdense regions, and by …

Different Response Of Transport And Magnetic Properties Of Bairo3 To Chemical And Physical Pressure, M. A. Laguna-Marco, G. Fabbris, N. M. Souza-Neto, S. Chikara, J. S. Schilling, Gang Cao, D. Haskel

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

A combination of x-ray absorption, x-ray-diffraction, and transport measurements at high pressure is used to investigate the interplay between the electronic properties of Ir 5d states and lattice degrees of freedom in the weakly ferromagnetic insulator BaIrO₃. Although the Ir 5d local magnetic moment is highly stable against lattice compression, remaining nearly unperturbed to at least 30 GPa, the weak ferromagnetism (net ordered moment) is quickly quenched by 4.5 GPa (3% volume reduction). Under chemical pressure, where Sr is substituted for the larger Ba in BaIrO₃, the local magnetic moment on Ir remains stable, …

Casimir Energy Of Smooth Compact Surfaces, Joseph P. Straley, Eugene B. Kolomeisky

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We discuss the formalism of Balian and Duplantier [Balian and Duplantier, Ann. Phys. (NY) 104, 300 (1977); Balian and Duplantier, Ann. Phys. (NY) 112, 165 (1978)] for the calculation of the Casimir energy for an arbitrary smooth compact surface and use it to give some examples: a finite cylinder with hemispherical caps, a torus, an ellipsoid of revolution, a cube with rounded corners and edges, and a drum made of disks and part of a torus. We propose a model function that approximately captures the shape dependence of the Casimir energy.

Orbital-Dependent Polaron Formation In The Relativistic Mott Insulator Sr2Iro4, C. H. Sohn, Min-Cheol Lee, H. J. Park, Kyung Joo Noh, H. K. Yoo, S. J. Moon, K. W. Kim, T. F. Qi, Gang Cao, Deok-Yong Cho, T. W. Noh

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We use optical spectroscopy to investigate the electron-phonon interaction in Sr₂IrO₄, a well-known 5d transition metal oxide with spin-orbit entangled states. The temperature evolution in the optical spectra is well described by the Fröhlich polaron model, indicating a large electron-phonon interaction. We further find that electrons in different orbitals selectively couple with different phonon modes. While J_eff = 3/2 holes do not seem to couple with any phonons, J_eff = 1/2 and 3z²−r² electrons mainly couple with in-plane and out-of-plane Ir-O bending modes, respectively. The symmetries of the …

Detection And Estimation Of Unmodeled Narrowband Nonstationary Signals: Application Of Particle Swarm Optimization In Gravitational Wave Data Analysis, Soumya Mohanty

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

The extraction of weak signals from instrumental noise is a critical task in ongoing searches for gravitational waves. A detection and estimation method, made feasible by Particle Swarm Optimization, is presented for a particularly challenging class of signals expected from astrophysical sources.

Measurement Of The Target-Normal Single-Spin Asymmetry In Deep-Inelastic Scattering From The Reaction 3He↑(E,E′)X, K. Allada, C. Dutta, A. Kolarkar, Wolfgang Korsch, J. Katich, X. Qian, Y. X. Zhao, K. Aniol, J. R. M. Annand, T. Averett, F. Benmokhtar, W. Bertozzi, P. C. Bradshaw, P. Bosted

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We report the first measurement of the target-normal single-spin asymmetry in deep-inelastic scattering from the inclusive reaction ³He^↑(e,e′)X on a polarized ³He gas target. Assuming time-reversal invariance, this asymmetry is strictly zero in the Born approximation but can be nonzero if two-photon-exchange contributions are included. The experiment, conducted at Jefferson Lab using a 5.89 GeV electron beam, covers a range of 1.7<W<2.9 GeV, 1.0<Q²<4.0 GeV² and 0.16<x<6.5. Neutron asymmetries were extracted using the effective nucleon polarization and measured proton-to-³He cross-section ratios. The measured neutron asymmetries are negative with an average value of (−1.09±0.38)×10⁻² for invariant mass W>2 …

Local Density Of States Study Of A Spin-Orbit-Coupling Induced Mott Insulator Sr2Iro4, Jixia Dai, Eduardo Calleja, Gang Cao, Kyle Mcelroy

