Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons^™

The Sluggs Survey: New Evidence For A Tidal Interaction Between The Early Type Galaxies Ngc 4365 And Ngc 4342, C. Blom, D. Forbes, C. Foster, Aaron Romanowsky, J. Brodie

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

We present new imaging and spectral data for globular clusters (GCs) around NGC 4365 and NGC 4342. NGC 4342 is a compact, X-ray luminous S0 galaxy with an unusually massive central black hole. NGC 4365 is another atypical galaxy that dominates the W' group of which NGC 4342 is a member. Using imaging from the MegaCam instrument on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) we identify a stream of GCs between the two galaxies and extending beyond NGC 4342. The stream of GCs is spatially coincident with a stream/plume of stars previously identified. We find that the photometric colours of the stream …

Ultra Compact Dwarfs In The Core Of The Perseus Cluster: Ucd Formation Via Tidal Stripping, S. Penny, D. Forbes, J. Strader, C. Usher, J. Brodie, Aaron Romanowsky

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

We present the results of a Keck/DEIMOS survey of Ultra Compact Dwarfs (UCDs) in the Perseus Cluster core. We confirm cluster membership for 14 UCDs, with radial velocities ~5300 km s−1. Two of these confirmed Perseus UCDs have extremely blue colours (B−R<0.6 mag), reside in star forming filaments surrounding NGC 1275, and have likely formed as massive star clusters in the last ~100 Myr. We also measure a central velocity dispersion of a third, UCD13 (σ0=38±8 km s−1), the most extended UCD in our sample. We determine it to have radius Re=85±1.1 pc, a dynamical mass of (2.3±0.8)×108 M⊙, and a metallicity [Z/H]=−0.52+0.33−0.29 dex. UCD13 and the cluster's central galaxy, NGC 1275, have a projected separation of 30 kpc and a radial velocity difference of ~20 km s−1. Based on its size, red colour, internal velocity dispersion, dynamical mass, metallicity and proximity to NGC 1275, we argue that UCD13 is likely the remnant nucleus of a tidally stripped dE, with this progenitor dE having MB≈−16 mag and mass ∼109 M⊙.

Bayesian Detection And Characterization Of Extra-Solar Planets Via Photometric Variations, Ben H. Placek

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Exoplanets are known to be responsible for a variety of photometric effects, which collectively can be used for both exoplanet detection and characterization. A portion of the observed flux variation originates directly from the exoplanet itself as both a reflected light component and thermal emission. Additional effects originate from the influence of the exoplanet on its host star. These include Doppler boosting, or beaming, caused by the radial velocity variations due to the stellar wobble, as well as variations in flux caused by the ellipsoidal shape of the star, which is induced by the planetary tidal forces. The newly developed …

Orion, Katelyn G. Gyorkos

Natural Sciences Student Research Presentations

The purpose of this project was to gather information about the stars and objects in the constellation Orion. This is a project for the Natural Sciences Poster Session at Parkland College.

Welcome To Maxwell Montes, Nichole S. Buck

Natural Sciences Student Research Presentations

This poster poses Venus as a travel destination through a fictional travel agency, Venusian Journeys, and provides facts about the planet, the continent Ishtar Terra and its highest point, Maxwell Montes. This is a project for the Natural Sciences Poster Session at Parkland College.

Taurus, Alex P. Tomaras

Natural Sciences Student Research Presentations

The constellation Taurus is featured in this poster for the Natural Sciences Poster Session at Parkland College. Work to complete this project included calculating a ear's time by looking at the stars and their movement, plotting a graph with the azimuth and altitude, and determining the life span of the constellations stars.

Orion, Eray Ergenc

Natural Sciences Student Research Presentations

This poster for the Natural Sciences Poster Session at Parkland College features the constellation Orion and features information on the composition of the stars, their distances and their mass in relation to each other. Art and its inclusion in Greek mythology are also included.

