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2013

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Articles 61 - 90 of 371

Full-Text Articles in Astrophysics and Astronomy

Turbulence Transport Modelling Of The Temporal Outer Heliosphere, Laxman Adhikari Oct 2013

Turbulence Transport Modelling Of The Temporal Outer Heliosphere, Laxman Adhikari

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.


The Alignment Of The Marshall Grazing Incidence X-Ray Spectrometer (Magixs), Mark Sterrett Oct 2013

The Alignment Of The Marshall Grazing Incidence X-Ray Spectrometer (Magixs), Mark Sterrett

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.


Particle Acceleration At Shock Pair, Lulu Zhao Oct 2013

Particle Acceleration At Shock Pair, Lulu Zhao

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.


X-Ray Nuclear Activity In S4g Barred Galaxies: No Link Between Bar Strength And Co-Occurrent Supermassive Black Hole Fueling, Mauricio Cristernas, Trisha Mizusawa Oct 2013

X-Ray Nuclear Activity In S4g Barred Galaxies: No Link Between Bar Strength And Co-Occurrent Supermassive Black Hole Fueling, Mauricio Cristernas, Trisha Mizusawa

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Faculty Publications

Stellar bars can lead to gas inflow toward the center of a galaxy and stimulate nuclear star formation. However, there is no compelling evidence on whether they also feed a central supermassive black hole: by measuring the fractions of barred active and inactive galaxies, previous studies have yielded conflicting results. In this paper, we aim to understand the lack of observational evidence for bar-driven active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity by studying a sample of 41 nearby (d < 35 Mpc) barred galaxies from the Spitzer Survey for Stellar Structure in Galaxies. We use Chandra observations to measure nuclear 2–10 keV X-ray luminosities and estimate Eddington ratios, together with Spitzer 3.6 μm imaging to quantify the strength of the stellar bar in two independent ways: (1) from its structure, as traced by its ellipticity and boxiness, and (2) from its gravitational torque Qb, taken as the maximum ratio of the tangential force to the mean background radial force. In this way, rather than discretizing the presence of both stellar bars and nuclear activity, we are able to account for the continuum of bar strengths and degrees of AGN activity. We find nuclear X-ray sources in 31 out of 41 galaxies with median X-ray luminosity and Eddington ratio of LX = 4.3×1038 erg s−1 and Lbol/LEdd = 6.9×10−6, respectively, consistent with low-luminosity AGN activity. Including upper limits for those galaxies without nuclear detections, we find no significant correlation between any of the bar strength indicators and the degree of nuclear activity, irrespective of galaxy luminosity, stellar mass, Hubble type, or bulge size. Strong bars do not favor brighter or more efficient nuclear activity, implying that at least for the low-luminosity regime, supermassive black hole fueling is not closely connected to large-scale features.


Detection Of Ch4 In The Gv Tau N Protoplanetary Disk, David Horne, Erika Gibb Oct 2013

Detection Of Ch4 In The Gv Tau N Protoplanetary Disk, David Horne, Erika Gibb

Physics Faculty Works

T Tauri stars are low mass young stars that may serve as analogs to the early solar system. Observations of organic molecules in the protoplanetary disks surrounding T Tauri stars are important for characterizing the chemical and physical processes that lead to planet formation. Searches for undetected molecules, particularly in the inner, planet forming regions of these disks are important for testing protoplanetary disk chemical models and for understanding the evolution of volatiles through the star and planet formation process. We used NIRSPEC on Keck 2 to perform a high resolution (λ/Δλ ~ 25,000) L-band survey of T Tauri star …


Rainich-Type Conditions For Null Electrovacuum Spacetimes Ii, Charles G. Torre Oct 2013

Rainich-Type Conditions For Null Electrovacuum Spacetimes Ii, Charles G. Torre

Research Vignettes

In this second of two worksheets I continue describing local Rainich-type conditions which are necessary and sufficient for the metric to define a null electrovacuum. In other words, these conditions, which I will call the null electrovacuum conditions, guarantee the existence of a null electromagnetic field such that the metric and electromagnetic field satisfy the Einstein-Maxwell equations. When it exists, the electromagnetic field is easily constructed from the metric. In this worksheet I consider the null electrovacuum conditions which apply when a certain null geodesic congruence determined by the metric is twisting. I shall illustrate the these conditions using a …


Astr 407 Oct 2013

Astr 407

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Syllabi

No abstract provided.


