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2012

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Instrumentation

Unmasking The Mysteries Of High-Mass X-Ray Binaries (Hmxbs): The Role Of The Electron Beam Ion Trap (Ebit), Carey L. Baxter, Greg Brown, Natalie Hell Aug 2012

Unmasking The Mysteries Of High-Mass X-Ray Binaries (Hmxbs): The Role Of The Electron Beam Ion Trap (Ebit), Carey L. Baxter, Greg Brown, Natalie Hell

Carey L Baxter

The Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT) uses a very narrow electron beam (~60μm) to excite and trap ions. X-ray emissions of the excited ions are then diffracted and analyzed. I studied specific spectral emission lines of ionized silicon. This data can be used as a point of reference for similar spectra measured by the satellite Chandra so that the Doppler shift due to wind around the accretion disks of High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs) can be calculated. HMXBs are pairs of stars that are luminous in X-rays. They are composed of a donor star that gives up mass to an …

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Telescope Assembly Alignment Simulator Performance Optimization, Joshua G. Thompson, Brian Eney, Zaheer Ali, Bob Thompson Aug 2012

Telescope Assembly Alignment Simulator Performance Optimization, Joshua G. Thompson, Brian Eney, Zaheer Ali, Bob Thompson

STAR Program Research Presentations

The Telescope Assembly Alignment Simulator (TAAS) calibrates scientific instruments (SI’s) that are installed on the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). An SI’s accuracy is directly dependent on the consistent performance of the TAAS, which has never been fully characterized. After designing various thermal and optical experiments to identify the current unknowns of TAAS, we now have a far better grasp on how the equipment behaves.

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Findchirp: An Algorithm For Detection Of Gravitational Waves From Inspiraling Compact Binaries, Bruce Allen, Warren G. Anderson, Patrick R. Brady, Duncan A. Brown, Jolien D E Creighton Jun 2012

Findchirp: An Algorithm For Detection Of Gravitational Waves From Inspiraling Compact Binaries, Bruce Allen, Warren G. Anderson, Patrick R. Brady, Duncan A. Brown, Jolien D E Creighton

Physics - All Scholarship

Matched-filter searches for gravitational waves from coalescing compact binaries by the LIGO Scientific Collaboration use the FINDCHIRP algorithm: an implementation of the optimal filter with innovations to account for unknown signal parameters and to improve performance on detector data that has nonstationary and non-Gaussian artifacts. We provide details on the FINDCHIRP algorithm as used in the search for subsolar mass binaries, binary neutron stars, neutron star-black hole binaries, and binary black holes.

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Optimization Of The Veritas Orbit-Mode Tracking Pattern, Joshua Allen May 2012

Optimization Of The Veritas Orbit-Mode Tracking Pattern, Joshua Allen

Physics

Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) have not been detected at TeV energies. Detection with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) would open a new window into GRB science. In this paper, we optimize an orbit mode tracking method to search for a GRB at a location provided by the FERMI Gamma-ray satellite. Using Matlab we modeled the orbit tracking pattern. Then we found the optimal offset radii and tracking speed for the telescope to form a uniform image exposure. To optimize the pattern, the model accounts for the maximum 1°/s speed of the telescope’s tracking motors and the camera’s …

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Identifying A New Intermediate Polar Using Xmm-Newton And Integral, Matthew J. Middleton, Edward M. Cackett, Craig Shaw, Gavin Ramsay, Timothy P. Roberts, Peter J. Wheatley Jan 2012

Identifying A New Intermediate Polar Using Xmm-Newton And Integral, Matthew J. Middleton, Edward M. Cackett, Craig Shaw, Gavin Ramsay, Timothy P. Roberts, Peter J. Wheatley

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

The bright X-ray source 2XMMi J180438.7-145647 is fortunate to have long baseline observations in INTEGRAL that complement observations taken by other missions. Optical spectroscopy of this object has suggested a distance of ˜7 kpc and an identification with a low-mass X-ray binary. We instead use the X-ray data from 0.3 to 40 keV to identify the source as a bright intermediate polar (IP) with an estimate for the white dwarf mass of ˜0.60 M⊙. This identification is supported by the presence of an iron triplet, the component lines of which are some of the strongest seen in IPs, …

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High-Speed Acousto-Optic Shutter With No Optical Frequency Shift, W J. Schwenger, James M. Higbie Jan 2012

High-Speed Acousto-Optic Shutter With No Optical Frequency Shift, W J. Schwenger, James M. Higbie

Faculty Journal Articles

Acousto-optic modulators are widely used for rapid switching and shuttering of laser beams. In many applications, the concomitant frequency shift is undesirable and must be compensated for elsewhere in the system. Here we present a simple method of achieving rapid laser power switching without an accompanying laser frequency shift. The demonstrated acousto-optic shutter achieves a switching time of around 25 ns, an extinction ratio of 46 dB, and efficiency comparable to a conventional double-pass acousto-optical modulator configuration. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4746292]

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Book Review: New Eyes On The Universe: Twelve Cosmic Mysteries And The Tools We Need To Solve Them, T. D. Oswalt Jan 2012

Book Review: New Eyes On The Universe: Twelve Cosmic Mysteries And The Tools We Need To Solve Them, T. D. Oswalt

Publications

This document is Dr. Oswalt’s review of New Eyes on the Universe : Twelve Cosmic Mysteries and the Tools We Need to Solve Them by Stephen Webb. Springer/Praxis, 2012 371p, 9781461421931 $44.95, 9781461421948

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