Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons^™

Experimental Simulations Of Dark Slope Streaks On Mars, Kelly Howe

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Martian slope streaks were first observed in Viking images but their formation still remains ambiguous. Martian slope streaks are currently occurring geological phenomenon on Mars, which requires any formation theory to be in agreement with Mar's current temperature and pressure conditions. Planar morphology of martian slope streaks suggest a potential fluvial formation, but current conditions on Mars are not conducive to water remaining liquid long enough to erode the surface. Debris flows, fluid stains and dry dust avalanches have all been previously cited as a potential formation mechanism for martian slope streaks. Recent experimental simulations indicate that a fluvial source …

Exploring The Possibility Of Floating Orbits For Extreme Mass Ratio Binary Black Holes, Shasvath Jagat Kapadia

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A binary black hole system, where each black hole orbits the system's center of mass, loses energy by emission of gravitational waves. This causes both black holes to spiral in towards each other. However, if the binary were to, by some mechanism, gain orbital energy at the same rate that it radiates away this energy, a non-decaying or “floating” orbit would result. The thesis uses superradiant scattering and tidal friction, which are two equivalent ways of looking at a process by which the system can gain orbital energy from the spin energy of either black hole, to determine the possibility …

Modeling Water Stability And Transport On Mars And Iapetus: Exploring Their Effects On Geomorphic And Atmospheric Processes, Edgard Giovanni Rivera-Valentin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The stability and transport of water on solid planetary surfaces strongly affects both atmospheric and surfaces processes. In this work, two bodies are specifically investigated where transport of water is relevant: Iapetus and Mars. Iapetus, an icy Kronian satellite, has a drastic albedo contrast on its surface and one of the darkest surfaces in the solar system. This extreme brightness contrast is suggested to occur via the transport of water ice from the leading hemisphere to the trailing hemisphere and the poles. Here a global heat and mass transfer model is developed for Iapetus in order to study the current …

Absolute Properties Of The Eclipsing Binary Star Bf Draconis, Claud H. Sandberg Lacy, Guillermo Torres, Francis C. Fekel, Jeffrey A. Sabby, Antonio Claret

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

BF Dra is now known to be an eccentric double-lined F6+F6 binary star with relatively deep (0.7 mag) partial eclipses. Previous studies of the system are improved with 7494 differential photometric observations from the URSA WebScope and 9700 from the NFO WebScope, 106 high-resolution spectroscopic observations from the Tennessee State University 2 m automatic spectroscopic telescope and the 1 m coudé-feed spectrometer at Kitt Peak National Observatory, and 31 accurate radial velocities from the CfA. Very accurate (better than 0.6%) masses and radii are determined from analysis of the two new light curves and four radial velocity curves. Theoretical models …

Hadamard Renormalization Of The Stress Energy Tensor In A Spherically Symmetric Black Hole Space-Time With An Application To Lukewarm Black Holes, Cormac Breen, Adrian Ottewill

Articles

We consider a quantum field which is in a Hartle-Hawking state propagating in a spherically symmetric black hole space-time. We calculate the components of the stress tensor, renormalized using the Hadamard form of the Green's function, in the exterior region of this space-time. We then specialize these results to the case of the `lukewarm' Riessner-Nordstrom-de Sitter black hole.

Search For Gravitational Waves From Low Mass Compact Binary Coalescence In Ligo’S Sixth Science Run And Virgo’S Science Runs 2 And 3, J. Abadie, B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, M. Abernathy, T. Accadia, F. Acernese, C. Adams, R. Adhikari, C. Affeldt, M. Agathos, P. Ajith, B. Allen, G. S. Allen, E. Amador Ceron, D. Amariutei, R. S. Amin, S. B. Anderson, W. G. Anderson, K. Arai, M. A. Arain, M. C. Araya, S. M. Aston, P. Astone, D. Atkinson, P. Aufmuth, C. Aulbert, B. E. Aylott, S. Babak, P. Baker, G. Ballardin, Tiffany Z. Summerscales

Faculty Publications

We report on a search for gravitational waves from coalescing compact binaries using LIGO and Virgo observations between July 7, 2009, and October 20, 2010. We searched for signals from binaries with total mass between 2 and 25M this includes binary neutron stars, binary black holes, and binaries consisting of a black hole and neutron star. The detectors were sensitive to systems up to 40 Mpc distant for binary neutron stars, and further for higher mass systems. No gravitational-wave signals were detected. We report upper limits on the rate of compact binary coalescence as a function of total mass, including …