Astr 407: Physics Of The Interstellar Medium, Edward Schmidt Oct 2013

Astr 407: Physics Of The Interstellar Medium, Edward Schmidt

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Syllabi

Syllabus for ASTR 407: Physics of the Interstellar Medium syllabus for Fall 2013 semester.


Gamma-Ray Observations Of X-Ray Binaries, Angelo Varlotta Oct 2013

Gamma-Ray Observations Of X-Ray Binaries, Angelo Varlotta

Open Access Dissertations

The detection of GeV/TeV emission from X-ray binaries (XRBs) has established a new class of high-energy (HE, >0.1 GeV) and very-high-energy (VHE, >100 GeV) gamma-ray emitters. XRBs are formed by a compact object, either a neutron star or a black hole, and by an optical companion star. Some XRBs are known to possess collimated relativistic jets, and are called microquasars. VERITAS has conducted observations of the high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) 1A 0535+262 and of the microquasar Cygnus X-3. Many theoretical models predict VHE emission when these sources manifest persistent relativistic jets or transient ejections. In light of these considerations, VERITAS …


Exploring The Variable Sky With Linear. Iii. Classification Of Periodic Light Curves, Lovro Palaversa, Hakeem Oluseyi Oct 2013

Exploring The Variable Sky With Linear. Iii. Classification Of Periodic Light Curves, Lovro Palaversa, Hakeem Oluseyi

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Faculty Publications

We describe the construction of a highly reliable sample of ∼7000 optically faint periodic variable stars with light curves obtained by the asteroid survey LINEAR across 10,000 deg2 of the northern sky. The majority of these variables have not been cataloged yet. The sample flux limit is severalmagnitudes fainter than most other wide-angle surveys; the photometric errors range from ∼0.03 mag at r = 15 to ∼0.20 mag at r = 18. Light curves include on average 250 data points, collected over about a decade. Using Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) based photometric recalibration of the LINEAR data for about …


X-Ray Nuclear Activity In S4g Barred Galaxies : No Link Between Bar Strength And Co-Occurrent Supermassive Black Hole Fueling., Mauricio Cisternas, Dimitri A. Gadotti, Johan H. Knapen, Taehyun Kim, Simon Diaz-Garcia, Eija Laurikainen, Heikki Salo, Omaira Gonzalez-Martin, Luis C. Ho, Bruce G. Elmegreen, Dennis Zaritsky, Kartik Sheth, E. Athanassoula, Albert Bosma, Sebastien Comeron, Santiago Erroz-Ferrer, Armando Gil De Paz, Joannah L. Hinz, Benne W. Holwerda, Jarkko Laine, Sharon Meidt, Karin Menendez-Delmestre, Trisha Mizusawa, Juan Carlos Munoz-Mateos, Michael W. Regan, Mark Seibert Oct 2013

X-Ray Nuclear Activity In S4g Barred Galaxies : No Link Between Bar Strength And Co-Occurrent Supermassive Black Hole Fueling., Mauricio Cisternas, Dimitri A. Gadotti, Johan H. Knapen, Taehyun Kim, Simon Diaz-Garcia, Eija Laurikainen, Heikki Salo, Omaira Gonzalez-Martin, Luis C. Ho, Bruce G. Elmegreen, Dennis Zaritsky, Kartik Sheth, E. Athanassoula, Albert Bosma, Sebastien Comeron, Santiago Erroz-Ferrer, Armando Gil De Paz, Joannah L. Hinz, Benne W. Holwerda, Jarkko Laine, Sharon Meidt, Karin Menendez-Delmestre, Trisha Mizusawa, Juan Carlos Munoz-Mateos, Michael W. Regan, Mark Seibert

