Cosmology, Relativity, and Gravity Commons^™

Can We Use The Nasa Gamma-Ray Burst Satellites, Fermi And Swift, To Aid The Search For The First Gravitational Wave Detection?, E Burns

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Instability And Particle Acceleration In Relativistic Jets, Qiana Hunt, Kyle Rettke

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Constraints On Very High Energy Emission From Grb 130427a, P. T. Reynolds, Et Al

Physical Sciences Publications

Prompt emission from the very fluent and nearby (z = 0.34) gamma-ray burst GRB 130427A was detected by several orbiting telescopes and by ground-based, wide-field-of-view optical transient monitors. Apart from the intensity and proximity of this GRB, it is exceptional due to the extremely long-lived high-energy (100 MeV to 100 GeV) gamma-ray emission, which was detected by the Large Area Telescope on the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope for ~70 ks after the initial burst. The persistent, hard-spectrum, high-energy emission suggests that the highest-energy gamma rays may have been produced via synchrotron self-Compton processes though there is also evidence that …

Revised Age For Cm Draconis And Wd 1633+ 572-Toward A Resolution Of Model-Observation Radius Discrepancies, Gregory A. Feiden, Brian Chaboyer

Dartmouth Scholarship

We report an age revision for the low-mass detached eclipsing binary CM Draconis and its common proper motion companion, WD 1633+572. An age of 8.5 +/- 3.5 Gyr is found by combining an age estimate for the lifetime of WD 1633+572 and an estimate from galactic space motions. The revised age is greater than a factor of two older than previous estimates. Our results provide consistency between the white dwarf age and the system's galactic kinematics, which reveal the system is a highly probable mem

Dark Energy Scaling From Dark Matter To Acceleration, Jannis Bielefeld, Robert R. Caldwell, Eric Linder

Dartmouth Scholarship

The dark sector of the Universe need not be completely separable into distinct dark matter and dark energy components. We consider a model of early dark energy in which the dark energy mimics a dark matter component in both evolution and perturbations at early times. Barotropic aether dark energy scales as a fixed fraction, possibly greater than one, of the dark matter density and has vanishing sound speed at early times before undergoing a transition. This gives signatures not only in cosmic expansion but in sound speed and inhomogeneities, and in number of effective neutrino species. Model parameters describe the …

Measuring Noble Gases In Coma Samples From Comet Wild 2, Jacob Simones

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Since comets originated during the formation of the solar system, the processes of solar system formation can be better understood through compositional analysis of cometary material. A low density, silicon-based substance called aerogel was used by NASA’s Stardust spacecraft to collect coma samples from comet Wild 2. Aerogel not from the spacecraft (“non-flight”) was investigated to determine the possibility of measuring noble gases in Stardust samples. Gas evolved from heated, non-flight aerogel was measured initially using a residual gas analyzer, then a high-sensitivity massspectrometer. Levels of helium and neon isotopes observed from both instruments were sufficiently low that noble gases …

Characterizing New Calibration Sources In Liquid Xenon Dark Matter Searches, Evan P. Bray, Rafael Lang, Sean Macmullin

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In order to use the XENON1T liquid xenon detector as a means for detecting dark matter, the response to nuclear and electronic recoils must be well calibrated. Electronic-recoil calibration of XENON1T will be done by using the noble gas radon-220 that emanates from a custom thorium-228 source to observe the electron recoils that its daughter elements induce in liquid xenon. A silicon PIN diode was constructed to ensure that the Th228 source does not contaminate the system with the long-lived isotopes Th228 (T1/2 of 1.9 y) or Radium-224 (T1/2 of 3.6 d). The PIN diode was fixed in a custom …

Search For Higgs Shifts In White Dwarfs, Roberto Onofrio, Gary A. Wegner

Dartmouth Scholarship

We report on a search for differential shifts between electronic and vibronic transitions in carbon-rich white dwarfs BPM 27606 and Procyon B. The absence of differential shifts within the spectral resolution and taking into account systematic effects such as space motion and pressure shifts allows us to set the first upper bound of astrophysical origin on the coupling between the Higgs field and the Kreschmann curvature invariant. Our analysis provides the basis for a more general methodology to derive bounds to the coupling of long-range scalar fields to curvature invariants in an astrophysical setting complementary to the ones available from …

Laser Frequency Stabilization For Lisa, Andrew B. Parker, Andrew J. Sutton, Glenn De Vine