Probing The Haze In The Atmosphere Of Hd 189733b With Hubble Space Telescope/Wfc3 Transmission Spectroscopy, Neale P. Gibson, Suzanne Aigrain, Frederic Pont, David K. Sing, Jean-Michel Désert, Thomas M. Evans, Gregory W. Henry, Nawal Husnoo, Heather Knutson

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

We present Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared transmission spectroscopy of the transiting exoplanet HD 189733b, using the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). This consists of time series spectra of two transits, used to measure the wavelength dependence of the planetary radius. These observations aim to test whether the Rayleigh scattering haze detected at optical wavelengths extends into the near-infrared, or if it becomes transparent leaving molecular features to dominate the transmission spectrum. Due to saturation and non-linearity affecting the brightest (central) pixels of the spectrum, light curves were extracted from the blue and red ends of the spectra only, corresponding to …

The Final Journey Of The Saturn V, Andrew R. Thomas, Paul N. Thomarios

University of Akron Press Publications

The Saturn V rocket carried men to the moon, and its history reflects the US space program's rise, success, and demise. In 1961, John F. Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the moon and win the space race. Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon in 1969 in the culmination of a concerted scientific and technological effort.

A little over a decade later, the Saturn rocket was tossed aside to rot in a field near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The rocket's carcass became the home to flora and fauna. Like the space program itself, the rocket …

In An Expanding Universe, What Doesn’T Expand?, Richard H. Price, Joseph D. Romano

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

The expansion of the universe is often viewed as a uniform stretching of space that would affect compact objects such as atoms and stars, as well as the separation of galaxies. One usually hears that bound systems do not take part in the general expansion, but a much more subtle question is whether bound systems expand partially. In this paper, a definitive answer is given for a very simple system: a classical “atom” bound by electrical attraction. With a mathematical description appropriate for undergraduate physics majors, we show that this bound system either completely follows the cosmological expansion, or, after …

Spitzer Imaging And Spectral Mapping Of The Oxygen-Rich Supernova Remnant G292.0+1.8, Parviz Ghavamian, Knox S. Long, William P. Blair, Sangwook Park, Robert Fesen

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present mid-infrared continuum and emission line images of the Galactic oxygen-rich supernova remnant (SNR) G292.0+1.8, acquired using the MIPS and IRS instruments on the Spitzer Space Telescope. The MIPS 24 μm and 70 μm images of G292.0+1.8 are dominated by continuum emission from a network of filaments encircling the SNR. The morphology of the SNR, as seen in the mid-infrared, resembles that seen in X-rays with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Most of the mid-infrared emission in the MIPS images is produced by circumstellar dust heated in the non-radiative shocks around G292.0+1.8, confirming the results of earlier mid-IR …

Observations Of Ellipsoidal Variations In The Lmxb V1727 Cygni, Alex Price^, Edward L. Robinson, Paul A. Mason*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2012

No abstract provided.

Optical Photometry Of The Black Hole Candidate Swift J1753.4-0126, Aurelio Paez^, Edward L. Robinson, Amanda J. Bayless, Paul A. Mason*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2012

No abstract provided.

Light Vs. Quantum Gravity, Irving Martinez^*

COURI Symposium Abstracts, Spring 2012

No abstract provided.

Implementation And Testing Of The First Prompt Search For Gravitational Wave Transients With Electromagnetic Counterparts, J. Abadie, Matthew Benacquista, Teviet Creighton, Mario C. Diaz, Soumya Mohanty, Soma Mukherjee, Volker Quetschke, Malik Rakhmanov, Joseph D. Romano

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Aims. A transient astrophysical event observed in both gravitational wave (GW) and electromagnetic (EM) channels would yield rich scientific rewards. A first program initiating EM follow-ups to possible transient GW events has been developed and exercised by the LIGO and Virgo community in association with several partners. In this paper, we describe and evaluate the methods used to promptly identify and localize GW event candidates and to request images of targeted sky locations. Methods. During two observing periods (Dec. 17, 2009 to Jan. 8, 2010 and Sep. 2 to Oct. 20, 2010), a low-latency analysis pipeline was used to identify …

Implementation And Testing Of The First Prompt Search For Gravitational Wave Transients With Electromagnetic Counterparts, J. Abadie, B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, M. Abernathy, T. Accadia, F. Acernese, C. Adams, R. Adhikari, C. Affeldt, M. Agathos, P. Ajith, B. Allen, G. S. Allen, E. Amador Ceron, D. Amariutei, R. S. Amin, S. B. Anderson, W. G. Anderson, K. Arai, M. A. Arain, M. C. Araya, S. M. Aston, P. Astone, D. Atkinson, P. Aufmuth, C. Aulbert, B. E. Aylott, S. Babak, P. Baker, G. Ballardin, Tiffany Z. Summerscales

