Astrophysics and Astronomy Commons^™

Toi-1201 B: A Mini-Neptune Transiting A Bright And Moderately Young M Dwarf, D. Kossakowski, J. Kemmer, P. Bluhm, S. Stock, J. A. Caballero, V. J. S. Béjar, C. Cardona Guillén, N. Lodieu, K. A. Collins, M. Oshagh, M. Schlecker, N. Espinoza, E. Pallé, T. Henning, L. Kreidberg, M. Kürster, P. J. Amado, D. R. Anderson, J. C. Morales, S. Cartwright, D. Charbonneau, P. Chaturvedi, C. Cifuentes, D. M. Conti, M. Cortés-Contreras, S. Dreizler, D. Galadí-Enríquez, P. Guerra, R. Hart, C. Hellier, C. Henze, E. Herrero, S. V. Jeffers, J. M. Jenkins, Eric L.N. Jensen, A. Kaminski, J. F. Kielkopf, M. Kunimoto, M. Lafarga, D. W. Latham, J. Lillo-Box, R. Luque, K. Molaverdikhani, D. Montes, G. Morello, E. H. Morgan, G. Nowak, A. Pavlov, M. Perger, E. V. Quintana, A. Quirrenbach, S. Reffert, A. Reiners, G. Ricker, I. Ribas, C. Rodríguez López, M. R. Zapatero Osorio, S. Seager, P. Schöfer, A. Schweitzer, T. Trifonov, S. Vanaverbeke, R. Vanderspek, R. West, J. Winn, M. Zechmeister

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

We present the discovery of a transiting mini-Neptune around TOI-1201, a relatively bright and moderately young early M dwarf (J ≈ 9.5 mag, ~600–800 Myr) in an equal-mass ~8 arcsecond-wide binary system, using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, along with follow-up transit observations. With an orbital period of 2.49 d, TOI-1201 b is a warm mini-Neptune with a radius of R_b = 2.415 ± 0.090 R_⊕. This signal is also present in the precise radial velocity measurements from CARMENES, confirming the existence of the planet and providing a planetary mass of M_b = …

Toi-1431b/Mascara-5b: A Highly Irradiated Ultrahot Jupiter Orbiting One Of The Hottest And Brightest Known Exoplanet Host Stars, B. C. Addison, E. Knudstrup, I. Wong, G. Hébrard, P. Dorval, I. Snellen, S. Albrecht, A. Bello-Arufe, J.-M. Almenara, I. Boisse, X. Bonfils, S. Dalal, O. D. S. Demangeon, S. Hoyer, F. Kiefer, N. C. Santos, G. Nowak, R. Luque, M. Stangret, E. Palle, R. Tronsgaard, V. Antoci, L. A. Buchhave, M. N. Günther, T. Daylan, F. Murgas, H. Parviainen, E. Esparza-Borges, N. Crouzet, N. Narita, A. Fukui, K. Kawauchi, N. Watanabe, M. Rabus, M. C. Johnson, G. P. P. L. Otten, G. J. Talens, S. H. C. Cabot, D. A. Fischer, F. Grundahl, M. Fredslund Andersen, J. Jessen-Hansen, P. Pallé, A. Shporer, D. R. Ciardi, J. T. Clark, R. A. Wittenmyer, D. J. Wright, J. Horner, K. A. Collins, Eric L.N. Jensen, J. F. Kielkopf, R. P. Schwarz, G. Srdoc, M. Yilmaz, H. V. Senavci, B. Diamond, D. Harbeck, T. D. Komacek, J. C. Smith, S. Wang, J. D. Eastman, K. G. Stassun, D. W. Latham, R. Vanderspek, S. Seager, J. N. Winn, J. M. Jenkins, D. R. Louie, L. G. Bouma, J. D. Twicken, A. M. Levine, B. Mclean

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

We present the discovery of a highly irradiated and moderately inflated ultrahot Jupiter, TOI-1431b/MASCARA-5 b (HD 201033b), first detected by NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission (TESS) and the Multi-site All-Sky Camera (MASCARA). The signal was established to be of planetary origin through radial velocity measurements obtained using SONG, SOPHIE, FIES, NRES, and EXPRES, which show a reflex motion of K = 294.1 ± 1.1 m s⁻¹. A joint analysis of the TESS and ground-based photometry and radial velocity measurements reveals that TOI-1431b has a mass of M_p = 3.12 ± 0.18 M_J (990 ± 60 M_{⊕ …}

