Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons^™

Observed Epochal Variations In X-Ray Lines From The O Supergiant Ζ Puppis Do Not Require Substantial Changes In The Wind Mass Flux, Sean J. Gunderson, Kenneth G. Gayley, David P. Huenemoerder, Pragati Pradhan, Nathan A. Miller

Publications

We fit the high-resolution Chandra X-ray spectra of the O supergiant ζ Puppis using the variable boundary condition (VBC) line model to test the stability of its mass-loss rate between two epochs of observation: 2000 March and 2018 July – 2019 August. At issue is whether the observed variations are induced by global changes in the cool (unshocked) wind itself or are isolated to the local pockets of hot gas (i.e. changes in the frequency and location of the shocks). Evidence in the literature favoured the possibility of a 40 per cent increase in the mass flux of the entire …

The High Energy X-Ray Probe (Hex-P): A New Window Into Neutron Star Accretion, R.M. Ludlam, C. Malacaria, E. Sokolova-Lapa, F. Fuerst, P. Pradhan, A.W. Shaw, K. Pottschmidt, S. Pike, G. Vasilopoulos, J. Wilms, J.A. Garcia, K. Madsen, D. Stern, C. Maitra, M. Del Santo, D.J. Walton, M.C. Brumback, J. Van Den Eijnden

Publications

Accreting neutron stars (NSs) represent a unique laboratory for probing the physics of accretion in the presence of strong magnetic fields (B ≳ 10⁸ G). Additionally, the matter inside the NS itself exists in an ultra-dense, cold state that cannot be reproduced in Earth-based laboratories. Hence, observational studies of these objects are a way to probe the most extreme physical regimes. Here we present an overview of the field and discuss the most important outstanding problems related to NS accretion. We show how these open questions regarding accreting NSs in both low-mass and high-mass X-ray binary systems can …

The Life Cycle Of Stars And Their Planets From The High Energy Perspective, Lia Corrales, Keivan G. Stassun, Tim Cunningham, Girish M. Duvvuri, Jeremy J. Drake, Catherine Espaillat, Adina D. Feinstein, Elena Gallo, Hans Moritz Günther, George W. King, Marina Kounkel, Carey M. Lisse, Rodolfo Montez Jr., David A. Principe, Jesús A. Toalá, Scott J. Wolk, Raven Cilley, Tansu Daylan, Margarita Karovska, Pragati Pradhan, Peter J. Wheatley, Jun Yang

Publications

One of the key research themes identified by the Astro2020 decadal survey is Worlds and Suns in Context. The Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite (AXIS) is a proposed NASA APEX mission that will become the prime high-energy instrument for studying star-planet connections from birth to death. This work explores the major advances in this broad domain of research that will be enabled by the AXIS mission, through X-ray observations of stars in clusters spanning a broad range of ages, flaring M-dwarf stars known to host exoplanets, and young stars exhibiting accretion interactions with their protoplanetary disks. In addition, we explore the …

The Gbt Diffuse Ionized Gas Survey (Gdigs): Discrete Sources, Dylan J. Linville, Matteo Luisi, Bin Liu, T. M. Bania, Dana S. Balser, Trey V. Wenger, L. M. Haffner

Publications

The Green Bank Telescope (GBT) Diffuse Ionized Gas Survey (GDIGS) traces ionized gas in the Galactic midplane by observing radio recombination line (RRL) emission from 4–8 GHz. The nominal survey zone is 32.3◦ > ℓ > −5◦, | b | < 0.5◦. Here, we analyze GDIGS Hnα ionized gas emission toward discrete sources. Using GDIGS data, we identify the velocity of 35 H II regions that have multiple detected RRL velocity components. We identify and characterize RRL emission from 88 H II regions that previously lacked measured ionized gas velocities. We also identify and characterize RRL emission from eight locations that appear to be previously-unidentified H II regions and 30 locations of RRL emission that do not appear to be H II regions based on their lack of mid-infrared emission. This latter group may be a compact component of the Galactic Diffuse Ionized Gas (DIG). There are an additional 10 discrete sources that have anomalously high RRL velocities for their locations in the Galactic plane. We compare these objects’ RRL data to 13CO, H I and mid-infrared data, and find that these sources do not have the expected 24 µm emission characteristic of H II regions. Based on this comparison we do not think these objects are H II regions, but we are unable to classify them as a known type of object.