Faculty Publications

Aims. A transient astrophysical event observed in both gravitational wave (GW) and electromagnetic (EM) channels would yield rich scientific rewards. A first program initiating EM follow-ups to possible transient GW events has been developed and exercised by the LIGO and Virgo community in association with several partners. In this paper, we describe and evaluate the methods used to promptly identify and localize GW event candidates and to request images of targeted sky locations. Methods. During two observing periods (Dec. 17, 2009 to Jan. 8, 2010 and Sep. 2 to Oct. 20, 2010), a low-latency analysis pipeline was used to identify …

Asteroid Retrieval Feasibility Study, John Brophy, Fred Culick, Louis Friedman, Pedro Llanos, Et Al.

Publications

This report describes the results of a study sponsored by the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) to investigate the feasibility of identifying, robotically capturing, and returning an entire Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) to the vicinity of the Earth by the middle of the next decade. The KISS study was performed by people from Ames Research Center, Glenn Research Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Johnson Space Center, Langley Research Center, the California Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon, Harvard University, the Naval Postgraduate School, University of California at Los Angeles, University of California at Santa Cruz, University of Southern …

Swift Follow-Up Observations Of Unclassified Asca Sources, N. Degenaar, R. L. C. Starling, P. A. Evans, A. P. Beardmore, D. N. Burrows, E. M. Cackett, S. Campana, D. Grupe, A. Moretti, C. Pagani, K. L. Page, V. La Parola, R. Wijnands

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

We present Swift follow-up observations of a sample of 35 unclassified faint X-ray sources drawn from the ASCA Galactic centre and Galactic plane surveys. Our short, pointed XRT observations allow detections down to a limiting 0.3-10 keV flux of F_X ~ 10^-13 erg cm^-2 s^-1, which translates into a luminosity of L_X ~ 10³³ erg s^-1 for an assumed distance of D = 8 kpc. The brightest source in our sample reaches a maximum 0.3-10 keV luminosity of L_X ~ 2 × 10³⁶ (D/8 kpc)² erg s^-1 during …

A Chandra Survey Of Supermassive Black Holes With Dynamical Mass Measurements, Kayhan Gültekin, Edward M. Cackett, Jon M. Miller, Tiziana Di Matteo, Sera Markoff, Douglas O. Richstone

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Research Publications

We present Chandra observations of 12 galaxies that contain supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with dynamical mass measurements. Each galaxy was observed for 30 ks and resulted in a total of 68 point-source detections in the target galaxies including SMBH sources, ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs), and extragalactic X-ray binaries. Based on our fits of the X-ray spectra, we report fluxes, luminosities, Eddington ratios, and slope of the power-law spectrum. Normalized to the Eddington luminosity, the 2-10 keV band X-ray luminosities of the SMBH sources range from 10^-8 to 10^-6, and the power-law slopes are centered at ~2 with …

Low Earth Orbiting Photographer (Leop) Cube Satellite, Jan J. Sojka, J. Alex Landon

Posters

The exploration and study of space is critical for the future of our society, but the opportunities for educational institutions to get involved in space research have faded dramatically in the last decade with the retirement of the space shuttle program. The USU Get Away Special (GAS) team is designing a new, low cost solution to space research, CubeSat (Cube Satellite). This small satellite, with a volume of approximately one liter, will have a high resolution camera directed at earth, and students will be able to request a picture of their area when the satellite flies overhead. In this way, …

Calibrating The Star Endcap Electromagnetic Calorimeter Using Pi-O’S, Benjamin Barber

Symposium on Research and Creative Expression (SORCE)

The default energy calibration of the STAR EEMC (Endcap ElectroMagnetic Calorimeter) uses the energy deposition of minimally ionizing particles (MIPs). An alternate method is to use pi-0's. We are reporting a preliminary proof-of-principle calibration method using pi-0's. This method reconstructs the invariant mass of photon pairs, assumed to be resulting from pi-0 decays, using standard two-body kinematics. When many photon pairs are analyzed, a peak is expected in the resulting invariant mass distribution near the pi-0 mass. Using the measured mass of this peak, and the known mass of the pi-0, a minimization routine adjusts the detector gains to optimize …