Utilizing High Throughput Computing Techniques For The Predictions Of Spectroscopic Properties Of Astrophysically Relevant Molecules, Brian Ferrari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Here, we utilize Quantum Chemistry (QC) approaches to predict the structures, vibrational frequencies, infrared intensities and Raman activities of unusual molecular species using the General Atomic and Molecular Structure System (GAMESS(US)) package. A Python-based software, AutoGAMESS, was developed to automate the workflow and take advantage of High Throughput Computing (HTC) techniques enabling the automated generation of spectroscopic data from hundreds of calculations. This approach was utilized to determine these properties for a series of carbon oxides (C2On; n = 3 to 4), anticipated to be produced during the radiation of pure carbon dioxide ices, under conditions relevant to the interstellar …

Arion 33: A Prospective Mission To Near-Earth Asteroids, Alita Regi

Theses and Dissertations

Near-Earth asteroids will become primary targets for space industrialization in the future as humanity becomes a multi-planetary species. But before such missions, it is necessary to survey these asteroids for their intrinsic scientific value. Exploring asteroids via orbiter missions can help us understand the asteroid's surface composition while providing us a cost and power model required for future missions. Therefore, it is beneficial to study asteroids to pave the way for future mining operations or more comprehensive scientific explorations. Hence, in this thesis, the target asteroids 2011 UW158 and 65803 Didymos are selected as case studies for the hypothetical mission …

A Gravitational-Wave Measurement Of The Hubble Constant Following The Second Observing Run Of Advanced Ligo And Virgo (Vol 908, 218, 2021), B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Multi-Scale Feedback And Feeding In The Closest Radio Galaxy Centaurus A, B. Mckinley, S. J. Tingay, M. Gaspari, R. P. Kraft, C. Matherne, A. R. Offringa, M. Mcdonald, M. S. Calzadilla, S Veilleux, S. S. Shabala, S. D. J. Gwyn, J. Bland-Hawthorn, D. Crnojevic, B. M. Gaensler, M. Johnston-Hollitt

Faculty Publications

Supermassive black holes and supernova explosions at the centres of active galaxies power cycles of outflowing and inflowing gas that affect galactic evolution and the overall structure of the Universe(1,2). While simulations and observations show that this must be the case, the range of physical scales (over ten orders of magnitude) and paucity of available tracers make both the simulation and observation of these effects difficult(3,4). By serendipity, there lies an active galaxy, Centaurus A (NGC 5128)(5,6), at such a close proximity as to allow its observation over this entire range of scales and across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. In …

Diving Beneath The Sea Of Stellar Activity: Chromatic Radial Velocities Of The Young Au Mic Planetary System, Bryson Cale, Michael Reefe, Peter Plavchan, Angelle Tanner, Eric Gaidos, Jonathan Gagne, Peter Gao, Stephen R. Kane, Victor J. S. Bejar, Nicolas Lodieu, Guillem Anglada-Escude, Ignasi Ribas, Enric Palle, Andreas Quirrenbach, Pedro Amado, Ansgar Reiners, Jose A. Caballero, Maria Rosa Zapatero Osorio, Stefan Dreizler, Andrew W. Howard, Benjamin J. Fulton, Sharon Xuesong Wang, Kevin I. Collins, Mohammed El Mufti, Justin Wittrock, Emily A. Gilbert, Thomas Barclay, Baptiste Klein, Eder Martioli, Robert Wittenmyer, Duncan Wright, Brett Addison, Teruyuki Hirano, Motohide Tamura, Takayuki Kotani, Norio Narita, David Vermilion, Rena A. Lee, Claire Geneser, Johanna Teske, Samuel N. Quinn, David W. Latham, Gilbert A. Esquerdo, Michael L. Calkins, Perry Berlind, Farzaneh Zohrabi, Caitlin Stibbards, Srihan Kotnana, Jon Jenkins, Joseph D. Twicken, Christopher Henze, Richard Kidwell, Jr., Christopher Burke, Joel Villasenor, Patricia Boyd

Faculty Publications

We present updated radial-velocity (RV) analyses of the AU Mic system. AU Mic is a young (22 Myr) early-M dwarf known to host two transiting planets-P-b similar to 8.46 days, R-b = 4.381(-0.18)(+0.18) R-circle plus, P-c similar to 18.86 days, R-c = 3.5(-0.16)(+0.16) R-circle plus. With visible RVs from Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exo-earths with Near-infrared and optical echelle Spectrographs (CARMENES)-VIS, CHIRON, HARPS, HIRES, MINERVA-Australis, and Tillinghast Reflector Echelle Spectrograph, as well as near-infrared (NIR) RVs from CARMENES-NIR, CSHELL, IRD, iSHELL, NIRSPEC, and SPIRou, we provide a 5 sigma upper limit to the mass of AU …