The Rs Oph Outburst Of 2021 Monitored In X-Rays With Nicer, Marina Orio, Keith Gendreau, Morgan Giese, Gerardo Jaun M. Luna, Jozef Magdolen, Tod E. Strohmayer, Andy E. Zhang, Diego Altamirano, Andrej Dobrotka, Teruaki Enoto, Elizabeth C. Ferrara, Richard Ignace, Sebastian Heinz, Craig Markwardt, Joy S. Nichols, Michael L. Parker, Dheeraj R. Pasham, Songpeng Pei, Pragati Pradhan, Ron Remillard, James F. Steiner, Francesco Tombesi

Publications

The 2021 outburst of the symbiotic recurrent nova RS Oph was monitored with the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer Mission (NICER) in the 0.2–12 keV range from day one after the optical maximum, until day 88, producing an unprecedented, detailed view of the outburst development. The X-ray flux preceding the supersoft X-ray phase peaked almost 5 days after optical maximum and originated only in shocked ejecta for 21–25 days. The emission was thermal; in the first 5 days, only a non-collisional-ionization equilibrium model fits the spectrum, and a transition to equilibrium occurred between days 6 and 12. The ratio of …

Survey Of X-Rays From Massive Stars Observed At High Spectral Resolution With Chandra, Pragati Pradhan, David P. Huenemoerder, Richard Ignace, Joy S. Nichols, A.M.T. Pollock

Publications

Identifying trends between observational data and the range of physical parameters of massive stars is a critical step to the still-elusive full understanding of the source, structure, and evolution of X-ray emission from the stellar winds, requiring a substantial sample size and systematic analysis methods. As of 2022, the Chandra data archive contains 37 high-resolution spectra of O, B, and WR stars, observed with the Chandra/HETGS, and of sufficient quality to fit the continua and emission-line profiles. Using a systematic approach to the data analysis, we explore morphological trends in the line profiles (i.e., O, Ne, Mg, and Si) and …

Quiet, But Not Silent: Uncovering Quiescent State Properties Of Two Transient High-Mass X-Ray Binaries, Gayathri Raman, Pragati Pradhan, Jamie Kennea

Publications

We present the first set of broad-band spectral and timing studies of two transient X-ray pulsars, MXB 0656 −072 and MAXI J1409 −619 using NuSTAR observations conducted during quiescence. Despite being captured at one of their lowest luminosity states, both these targets show signs of ongoing low-level accretion. Results from the time-averaged spectral analysis indicate for the first time, the presence of a strong soft power-law component along with thermal emission from the neutron star hotspots. For both targets, the quiescent thermal X-ray emission is consistent with the deep crustal heating model. In MXB 0656 −072, we do not detect …

Tests Of General Relativity Through Searches For Lorentz And Cpt Symmetry Breaking, Kellie Ault

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

An effective field theory framework, the Standard Model Extension (SME), provides an agnostic, systematic test of General Relativity (GR) and its founding spacetime symmetries, Lorentz and CPT symmetry. Violating these symmetries may provide clues toward unifying the physics of the General Relativity and the Standard Model of particle physics. Part of this work involves the merge of theory, data analysis and experiments with gravitational wave (GW) signals from LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA (LVK) detectors. A modified dispersion relation derived from the SME of GWs is implemented into the LIGO Scientific Collaboration Algorithm Library Suite (LALSuite), where a joint Bayesian inference of the source …

Advancing Our Understanding Of Martian Proton Aurora Through A Coordinated Multi-Model Comparison Campaign, Andrea C. G. Hughes, Michael Scott Chaffin, Edwin J. Mierkiewicz, Justin Deighan, Rebecca Jolitz, Esa Kallio, Guillaume Gronof, Valery I. Shematovich, Dmitry Bisikalo, Cyril L. Simon Wedlund, Jasper S. Halekas, Nicholas M. Schneider, Birgit Ritter, Zachary Girazian, Sonal Jain, Jean-Claude M. C. G´Erard, Bradley Michael Hegyi

