Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons^™

Grb 091024a And The Nature Of Ultra-Long Gamma-Ray Bursts, F.J. Virgili, C.G. Mundell, V. Pal’Shin, C. Guidorzi, R. Margutti, A. Melandri, R. Harrison, S. Kobayashi, R. Chornock, A. Henden, Adria Updike, S.B. Cenko, N.R. Tanvir, I.A. Steele, A. Cucchiara, A. Gomboc, A. Levan, Z. Cano, C.J. Mottram, N.R. Clay, D. Bersier, D. KopaˇC, J. Japelj, A.V. Filippenko, W. Li, D. Svinkin, S. Golenetskii, D.H. Hartmann, P.A. Milne, G. Williams, P.T. O’Brien, D.B. Fox, E. Berger

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

We present a broadband study of gamma-ray burst (GRB) 091024A within the context of other ultra-long-duration GRBs. An unusually long burst detected by Konus–Wind (KW), Swift, and Fermi, GRB 091024A has prompt emission episodes covering ∼1300 s, accompanied by bright and highly structured optical emission captured by various rapid-response facilities, including the 2 m autonomous robotic Faulkes North and Liverpool Telescopes, KAIT, S-LOTIS, and the Sonoita Research Observatory.We also observed the burst with 8 and 10mclass telescopes and determine the redshift to be z = 1.0924 ± 0.0004. We find no correlation between the …

The Unusual Afterglow Of The Gamma-Ray Burst 100621a, J. Greiner, T. Krühler, M. Nardini, R. Filgas, A. Moin, C. De Breuck, F. Montenegro-Montes, A. Lundgren, S. Klose, P.M.J. Fonso, F. Bertoldi, J. Elliott, D.A. Kann, F. Knust, K. Menten, A. Nicuesa Guelbenzu, F. Olivares E., A. Rau, A. Rossi, P. Schady, S. Schmidl, G. Siringo, L. Spezzi, V. Sudilovsky, S.J. Tingay, Adria Updike, Z. Wang, A. Weiss, M. Wieringa, F. Wyrowski

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Aims. With the afterglow of GRB 100621A being the brightest detected so far in X-rays, and superb GROND coverage in the optical/near-infrared during the first few hours, an observational verification of basic fireball predictions seemed possible. Methods. In order to constrain the broad-band spectral energy distribution of the afterglow of GRB 100621A, dedicated observations were performed in the optical/near-infrared with the 7-channel Gamma-Ray Burst Optical and Near-infrared Detector (GROND) at the 2.2mMPG/ESO telescope, in the sub-millimeter band with the large bolometer array LABOCA at APEX, and at radio frequencies with ATCA. Utilizing also Swift X-ray observations, we attempt an interpretation …

Semiclassical Partition Functions For Gravity With Cosmic Strings, Christopher L. Duston

Physics Faculty Publications

In this paper we describe an approach to construct semiclassical partition functions in gravity which are complete in the sense that they contain a complete description of the differentiable structures of the underlying 4-manifold. In addition, we find our construction naturally includes cosmic strings. We prove that the mass density of these strings uniquely specifies the topology of the leaves of a dimension 2 foliation, and conjecture that spacetime topology emerges as a result of the symmetry breaking of the fundamental fields. We discuss some possible applications of the partition functions in the fields of both quantum gravity and topological …

The Lismullin Enclosure:A Designed Ritual Space, Frank Prendergast

Book/Book Chapter

The discovery in 2007 of a prehistoric post-built enclosure at Lismullin, Co. Meath, during archaeological investigations in advance of the construction of the M3 motorway is, arguably, the most significant Irish archaeological discovery of recent times. This appendix summarises a commissioned specialist report on the spatial and archaeoastronomical features of the enclosure.

Contellation: Taurus, Gabriel Chaille

Natural Sciences Student Research Presentations

Using the constellation Taurus, the purpose of this project was to gain insight on how information is gathered about stars and what purpose that information serves.