Search For Lensing Signatures In The Gravitational-Wave Observations From The First Half Of Ligo-Virgo's Third Observing Run, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott

Faculty Publications

We search for signatures of gravitational lensing in the gravitational-wave signals from compact binary coalescences detected by Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and Advanced Virgo during O3a, the first half of their third observing run. We study: (1) the expected rate of lensing at current detector sensitivity and the implications of a non-observation of strong lensing or a stochastic gravitational-wave background on the merger-rate density at high redshift; (2) how the interpretation of individual high-mass events would change if they were found to be lensed; (3) the possibility of multiple images due to strong lensing by galaxies or galaxy …

Image Data Analysis And Design Optimization Of The Snowball Chamber, Yujia Huang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Dark Matter is the invisible massive particle that makes up over 26.8 percent of the mass-energy content of the universe. Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, or WIMPs, are one of the candidates of dark matter particles. Many scientists around the world are trying to figure out how to detect detect dark matter using either indirect search, direct production or direct detection experiments. However, due to the lack of evidence of finding WIMPs in direct detection experiments at a large mass scale, a call for investigating WIMPs at a lower mass range is attracting more attention.

Modeling Cherenkov Light Detection Timing For The Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System, Keilan Finn Ramirez

Physics

The Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) is an array of four 12-meter telescopes which use the Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Technique to conduct high-energy gamma-ray astronomy. VERITAS detects magnitude and location information associated with Cherenkov light, and uses this information to indirectly observe gamma-rays through a software reconstruction process. VERITAS also records timing information corresponding to Cherenkov light detection, and this additional information could theoretically be incorporated into the reconstruction process to improve the accuracy of gamma-ray observations. The first step to including timing information is to understand when Cherenkov light detection would be expected from a known …

Intermittency Scaling Laws In Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence: Theory, Simulations And Observations, Juan Carlos Palacios Caicedo

Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of this dissertation is to investigate intermittency of Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) plasmas by means of high-resolution numerical simulations and large sets of solar wind data. Understanding intermittency scaling laws is a significant step forward towards understanding the fundamental properties of plasma turbulence and how spatial structures influence dissipation, heating, transport and acceleration of charged particles, which is important in a wide range of laboratory, space and astrophysical plasmas. The current stateof- the art in the theoretical understanding of intermittency in MHD turbulence is based on phenomenological (non-exact) models, numerical simulations and solar wind observations of structure functions of …

Order And Harmony: Kepler’S Guiding Forces, Dan Broadbent

Faculty Publications

Adapted from the article “Order and Harmony: Kepler’s Guiding Forces” included in “Towards Mysteries of the Cosmos with Johannes Kepler – on the 450th Anniversary of His Birth,” a commemorative volume published by the Obserwatorium Atronommiczne Krolowej Jadwigi Rzepienniku Biskupim (Queen Jadwiga Observatory of Rzepiennik Biskupi Poland) December 2021. Adapted with permission.

As the subject librarian for physics and astronomy at Brigham Young University, the author has had the privilege of handling some of Johannes Kepler’s original books preserved in the university’s archives. One of the most impressive materials in the archive is a large page from Mysterium Cosmographicum that …

Thermophysical And Compositional Analyses Of Dunes At Hargraves Crater, Mars, A. Emran, L. J. Marzen, D. T. King Jr., V. F. Chevrier

Space and Planetary Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

We analyze thermal emission spectra using the 2001 Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System and the Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer to characterize grain size and mineralogical composition of dunes at Hargraves crater, Mars. Thermal inertia and bulk composition of the dunes were compared to inferred provenances from the thermal infrared response of surface constituent materials. We use a Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique to estimate the bulk amount of mineralogy contributed by each inferred provenance to the dune field composition. An average thermal inertia value of 238 ± 17 Jm⁻² K⁻¹ s^−0.5 was found for …

Analysis Of Titan's Fluvial Features Using Numerical Modeling, Jeshurun Horton

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

River channels have been observed near the Huygens probe landing site on the surface of Titan, along with evidence of rounded water ice boulders transported through fluid flow. Evidence near the landing site suggests active flow of liquid methane, which has motivated the study of the effects of sediment load and channel sizes on Titan’s fluvial features. A numerical model is used to determine the viscosity, flow velocity, and critical boulder transport diameter based on channel size, slope, and a range of sediment concentrations. This model achieves two ends: first, observed boulder diameters are used to determine the ideal channel …