Publications

Proton aurora are the most commonly observed yet least studied type of aurora at Mars. In order to better understand the physics and driving processes of Martian proton aurora, we undertake a multi-model comparison campaign. We compare results from four different proton/hydrogen precipitation models with unique abilities to represent Martian proton aurora: Jolitz model (3-D Monte Carlo), Kallio model (3-D Monte Carlo), Bisikalo/Shematovich et al. model (1-D kinetic Monte Carlo), and Gronoff et al. model (1-D kinetic). This campaign is divided into two steps: an inter-model comparison and a data-model comparison. The inter-model comparison entails modeling five different representative cases …

Estimation Of The Kelvin–Helmholtz Unstable Boundary, Xuanye Ma

Publications

The Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability is one of the most important mechanisms of the viscous like interaction between the solar wind and the magnetosphere (MSP), which transport the mass, energy, momentum, and magnetic flux. Thus, it is important to examine whether the magnetopause boundary is KH unstable or not. Based on the KH onset conditions, this report proposes to use a matrix to identify the most KH unstable direction based on the in-situ measurements of the density, velocity, and magnetic field in the MSP and magneto sheath. The range of the KH unstable direction can be easily estimated based on the …

Development And Testing Of A New Method For Velocity-Selecting White Dwarfs From Gaia By Galactic Population, Joseph Hammill

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The detailed processes by which spiral galaxies form remains an open question in modern cosmology. Observations of the current configuration of spiral galaxies including the Milky Way reveal thin and thick disk and halo populations which must all be accounted for in formation theories and likely have distinct ages. Using the Milky Way as an example to probe this question, we are studying the formation history of these structures.

This work details our approach to age-dating the galaxy, velocity-selecting targets from a sample of white dwarfs from the Gaia DR3 catalog that have also been age-analysed using BASE-9. BASE-9 uses …

Extreme Horizontal Wind Perturbations In The Mesosphere And Lower Thermosphere Over South America Associated With The 2022 Hunga Eruption, Facundo L. Poblet, Jorge L. Chau, J. Federico Conte, Juha Vierinen, Jose Suclupe, Alan Liu, Rodolfo R. Rodriguez

Publications

On 15 January 2022, the Hunga volcano produced a massive explosion that generated perturbations in the entire atmosphere. Nonetheless, signatures in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) have been challenging to identify. We report MLT horizontal wind perturbations using three multistatic specular meteor radars on the west side of South America (spanning more than 3,000 km). The most notorious signal is an exceptional solitary wave with a large vertical wavelength observed around 18 UT at all three sites, with an amplitude of ∼50 m/s mainly in the westward direction. Using a customized analysis, the wave is characterized as traveling at …

Bayesian Inference For The White Dwarf Initial-Final Mass Relation, Nathan Stein, Ted Von Hippel, David Van Dyk, Steven Degennaro, Elizabeth Jeffery, Bill Jefferys

Publications

Stars lose mass as they age, and understanding mass loss is important for understanding stellar evolution. The initial-final mass relation (IFMR) is the relationship between a white dwarf’s initial mass on the main sequence and its final mass. We have developed a new method for fitting the IFMR based on a Bayesian analysis of photometric observations, combining deterministic models of stellar evolution in an internally coherent way. No mass data are used. Our method yields precise inferences (with uncertainties) for a parameterized linear IFMR. Our method can also return posterior distributions of white dwarf initial and final masses.

Databases And Inter-Connectivity In Ground-Based Astronomy, Ted Von Hippel, C. M. Mountain

Publications

Optical and infrared ground-based astronomy is undergoing a renaissance. Advances in material technology, system modeling, and the ability to correct atmospheric distortions in real time have produced a new generation of powerful, large telescopes. An equally profound revolution stems from the availability of large observational databases that span the electromagnetic spectrum. The increased use of such databases as well as the need to operate the new telescopes efficiently requires the development of a National or International Virtual Observatory to set standards for astronomical database formats, data quality assurance, and access protocols, and also to provide all-inclusive centers for data products.