Leo, Andrew P. Woolley

Natural Sciences Student Research Presentations

The purpose of this project was to understand how information is gathered about stars, constellations, and galaxies, specifically the constellation Leo. Information gathered for this project includes how a star's position can be used to calculate the length of the year and how the mass and spectral type of a specific star can show when the star will die. This is a project for the Natural Sciences Poster Session at Parkland College

Higgs Effects In Neutrino Physics And Heavy Quark Systems, Ahmed Rashed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work presents a study of the effects of multi-Higgs doublets on the properties of neutrino sector and heavy quark systems. The phenomenological implications of multi-Higgs models, which contain multi-Higgs doublets, in the neutrino and quark sector are discussed in this dissertation. The two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM), in which two Higgs doublets are introduced, is the simplest extension to the scalar sector of the standard model (SM). A new boson state was recently seen in the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) and ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC Apparatus) experiments at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider). We investigate the multi-Higgs models contributions in understanding …

Implementation Of An F-Statistic All-Sky Search For Continuous Gravitational Waves In Virgo Vsr1 Data, J. Aasi, B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. Abbott, M. R. Abernathy, Mario C. Diaz, Malik Rakhmanov, Joseph D. Romano, Soma Mukherjee, Volker Quetschke, Teviet Creighton, Robert Stone

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present an implementation of the -statistic to carry out the first search in data from the Virgo laser interferometric gravitational wave detector for periodic gravitational waves from a priori unknown, isolated rotating neutron stars. We searched a frequency f0 range from 100 Hz to 1 kHz and the frequency dependent spindown f1 range from Hz s−1 to zero. A large part of this frequency–spindown space was unexplored by any of the all-sky searches published so far. Our method consisted of a coherent search over two-day periods using the -statistic, followed by a search for coincidences among the …

Cold Gas Dynamics In Hydra-A: Evidence For A Rotating Disc, S. L. Hamer, A. C. Edge, A. M. Swinbank, J. B. R. Oonk, R. Mittal, B. R. Mcnamara, H. R. Russell, M. N. Bremer, F. Combes, A. C. Fabian, N. P. H. Nesvadba, C. P. O'Dea, S. A. Baum, P. Salomé, G. Tremblay, M. Donahue, Gary J. Ferland, C. L. Sarazin

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present multifrequency observations of the radio galaxy Hydra-A (3C218) located in the core of a massive, X-ray luminous galaxy cluster. Integral field unit spectroscopy is used to trace the kinematics of the ionized and warm molecular hydrogen which are consistent with an ∼5 kpc rotating disc. Broad, double-peaked lines of CO(2–1), [C II] 157 μm and [O I] 63 μm are detected. We estimate the mass of the cold gas within the disc to be M_gas = 2.3 ± 0.3 × 10⁹ M_⊙. These observations demonstrate that the complex line profiles found in the cold …

Bright Microwave Pulses From Psr B0531+21 Observed With A Prototype Transient Survey Receiver, J. A. O'Dea, F. A. Jenet, Tsan Huei Cheng, Chau M. Buu, Martin Beroiz, Sami W. Asmar, J. W. Armstrong

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Recent discoveries of transient radio events have renewed interest in time-variable astrophysical phenomena. Many radio transient events are rare, requiring long observing times for reliable statistical study. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Deep Space Network (DSN) tracks spacecraft nearly continuously with 13 large-aperture, low system temperature radio antennas. During normal spacecraft operations, the DSN processes only a small fraction of the pre-detection bandwidth available from these antennas; any information in the remaining bandwidth, e.g., from an astronomical source in the same antenna beam as the spacecraft, is currently ignored. As a firmware modification to the standard DSN …

A Multiwavelength View On The Dusty Wolf-Rayet Star Wr 48a, Svetozar A. Zhekov, Toma Tomov, Marcin P. Gawronski, Leonid N. Georgiev, Jura Borissova, Radostin Kurtev, Marc Gagne, Marcin Hajduk