STAR Program Research Presentations

This research focuses on laser ranging developments for LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna), a planned NASA-ESA gravitational wave detector in space. LISA will utilize precision laser interferometry to track the changes in separation between three satellites orbiting 5 million kilometers apart. Specifically, our goal is to investigate options for laser frequency stabilization. Previous research has shown that an optical cavity system can meet LISA's stability requirements, but these units are large and heavy, adding cost to the implementation. A heterodyne Mach-Zehnder interferometer could be integrated onto LISA’s existing optical bench, greatly reducing the weight, provided the interferometer meets the stability …

Environmental Testing Of Lasers For Jpl's Cold Atom Laboratory, Carey L. Baxter

STAR Program Research Presentations

NASA’s Cold Atom Lab (CAL) is a multi-user facility designed to study ultra-cold quantum gases in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS). One of the main goals of CAL is to explore the unknown territory of extremely low temperatures—possibly as low as the picokelvin range!—where new and fascinating quantum phenomena can be observed. At such temperatures matter stops behaving as particles and instead becomes macroscopic matter waves. CAL will be remotely controlled to perform a multitude of experiments and is scheduled to launch in 2016. In order to anticipate problems that might occur during and post-launch, including …

Globular Cluster Simulations By Mocca Code, Dongming Jin

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The MOCCA code is one of the most advanced codes that has the capacity to simulate a realistic sized star cluster with a full dynamical history including stellar evolution using Monte Carlo methods for the cluster evolution and the Fewbody code for scattering. The dynamical evolution of a cluster can result in the formation of many binary systems. Some of these binaries may be very close. Close double white dwarf binaries (double WDBs) may be promising gravitational wave sources. Our work uses MOCCA to simulate 90 globular clusters with different numbers of stars, binary fractions, metallicities and power-law indices of …

Static Interaction Of Black Holes In 1+1 Dimensions, Philip Greenwood

Physics

We consider a version of general relativity in two spacetime dimensions, and

study a solution describing two static black holes in the presence of a cosmological

constant. We first analytically find an embedding diagram to visualize the geometry

outside the black holes. We then examine how the two black holes must be

interacting to remain static. Our main result is to show how the black holes behave

effectively like two electric charges. This charge model exhibits both attraction and

repulsion, which evidently balance and moreover are localized in different regions

of space. We also begin an investigation of the black …

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.

Physics Of Gamma-Ray Bursts And Multi-Messenger Signals From Double Neutron Star Mergers, He Gao

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

My dissertation includes two parts:

Physics of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs): Gamma-ray bursts are multi-wavelength transients, with both prompt gamma-ray emission and late time afterglow emission observed by telescopes in different wavelengths. I have carried out three investigations to understand GRB prompt emission and afterglow. Chapter 2 develops a new method, namely, "Stepwise Filter Correlation" method, to decompose the variability components in a light curve. After proving its reliability through simulations, we apply this method to 266 bright GRBs and find that the majority of the bursts have clear evidence of superposition of fast and slow variability components. Chapter 3 gives …

Where Did The First Generation Of Stars Form In The Universe, Long Yan Yung, Aparna Venkatesan

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

The first generation of stars in the universe are expected to contain no heavy elements beyond helium, and are considered “metal-free” Population III stars (or Pop III). These metal-free stars in the early universe are predicted to have hard ionizing photon spectra and unique element yields from their supernovae, leaving signatures through the reionization of the intergalactic medium and the metal enrichment of gas in the early universe. Here, we examine the metal abundances in a variety of systems in the nearby universe, from very metal-poor Galactic halo stars to ultra-faint dwarf spheroidal galaxies, and compare them with the latest …

The Link Between Shocks, Turbulence And Magnetic Reconnection In Collisionless Plasmas, H. Karimabadi, V. Roytershteyn, H. X. Vu, Y. Omelchenko, J. Scudder, W. Daughton, A. Dimmock, Katariina (Heidi) Nykyri, Et Al.

Publications

Global hybrid (electron fluid, kinetic ions) and fully kinetic simulations of the magnetosphere have been used to show surprising interconnection between shocks, turbulence and magnetic reconnection. In particular collisionless shocks with their reflected ions that can get upstream before retransmission can generate previously unforeseen phenomena in the post shocked flows: (i) formation of reconnecting current sheets and magnetic islands with sizes up to tens of ion inertial length. (ii) Generation of large scale low frequency electromagnetic waves that are compressed and amplified as they cross the shock. These 'wavefronts' maintain their integrity for tens of ion cyclotron times but eventually …

Lensed Type Ia Supernovae As Probes Of Cluster Mass Models, J Nordin, David Rubin, J Richard, E Rykoff, Greg Aldering, R Amanullah, H Atek, K Barbary, S Deustua, H K. Fakhouri, A S. Fruchter, A Goobar, I Hook, E Y. Hsiao, Xiaosheng Huang, J P. Kneib, C Lidman, J Meyers, S Perlmutter, C Saunders, A L. Spadafora, N Suzuki