Identifying Gravity Waves Launched By The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’Apai Volcanic Eruption In Mesosphere/Lower-Thermosphere Winds Derived From Condor And The Nordic Meteor Radar Cluster, Gunter Stober, Alan Liu, Alexander Kozlovsky, Zishun Qiao, Witali Krochin, Guochun Shi, Johan Kero, Et Al.

Publications

The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai volcano eruption was a unique event that caused many atmospheric phenomena around the globe. In this study, we investigate the atmospheric gravity waves in the mesosphere/lower thermosphere (MLT) launched by the volcanic explosion in the Pacific, leveraging multistatic meteor radar observations from the Chilean Observation Network De Meteor Radars (CONDOR) and the Nordic Meteor Radar Cluster in Fennoscandia. MLT winds are computed using a recently developed 3DVAR+DIV algorithm. We found eastward- and westward-traveling gravity waves in the CONDOR zonal and meridional wind measurements, which arrived 12 and 48 h after the eruption, and we found one …

Stellar Atmosphere Models For Select Veritas Stellar Intensity Interferometry Targets, Jackson Ladd Sackrider, Jason P. Aufdenberg, Katelyn Sonnen

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

Since 2020 the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) has observed 48 stellar targets using the technique of Stellar Intensity Interferometry (SII). Angular diameter measurements by VERITAS SII (VSII) in a waveband near 400 nm complement existing angular diameter measurements in the near-infrared. VSII observations will test fundamental predictions of stellar atmosphere models and should be more sensitive to limb darkening and gravity darkening effects than measurements in the near-IR, however, the magnitude of this difference has not been systematically explored in the literature. In order to investigate the synthetic interferometric (as well as spectroscopic) appearance of stars …

Clumpy Wind Studies And The Nondetection Of A Cyclotron Line In Oao 1657–415, Pragati Pradhan, Carlo Ferrigno, Biswajit Paul, Enrico Bozzo, Ileyk El Mellah, David P. Huenemoerder, James F. Steiner, Victoria Grinberg, Felix Furst, Chandreyee Maitra, Patrizia Romano, Peter Kretschmar, Jamie Kennea, Deepto Chakrabarty

Publications

Winds of massive stars are suspected to be inhomogeneous (or clumpy), which biases the measures of their mass-loss rates. In high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs), the compact object can be used as an orbiting X-ray point source to probe the wind and constrain its clumpiness. We perform a spectrotiming analysis of the HMXB OAO 1657–415 with nonsimultaneous NuSTAR and NICER observations. We compute the hardness ratio from the energy-resolved light curves, and, using an adaptive rebinning technique, we thus select appropriate time segments to search for rapid spectral variations on timescales of a few hundred to thousands of seconds. The column …

Periodicities And Plasma Density Structure Of Jupiter’S Dawnside Magnetosphere, Xuanye Ma, A.A. Schok, P.A. Delamere, B. Mino, P.A. Damiano, B. Zhang, A. Sciola

Publications

The ability to quantify variations in magnetic field topology and density within Jupiter’s magnetosphere is an important step in understanding the overall structure and dynamics. The Juno spacecraft has provided a rich data set in the dawnside magnetosphere. The recent Grid Agnostic MHD for Extended Research Applications (GAMERA) global simulation study by Zhang et al. (2021) showed a highly structured plasmadisc with closed magnetic field lines mapping between the outer dawn-tail flank and the high latitude polar region. To test these model predictions, we examined Juno’s magnetic field data and electron/energetic particle data to categorize portions of orbits 1-15 into …

Two Substellar Survivor Candidates; One Found And One Missing, T. Von Hippel, N. Walters, J. Farihi, T.R. Marsh, E. Breedt, P.W. Cauley, J.J. Hermes