Nonperiodic Type I Be/X-Ray Binary Outbursts, Rebecca G. Martin, Alessia Franchini

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

Type I Be/X-ray binary outbursts are driven by mass transfer from a Be star decretion disk to a neutron star companion during each orbital period. Treiber et al. recently observed nonperiodic type I outbursts in RX J0529.8-6556 that has unknown binary orbital properties. We show that nonperiodic type I outbursts may be temporarily driven in a low eccentricity binary with a disk that is inclined sufficiently to be mildly unstable to Kozai-Lidov oscillations. The inclined disk becomes eccentric and material is transferred to the neutron star at up to three locations in each orbit: when the neutron star passes the …

An Argument For The Second Nuclear Era: Salvaging The Atomic Age In Response To Climate Change, Ian Sager

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

On The Mobility Of Small Aperture Telescopes For Initial Orbit Determination And Apparent Magnitude Derivation Of Low Earth Satellites, Jonathan Ian Hernandez

Master's Theses

Maintaining Space Domain Awareness (SDA) of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) requires effective methods of tracking and characterization. Optical measurements of these objects are generally sparse due to limited access intervals and high angular rates. Light pollution and geographic obstructions may also preclude consistent observations. However, a mobile small aperture telescope grants the ability to minimize such environmental effects, thereby increasing capture likelihoods for objects within this regime. By enhancing LEO satellite visibility in this way, extensive orbital and visual data are obtainable.

An 8-inch Meade LX200GPS telescope equipped with a Lumenera SKYnyx2-0M CCD camera comprises the system that …

Identification And Characterization Of Bisbenzimide Compounds That Inhibit Human Cytomegalovirus Replication, Nicole Falci Finardi, Hyeongjun Kim, Lee Z. Hernandez, Matthew R. G. Russell, Catherine M-K Ho, Vattipally B. Sreenu, Hannah A. Wenham, Andy Merritt, Blair L. Strang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

The shortcomings of current anti-human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) drugs has stimulated a search for anti-HCMV compounds with novel targets. We screened collections of bioactive compounds and identified a range of compounds with the potential to inhibit HCMV replication. Of these compounds, we selected bisbenzimide compound RO-90-7501 for further study. We generated analogues of RO-90-7501 and found that one compound, MRT00210423, had increased anti-HCMV activity compared to RO-90-7501. Using a combination of compound analogues, microscopy and biochemical assays we found RO-90-7501 and MRT00210423 interacted with DNA. In single molecule microscopy experiments we found RO-90-7501, but not MRT00210423, was able to compact DNA, …

The Hubble Pancet Program: Transit And Eclipse Spectroscopy Of The Hot-Jupiter Wasp-74b, Guangwei Fu, Drake Deming, Erin May, Kevin Stevenson, David K. Sing, Joshua D. Lothringer, Hannah R. Wakeford, Nikolay Nikolov, Thomas Mikal-Evans, Vincent Bourrier, Leonardo A. Dos Santos, Munazza K. Alam, Gregory W. Henry, Antonio García Muñoz, Mercedes López-Morales

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

Planets are like children with each one being unique and special. A better understanding of their collective properties requires a deeper understanding of each planet. Here we add the transit and eclipse spectra of hot-Jupiter WASP-74b into the ever growing data set of exoplanet atmosphere spectral library. With six transits and three eclipses using the Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer Space Telescope (Spitzer), we present the most complete and precise atmospheric spectra of WASP-74b. We found no evidence for TiO/VO nor super-Rayleigh scattering reported in previous studies. The transit shows a muted water feature with strong Rayleigh scattering extending into …

Nonsingular Quantum Gravitational Dynamics Of An Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi Dust Shell Model: The Role Of Quantization Prescriptions, Kristina Giesel, Bao-Fei Li, Parampreet Singh

Faculty Publications

We study some consequences of the loop quantization of the outermost dust shell in the LemaitreTolman-Bondi spacetime with a homogeneous dust density using different quantization strategies motivated by loop quantum gravity. Prior work has dealt with loop quantizing this model by employing holonomies and the triads, following the procedure in standard loop quantum cosmology. In this work we compare this quantization with the one in which holonomies and gauge-covariant fluxes are used. While both of the quantization schemes resolve the central singularity, they lead to different mass gaps at which a trapped surface forms. This trapped surface which is matched …