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy experiments on the novel J_eff=1/2 Mott insulator Sr₂IrO₄. Local density of states (LDOS) measurements show an intrinsic insulating gap of 620 meV that is asymmetric about the Fermi level and is larger than previously reported values. The size of this gap suggests that Sr₂IrO₄ is likely a Mott rather than Slater insulator. In addition, we found a small number of native defects which create in-gap spectral weight. Atomically resolved LDOS measurements on and off the defects show that this energy gap is quite fragile. …

Dielectron Mass Spectra From Au+Au Collisions At √SNn<=200  Gev, J. Kevin Adkins, Renee Fatemi, Wolfgang Korsch, Suvarna Ramachandran, G. Webb, L. Adamczyk, G. Agakishiev, M. M. Aggarwal, Z. Ahammed, I. Alekseev, J. Alford, C. D. Anson, A. Aparin, D. Arkhipkin, E. C. Aschenauer

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We report the STAR measurements of dielectron (e⁺e⁻) production at midrapidity (|y_ee|^S_NN=200  GeV. The measurements are evaluated in different invariant mass regions with a focus on 0.30–0.76 (ρ-like), 0.76–0.80 (ω-like), and 0.98–1.05 (ϕ-like)   GeV/c². The spectrum in the ω-like and ϕ-like regions can be well described by the hadronic cocktail simulation. In the ρ-like region, however, the vacuum ρ spectral function cannot describe the shape of the dielectron excess. In this range, an enhancement of 1.77±0.11(stat)±0.24(syst)±0.33(cocktail) is determined …

Towards Stronger Coulomb Coupling In An Ultracold Neutral Plasma, Mary Elizabeth Lyon

Theses and Dissertations

Ultracold neutral plasmas are created by photoionizing laser-cooled atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). Due to their large electrical potential energies and comparatively small kinetic energies, ultracold plasmas fall into a regime of plasma systems which are called “strongly coupled.” A priority in the field of ultracold plasmas is to generate plasmas with higher values of the strong coupling parameter Γ, which is given as the ratio of the nearest-neighbor Coulomb potential energy to the average kinetic energy. The equilibrium strong coupling in ultracold plasmas is limited by the ultrafast relaxation of the ions due to spatial disorder in the …

Investigation Of A New Method Of Estimating Acoustic Intensity And Its Application To Rocket Noise, Benjamin Young Christensen

Theses and Dissertations

An alternative pressure-sensor based method for estimating the acoustic intensity, the phase and amplitude gradient estimation (PAGE) method, is presented. This method is similar to the finite-difference p-p (FD) method, in which the intensity is estimated from pressure measurements made using an array of closely spaced microphones. The PAGE method uses the same hardware as the FD method, but does not suffer from the frequency-dependent bias inherent to the FD method. Detailed derivations of the new method and the traditional FD method are presented. Both methods are then compared using two acoustic fields: a plane wave and a three monopole …

Semi-Inclusive Charged-Current Neutrino-Nucleus Reactions, O. Moreno, T. W. Donnelly, J. W. Van Orden, W. P. Ford

Physics Faculty Publications

The general, universal formalism for semi-inclusive charged-current (anti) neutrino-nucleus reactions is given for studies of any hadronic system, namely, either nuclei or the nucleon itself. The detailed developments are presented with the former in mind and are further specialized to cases where the final-state charged lepton and an ejected nucleon are presumed to be detected. General kinematics for such processes are summarized, and then explicit expressions are developed for the leptonic and hadronic tensors involved and for the corresponding responses according to the usual charge, longitudinal and transverse projections, keeping finite the masses of all particles involved. In the case …

Search For Gravitational Waves Associated With Γ-Ray Bursts Detected By The Interplanetary Network, J. Aasi, B. P. Abbott, Mario C. Diaz, S. R. Morriss, Soma Mukherjee, M. E. Normandin, Volker Quetschke, O. Puncken, Malik Rakhmanov, Karla E. Ramirez, Robert Stone