Physics and Astronomy

Using three magnified Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) detected behind CLASH (Cluster Lensing and Supernovae with Hubble) clusters, we perform a first pilot study to see whether standardizable candles can be used to calibrate cluster mass maps created from strong lensing observations. Such calibrations will be crucial when next-generation Hubble Space Telescope cluster surveys (e.g. Frontier) provide magnification maps that will, in turn, form the basis for the exploration of the high-redshift Universe. We classify SNe using combined photometric and spectroscopic observations, finding two of the three to be clearly of Type Ia and the third probable. The SNe exhibit …

A Digital Backend For The Low Frequency All Sky Monitor, Louis Percy Dartez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The Low Frequency All Sky Monitor (LoFASM) is a distributed array of dipole antennas that are sensitive to radio frequencies from 10 to 88 MHz. The primary science goals of LoFASM are the detection and study of low-frequency radio transients, a high priority science goal as deemed by the National Research Council's decadal survey. LoFASM consists of antennas and front-end electronics that were originally developed for the Long Wavelength Array (LWA) by the U.S. Naval Research Lab, the University of New Mexico, Virginia Tech, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. LoFASM, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, will initially consist …

Book Review: Cosmic Dawn: The Search For The First Stars And Galaxies, T. D. Oswalt

Publications

This document is Dr. Oswalt’s review of Cosmic Dawn : the Search for the First Stars and Galaxies by George Rhee, springer, 2013. 279p, 9781461478126 $39.99, 9781461478133 $29.99.

Transition To Order After Hilltop Inflation, Marcelo Gleiser, Noah Graham

Dartmouth Scholarship

We investigate the rich nonlinear dynamics during the end of hilltop inflation by numerically solving the coupled Klein-Gordon-Friedmann equations in an expanding universe. In particular, we search for coherent, nonperturbative configurations that may emerge due to the combination of nontrivial couplings between the fields and resonant effects from the cosmological expansion. We couple a massless field to the inflaton to investigate its effect on the existence and stability of coherent configurations and the effective equation of state at reheating. For parameters consistent with data from the Planck and WMAP satellites, and for a wide range of couplings between the inflaton …

Deep Broadband Observations Of The Distant Gamma-Ray Blazar Pks 1424+240, P. T. Reynolds, Et Al

Physical Sciences Publications

We present deep VERITAS observations of the blazar PKS 1424+240, along with contemporaneous Fermi Large Area Telescope, Swift X-ray Telescope, and Swift UV Optical Telescope data between 2009 February 19 and 2013 June 8. This blazar resides at a redshift of z ≥ 0.6035, displaying a significantly attenuated gamma-ray flux above 100 GeV due to photon absorption via pair-production with the extragalactic background light. We present more than 100 hr of VERITAS observations over three years, a multiwavelength light curve, and the contemporaneous spectral energy distributions. The source shows a higher flux of (2.1 ± 0.3) × 10–7 photons m–2 …

A Comparison Of X-Ray And Optical Emission In Cassiopeia A, Daniel J. Patnaude, Robert A. Fesen

Dartmouth Scholarship

Broadband optical and narrowband Si XIII X-ray images of the young Galactic supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) obtained over several decades are used to investigate spatial and temporal emission correlations on both large and small angular scales. The data examined consist of optical and near infrared ground-based and Hubble Space Telescope images taken between 1951 and 2011, and X-ray images from Einstein, ROSAT, and Chandra taken between 1979 and 2013. We find weak spatial correlations between the remnant’s X-ray and optical emission features on large scales, but several cases of good optical/X-ray correlations on small scales for features which …

Local Lorentz-Symmetry Breaking And Gravity, Q. G. Bailey

Publications

The lagrangian-based Standard-Model Extension framework offers a broad description of possible gravitational effects from local Lorentz violation. In this talk, I review the status of the theoretical and phenomenological work in this area. The extension of previous results in linearized gravity to the nonlinear regime is discussed.

Constraints On Violations Of Lorentz Symmetry From Gravity Probe B, James M. Overduin, Ryan D. Everett, Quentin G. Bailey

Publications

We use the final results from Gravity Probe B to set new upper limits on the gravitational sector of the Standard-Model Extension, including for the first time the coefficient associated with the time-time component of the new field responsible for inducing local Lorentz violation in the theory.

