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2019

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Articles 1 - 19 of 19

Full-Text Articles in Instrumentation

High Power And Optomechanics In Advanced Ligo Detectors, Terra Christine Hardwick Nov 2019

High Power And Optomechanics In Advanced Ligo Detectors, Terra Christine Hardwick

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In September 2015, a new era of astronomy began with the first direct detection of grav- itational waves from a binary black hole coalescence. The event was captured by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, comprised of two long-baseline interferometers, one in Livingston, LA and one in Hanford, WA. At the time of the first detection, the interferometers were part way through an upgrade to an advanced configuration and were operating with a strain sensitivity of just better than 10−23/Hz1/2 around 100Hz. The full Advanced LIGO design calls for sensitivity of a few parts in 10−24/Hz …


A Rotating Aperture Mask For Small Telescopes, Edward L. Foley Nov 2019

A Rotating Aperture Mask For Small Telescopes, Edward L. Foley

Master's Theses

Observing the dynamic interaction between stars and their close stellar neighbors is key to establishing the stars’ orbits, masses, and other properties. Our ability to visually discriminate nearby stars is limited by the power of our telescopes, posing a challenge to astronomers at small observatories that contribute to binary star surveys. Masks placed at the telescope aperture promise to augment the resolving power of telescopes of all sizes, but many of these masks must be manually and repetitively reoriented about the optical axis to achieve their full benefits. This paper introduces a design concept for a mask rotation mechanism that …


Polarized X-Ray Sources For Calibration Of The Ixpe X-Ray Telescopes, Samantha Johnson, Wayne Baumgartner Sep 2019

Polarized X-Ray Sources For Calibration Of The Ixpe X-Ray Telescopes, Samantha Johnson, Wayne Baumgartner

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.


The Design And Testing Of A Gamma-Neutron Spectrometer For The Helen Project, Everett Cavanaugh, Christopher Helmerich, Sean Widmier, Sarah Dangelo Sep 2019

The Design And Testing Of A Gamma-Neutron Spectrometer For The Helen Project, Everett Cavanaugh, Christopher Helmerich, Sean Widmier, Sarah Dangelo

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.


Wavelength Calibration Of The Full-Sun Ultraviolet Rocket Spectrometer (Furst), Nicolas Donders, Amy Winebarger, Charles Kankelborg, Genevieve Vigil, Ken Kobayashi, Laurel Rachmeler, Gary Zank Sep 2019

Wavelength Calibration Of The Full-Sun Ultraviolet Rocket Spectrometer (Furst), Nicolas Donders, Amy Winebarger, Charles Kankelborg, Genevieve Vigil, Ken Kobayashi, Laurel Rachmeler, Gary Zank

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.


Space Telescope And Optical Reverberation Mapping Project. Viii. Time Variability Of Emission And Absorption In Ngc 5548 Based On Modeling The Ultraviolet Spectrum, Gerard A. Kriss, Gisella De Rosa, Justin Ely, Bradley M. Peterson, J. Kaastra, M. Mehdipour, Gary J. Ferland, Maryamossadat Dehghanian, S. Mathur, Rick Edelson, Kirk T. Korista, N. Arav, Aaron J. Barth, Misty C. Bentz, W. Niel Brandt, D. Michael Crenshaw, E. Dalla Bonta, K. D. Kenney, C. Done, Michael Eracleous, Michael M. Fausnaugh, E. Gardner, Michael R. Goad, Catherine J. Grier, Keith Horne, Christopher S. Kochanek, I. M. Mchardy, Hagai Netzer, Anna Pancoast, L. Pei, Richard W. Pogge, Daniel Proga Aug 2019

