Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons^™

Long-Range Propagation, Interaction, And Dissipation Of Small-Scale Gravity Waves In The Mesosphere And Lower Thermosphere, Christopher J. Heale

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

A 2-D nonlinear, compressible numerical model [Snively and Pasko, 2008] is used in conjunction with ray-theory to investigate the long-range propagation, dissipation and interaction of small-scale gravity waves in the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (MLT) region. The research in this thesis is made up of three distinct studies which build upon each other. The first investigates the thermospheric dissipation of three gravity wave packets representing: (1) A quasi-monochromatic packet, (2) A monochromatic, steady state wave, and (3) A spectrally broad packet, as well as an initial condition specified packet. It is found that dissipation due to molecular viscosity and …

Reevaluation Of The Aapm Tg-43 Brachytherapy Dosimetry Parameters For An 125I Seed, And The Influence Of Eye Plaque Design On Dose Distributions And Dose-Volume Histograms, Prakash Aryal

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

The TG-43 dosimetry parameters of the Advantage^{TM 125}I model IAI-125A brachytherapy seed were studied. An investigation using modern MCNP radiation transport code with updated cross-section libraries was performed. Twelve different simulation conditions were studied for a single seed by varying the coating thickness, mass density, photon energy spectrum and cross-section library. The dose rate was found to be 6.3% lower at 1 cm in comparison to published results. New TG-43 dosimetry parameters are proposed.

The dose distribution for a brachytherapy eye plaque, model EP917, was investigated, including the effects of collimation from high-Z slots. Dose distributions for …

A New Set Of Spectroscopic Metallicity Calibrations For Rr Lyrae Variable Stars, Eckhart Spalding

Theses and Dissertations--Physics and Astronomy

RR Lyrae stars are old, iron-poor, Helium-burning variable stars. RR Lyraes are extremely useful for tracing phase-space structures and metallicities within the galaxy because they are easy to identify, have consistent luminosities, and are found in large numbers in the galactic disk, bulge, and halo. Here we present a new set of spectroscopic metallicity calibrations that use the equivalent widths of the Ca II K, Hγ, and Hδ lines to calculate metallicity values. Applied to spectroscopic survey data, these calibrations will help shed light on the evolution of the Milky Way and other galaxies.

Dynamical Models Of Elliptical Galaxies – Ii. M87 And Its Globular Clusters, A. Angello, N. Evans, Aaron Romanowsky, J. Brodie

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

We study the Globular Cluster (GC) system of the nearby elliptical galaxy M87 using the newly available dataset with accurate kinematics (Strader et al.2011). We find evidence for three distinct sub-populations of GCs in terms of colours, kinematics and radial profiles. We show that a decomposition into three populations (blue, intermediate and red GCs) is statistically preferred to one with two or four populations, and relate them to the stellar profile. We exploit the sub-populations to derive dynamical constraints on the mass and Dark Matter (DM) content of M87 out to ∼100 kpc. We use a class of global mass-estimators …

The Sluggs Survey: Breaking Degeneracies Between Dark Matter, Anisotropy And The Imf Using Globular Cluster Subpopulations In The Giant Elliptical Ngc 5846, N. Napolitano, V. Pota, Aaron Romanowsky, D. Forbes, J. Brodie, C. Foster

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

We study the mass and anisotropy distribution of the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 5846 using stars, as well as the red and blue globular cluster (GC) subpopulations. We break degeneracies in the dynamical models by taking advantage of the different phase space distributions of the two GC subpopulations to unambiguously constrain the mass of the galaxy and the anisotropy of the GC system. Red GCs show the same spatial distribution and behaviour as the starlight, whereas blue GCs have a shallower density profile, a larger velocity dispersion and a lower kurtosis, all of which suggest a different orbital distribution. We …

Book Review: Robotic Exploration Of The Solar System: Pt. 4: The Modern Era, 2004-2013, T. D. Oswalt

Publications

This document is Dr. Oswalt’s review of Robotic Exploration of the Solar System : Pt. 4: the Modern Era, 2004-2013 by Paolo Ulivi with David Harland Springer, 2014 567p bibl index afp, 9781461448112 $44.99, 9781461448129 $29.99

Book Review: The Observer's Guide To Planetary Motion: Explaining The Cycles Of The Night Sky, T. D. Oswalt

Publications

This document is Dr. Oswalt’s review of The Observer's Guide to Planetary Motion : Explaining the Cycles of the Night Sky by Dominic Ford. Springer, 2014 240p index afp, 9781493906284 $34.99.

