Cosmology, Relativity, and Gravity Commons^™

Evolution Of Density And Velocity Perturbations In A Slowly Contracting Universe, Olivia R. Bitcon

Honors Undergraduate Theses

One focus of research in cosmology regards the growth of structure in the universe: how we end up with stars, galaxies, galaxy clusters, and large scale structure in a universe that appears homogeneous and isotropic on large scales. Using cosmological perturbation theory, we investigate the evolution of density and velocity perturbations corresponding to a universe that is slowly contracting (Ijjas and Steinhardt), testing with and comparing different values for the equation-of-state parameter. This allows for the comparison of the growth of large scale structure in scenarios including a matter-dominated expanding universe, a dark energy-dominated expanding universe, and now, an ekpyrotic …

Applications Of Digital Filters In Radio Astronomy, Joseph William Kania

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The radio sky spans tens of orders of magnitude in length, density, and time.
In this thesis, using novel filtering techniques and two different telescopes,
we investigate two tracers of cosmic structure: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
(BAOs) and Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). BAOs formed as the universe cooled
after the Big Bang. BAOs provide a fiducial length scale of the universe
throughout cosmic time and thus can be used to understand how the universe
is evolving. FRBs are very bright, short timescale, bursts of as-yet unknown
origin which occur uniformly on the sky at a rate of a few thousand per …

Forecasting And Optimizing Sensitivity To Low-Frequency Gravitational Waves, Andrew Ryan Kaiser

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Pulsars are among the most exotic objects in our Universe. These rapidly
spinning, high magnetic field neutron stars can be used for a wide range of
scientific studies: from the makeup of their own extremely dense and poorly
understood interior to using their extremely regular signals to detect gravita-
tional waves (GWs). Pulsar timing continues to expand to broader communi-
ties, with larger and more sensitive radio telescopes planned and partnerships
between pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) that span the entire globe. A realm of
new physics with the detection of a background hum of gravitational waves
from black holes merging …

Black Holes, Disk Structures, And Cosmological Implications In E-Dimensional Space, Subhash Kak, Menas C. Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We examine a modern view of the universe that builds on achieved successes of quantum mechanics, general relativity, and information theory, bringing them together in integrated approach that is founded on the realization that space itself is e-dimensional. The global and local implications of noninteger dimensionality are examined, and how it may have increased from the value of zero to its current value is investigated. We find surprising aspects that tie to structures in the universe, black holes, and the role of observations.

Detectability Of Wormholes Through Various Methods, Jonathan W. Keathley

PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas

There are three methods that can possibly detect wormholes: Negative Temperature, Hawking/ Phantom Radiation, and Kα iron emission lines. This paper discusses whether or not any of these three methods are useful ways to detect wormholes with today’s technology and if so, which one is the best and which is the worst. As it turns out, all of these methods have their flaws and impracticalities. After looking through all the evidence and comparing it to what capabilities we have currently, there is clearly a best and worst method. The best method to detect possible wormhole candidates is through the detection …

Astrophysics, Cosmology And Particle Phenomenology At The Energy Frontier, Jorge Fernandez Soriano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of two parts, treating significantly separated fields. Each part consists on several chapters, each treating a somewhat isolated topic from the rest. In each chapter, I present some of the work developed during my passage through the graduate program, which has mostly been published elsewhere.

Part I – Cosmic Rays and Particle Physics

• Chapter 1: In this chapter we present an introduction to the topic of cosmic ray physics, with an special focus on the so-called ultra high energy cosmic rays: their potential origins, effects during their propagation between their sources and Earth, the different techniques used …

Understanding Martian Salts And Their Implications For Liquid Water, Rachel Slank

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water is one of the key components for life as we know it. The existence of salts on Mars has been a large contributing factor to the possibility of habitability, due to their ability to allow liquid water to remain stable at colder temperatures. Salts, including perchlorates, chlorates, and chlorides, have been detected by multiple landers, rovers, and orbiters, and are now believed to be ubiquitous on Mars. One of the pathways to liquid brine solutions is through deliquescence. Deliquescence is the transition from a solid salt crystal into an aqueous solution when exposed to a humid atmosphere. This research …

Fermion-Induced Electroweak Symmetry Non-Restoration Via Temperature-Dependent Masses, Yu Hang Ng

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Standard Model (SM) and many extensions of SM predict that the electroweak (EW) symmetry was restored in the early universe when the temperature was around 160 GeV. However, recent studies showed that the interactions between some new scalars and SU(2)_L Higgs doublet(s) can cause the EW symmetry to remain broken at temperatures well above the EW scale in certain renormalizable extensions of SM. In this study, we found that new fermions from renormalizable models can also induce this EW symmetry non-restoration effect, provided that they have the appropriate temperature-dependent masses. These masses can arise naturally from the interactions between the …

The Cosmic History Of X-Ray Binary Evolution, Woodrow Gilbertson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Chandra Deep Fields provide an extraordinary window into the high-energy history of the cosmos. Observations of non-active galaxies within the deep fields can be leveraged to extract information about the formation and evolution of X-ray binaries (XRBs). Previous studies have suggested that the evolution of XRB luminosity can be expressed a function of physical parameters such as star formation rate, stellar mass, stellar age, and metallicity. The goal of this work is to develop and implement a complete physical parameterization for the luminosity of XRB populations, which can be utilized for a variety of further studies.