Space Telescope And Optical Reverberation Mapping Project. Viii. Time Variability Of Emission And Absorption In Ngc 5548 Based On Modeling The Ultraviolet Spectrum, Gerard A. Kriss, Gisella De Rosa, Justin Ely, Bradley M. Peterson, J. Kaastra, M. Mehdipour, Gary J. Ferland, Maryamossadat Dehghanian, S. Mathur, Rick Edelson, Kirk T. Korista, N. Arav, Aaron J. Barth, Misty C. Bentz, W. Niel Brandt, D. Michael Crenshaw, E. Dalla Bonta, K. D. Kenney, C. Done, Michael Eracleous, Michael M. Fausnaugh, E. Gardner, Michael R. Goad, Catherine J. Grier, Keith Horne, Christopher S. Kochanek, I. M. Mchardy, Hagai Netzer, Anna Pancoast, L. Pei, Richard W. Pogge, Daniel Proga

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

We model the ultraviolet spectra of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope during the 6 month reverberation mapping campaign in 2014. Our model of the emission from NGC 5548 corrects for overlying absorption and deblends the individual emission lines. Using the modeled spectra, we measure the response to continuum variations for the deblended and absorption-corrected individual broad emission lines, the velocity-dependent profiles of Lyα and C iv, and the narrow and broad intrinsic absorption features. We find that the time lags for the corrected emission lines are comparable to those for the original data. …


The Power Of Principled Bayesian Methods In The Study Of Stellar Evolution, Ted Von Hippel, David Van Dyk, David Stenning, Elliot Robinson, Elizabeth Jeffery, Nathan Stein, William Jefferys, Erin M. O'Malley Aug 2019

The Power Of Principled Bayesian Methods In The Study Of Stellar Evolution, Ted Von Hippel, David Van Dyk, David Stenning, Elliot Robinson, Elizabeth Jeffery, Nathan Stein, William Jefferys, Erin M. O'Malley

Ted von Hippel

It takes years of effort employing the best telescopes and in- struments to obtain high-quality stellar photometry, astrometry, and spectroscopy. Stellar evolution models contain the experience of life- times of theoretical calculations and testing. Yet most astronomers fit these valuable models to these precious datasets by eye. We show that a principled Bayesian approach to fitting models to stellar data yields substantially more information over a range of stellar astrophysics. We highlight advances in determining the ages of star clusters, mass ratios of binary stars, limitations in the accuracy of stellar models, post-main-sequence mass loss, and the ages of individual …


Bayesian Analysis For Stellar Evolution With Nine Parameters (Base-9): User's Manual, Ted Von Hippel, Elliot Robinson, Elizabeth Jeffery, Rachel Wagner-Kaiser, Steven Degennaro, Nathan Stein, David Stenning, William H. Jefferys, David Van Dyk Aug 2019

Bayesian Analysis For Stellar Evolution With Nine Parameters (Base-9): User's Manual, Ted Von Hippel, Elliot Robinson, Elizabeth Jeffery, Rachel Wagner-Kaiser, Steven Degennaro, Nathan Stein, David Stenning, William H. Jefferys, David Van Dyk

Ted von Hippel

BASE-9 is a Bayesian software suite that recovers star cluster and stellar parameters from photometry. BASE-9 is useful for analyzing single-age, single-metallicity star clusters, binaries, or single stars, and for simulating such systems. BASE-9 uses Markov chain Monte Carlo and brute-force numerical integration techniques to estimate the posterior probability distributions for the age, metallicity, helium abundance, distance modulus, and line-of-sight absorption for a cluster, and the mass, binary mass ratio, and cluster membership probability for every stellar object. BASE-9 is provided as open source code on a version-controlled web server. The executables are also available as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud …


The Disk Structure Of Late Type Galaxies: Determining The Black Hole Mass Function Of Low Surface Brightness Galaxies Through Logarithmic Spiral Arm Pitch Angle Measurement, Michael S. Fusco Aug 2019

The Disk Structure Of Late Type Galaxies: Determining The Black Hole Mass Function Of Low Surface Brightness Galaxies Through Logarithmic Spiral Arm Pitch Angle Measurement, Michael S. Fusco