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Stellar bars can lead to gas inflow toward the center of a galaxy and stimulate nuclear star formation. However, there is no compelling evidence on whether they also feed a central supermassive black hole: by measuring the fractions of barred active and inactive galaxies, previous studies have yielded conflicting results. In this paper, we aim to understand the lack of observational evidence for bar-driven active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity by studying a sample of 41 nearby (d < 35 Mpc) barred galaxies from the Spitzer Survey for Stellar Structure in Galaxies. We use Chandra observations to measure nuclear 2–10 keV X-ray luminosities and estimate Eddington ratios, together with Spitzer 3.6 μm imaging to quantify the strength of the stellar bar in two independent ways: (1) from its structure, as traced by its ellipticity and boxiness, and (2) from its gravitational torque Qb, taken as the maximum ratio of the tangential force to the mean background radial force. In this way, rather than discretizing the presence of both stellar bars and nuclear activity, we are able to account for the continuum of bar strengths and degrees of AGN activity. We find nuclear X-ray sources in 31 out of 41 galaxies with median X-ray luminosity and Eddington ratio of LX = 4.3×1038 erg s−1 and Lbol/LEdd = 6.9×10−6, respectively, consistent with low-luminosity AGN activity. Including upper limits for those galaxies without nuclear detections, we find no significant correlation between any of the bar strength indicators and the degree of nuclear activity, irrespective of galaxy luminosity, stellar mass, Hubble type, or bulge size. Strong bars do not favor brighter or more efficient nuclear activity, implying that at least for the low-luminosity regime, supermassive black hole fueling is not closely connected to large-scale features.


Quantified H I Morphology – Vii. Star Formation And Tidal Influence On Local Dwarf H I Morphology., Benne W. Holwerda, N. Pirzkal, W. J. G. De Blok, S. -L. Blyth Oct 2013

Quantified H I Morphology – Vii. Star Formation And Tidal Influence On Local Dwarf H I Morphology., Benne W. Holwerda, N. Pirzkal, W. J. G. De Blok, S. -L. Blyth

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Scale-invariant morphology parameters applied to atomic hydrogen maps (H i) of galaxies can be used to quantify the effects of tidal interaction or star formation on the interstellar matter (ISM). Here we apply these parameters, concentration, asymmetry, smoothness, Gini, M20, and the GM parameter, to two public surveys of nearby dwarf galaxies, the Very Large Array-ANGST and Local Irregulars That Trace Luminosity Extremes-The H i Nearby Galaxy Survey, to explore whether tidal interaction or the ongoing or past star formation is a dominant force shaping the H i disc of these dwarfs. Previously, H i morphological criteria were identified for …


A Bayesian Approach To Deriving Ages Of Individual Field White Dwarfs, Erin M. O'Malley, Ted Von Hippel, David A. Van Dyk Sep 2013

A Bayesian Approach To Deriving Ages Of Individual Field White Dwarfs, Erin M. O'Malley, Ted Von Hippel, David A. Van Dyk

Publications

We apply a self-consistent and robust Bayesian statistical approach to determine the ages, distances, and zero-age main sequence (ZAMS) masses of 28 field DA white dwarfs (WDs) with ages of approximately 4–8 Gyr. Our technique requires only quality optical and near-infrared photometry to derive ages with <15% uncertainties, generally with little sensitivity to our choice of modern initial–final mass relation. We find that age, distance, and ZAMS mass are correlated in a manner that is too complex to be captured by traditional error propagation techniques. We further find that the posterior distributions of age are often asymmetric, indicating that the …


Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Study Of V1647 Ori, Sean D. Brittain, T W. Rettig, Theodore Simon, Erika L. Gibb, Joseph Liskowsky Sep 2013

Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Study Of V1647 Ori, Sean D. Brittain, T W. Rettig, Theodore Simon, Erika L. Gibb, Joseph Liskowsky

Publications

We present new high-resolution infrared echelle spectra of V1647 Ori, the young star that illuminates McNeil's nebula. From the start, V1647 Ori has been an enigmatic source that has defied classification, in some ways resembling eruptive stars of the FUor class and in other respects the EXor variables. V1647 Ori underwent an outburst in 2003 before fading back to its pre-outburst brightness in 2006. In 2008, it underwent a new outburst. In this paper we present high-resolution K-band and M-band spectra from the W. M. Keck Observatory that were acquired during the 2008 outburst. We compare the spectra to spectra …


Plans For The Next Grape Balloon Flight, Mark L. Mcconnell, Peter F. Bloser, T P. Connor, Camden Ertley, Jason S. Legere, James M. Ryan, Sambid K. Wasti Sep 2013

Plans For The Next Grape Balloon Flight, Mark L. Mcconnell, Peter F. Bloser, T P. Connor, Camden Ertley, Jason S. Legere, James M. Ryan, Sambid K. Wasti

Space Science Center

The Gamma RAy Polarimeter Experiment (GRAPE) was first flown on a 26-hour balloon flight in the fall of 2011. GRAPE consists of an array of Compton polarimeter modules (based on traditional scintillation technologies) designed to operate in the energy range from 50 keV up to 500 keV. The ultimate goal is to operate GRAPE in a wide FoV configuration for the study of gamma-ray bursts. For the first (demonstration) balloon flight, GRAPE was configured in a collimated mode to facilitate observations of known point sources. The Crab nebula/pulsar, the active Sun, and Cygnus X-1 were the primary targets for the …


Scintillator Gamma-Ray Detectors With Silicon Photomultiplier Readouts For High-Energy Astronomy, Peter F. Bloser, Jason S. Legere, Chris Bancroft, Mark L. Mcconnell, James M. Ryan, Nathan Schwadron Sep 2013

Scintillator Gamma-Ray Detectors With Silicon Photomultiplier Readouts For High-Energy Astronomy, Peter F. Bloser, Jason S. Legere, Chris Bancroft, Mark L. Mcconnell, James M. Ryan, Nathan Schwadron

Space Science Center

Space-based gamma-ray detectors for high-energy astronomy face strict constraints of mass, volume, and power, and must endure harsh operating environments. Scintillator materials have a long history of successful operation under these conditions, and new materials offer greatly improved performance in terms of efficiency, time response, and energy resolution. The use of scintillators in space remains constrained, however, by the mass, volume, and fragility of the associated light readout device, typically a vacuum photomultiplier tube (PMT). Recently developed silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) offer gains and efficiencies similar to those of PMTs, but with greatly reduced mass and volume, high ruggedness, and no …


Optical And X-Ray Studies Of 10 X-Ray-Selected Cataclysmic Binaries, John R. Thorstensen, Jules Halpern Sep 2013

Optical And X-Ray Studies Of 10 X-Ray-Selected Cataclysmic Binaries, John R. Thorstensen, Jules Halpern

Dartmouth Scholarship

We report on ground-based optical observations of 10 cataclysmic binaries that were discovered through their X-ray emission. Time-resolved radial velocity spectroscopy yields unambiguous orbital periods for eight objects and ambiguous results for the remaining two. The orbital periods range from 87 minutes to 9.38 hr. We also obtained time-series optical photometry for six targets, four of which have coherent pulsations. These periods are 1218 s for 1RXS J045707.4+452751, 628 s for AX J1740.2–2903, 477 s for AX J1853.3–0128, and 935 s for IGR J19267+1325. A total of seven of the sources have coherent oscillations in X-rays or optical, indicating that …


Multiwavelength Observations And Modeling Of 1es 1959+650 In A Low Flux State, P. T. Reynolds, Et. Al. Sep 2013

Multiwavelength Observations And Modeling Of 1es 1959+650 In A Low Flux State, P. T. Reynolds, Et. Al.