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present the results of a search for gravitational waves associated with 223 γ-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the InterPlanetary Network (IPN) in 2005–2010 during LIGO’s fifth and sixth science runs and Virgo’s first, second, and third science runs. The IPN satellites provide accurate times of the bursts and sky localizations that vary significantly from degree scale to hundreds of square degrees. We search for both a well-modeled binary coalescence signal, the favored progenitor model for short GRBs, and for generic, unmodeled gravitational wave bursts. Both searches use the event time and sky localization to improve the gravitational wave search …

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

Faculty Articles

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, …

Methods And Results Of A Search For Gravitational Waves Associated With Gamma-Ray Bursts Using The Geo 600, Ligo, And Virgo Detectors, J. Aasi, B. P. Abbott, H. Daveloza, Mario C. Diaz, Soma Mukherjee, Volker Quetschke, Malik Rakhmanov, K. E. Ramirez, Robert Stone, Cristina V. Torres

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

In this paper we report on a search for short-duration gravitational wave bursts in the frequency range 64 Hz–1792 Hz associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), using data from GEO 600 and one of the LIGO or Virgo detectors. We introduce the method of a linear search grid to analyze GRB events with large sky localization uncertainties, for example the localizations provided by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM). Coherent searches for gravitational waves (GWs) can be computationally intensive when the GRB sky position is not well localized, due to the corrections required for the difference in arrival time between detectors. …

The Inside-Out Growth Of The Most Massive Galaxies At 0.3 < Z < 0.9, Lei Bai, H. K. C. Yee, Renbin Yan, Eve Lee, David G. Gilbank, E. Ellingson, L. F. Barrientos, M. D. Gladders, B. C. Hsieh, I. H. Li

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We study the surface brightness profiles of a sample of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) with 0.3 < z < 0.9.

For the remainder of the abstract, please download this article or visit https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/789/2/134

Optical-Faint, Far-Infrared-Bright Herschel Sources In The Candels Fields: Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxies At Z > 1 And The Effect Of Source Blending, Haojing Yan, Mauro Stefanon, Zhiyuan Ma, S. P. Willner, Rachel Somerville, Matthew L.N. Ashby, Romeel Davé, Pablo G. Pérez-González, Antonio Cava, Tommy Wiklind, Dale D. Kocevski, Marc Rafelski, Jeyhan Kartaltepe, Asantha Cooray, Anton M. Koekemoer, Norman A. Grogin

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

The Herschel very wide field surveys have charted hundreds of square degrees in multiple far-IR (FIR) bands. While the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is currently the best resource for optical counterpart identifications over such wide areas, it does not detect a large number of Herschel FIR sources and leaves their nature undetermined. As a test case, we studied seven "SDSS-invisible," very bright 250 μm sources (S ₂₅₀ > 55 mJy) in the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey fields where we have a rich multi-wavelength data set. We took a new approach to decompose the FIR sources, using …

Cosmic Sound In The Lyman Alpha Forest, Spencer Everett, Matt Kwiecien, Cordell Newmiller

DePaul Discoveries

Using the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the authors attempt to detect the baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAOs) using the discrete wavelet transform. The wavelet transform is used to construct the power spectrum of intergalactic clouds of matter at large (Mpc) distance scales. It was found that the wavelet transform used here does not have high enough resolution to detect the BAOs. However, the techniques used in this study allow for future improvements in the transform that could potentially resolve the expected peak in the power spectrum and indicate the existence of BAOs.

Type Ia Supernova Rate Measurements To Redshift 2.5 From Candels: Searching For Prompt Explosions In The Early Universe, Steven A. Rodney, Adam G. Riess, Louis-Gregory Strolger, Tomas Dahlen, Or Graur, Stefano Casertano, Mark E. Dickinson, Henry C. Ferguson, Peter Garnavich, Brian Hayden, Saurabh W. Jha, David O. Jones, Robert P. Kirshner, Anton M. Koekemoer, Curtis Mccully, Bahram Mobasher, Brandon Patel, Benjamin J. Weiner, S. Bradley Cenko, Kelsey I. Clubb, Michael Cooper, Alexei V. Filippenko, Teddy F. Frederiksen, Jens Hjorth, Bruno Leibundgut, Thomas Matheson, Hooshang Nayyeri, Kyle Penner, Jonathan Trump, Jeffrey M. Silverman, Vivian U, K. Azalee Bostroem, Peter Challis, Abhijith Rajan, Schuyler Wolff, S. M. Faber, Norman A. Grogin, Dale D. Kocevski

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) was a multi-cycle treasury program on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) that surveyed a total area of ~0.25 deg² with ~900 HST orbits spread across five fields over three years. . . .