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation pertains to the geometric structure of late type (spiral) galaxies, specifically on the relation between the logarithmic spiral pitch angle of the galactic spiral arms with other properties of the galaxy, such as central Supermassive Black Hole (SMBH) mass. Our work continues a study of the Black Hole Mass Function (BHMF) in local galaxies by recording the pitch angles of spiral galaxies with lower surface brightness than were previously included. We also conduct a case study on the structure of an interestingly shaped galaxy, UGC 4599. Previous studies on the topic of spiral arm pitch angles have measured …


Phase Retrieval Using A Genetic Algorithm On The Systematic Image-Based Optical Alignment Test Bed, Jaime R. Taylor Jun 2019

Phase Retrieval Using A Genetic Algorithm On The Systematic Image-Based Optical Alignment Test Bed, Jaime R. Taylor

Dr. Jaime R. Taylor

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center’s Systematic Image-Based Optical Alignment (SIBOA) Testbed was developed to test phase retrieval algorithms and hardware techniques. Individuals working with the facility developed the idea of implementing phase retrieval by breaking the determination of the tip/tilt of each mirror apart from the piston motion (or translation) of each mirror. Presented in this report is an algorithm that determines the optimal phase correction associated only with the piston motion of the mirrors.


Using Automation To Improve Telescope Accessibility, Samuel Bowling, Logan Curtis, Emma Leiser, Mary Roberston, Nicholas Schragal, Ridaa Fatima, Samuel Boggs, Lennen Madere Mar 2019

Using Automation To Improve Telescope Accessibility, Samuel Bowling, Logan Curtis, Emma Leiser, Mary Roberston, Nicholas Schragal, Ridaa Fatima, Samuel Boggs, Lennen Madere

Research Horizons Day Posters

No abstract provided.


Kondo Signatures Of A Quantum Magnetic Impurity In Topological Superconductors, Rui Wang, Wei-Yi Su, Jian-Xin Zhu, Chin-Sen Ting, Hai Li, Changfeng Chen, Baigeng Wang, Xiaoqun Wang Mar 2019

Kondo Signatures Of A Quantum Magnetic Impurity In Topological Superconductors, Rui Wang, Wei-Yi Su, Jian-Xin Zhu, Chin-Sen Ting, Hai Li, Changfeng Chen, Baigeng Wang, Xiaoqun Wang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

We study the Kondo physics of a quantum magnetic impurity in two-dimensional topological superconductors (TSCs), either intrinsic or induced on the surface of a bulk topological insulator, using a numerical renormalization group technique. We show that, despite sharing the p+ip pairing symmetry, intrinsic and extrinsic TSCs host different physical processes that produce distinct Kondo signatures. Extrinsic TSCs harbor an unusual screening mechanism involving both electron and orbital degrees of freedom that produces rich and prominent Kondo phenomena, especially an intriguing pseudospin Kondo singlet state in the superconducting gap and a spatially anisotropic spin correlation. In sharp contrast, intrinsic TSCs support …


Applications Of Information Theory In Solar And Space Physics, Jay R. Johnson, Simon Wing Feb 2019

Applications Of Information Theory In Solar And Space Physics, Jay R. Johnson, Simon Wing

Faculty Publications

Characterizing and modeling processes at the sun and space plasma in our solar system are difficult because the underlying physics is often complex, nonlinear, and not well understood. The drivers of a system are often nonlinearly correlated with one another, which makes it a challenge to understand the relative effects caused by each driver. However, entropy-based information theory can be a valuable tool that can be used to determine the information flow among various parameters, causalities, untangle the drivers, and provide observational constraints that can help guide the development of the theories and physics-based models. We review two examples of …


Exomol Line List - Xxxiv. A Rovibrational Line List For Phosphinidene (Ph) In Its X³Σ¯ And A¹Δ Electronic States, Jonathan Langleben, Jonathan Tennyson, Sergei N. Yurchenko, Peter Bernath Jan 2019