Physical Sciences Publications

We report on the VERITAS observations of the high-frequency peaked BL Lac object 1ES 1959+650 in the period 2007-2011. This source is detected at TeV energies by VERITAS at 16.4 standard deviation (σ) significance in 7.6 hr of observation in a low flux state. A multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) is constructed from contemporaneous data from VERITAS, Fermi-LAT, RXTE PCA, and Swift UVOT. Swift XRT data is not included in the SED due to a lack of simultaneous observations with VERITAS. In contrast to the orphan γ-ray flare exhibited by this source in 2002, the X-ray flux of the source …


Goals Strategies And First Discoveries Of Ao327 The Arecibo All-Sky 327 Mhz Drift Pulsar Survey, J. S. Deneva, K. Stovall, M. A. Mclaughlin, S. D. Bates, P. C.C. Freire, J. G. Martinez, F. Jenet, M. Bagchi Sep 2013

Goals Strategies And First Discoveries Of Ao327 The Arecibo All-Sky 327 Mhz Drift Pulsar Survey, J. S. Deneva, K. Stovall, M. A. Mclaughlin, S. D. Bates, P. C.C. Freire, J. G. Martinez, F. Jenet, M. Bagchi

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We report initial results from AO327, a drift survey for pulsars with the Arecibo telescope at 327 MHz. The first phase of AO327 will cover the sky at declinations of -1° to 28°, excluding the region within 5° of the Galactic plane, where high scattering and dispersion make low-frequency surveys sub-optimal. We record data from a 57 MHz bandwidth with 1024 channels and 125 μs sampling time. The 60 s transit time through the AO327 beam means that the survey is sensitive to very tight relativistic binaries even with no acceleration searches. To date we have detected 44 known pulsars …


The Xmm-Newton Epic X-Ray Light Curve Analysis Of Wr 6., Richard Ignace, K. Gayley, W.-R. Hamann, D. Huenemoerder, L. Oskinova, A. Pollock, M. Mcfall Sep 2013

The Xmm-Newton Epic X-Ray Light Curve Analysis Of Wr 6., Richard Ignace, K. Gayley, W.-R. Hamann, D. Huenemoerder, L. Oskinova, A. Pollock, M. Mcfall

ETSU Faculty Works

We obtained four pointings of over 100 ks each of the well-studied Wolf-Rayet star WR 6 with the XMM-Newton satellite. With a first paper emphasizing the results of spectral analysis, this follow-up highlights the X-ray variability clearly detected in all four pointings. However, phased light curves fail to confirm obvious cyclic behavior on the well-established 3.766 d period widely found at longer wavelengths. The data are of such quality that we were able to conduct a search for "event clustering" in the arrival times of X-ray photons. However, we fail to detect any such clustering. One possibility is that X-rays …


Two Suns In The Sky: Stellar Multiplicity Influence On Planet Formation, Ji Wang, Debra Fischer Sep 2013

Two Suns In The Sky: Stellar Multiplicity Influence On Planet Formation, Ji Wang, Debra Fischer

Yale Day of Data

We found that a planet is less likely to exist around a binary star, and thus Tatooine may be just a dream.


Hst Hot Jupiter Transmission Spectral Survey: Detection Of Water In Hat-P-1b From Wfc3 Near-Ir Spatial Scan Observations, Hannah R. Wakeford, David K. Sing, Drake Deming, Neale P. Gibson, Jonathan J. Fortney, Adam Burrows, Gilda E. Ballester, Nikolay Nikolov, Suzanne Aigrain, Gregory W. Henry, Heather Knutson, Alain Lecavelier Des Etangs, Frederic Pont, Adam P. Showman, Alfred Vidal-Madjar, Kevin J. Zahnle Sep 2013