Earth & Space Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

X-Rays From Magnetic Massive Ob Stars, V. Petit, D. H. Cohen, Y. Naze´, Marc Gagne, R. H.D. Townsend, M. A. Leutenegger, A. Ud-Doula, S. P. Owocki, G. A. Wade

Earth & Space Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Modeling Ionized And Molecular Regions Of The Interstellar Medium Using The Spectral Synthesis Code Cloudy, Gururaj Wagle

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

The focus of this dissertation is to study the star-forming regions of the interstellar medium (ISM), using two very diverse environments: the Polaris Flare, high-galactic latitude, cirrus cloud complex consisting of several starless molecular cores with no nearby hot stars; and the Orion Nebula, which is the closest massive star forming region. The two environments provide a wide range of physical conditions.

It is commonly assumed that the Herschel far-infrared (FIR) fluxes are a good measure of column density, hence, mass of interstellar clouds. We find that the FIR fluxes are insensitive to the column density if A_V ≳ …

Study Of The Relation Between The Spiral Arm Pitch Angle And The Kinetic Energy Of Random Motions Of The Host Spiral Galaxies, A, I. Al-Baidhany, M. Seigar, P. Treuthardt, A. Sierra, B. Davis, D. Kennefick, J. Kennefick, C. Lacy, Z. A. Toma, W. Jabbar

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

In this work, we report a relation between the kinetic energy of random motions of the corresponding host galaxies and spiral arm pitch angles (Mdynσ2- P), (M*σ2- P) where Mdyn is the bulge dynamical mass, M* is bulge stellar mass, and σ is the velocity dispersion of the host galaxy bulge. We measured the spiral arm pitch angle (P) for a sample of Spitzer/IRAC 3.6-μm images of 54 spiral galaxies, estimated by using a 2D Fast Fourier Transform decomposition technique (2DFFT). We selected a sample of nearly face-on spiral galaxies and used IRAF ellipse to determine the ellipticity and major-axis …

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 …

Molecular Opacities For Exoplanets, P. F. Bernath

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Spectroscopic observations of exoplanets are now possible by transit methods and direct emission. Spectroscopic requirements for exoplanets are reviewed based on existing measurements and model predictions for hot Jupiters and super-Earths. Molecular opacities needed to simulate astronomical observations can be obtained from laboratory measurements, ab initio calculations or a combination of the two approaches. This discussion article focuses mainly on laboratory measurements of hot molecules as needed for exoplanet spectroscopy.

Astronomical Applications Of New Line Lists For Cn, C₂ And Their Isotopologues, P. F. Bernath, Chris Sneden, James S.A. Brooke, Ram S. Ram

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

For cool stellar and substellar objects, atomic lines weaken, and detailed elemental and isotopic abundances are often derived from molecular absorption features. We have embarked on a project to provide molecular line lists by combining experimental observations for line positions with ab initio calculations for line strengths. So far we have results for MgH (A-X and B-X transitions)^ab, C₂ (Swan system)^cd, CP (A-X transition)^f, NH (vibration-rotation bands) and OH (Meinel system)^g. This talk will briefly describe the new line lists for the Swan system (d³Π-a³Π) of C₂ and ¹²C¹³C, and the red …

Ch In Stellar Atmospheres: An Extensive Linelist, T. Masseron, B. Plez, S. Van Eck, R. Colin, I. Daoutidis, M. Godefroid, P.-F. Coheur, P. Bernath, A. Jorissen, N. Christleib

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The advent of high-resolution spectrographs and detailed stellar atmosphere modelling has strengthened the need for accurate molecular data. Carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars spectra are interesting objects with which to study transitions from the CH molecule. We combine programs for spectral analysis of molecules and stellar-radiative transfer codes to build an extensive CH linelist, including predissociation broadening as well as newly identified levels. We show examples of strong predissociation CH lines in CEMP stars, and we stress the important role played by the CH features in the Bond-Neff feature depressing the spectra of barium stars by as much as 0.2 mag …