Three X-Ray Transients In M31 Oberserved With Swift, R. Voss, W. Pietsch, F. Haberl, H. Stiele, J. Greiner, G. Sala, Dieter H. Hartmann, D. Hatzidimitriou

Publications

Aims.The purpose of this study is to find transient X-ray sources in M 31, and to investigate and classify their nature.Methods.Three X-ray transients were observed with Swift. For each of the three X-ray transients we use the Swift X-ray and opticaldata together with observations from XMM-Newton and Chandra to investigate the lightcurves and the spectra of the outburst, andthereby to identify the source types. Results.The outburst of XMMU J004215.8+ 411924 lasted for about one month. The source had a hard power-law spectrum with aphoton index of 1.6. It was previously identified as a Be/X-ray binary based on the optical identification …

Table Of Contents, Michele Harmon

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

A Search For Enhanced Very High Energy Gamma-Ray Emission From The 2013 March Crab Nebula Flare, P. T. Reynolds, Et Al

Physical Sciences Publications

In 2013 March, a flaring episode from the Crab Nebula lasting ~2 weeks was detected by Fermi-LAT (Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope). The Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) provides simultaneous observations throughout this period. During the flare, Fermi-LAT detected a 20 fold increase in flux above the average synchrotron flux >100 MeV seen from the Crab Nebula. Simultaneous measurements with VERITAS are consistent with the non-variable long-term average Crab Nebula flux at TeV energies. Assuming a linear correlation between the very high energy flux change >1 TeV and the flux …

Long Term Observations Of B2 1215+30 With Veritas, E. Aliu, S. Archambault, T. Arlen, T. Aune, M. Beilicke, W. Benbow, R. Bird, A. Bouvier, J. H. Buckley, V. Bugaev, A. Cesarini, L. Ciupik, M. P. Connolly, W. Cui, J. Dumm, M. Errando, A. Falcone, S. Federici, Q. Feng, J. P. Finley, P. Fortin, L. Fortson, A. Furniss, N. Galante, L. Gerard, G. H. Gillanders, S. Griffin, J. Grube, G. Gyuk, D. Hanna, J. Holder, G. Hughes, T. B. Humensky, P. Kaaret, M. Kertzman, Y. Khassen, D. Kieda, H. Krawczynski, F. Krennrich, M. J. Lang, A. S. Madhavan, G. Maier, P. Majumdar, S. Mcarthur, A. Mccann, P. Moriarty, R. Mukherjee, D. Nieto, A. O’Faolain De Bhroithe, P. T. Reynolds, Et Al

Physical Sciences Publications

We report on VERITAS observations of the BL Lac object B2 1215+30 between 2008 and 2012. During this period, the source was detected at very high energies (VHEs; E > 100 GeV) by VERITAS with a significance of 8.9σ and showed clear variability on timescales larger than months. In 2011, the source was found to be in a relatively bright state and a power-law fit to the differential photon spectrum yields a spectral index of 3.6 ± 0.4stat ± 0.3syst with an integral flux above 200 GeV of (8.0 ± 0.9stat ± 3.2syst) × 10−12 cm−2 s−1. No short term variability …

Molecular Hydrogen Regulated Star Formation In Cosmological Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Simulations, Robert Thompson, Kentaro Nagamine, Jason Jaacks, Jun-Hwan Choi

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Some observations have shown that star formation (SF) correlates tightly with the presence of molecular hydrogen (H₂); therefore, it is important to investigate its implication on galaxy formation in a cosmological context. In the present work, we implement a sub-grid model (hereafter H₂-SF model) that tracks the H₂ mass fraction within our cosmological smoothed particle hydrodynamics code GADGET-3 by using an equilibrium analytic model of Krumholz et al. This model allows us to regulate the SF in our simulation by the local abundance of H₂ rather than the total cold gas density, which naturally …

Dose Dependent Effects Of Caffeine On Cognitive Performance And Neuronal Activation, Stephan Albrecht, Helen Morris, Michelle Vieyra

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Many students assume that the more caffeine you drink, the better your cognitive performance. Over-consumption of caffeine has many negative effects, so if there are no dose related cognitive benefits to large amounts of caffeine, then college students should limit their intake. This study looked at whether ingesting a medium dose (200 mg) versus a lower dose (100 mg) of caffeine improved short term memory as measured by Flanker and n-back tests, compared to a control group. In addition, we looked at whether larger doses of caffeine produced a difference in neuronal activation during these tests as measured by functional …

Fourier Analysis Of Phase Resetting Curves Of Neural Oscillators, Robert A. Raidt, Sorinel A. Oprisan

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

We investigated the impact of changes in biologically relevant control parameters, such as the shape of an external perturbation or the conductance values of an individual model neuron, on the shape of the phase resetting curve (PRC) of that neuron. For that purpose, PRCs were generated for groups of Morris-Lecar (ML) model neurons with different conductance values but similar firing periods (within 0.005ms) using external rectangular, triangular, or trapezoidal perturbations of varying areas. These PRCs were numerically described and analyzed as a series of coefficient values using a Fourier Discrete Sine Transform (DST). We found that changes in the shape …