Exomol Line List - Xxxiv. A Rovibrational Line List For Phosphinidene (Ph) In Its X³Σ¯ And A¹Δ Electronic States, Jonathan Langleben, Jonathan Tennyson, Sergei N. Yurchenko, Peter Bernath

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

A rovibronic line list for the ground (X3Σ) and first excited (a1Δ) states of phosphinidene, 31PH, is computed. The line list is designed for studies of exoplanetary and cool stellar atmospheres with temperatures up to 4000 K. A combination of empirical and ab initio data is used to produce the line list: potential energy curves (PECs) are fitted using experimental transition frequencies; these transitions are reproduced with a root mean square error of 0.01 cm−1. The nuclear Schrödinger equation is solved using these PECs plus Born–Oppenheimer and spin splitting correction terms. …


Viewing The Eclipse From 109,000 Feet And The Road To Get There, Kendra Sibbernsen, Michael Sibbernsen Jan 2019

Viewing The Eclipse From 109,000 Feet And The Road To Get There, Kendra Sibbernsen, Michael Sibbernsen

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

The NASA Nebraska High Altitude Ballooning Program was one of 55 teams across the nation to fly weather balloons within the August 21st Total Solar Eclipse and stream live video to the internet. On this day, the Nebraska team launched three high altitude balloons to take scientific measurements and take photos and video ofthe Moon's shadow falling on the Earth. These balloons included the NASA common video streaming payload as well as experiments from students at Metropolitan Community College and from faculty and students at Omaha Public Schools. The launches took place at the "Gem Over the Prairie" event at …


Improving Photometry And Astrophotography By Eliminating Dark Frames And Flat Fields, Tom C. Ireland Jan 2019

Improving Photometry And Astrophotography By Eliminating Dark Frames And Flat Fields, Tom C. Ireland

Honors Theses and Capstones

I report on the efforts to improve the dark frames and flat fielding procedure for the charged-coupled device (CCD) camera for the Celestron C14 telescope at the UNH observatory. Dark frames are images taken while the shutter of the camera is closed so that only electronic and dark noise and other internal inconsistencies are recorded. These are important because they allow astronomers to subtract out interference from dark current. Additionally, flat fields are images of the entire field of the telescope so that the brightness in the pixels of the telescope’s field of view is uniform. Flat fields are vital …


Analysis Of Autoguiding For Exoplanet Transit Research At The Unh Observatory, Anthony Cappuccio Jan 2019

Analysis Of Autoguiding For Exoplanet Transit Research At The Unh Observatory, Anthony Cappuccio

Honors Theses and Capstones

This paper will discuss the proper calibration technique for an autoguider of a CCD camera and the results that follow from successful exoplanet transit observations. A brief background on exoplanets, the transit method, and the analysis of their parent stars through photometry will be examined. The results will be presented in a before and after framework that will visually represent the data improvements from autoguiding as graphical Light Curves (LC). The addition of being able to autoguide at the UNH observatory will work towards providing future students with the possibility of performing follow-up ground-based observations and archiving their work online …


Unh Observatory Exoplanet Transit Depth Limit, Nicholas R. Larose Jan 2019

Unh Observatory Exoplanet Transit Depth Limit, Nicholas R. Larose

Honors Theses and Capstones

Using the University of New Hampshire Observatory, we performed multiple exoplanet transits observations on a variety of systems. Of these transits, those performed with ideal weather conditions were chosen to do extensive analysis on. The transit chosen for initial analysis was HAT-P-56b. We then used Z-Score values, along with the average mean and standard deviation collected from multiple transits to determine a minimum possible transit depth of 7.4 +/- 0.6 mmag. This value will allow UNH to access exoplanet transit observation and / or confirm potential exoplanets, thus making the UNH Observatory more research capable. A follow up threshold transit …


Normalization Of Leadville Neutron Monitor To Climax Neutron Monitor, Brian J. O'Connor Jan 2019

Normalization Of Leadville Neutron Monitor To Climax Neutron Monitor, Brian J. O'Connor

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.