Chapter 1 provides …

Surpassing The Standard Quantum Limit Using An Optical Spring, Torrey Cullen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In 1916, Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves based on his new theory of general relativity. He predicted an accelerating mass with a non-zero quadrupole moment would emit energy in the form of gravitational waves. Often referred to as ripples in space-time, gravitational waves are extremely small by the time reach Earth, potentially having traveled hundreds of megaparsecs. It is common for these ripples in space-time to stretch and squeeze matter 1000 times smaller than the width of a proton.
Laser interferometer observatories were first built in the 1990s in the US and Europe, and as sensitivity improvements …

Challenging Predictions Of Inflationary Models With Cmb Data, Richik Bhattacharya, Atanu Debnath, Esha Sajjanhar, Shravani Sardeshpande, Pablo Tenorio Hernández, José Ricardo Torres Heredia

2022 REYES Proceedings

Cosmic inflation offers the best known explanations for many of the observed features of the Universe, such as its flatness. An imprint of the qualities of this mechanism is left in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), which can be instrumental to confirm inflation. Unfortunately, there is a plethora of inflationary models, which are a priori in the same footing. It is conceivable that contrasting the predictions of the various models with the measured values of the parameters of CMB data and other cosmological observables shall allow one to single out the successful theory of inflation. In this work we provide …

From Equal-Mass To Extreme-Mass-Ratio Binary Inspirals: Simulation Tools For Next Generation Gravitational Wave Detectors, Samuel Douglas Cupp

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Current numerical codes can successfully evolve similar-mass binary black holes systems, and these numerical waveforms contributed to the success of the LIGO Collaboration's detection of gravitational waves. LIGO requires high resolution numerical waveforms for detection and parameter estimation of the source. Great effort was expended over several decades to produce the numerical methods used today. However, future detectors will require further improvements to numerical techniques to take full advantage of their detection capabilities. For example, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will require higher resolution simulations of similar-mass-ratio systems than LIGO. LISA will also be able to detect extreme-mass-ratio inspiral …

Introduction To Classical Field Theory, Charles G. Torre

All Complete Monographs

This is an introduction to classical field theory. Topics treated include: Klein-Gordon field, electromagnetic field, scalar electrodynamics, Dirac field, Yang-Mills field, gravitational field, Noether theorems relating symmetries and conservation laws, spontaneous symmetry breaking, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms.

Spin-Orbit Gravitational Locking - An Effective Potential Approach, Christopher Clouse, Andrea Ferroglia, Miguel C. N. Fiolhais

Publications and Research

The objective of this paper is to study the tidally locked 3:2 spin–orbit resonance of Mercury around the Sun. In order to achieve this goal, the effective potential energy that determines the spinning motion of an ellipsoidal planet around its axis is considered. By studying the rotational potential energy of an ellipsoidal planet orbiting a spherical star on an elliptic orbit with fixed eccentricity and semi-major axis, it is shown that the system presents an infinite number of metastable equilibrium configurations. These states correspond to local minima of the rotational potential energy averaged over an orbit, where the ratio between …

The World As We Know It: Maps And Atlases From Special Collections, Archives And Special Collections, Luke Meagher

Library Exhibits

Selections of maps and atlases from Sandor Teszler Library’s Special Collections are presented in this exhibit to show how, over time, cartographers have represented the world as we know it.

Venus Mountain Waves In The Upper Atmosphere Simulated By A Time-Invariant Linear Full-Wave Spectral Model, Michael P. Hickey, Richard L. Walterscheid, Thomas Navarro, Gerald Schubert

Publications

A 2-D spectral full-wave model is described that simulates the generation and propagation of mountain waves over idealized topography in Venus' atmosphere. Modeled temperature perturbations are compared with the Akatsuki observations. Lower atmosphere eddy diffusivity and stability play a major role in the upward propagation of gravity waves from their mountain sources. Two local times (LT) are considered. For LT = 11 h the waves are blocked by a critical level near 100 km altitude, while for LT = 16 h the waves propagate into the thermosphere. As a result of the small scale height in the Venus thermosphere, for …

The Differentialgeometry Package, Ian M. Anderson, Charles G. Torre

Downloads

This is the entire DifferentialGeometry package, a zip file (DifferentialGeometry.zip) containing (1) a Maple Library file, DifferentialGeometryUSU.mla, (2) a Maple help file DifferentialGeometry.help, (3) a Maple Library file, DGApplicatons.mla. This is the latest version of the DifferentialGeometry software; it supersedes what is released with Maple.

Installation instructions

A New Non-Inheriting Homogeneous Solution Of The Einstein-Maxwell Equations With Cosmological Term, Charles G. Torre

Research Vignettes

No abstract provided.

The Meaning Of Dark, Light And Shadows: Inferences In Art, Materiality And Cultural Practices, Frank Prendergast

Book/Book Chapter

Our visual awareness relies on light acting on the eye to perceive materiality and colour. Medieval thought wrestled to articulate and comprehend its nature. The notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, for example, included his descriptions to define light and make comparisons so as to differentiate between light and shadow. His focus was on the illumination of surfaces from the perspective of a painter, seeing shadows as ‘the diminution of light by the intervention of an opaque body’ and ‘the counterpart of luminous rays’. In his mind, a shadow ‘stood between light and darkness’, with darkness being ‘the absence of light’. …

A New Non-Inheriting Homogeneous Solution Of The Einstein-Maxwell Equations With Cosmological Term, Ian M. Anderson, Charles G. Torre

Publications

We find a new homogeneous solution to the Einstein-Maxwell equations with a cos- mological term. The spacetime manifold is R × S3. The spacetime metric admits a simply transitive isometry group G = R × SU(2) and is Petrov type I. The spacetime is geodesically complete and globally hyperbolic. The electromagnetic field is non- null and non-inheriting: it is only invariant with respect to the SU(2) subgroup and is time-dependent in a stationary reference frame.