Secular Damping Of Stellar Bars In Spinning Dark Matter Halos, Stacy Long, Isaac Shlosman, Clayton Heller

Physics & Astronomy: Faculty Publications

We demonstrate using numerical simulations of isolated galaxies that growth of stellar bars in spinning dark matter halos is heavily suppressed in the secular phase of evolution. In a representative set of models, we show that for values of the cosmological spin parameter λ ≳ 0.03, bar growth (in strength and size) becomes increasingly quenched. Furthermore, the slowdown of the bar pattern speed weakens considerably with increasing λ until it ceases completely. The terminal structure of the bars is affected as well, including extent and shape of their boxy/peanut bulges. The essence of this effect lies in the modified angular …

Tracing The Evolution Of Active Galactic Nuclei Host Galaxies Over The Last 9 Gyr Of Cosmic Time, A. D. Goulding, W. R. Forman, R. C. Hickox, C. Jones

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present the results of a combined galaxy population analysis for the host galaxies of active galactic nuclei (AGN) identified at 0 < z < 1.4 within the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Boötes, and DEEP2 surveys. We identified AGN in a uniform and unbiased manner at X-ray, infrared, and radio wavelengths. Supermassive black holes undergoing radiatively efficient accretion (detected as X-ray and/or infrared AGN) appear to be hosted in a separate and distinct galaxy population than AGN undergoing powerful mechanically dominated accretion (radio AGN). Consistent with some previous studies, radiatively efficient AGN appear to be preferentially hosted in modest star-forming galaxies, with little dependence on AGN or galaxy luminosity. AGN exhibiting radio-emitting jets due to mechanically dominated accretion are almost exclusively observed in massive, passive galaxies. Crucially, we now provide strong evidence that the observed host-galaxy trends are independent of redshift. In particular, these different accretion-mode AGN have remained as separate galaxy populations throughout the last 9 Gyr. Furthermore, it appears that galaxies hosting AGN have evolved along the same path as galaxies that are not hosting AGN with little evidence for distinctly separate evolution.

The Spacetime Geometry Of A Null Electromagnetic Field, Charles G. Torre

Presentations and Publications

We give a set of local geometric conditions on a spacetime metric which are necessary and sufficient for it to be a null electrovacuum, that is, the metric is part of a solution to the Einstein–Maxwell equations with a null electromagnetic field. These conditions are restrictions on a null congruence canonically constructed from the spacetime metric, and can involve up to five derivatives of the metric. The null electrovacuum conditions are counterparts of the Rainich conditions, which geometrically characterize non-null electrovacua. Given a spacetime satisfying the conditions for a null electrovacuum, a straightforward procedure builds the null electromagnetic field from …

Proceedings Of The First International Conference On Superluminal Physics & Instantaneous Physics As New Fields Of Research, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In a similar way as passing from Euclidean Geometry to Non-Euclidean Geometry, we can pass from Subluminal Physics to Superluminal Physics, and further to Instantaneous Physics (instantaneous traveling). In the lights of two consecutive successful CERN experiments with superluminal particles in the fall of 2011, we believe these two new fields of research should begin developing. A physical law has a form in Newtonian physics, another form in the Relativity Theory, and different form at Superluminal theory, or at Instantaneous (infinite) speeds – according to the S-Denying Theory spectrum. First, we extend physical laws and formulas to superluminal traveling and …

Elvis: Exploring The Local Volume In Simulations, Shea Garrison-Kimmel, Michael Boylan-Kolchin, James S. Bullock, Kyle Lee

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We introduce a set of high-resolution dissipationless simulations that model the Local Group (LG) in a cosmological context: Exploring the Local Volume in Simulations (ELVIS). The suite contains 48 Galaxy-size haloes, each within high-resolution volumes that span 2-5 Mpc in size, and each resolving thousands of systems with masses below the atomic cooling limit. Half of the ELVIS galaxy haloes are in paired configurations similar to the Milky Way (MW) and M31; the other half are isolated, mass-matched analogues. We find no difference in the abundance or kinematics of substructure within the virial radii of isolated versus paired hosts. On …

Closed String Thermodynamics And A Blue Tensor Spectrum, Robert H. Brandenberger, Ali Nayeri, Subodh P. Patil

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The BICEP-2 team has recently reported the positive detection of cosmic microwave background Bmode polarization. Although uncertainties due to galactic dust foregrounds remain, it is a constructive exercise to work out the implications of presuming some part of the detected B-mode signal to be due to primordial gravitational waves. Were a positive detection of a tensor-to-scalar ratio larger than r greater than or similar to O(10(-2)) confirmed, detecting a tilt in the tensor spectrum comparable to that observed for the scalar power spectrum becomes in principle possible. We wish to explore in this brief paper the possibility of there being …