Publications

This study presents observations of two possible substellar survivors of post-main sequence engulfment, currently orbiting white dwarf stars. Infrared and optical spectroscopy of GD 1400 reveal a 9.98 h orbital period, where the benchmark brown dwarf has ��2 = 68 ± 8 MJup, ��eff ≈ 2100 K, and a cooling age under 1 Gyr. A substellar mass in the lower range of allowed values is favoured by the gravitational redshift of the primary. Synthetic brown dwarf spectra are able to reproduce the observed CO bands, but lines below the bandhead are notably overpredicted. The known infrared excess towards PG 0010+281 …

Multifrequency Scintillation In The Polar Caps, Tate Colby

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In the ionosphere, plasma density structures with scales sizes ranging from a few centimeters to hundreds of kilometers are capable of modifying the phase and amplitude of a radio signal in a rapid random manner in a process called scintillation. The Coherent Electromagnetic Radio Tomography (CERTO) and the Canadian High Arctic Ionospheric Network (CHAIN) are two different networks of scintillation receivers, each with a station in Resolute Bay, Canada. CERTO measures amplitude and phase signals in VHF and UHF while CHAIN measures amplitude and phase signals in the L-band. Through these measurements we can calculate the scintillation indexes, S_4 and …

Characteristics Of Kelvin-Helmholtz Waves As Observed By The Mms From September 2015 To June 2017, Katariina Nykyri, Xuanye Ma, Rachel C. Rice

Publications

The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has presented a new opportunity to study the fine scale structures and phenomena of Earth’s magnetosphere, including cross scale processes associated with the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability (KHI). We present an overview of 19 MMS observations of the KHI from September 2015 to June 2017. Unitless growth rates and unstable solid angles for each of the 19 events were calculated using 5 techniques to automatically detect plasma regions on either side of the magnetopause boundary. There was no apparent correlation between solar wind conditions during the KHI and its growth rate and unstable solid angle, though we …

Dynamics Of Atmospheric Gravity Wave Breaking In The Mesopause Region, Fan Yang

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

GWs significantly impact the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (MLT), and as a consequence of GW breaking, atmospheric turbulence plays an essential role in the mixing and transport of momentum, mass, and chemical materials in MLT. The main focus of this research for the fulfillment of the proposed Ph.D. dissertation is to improve the understanding of the dynamic process of wave breaking and their effects in the mesopause region above Andes Lidar Observatory (30.2◦ S, 70.7◦ W). A few scientific topics related to GW break- ing are addressed. What are the probabilities of the atmosphere becoming convectively or dynamically unstable in …

Kinetic Modeling Of Ionospheric Outflows Observed By The Visions-1 Sounding Rocket, Robert M. Albarran Ii

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Plasma escape from the high-latitude ionosphere (ion outflow) serves as a significant source of heavy plasma to magnetospheric plasma sheet and ring current regions. Outflows alter mass density and reconnection rates, hence global responses of the magnetosphere. The VISIONS-1 (VISualizing Ion Outflow via Neutral atom imaging during a Substorm) sounding rocket was launched on Feb. 7, 2013 at 8:21 UTC from Poker Flat, Alaska, into an auroral substorm with the objective of identifying the drivers and dynamics of nightside ion outflow at altitudes where it is initiated, below 1000 km. Energetic ion data from the VISIONS-1 polar cap boundary crossing …

Revisit Of Open Clusters Upk 39, Upk 41 And Phoc 39 : A New Binary Open Cluster Found, Xianhao Ye, Terry D. Oswalt, Jingkun Zhao, Yong Yang, Gang Zhao

Publications

We investigate the three open clusters near Aquila Rift cloud, named as UPK 39 (c1 hereafter), UPK 41 (c2 hereafter) in Sim et al. (2019) and PHOC 39 (c3 hereafter) in Hunt & Reffert (2021), respectively. Using photometric passpands, reddening, and extinction from Gaia DR3, we construct the color-absolute-magnitude diagram (CAMD). Using isochrone fits their ages are estimated as 6.3 ± 0.9, 8.1 ± 1.4 and 21.8 ± 2.2 Myr, respectively. Their proper motions and radial velocities, estimated using data from Gaia and LAMOST are very similar. From their orbits, relative distances among them at different times, kinematics, ages, and …