Constellation: Perseus, Marci Holman

Natural Sciences Student Research Presentations

Using the constellation Perseus, the purpose of this project was to gain insight on how information is gathered about stars and what purpose that information serves. This is a project for the Natural Sciences Poster Session at Parkland College.

Dark Energy Interaction Models, H. Shojaei, D. Waters

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

A specific interaction between dark energy and matter has been introduced in order to present possible solutions to the cosmic coincidence problem. We also compared the result of our differential equations with the experimental supernova data obtained by WMAP.

Carbon Monoxide Adsorption On Platinum-Osmium And Platinum-Ruthenium-Osmium Mixed Nanoparticles, Nicholas Dimakis, Nestor E. Navarro, Eugene S. Smotkin

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Density functional calculations (DFT) on carbon monoxide (CO) adsorbed on platinum, platinum-osmium, and platinum-ruthenium-osmium nanoclusters are used to elucidate changes on the adsorbate internal bond and the carbon-metal bond, as platinum is alloyed with osmium and ruthenium atoms. The relative strengths of the adsorbate internal bond and the carbon-metal bond upon alloying, which are related to the DFT calculated C–O and C–Pt stretching frequencies, respectively, cannot be explained by the traditional 5σ-donation/2π*-back-donation theoretical model. Using a modified π-attraction σ-repulsion mechanism, we ascribe the strength of the CO adsorbate internal bond to changes in the polarization of the adsorbate-substrate hybrid orbitals …

Massive Quiescent Disk Galaxies In The Candels Survey, Aurora Y. Kesseli

Honors Theses

We used data from the GOODS-S field of the CANDELS survey in order to confirm previous studies that found that large fractions of high-redshift galaxies (z ∼ 2) are disk-dominated (McGrath et al. 2008; van der Wel et al. 2011). In the GOODS-S field we selected out all the massive quiescent disk galaxies by imposing a mass limit of M > 10¹⁰M_⊙ and a redshift range of 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 2.5, and then choosing the quiescent red galaxies from a color-color plot. Once we had our sample, we did a qualitative visual classification of each galaxy and …

The X-Ray And Spectropolarimetric View Of Mass Loss And Transfer In Massive Binary Stars, Jamie Renae Lomax

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The majority of massive stars are members of binary systems. In order to have a better understanding of their evolutionary pathways, the mass and angular momentum loss from massive binaries needs to be well understood. Self consistent explanations for their behavior need to be valid across many wavelength regimes in order to illuminate key phases of mass loss to completely determine how it affects their evolution. In this dissertation I present the results of X-ray and specropolarimetric studies on one Roche-lobe overflow binary (β Lyr) and two colliding wind binaries (V444 Cyg and WR 140).

In β Lyr a …

Modeling The X-Ray Light Curves Of Cygnus X-3 Possible Role Of The Jet, Osmi Vilhu, Diana Carina Hannikainen

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Faculty Publications

Context. We address the physics behind the soft X-ray light curve asymmetries in Cygnus X-3, a well-known microquasar. Aims. Observable eff ects of the jet close to the line-of-sight were investigated and interpreted within the frame of light curve physics. Methods. The path of a hypothetical imprint of the jet, advected by theWolf-Rayet-wind, was computed and its crossing with the line-of-sight during the binary orbit determined. We explored the possibility that physically this “imprint” is a formation of dense clumps triggered by jet bow shocks in the wind (“clumpy trail”). Models for X-ray continuum and emission line light curves were …

Azimuthal Anisotropy Of Π⁰ And Η Mesons In Au + Au Collisions At √Snn=200, Andrew Marshall Adare, Gyöngyi Baksay, László A. Baksay, Marcus Hohlmann

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Faculty Publications

The azimuthal anisotropy coefficients v₂ and v₄ of π⁰ and η mesons are measured in Au + Au collisions at √sNN=200 GeV as a function of transverse momentum pT (1-14 GeV/c) and centrality. The extracted v₂ coefficients are found to be consistent between the two meson species over the measured pT range. The ratio of v₄/v₂² for π⁰ mesons is found to be independent of pT for 1-9 GeV/c, implying a lack of sensitivity of the ratio to the change of underlying physics with pT. Furthermore, the ratio of v₄/v₂² is systematically larger in central collisions, which may reflect the …