For the remainder of the abstract, please visit:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/148/1/13

The Evolution Of And Starburst-Agn Connection In Luminous And Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies And Their Link To Globular Cluster Formation, Stephanie L. Fiorenza

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The evolutionary connection between nuclear starbursts and active galactic nuclei (AGN) in luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs; 1011o

Using new spectrophotometric data, I classify the primary source of IR radiation as being a nuclear starburst or a type of AGN by using the Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich (BPT) diagrams. I show that for the U/LIRGs in my sample the properties that describe their nuclear starbursts and AGN (e.g. star formation rate (SFR), L[O III], optical D parameter, D4000, and EW(Hδ)) are independent of one another, ensuring that no biases affect correlations between these properties and objects' locations on the BPT diagrams. I then derive …

Linked-Cluster Expansion For The Green's Function Of The Infinite-U Hubbard Model, Ehsan Khatami, Edward Perepelitsky, Marcos Rigol, Sriram B. Shastry

Faculty Publications

We implement a highly efficient strong-coupling expansion for the Green's function of the Hubbard model. In the limit of extreme correlations, where the onsite interaction is infinite, the evaluation of diagrams simplifies dramatically enabling us to carry out the expansion to the eighth order in powers of the hopping amplitude. We compute the finite-temperature Green's function analytically in the momentum and Matsubara frequency space as a function of the electron density. Employing Padé approximations, we study the equation of state, Kelvin thermopower, momentum distribution function, quasiparticle fraction, and quasiparticle lifetime of the system at temperatures lower than, or of the …

Application Of An Isogeometric Boundary Element Method To The Calculation Of Acoustic Radiation Modes And Their Efficiencies, Candice Marie Humpherys

Theses and Dissertations

In contrast to the structural modes, which describe the physical motion of vibrating structures, acoustic radiation modes describe the radiated sound power. Radiation modes are beneficial in active noise control because reducing an efficiently radiating radiation mode guarantees the reduction of radiated sound power. Much work has been done to calculate the radiation modes for simple geometries, where analytic solutions are available. In this work, isogeometric analysis (IGA) is used to provide a tool capable of analyzing the radiation modes of arbitrarily complex geometries. IGA offers increased accuracy and efficiency by using basis functions generated from Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS) …

The Ninja-2 Project: Detecting And Characterizing Gravitational Waveforms Modelled Using Numerical Binary Black Hole Simulations, J. Aasi, B. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. Abbott, M. R. Abernathy, T. Accadia, Mario C. Diaz, Malik Rakhmanov, Joseph D. Romano, Soma Mukherjee, Volker Quetschke, Teviet Creighton, Robert Stone

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

The Numerical INJection Analysis (NINJA) project is a collaborative effort between members of the numerical relativity and gravitational-wave (GW) astrophysics communities. The purpose of NINJA is to study the ability to detect GWs emitted from merging binary black holes (BBH) and recover their parameters with next-generation GW observatories. We report here on the results of the second NINJA project, NINJA-2, which employs 60 complete BBH hybrid waveforms consisting of a numerical portion modelling the late inspiral, merger, and ringdown stitched to a post-Newtonian portion modelling the early inspiral. In a ‘blind injection challenge’ similar to that conducted in recent Laser …

Radiative Cooling Ii: Effects Of Density And Metallicity, Ye Wang, Gary J. Ferland, Matt Lykins, R. L. Porter, Peter A. M. Van Hoof, R. J. R. Williams

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

This work follows Lykins et al. discussion of classic plasma cooling function at low density and solar metallicity. Here, we focus on how the cooling function changes over a wide range of density (n_H <10¹² cm⁻³) and metallicity (Z < 30 Z_⊙). We find that high densities enhance the ionization of elements such as hydrogen and helium until they reach local thermodynamic equilibrium. By charge transfer, the metallicity changes the ionization of hydrogen when it is partially ionized. We describe the total cooling function as a sum of four parts: those due to H&He, the heavy …