Hst Hot Jupiter Transmission Spectral Survey: Detection Of Water In Hat-P-1b From Wfc3 Near-Ir Spatial Scan Observations, Hannah R. Wakeford, David K. Sing, Drake Deming, Neale P. Gibson, Jonathan J. Fortney, Adam Burrows, Gilda E. Ballester, Nikolay Nikolov, Suzanne Aigrain, Gregory W. Henry, Heather Knutson, Alain Lecavelier Des Etangs, Frederic Pont, Adam P. Showman, Alfred Vidal-Madjar, Kevin J. Zahnle

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

We present Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared transmission spectroscopy of the transiting hot-Jupiter HAT-P-1b. We observed one transit with Wide Field Camera 3 using the G141 low-resolution grism to cover the wavelength range 1.087–1.678 μm. These time series observations were taken with the newly available spatial-scan mode that increases the duty cycle by nearly a factor of 2, thus improving the resulting photometric precision of the data. We measure a planet-to-star radius ratio of Rp/R* = 0.117 09 ± 0.000 38 in the white light curve with the centre of transit occurring at 245 6114.345 ± 0.000 133 (JD). We achieve …


Andromeda Dwarfs In Light Of Mond. Ii. Testing Prior Predictions, Stacy S. Mcgaugh Sep 2013

Andromeda Dwarfs In Light Of Mond. Ii. Testing Prior Predictions, Stacy S. Mcgaugh

Faculty Scholarship

We employ recently published measurements of the velocity dispersions in the newly discovered dwarf satellite galaxies of Andromeda to test our previously published predictions of this quantity. The data are in good agreement with our specific predictions for each dwarf made a priori with modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND), with reasonable stellar mass-to-light ratios, and no dark matter, while Newtonian dynamics point to quite large mass discrepancies in these systems. MOND distinguishes between regimes where the internal field of the dwarf, or the external field of the host, dominates. The data appear to recognize this distinction, which is a unique feature …


Discovery Of High-Frequency Iron K Lags In Ark 564 And Mrk 335, E. Kara, A. C. Fabian, E. M. Cackett, P. Uttley, D. R. Wilkins, A. Zoghbi Sep 2013

Discovery Of High-Frequency Iron K Lags In Ark 564 And Mrk 335, E. Kara, A. C. Fabian, E. M. Cackett, P. Uttley, D. R. Wilkins, A. Zoghbi

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

We use archival XMM-Newton observations of Ark 564 and Mrk 335 to calculate the frequency-dependent time lags for these two well-studied sources. We discover high-frequency Fe K lags in both sources, indicating that the red wing of the line precedes the rest-frame energy by roughly 100 and 150 s for Ark 564 and Mrk 335, respectively. Including these two new sources, Fe K reverberation lags have been observed in seven Seyfert galaxies. We examine the low-frequency lag-energy spectrum, which is smooth, and shows no feature of reverberation, as would be expected if the low-frequency lags were produced by distant reflection …


Detecting The Rapidly Expanding Outer Shell Of The Crab Nebula: Where To Look, Xiang Wang, Gary J. Ferland, J. A. Baldwin, E. D. Loh, C. T. Richardson Sep 2013

Detecting The Rapidly Expanding Outer Shell Of The Crab Nebula: Where To Look, Xiang Wang, Gary J. Ferland, J. A. Baldwin, E. D. Loh, C. T. Richardson

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present a range of steady-state photoionization simulations, corresponding to different assumed shell geometries and compositions, of the unseen postulated rapidly expanding outer shell to the Crab Nebula. The properties of the shell are constrained by the mass that must lie within it, and by limits to the intensities of hydrogen recombination lines. In all cases the photoionization models predict very strong emissions from high ionization lines that will not be emitted by the Crab's filaments, alleviating problems with detecting these lines in the presence of light scattered from brighter parts of the Crab. The near-NIR [Ne VI] λ7.652 μ …


Nitrogen Abundances And The Distance Moduli Of The Pleiades And Hyades, Blake Miller, Jeremy R. King, Yu Chen, Ann Merchant Boesgaard Sep 2013