Accompanying Figures For "Rotation Periods Of Small Trojan Asteroids", Linda French

Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Search For Long-Lived Gravitational-Wave Transients Coincident With Long Gamma-Ray Bursts, J. Aasi, Daniel Bessis, Teviet Creighton, Mario C. Diaz, Soma Mukherjee, Malik Rakhmanov, Volker Quetschke, Joseph D. Romano, Robert Stone, Lappoon R. Tang, Cristina V. Torres

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been linked to extreme core-collapse supernovae from massive stars. Gravitational waves (GW) offer a probe of the physics behind long GRBs. We investigate models of long-lived (~10–1000 s) GW emission associated with the accretion disk of a collapsed star or with its protoneutron star remnant. Using data from LIGO’s fifth science run, and GRB triggers from the Swift experiment, we perform a search for unmodeled long-lived GW transients. Finding no evidence of GW emission, we place 90% confidence-level upper limits on the GW fluence at Earth from long GRBs for three waveforms inspired by a …

Scalar Polarization Operator In A Superfluid Medium, Sajib Kumar Barman

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A QCD-inspired effective theory of fermions is considered to study superfluidity. We calculate the quark propagator in a theory with fermion-fermion condensate at finite density. In this theory color degrees of freedom are absent and the quark-quark interaction is modeled through a Yukawa interaction term. Since the diquark condensate is neutral, the system is a superfluid. To study the response of this superfluid to the scalar field propagation, we find the scalar polarization operator of the system.

The 72-H Webt Microvariability Observation Of Blazar S5 0716+714 In 2009, G Bhatta, Stéphane Vennes

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Faculty Publications

Context. The international Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) consortium planned and carried out three days of intensive micro-variability observations of S5 0716+714 from February 22, 2009 to February 25, 2009. This object was chosen due to its bright apparent magnitude range, its high declination, and its very large duty cycle for micro-variations. Aims. We report here on the long continuous optical micro-variability light curve of 0716+714 obtained during the multi-site observing campaign during which the Blazar showed almost constant variability over a 0.5 mag range. The resulting light curve is presented here for the first time. Observations from participating observatories …

Compositional Diversity In The Atmospheres Of Hot Neptunes, With Application To Gj 436b, J. I. Moses, M. R. Line, Channon Visscher, M. R. Richardson, N. Nettleman, J. J. Fortney, T. S. Barman, K. B. Stevenson, N. Madhusudhan

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Neptune-sized extrasolar planets that orbit relatively close to their host stars—often called "hot Neptunes"—are common within the known population of exoplanets and planetary candidates. Similar to our own Uranus and Neptune, inefficient accretion of nebular gas is expected produce hot Neptunes whose masses are dominated by elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. At high atmospheric metallicities of 10-10,000 times solar, hot Neptunes will exhibit an interesting continuum of atmospheric compositions, ranging from more Neptune-like, H₂-dominated atmospheres to more Venus-like, CO₂-dominated atmospheres. We explore the predicted equilibrium and disequilibrium chemistry of generic hot Neptunes and find that …

Chemistry Of Impact-Generated Silicate Melt-Vapor Debris Disks, Channon Visscher, Bruce Fegley Jr.