Supernova Neutrino Nucleosynthesis Of Light Elements With Neutrino Oscillations, Takashi Yoshida, Toshitaka Kajino, Hidekazu Yokomakura, Keiichi Kimura, Akira Takamura, Dieter H. Hartmann

Publications

Light element synthesis in supernovae through neutrino-nucleus interactions, i.e., the ν-process, is affected by neutrino oscillations in the supernova environment. There is a resonance of 13-mixing in the O/C layer, which increases the rates of charged-current ν-process reactions in the outer He-rich layer. The yields of 7Li and 11B increase by about a factor of 1.9 and 1.3, respectively, for a normal mass hierarchy and an adiabatic 13-mixing resonance, compared to those without neutrino oscillations. In the case of an inverted mass hierarchy and a non-adiabatic 13-mixing resonance, the increase in the 7Li and 11B yields is much smaller. Observations …

Atomic Data For S Ii—Toward Better Diagnostics Of Chemical Evolution In High-Redshift Galaxies, Romas Kisielius, Varsha P. Kulkarni, Gary J. Ferland, Pavel Bogdanovich, Matt L. Lykins

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Absorption-line spectroscopy is a powerful tool used to estimate element abundances in both the nearby and distant universe. The accuracy of the abundances thus derived is naturally limited by the accuracy of the atomic data assumed for the spectral lines. We have recently started a project to perform new extensive atomic data calculations used for optical/UV spectral lines in the plasma modeling code Cloudy using state of the art quantal calculations. Here, we demonstrate our approach by focussing on S II, an ion used to estimate metallicities for Milky Way interstellar clouds as well as distant damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) and …

Development And Validation Of An Automated Directivity Acquisition System Used In The Acquisition, Processing, And Presentation Of The Acoustic Far-Field Directivity Of Musical Instruments In An Anechoic Space, Nicholas J. Eyring

Theses and Dissertations

A high spatial resolution acoustic directivity acquisition system (ADAS) has been developed to acquire anechoic measurements of the far field radiation of musical instruments that are either remote controlled or played by musicians. Building upon work performed by the BYU Acoustic Research Group in the characterization of loudspeaker directivity, one can rotate a musical instrument with sequential azimuthal angle increments under a fixed semicircular array of microphones while recording repeated notes or sequences of notes. This results in highly detailed and instructive directivity data presented in the form of high-resolution balloon plots. The directivity data and corresponding balloon plots may …

Sensitivity Curves For Searches For Gravitational-Wave Backgrounds, E. H. Thrane, Joseph D. Romano

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We propose a graphical representation of detector sensitivity curves for stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds that takes into account the increase in sensitivity that comes from integrating over frequency in addition to integrating over time. This method is valid for backgrounds that have a power-law spectrum in the analysis band. We call these graphs “power-law integrated curves.” For simplicity, we consider cross-correlation searches for unpolarized and isotropic stochastic backgrounds using two or more detectors. We apply our method to construct power-law integrated sensitivity curves for second-generation ground-based detectors such as Advanced LIGO, space-based detectors such as LISA and the Big Bang Observer, …

Uncovering The Deeply Embedded Active Galactic Nucleus Activity In The Nuclear Regions Of The Interacting Galaxy Arp 299, A Alonso-Herrero, Eric S. Perlman

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Faculty Publications

We present mid-infrared (MIR) 8-13 μm spectroscopy of the nuclear regions of the interacting galaxy Arp 299 (IC 694+NGC 3690) obtained with CanariCam (CC) on the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC). The high angular resolution (∼0.″3-0.″6) of the data allows us to probe nuclear physical scales between 60 and 120 pc, which is a factor of 10 improvement over previous MIR spectroscopic observations of this system. The GTC/CC spectroscopy displays evidence of deeply embedded active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity in both nuclei. The GTC/CC nuclear spectrum of NGC 3690/Arp 299-B1 can be explained as emission from AGN-heated dust in …

The Unexpectedly Bright Comet C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) Unveiled At Near-Infrared Wavelengths, Lucas Paganini, Michael Disanti, Michael Mumma, Geronimo Villanueva, Boncho Bonev, Jacqueline Keane, Erika Gibb, Hermann Boehnhardt, Karen Meech

Physics Faculty Works

We acquired near-infrared spectra of the Oort cloud comet C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) at three different heliocentric distances (R h) during the comet's 2013 perihelion passage, providing a comprehensive measure of the outgassing behavior of parent volatiles and cosmogonic indicators. Our observations were performed pre-perihelion at R h = 1.2 AU with CRIRES (on 2013 February 2 and 4), and post-perihelion at R h = 0.75 AU with CSHELL (on March 31 and April 1) and R h = 1.74 AU with NIRSPEC (on June 20). We detected 10 volatile species (H2O, OH* prompt emission, C2H6, CH3OH, H2CO, HCN, CO, CH4, …