Veritas Very High Energy Observations Of The Distant Blazar 1es 0647+250, Margaret R. Molter, Jon Dumm, Lucy Fortson

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

We perform an analysis of the long- and short-term variability of the very high energy (VHE; above 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission from the newly-detected distant blazar 1ES 0647+250. Both new and archival data from the VERITAS telescope were examined, and no strong evidence for integral flux variability on any timescale was found. This lack of variability is consistent with the application of current ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) models, which can produce secondary gamma-ray emission along the line of sight from the blazar; it also allows averaging over multiyear timescales without bias, aiding in the construction of spectral energy distribution …

Finesse Measurement In Fabry-Perot Interferometers, Michael C. Darrow

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

STAR (Space-time Asymmetry Research) is an experimental satellite that will measure anisotropy in the speed of light to unprecedented resolutions using two orthogonal Fabry- Perot interferometers. In order to achieve the desired level of precision, the optical cavities must have finesse values greater than 100,000. Using two test interferometers, I tested and optimized two different experimental methods for measurement of finesse: full-width half max measurement and cavity ring-down spectroscopy. Although each technique proved valid in its own right, my work suggests that cavity ring-down spectroscopy may be more applicable for the needs of STAR.

Monte Carlo Simulations Of Atmospheric Loss By Stellar Winds From Exoplanets, Daniel P. Violette

University Scholar Projects

Hot Jupiters are a class of extra-solar planets. Massive gas giants on the same size scale as Jupiter, they orbit their host stars closely. This proximity results in large stellar winds capable of stripping away a planet’s atmosphere. Developing a more complete understanding of atmospheric mass loss and evolution in planetary bodies is critical, and Hot Jupiter systems are accessible analogues.

This project will seek to create a computational model capable of estimating mass loss rates due to stellar winds. A Monte Carlo method is utilized to take an ensemble of single, high-energy energetic neutral particles, produced by kilo-electronvolt stellar …

Monte Carlo Simulations Of Atmospheric Loss By Stellar Winds From Exoplanets, Daniel Violette

Honors Scholar Theses

Hot Jupiters are a class of extra-solar planets. Massive gas giants on the same size scale as Jupiter, they orbit their host stars closely. This proximity results in large stellar winds capable of stripping away a planet’s atmosphere. Developing a more complete understanding of atmospheric mass loss and evolution in planetary bodies is critical, and Hot Jupiter systems are accessible analogues.

This project will seek to create a computational model capable of estimating mass loss rates due to stellar winds. A Monte Carlo method is utilized to take an ensemble of single, high-energy energetic neutral particles, produced by kilo-electronvolt stellar …

Subaru Spectroscopy And Spectral Modeling Of Cygnus A, Matthew J. Merlo, Erik S. Perlman, Robert Nikutta, Christopher Packham, Moshe Elitzur, Masatoshi Imanishi, N. A. Levenson, James T. Radomski, Itziar Aretxaga

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present high angular resolution (~0.''5) MIR spectra of the powerful radio galaxy, Cygnus A (Cyg A), obtained with the Subaru telescope. The overall shape of the spectra agree with previous high angular resolution MIR observations, as well as previous Spitzer spectra. Our spectra, both on and off nucleus, show a deep silicate absorption feature. The absorption feature can be modeled with a blackbody obscured by cold dust or a clumpy torus. The deep silicate feature is best fit by a simple model of a screened blackbody, suggesting that foreground absorption plays a significant, if not dominant, role in shaping …

On The Observability Of Optically Thin Coronal Hyperfine Structure Lines, Marios Chatzikos, Gary J. Ferland, R. J. R. Williams, A. C. Fabian

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present CLOUDY calculations for the intensity of coronal hyperfine lines in various environments. We model indirect collisional and radiative transitions, and quantify the collisionally excited line emissivity in the density-temperature phase space. As an observational aid, we also express the emissivity in units of that in the 0.4-0.7 keV band. For most hyperfine lines, knowledge of the X-ray surface brightness and the plasma temperature is sufficient for rough estimates. We find that the radiation fields of both Perseus A and Virgo A can enhance the populations of highly ionized species within 1 kpc. They can also enhance line emissivity …