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

In the giant impact theory for lunar origin, the Moon forms from material ejected by the impact into an Earth-orbiting disk. Here we report the initial results from a silicate melt-vapor equilibrium chemistry model for such impact-generated planetary debris disks. In order to simulate the chemical behavior of a two-phase (melt+vapor) disk, we calculate the temperature-dependent pressure and chemical composition of vapor in equilibrium with molten silicate from 2000 to 4000 K. We consider the elements O, Na, K, Fe, Si, Mg, Ca, Al, Ti, and Zn for a range of bulk silicate compositions (Earth, Moon, Mars, eucrite parent body, …

Unsolved Problems In Special And General Relativity, Florentin Smarandache, Fu Yuhua, Zhao Fengjuan

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

This book includes 21 papers written by 23 authors and co-authors. All papers included herein are produced by scholars from People’s Republic of China, except two papers written by Prof. L. Sapogin, V. A. Dzhanibekov, Yu. A. Ryabov from Russia, and by Prof. Florentin Smarandache from USA. The editors hope that all these papers will contribute to the advance of scholarly research on several aspects of Special and General Relativity. This book is suitable for students and scholars interested in studies on physics. The first paper is written by Hua Di. He writes that Einstein’s general theory of relativity cannot …

Fuzzy Analysis Of School Dropouts And Their Life After, Florentin Smarandache, W.B. Vasantha Kandasamy, K. Amal, K. Kandasamy

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this book authors study and analyze the problem of school dropouts and their life after. The problems can by no means be analyzed by collecting the numerical data. For such data can only serve as information beyond that the data can be of no use, for the school dropouts suffer an environment change after becoming a school dropout. Thus the emotions of the school dropout; is technically involved. A school dropout can be a child labourer, a rag picker or a social miscreant or be in police custody or be in a rehabilitation home if he/she is a runaway. …

Gauge Field Preheating At The End Of Inflation, J. Tate Deskins, John T. Giblin Jr., Robert R. Caldwell

Dartmouth Scholarship

Here we consider the possibility of preheating the Universe via the parametric amplification of a massless, U(1) abelian gauge field. We assume that the gauge field is coupled to the inflaton via a conformal factor with one free parameter. We present the results of high-resolution three-dimensional simulations of this model and show this mechanism efficiently preheats the Universe to a radiation-dominated final state.

Single Spin Asymmetry An In Polarized Proton–Proton Elastic Scattering At √S = 200 Gev, L. Adamczyk, G. Agakishiev, M. M. Aggarwal, Z. Ahammed, A. V. Alakhverdyants, I. Alekseev, J. Alford, C. D. Anson, D. Arkhipkin, E. Aschenauer, S. Bültmann, I. Koralt, D. Plyku

Physics Faculty Publications

We report a high precision measurement of the transverse single spin asymmetry A_N at the center of mass energy √s = 200 GeV in elastic proton–proton scattering by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The A_N was measured in the four-momentum transfer squared t range 0.003 ⩽ | t | ⩽ 0.035 ( GeV / c ) ² , the region of a significant interference between the electromagnetic and hadronic scattering amplitudes. The measured values of A_N and its t-dependence are consistent with a vanishing hadronic spin-flip amplitude, thus providing strong constraints on the ratio of the …

Practical Approach To Cosmological Perturbations In Modified Gravity, Alessandra Silvestri, Levon Pogosian, Roman V. Buniy

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The next generation of large scale surveys will not only measure cosmological parameters within the framework of general relativity, but will also allow for precision tests of the framework itself. At the order of linear perturbations, departures from the growth in the standard cosmological model can be quantified in terms of two functions of time and Fourier number k. We argue that in local theories of gravity, in the quasistatic approximation, these functions must be ratios of polynomials in k, with the numerator of one function being equal to the denominator of the other. Moreover, the polynomials are even and …

Illuminating The Darkest Gamma-Ray Bursts With Radio Observations, B.A. Zauderer, E. Berger, R. Margutti, A.J. Levan, F. Olivares E., D.A. Perley, W. Fong, A. Horesh, Adria Updike, J. Greiner, N.R. Tanvir, T. Laskar, R. Chornock, A.M. Soderberg, K.M. Menten, E. Nakar, J. Carpenter, P. Chandra, A.J. Castro-Tirado, M. Bremer, J. Gorosabel, S. Guziy, D. P´Erez-Ram´Irez, J.M. Winters

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Challenges For Λcdm And Mond, Stacy S. Mcgaugh