Nitrogen Abundances And The Distance Moduli Of The Pleiades And Hyades, Blake Miller, Jeremy R. King, Yu Chen, Ann Merchant Boesgaard

Publications

Recent reanalyses of HIPPARCOS parallax data confirm a previously noted discrepancy with the Pleiades distance modulus estimated from main-sequence fitting in the color-magnitude diagram. One proposed explanation of this distance modulus discrepancy is a Pleiades He abundance that is significantly larger than the Hyades value. We suggest that, based on our theoretical and observational understanding of Galactic chemical evolution, nitrogen abundances may serve as a proxy for helium abundances of disk stars. Utilizing high-resolution near-UV Keck/HIRES spectroscopy, we determine N abundances in the Pleiades and Hyades dwarfs from NH features in the λ3330 region. While our Hyades N abundances show …


Nsf Funds Study Of Cosmic Dust, Kim Hill Sep 2013

Nsf Funds Study Of Cosmic Dust, Kim Hill

News and Events (Discontinued Series)

No abstract provided.


The Biophysical Effects Of Deuterium Oxide On Biomolecules And Living Cells Through Open Notebook Science., Anthony Salvagno Sep 2013

The Biophysical Effects Of Deuterium Oxide On Biomolecules And Living Cells Through Open Notebook Science., Anthony Salvagno

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

This dissertation explores various effects of deuterium oxide (D2O also known as heavy water) in nature. Water is everywhere and interacts with just about everything. As such, it would be quite a daunting task to characterize every effect that water exhibits on everything in the universe. This research is a small piece of the puzzle, and provides some fundamental understanding of how water interacts with other molecules. This is done from two viewpoints: (1) the effects of heavy water on living cells and (2) the effects of heavy water on molecules. Varying concentrations of deuterium oxide were used as the …


A Change In The Quiescent X-Ray Spectrum Of The Neutron Star Low-Mass X-Ray Binary Mxb 1659-29, E. M. Cackett, E. F. Brown, A. Cumming, N. Degenaar, J. K. Fridriksson, J. Homan, J. M. Miller, R. Wijnands Sep 2013

A Change In The Quiescent X-Ray Spectrum Of The Neutron Star Low-Mass X-Ray Binary Mxb 1659-29, E. M. Cackett, E. F. Brown, A. Cumming, N. Degenaar, J. K. Fridriksson, J. Homan, J. M. Miller, R. Wijnands

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

The quasi-persistent neutron star low-mass X-ray binary MXB 1659-29 went into quiescence in 2001, and we have followed its quiescent X-ray evolution since. Observations over the first 4 yr showed a rapid drop in flux and temperature of the neutron star atmosphere, interpreted as cooling of the neutron star crust which had been heated during the 2.5 yr outburst. However, observations taken approximately 1400 and 2400 days into quiescence were consistent with each other, suggesting the crust had reached thermal equilibrium with the core. Here we present a new Chandra observation of MXB 1659-29 taken 11 yr into quiescence and …


Discovery Of High-Frequency Iron K Lags In Ark 564 And Mrk 335, E. Kara, A. C. Fabian, E. M. Cackett, P. Uttley, D. R. Wilkins, A. Zoghbi Sep 2013

Discovery Of High-Frequency Iron K Lags In Ark 564 And Mrk 335, E. Kara, A. C. Fabian, E. M. Cackett, P. Uttley, D. R. Wilkins, A. Zoghbi

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

We use archival XMM-Newton observations of Ark 564 and Mrk 335 to calculate the frequency-dependent time lags for these two well-studied sources. We discover high-frequency Fe K lags in both sources, indicating that the red wing of the line precedes the rest-frame energy by roughly 100 and 150 s for Ark 564 and Mrk 335, respectively. Including these two new sources, Fe K reverberation lags have been observed in seven Seyfert galaxies. We examine the low-frequency lag-energy spectrum, which is smooth, and shows no feature of reverberation, as would be expected if the low-frequency lags were produced by distant reflection …