Hydroponically Growing A Holistic Superfood Diet For Mars Exploration, Marianna Pezzella, Ruben A. Rosa Polonia

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

In “Hydroponically Growing a Holistic Superfood Diet for Mars Exploration,” Project H.O.M.E. members conducted an experiment to help determine ways to provide future astronauts with a complete, balanced diet on a planet that does not receive as much sunlight as Earth. Sending massive amounts of food into space is incredibly expensive, takes up valuable spacecraft area, and is, overall, not a feasible way to provide astronauts with sustenance. Project H.O.M.E. has thus developed a hydroponic system to evaluate the growth and yield of various superfoods - including Moringa Oleifera, goji berries, and kale - under simulated Mars lighting conditions. Data …

Climatology Of Deep O+ Dropouts In The Night-Time F-Region In Solar Minimum Measured By A Langmuir Probe Onboard The International Space Station, Shantanab Debchoudhury, Aroh Barjatya, Joseh I. Minow, Victoria N. Coffey, Linda N. Parker

Publications

The Floating Potential Measurement Unit (FPMU) onboard the International Space Station includes a Wide sweeping Langmuir Probe (WLP) that has been operating in the F-region of the ionosphere at ∼400 km since 2006. While traditional Langmuir probe estimates include critical plasma parameters like electron density and temperature, we have also extracted the O+ percentage from the total ion constituents. This O+ composition dataset from the recent minimum in the Solar Cycle 24 reveals orbits with dropouts in O+ to below 80% of the total background ion density at ISS orbital altitudes. The observed O+ percentages during these dropouts are much …

A Monte Carlo Method For Evaluating Empirical Gyrochronology Models And Its Application To Wide Binary Benchmarks, Tomomi Otani, Ted Von Hippel, Derek Buzasi, Terry Oswalt, Alexander Stone-Martinez, Patrice Majewski

Publications

No abstract provided.

Determining The Sources Of The Zodiacal Cloud Using Relative Velocities Of Dust Particles From High-Resolution Spectroscopy, Philip B. Mann Iii

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

The zodiacal cloud is the Solar System debris disk in which the Earth’s orbit is located. The dust that comprises the cloud comes from cometary, asteroidal, interstellar, and other source populations, but the relative ratios have proven hard to determine. However, asteroidal and cometary particles typically have different types of orbits, with asteroidal particles having more circular and lower inclination orbits than cometary particles. Accordingly, the relative velocities of these groups of particles with respect to Earth are also different, and measurements of these relative velocities can help distinguish between the sources. The spectrum of the zodiacal light contains solar …

Improving White Dwarfs As Chronometers With Gaia Parallaxes And Spectroscopic Metallicities, Adam Moss, Ted Von Hippel, Elliot Robinson, Kareem El-Badry, David C. Stenning, David Van Dyk, Morgan Fouesneau, Coryn A.L. Bailer-Jones, Elizabeth Jeffery, Jimmy Sargent, Isabelle Kloc, Natalie Moticska

Publications

White dwarfs (WDs) offer unrealized potential in solving two problems in astrophysics: stellar age accuracy and precision. WD cooling ages can be inferred from surface temperatures and radii, which can be constrained with precision by high-quality photometry and parallaxes. Accurate and precise Gaia parallaxes along with photometric surveys provide information to derive cooling and total ages for vast numbers of WDs. Here we analyze 1372 WDs found in wide binaries with main-sequence (MS) companions and report on the cooling and total age precision attainable in these WD+MS systems. The total age of a WD can be further constrained if its …

Mms Observations Of The Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability And Associated Ion Scale Waves, Rachel C. Rice

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The detailed mechanisms coupling the solar wind to Earth's magnetosphere are not yet fully understood. Solar wind plasma is heated non-adiabatically as it penetrates the magnetosphere, and this process must span scale sizes. Reconnection alone is not able to account for the observed heating; other mechanisms must be at work. One potential process is the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI). The KHI is a convective instability which operates at the fluid scale in plasmas, but is capable of driving secondary process at smaller scales. Previous work has shown evidence of magnetic reconnection, various ion scale wave modes, mode conversion, and turbulence associated …