Faculty Scholarship

The Universe on large scales is well described by the ΛCDM cosmological model. There however remain some heavy clouds on our global understanding, especially on galaxy scales, which we review here. While some of these clouds might perhaps disappear through small compensatory adjustments of the model, such as changing the mass of the dark matter particles or accounting better for baryonic physics, others should rather be taken as strong indications that the physics of the dark sector is, at the very least, much richer and complex than currently assumed, and that our understanding of gravity and dynamics might also be …

Study Of Dynamic Features Of Highly Energetic Reactions By Dsc And High-Speed Temperature Scanner (Hsts), Mkhitar Hobosyan, Kh. G. Kirakosyan, S. L. Kharatyan, Karen S. Martirosyan

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

The dynamic features of Al2O3 - polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and Al - PTFE reactions in non-isothermal conditions are presented. The Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and High-Speed Temperature Scanner (HSTS) were used to characterize the Al2O3/Al – PTFE reactions at different heating rates. The study shows that the HSTS instrument can give more information about the reaction mechanism and kinetics than the conventional DSC measurements. In this work we show that high heating rates may reveal exothermic reaction between Al2O3 and PTFE that were previously unidentified. The PTFE can potentially remove the oxide layer from aluminum in the initial period of the …

Bayesian Inference Of Polarized Cosmic Microwave Background Power Spectra From Interferometric Data, Ata Karakci, P. M. Sutter, Le Zhang, Emory F. Bunn, Andrei Korotkov, Peter Timbie, Gregory S. Tucker, Benjamin D. Wandelt

Physics Faculty Publications

Detection of B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation is one of the frontiers of observational cosmology. Because they are an order of magnitude fainter than E-modes, it is quite a challenge to detect B-modes. Having more manageable systematics, interferometers prove to have a substantial advantage over imagers in detecting such faint signals. Here, we present a method for Bayesian inference of power spectra and signal reconstruction from interferometric data of the CMB polarization signal by using the technique of Gibbs sampling. We demonstrate the validity of the method in the flat-sky approximation for a simulation of an …

A Study In Merger Induced Galaxy Evolution Through Post-Starburst Systems, Zachary Dean Griffith

Honors Program Theses

We discuss an optical study of a triple galaxy system at a redshift of 0.06. In optical images from Data Release 7 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the system consists of a close pair plus another galaxy at a projected distance of 35 kpc. Tidal features extending at least 30 kpc are visible to the southeast of both the galaxy pair and the third member of the system, suggesting significant interaction. One of the the pair and the more isolated galaxy are low-luminosity radio sources. The lone galaxy appears extended in a radio map from the FIRST survey. …

Fundamental Limits Of Detection In The Near And Mid Infrared, Nathan Lenssen

CMC Senior Theses

The construction of the James Webb Space Telescope has brought attention to infrared astronomy and cosmology. The potential information about our universe to be gained by this mission and future infrared telescopes is staggering, but infrared observation faces many obstacles. These telescopes face large amounts of noise by many phenomena, from emission off of the mirrors to the cosmic infrared background. Infrared telescopes need to be designed in such a way that noise is minimized to achieve sufficient signal to noise ratio on high redshift objects. We will investigate current and planned space and ground based telescopes, model the noise …

Galaxy Zoo : A Catalog Of Overlapping Galaxy Pairs For Dust Studies., William C. Keel, Anna M. Manning, Benne W. Holwerda, Massimo Mezzoprete, Chris J. Lintott, Kevin Schawinski, Pamela Gay, Karen L. Masters

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Analysis of galaxies with overlapping images offers a direct way to probe the distribution of dust extinction and its effects on the background light. We present a catalog of 1990 such galaxy pairs selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) by volunteers of the Galaxy Zoo project. We highlight subsamples which are particularly useful for retrieving such properties of the dust distribution as UV extinction, the extent perpendicular to the disk plane, and extinction in the inner parts of disks. The sample spans wide ranges of morphology and surface brightness, opening up the possibility of using this technique to …