Stars, Interstellar Medium and the Galaxy Commons^™

First-Principles Study Of Doping Effects On Ferroelectricity And On Rashba Spin Splitting, Zegnet Yimer Muhammed

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we have thoroughly studied the effect of chemical and charge dopingon ferroelectrics (PbTiO3 and BaTiO3) and Rashba type semiconductor (BiTeI). In the first project, We investigate the polar instability and soft modes in electron-doped PbTiO3 using linear-response density functional calculations. Because, metallicity and ferroelectric-like polar distortion are mutually non-compatible, and their coexistence in the same system is an intriguing subject of fundamental interest in the field of structure phase transition. However, it is unclear what mechanism may extend the limit of metallicity that allows polar distortion. We find that ferroelectric instability can remarkably sustain up to an …

A Method For Exploring The Habitability Of Earth-Like Exoplanets: Applications To Tess Objects Of Interest 203 B, 256 B, And 700 D, Paul Bonney

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has and is continuing to discover a multitude of potentially habitable planet candidates. As more planets are detected and confirmed, it becomes increasingly important to strategically search for signs of habitability with which to differentiate and prioritize them for further observation, in particular with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). To facilitate this, I have created a method for prioritizing TESS planet candidates based on parameters derived from their light curves and have applied the method to the TESS Candidate Target List (CTL). This data set uses preliminary fits to transit modeling which can …

Deciphering Surfaces Of Trans-Neptunian And Kuiper Belt Objects Using Radiative Scattering Models, Machine Learning, And Laboratory Experiments, Al Emran

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Decoding surface-atmospheric interactions and volatile transport mechanisms on trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) involves an in-depth understanding of physical and thermal properties and spatial distribution of surface constituents – nitrogen (N2), methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), and water (H2O) ices. This thesis implements a combination of radiative scattering models, machine learning techniques, and laboratory experiments to investigate the uncertainties in grain size estimation of ices, the spatial distribution of surface compositions on Pluto, and the thermal properties of volatiles found on TNOs and KBOs. Radiative scattering models (Mie theory and Hapke approximations) were used to compare single …

Orbital Mapping Of Seasonal And Yearly Changes In Co2 And Water Ice On The Southern Polar Cap Of Mars, Victoria Michell Ann Karnes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research exhibits a new foundation for the rates of change in CO2 and water ice on the southern polar cap of Mars, where the annual precipitation cycles are known to fluctuate seasonally between the north and south pole, based on observations from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer (CRISM). The conventional belief is that both CO2 ice and water ice on the southern polar cap condenses and evaporates over the course of a Martian year (MY), condensing during the Martian spring and summer and evaporating during the Martian fall and winter. With this theory in mind, CO2 and water ice …

Probing The Extent Of Vertical Mixing In Brown Dwarf Atmospheres With Disequilibrium Chemistry, Sagnick Mukherjee, Jonathan J. Fortney, Natasha E. Batalha, Theodora Karalidi, Mark S. Marley, Channon Visscher, Brittany E. Miles, Andrew J. I. Skemer

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Evidence of disequilibrium chemistry due to vertical mixing in the atmospheres of many T- and Y-dwarfs has been inferred due to enhanced mixing ratios of CO and reduced NH3. Atmospheric models of planets and brown dwarfs typically parameterize this vertical mixing phenomenon with the vertical eddy diffusion coefficient, Kzz. While Kzz can perhaps be approximated in the convective regions in the atmosphere with mixing length theory, in radiative regions, the strength of vertical mixing is uncertain by many orders of magnitude. With a new grid of selfconsistent 1D model atmospheres from Teff of 400–1000 K, computed with a new radiative-convective …

A Comparative L-Dwarf Sample Exploring The Interplay Between Atmospheric Assumptions And Data Properties, Eileen C. Gonzales, Ben Burningham, Jacqueline K. Faherty, Nikole K. Lewis, Channon Visscher, Mark Marley

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Comparisons of atmospheric retrievals can reveal powerful insights on the strengths and limitations of our data and modeling tools. In this paper, we examine a sample of five L dwarfs of similar effective temperature (Teff) or spectral type to compare their pressure–temperature (P-T) profiles. Additionally, we explore the impact of an object's metallicity and the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of the observations on the parameters we can retrieve. We present the first atmospheric retrievals: 2MASS J15261405+2043414, 2MASS J05395200−0059019, 2MASS J15394189−0520428, and GD 165B increasing the small but growing number of L dwarfs retrieved. When compared to the atmospheric retrievals …

Stacking The Gamma-Ray Sky To Search For Faint Astrophysical Populations, Yuzhe Song

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Gamma-ray emission can be generated from a wide variety of high-energy astrophysical phenomena, from stellar flares to pulsating neutron stars, and from interstellar clouds to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Entering the 13th year of its orbit around Earth, the Fermi Space Gamma-ray Telescope has been continually surveying the γ-ray sky with its Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board. The latest Fermi source catalog contains over 6000 sources. Yet, a lot of sources that are expected to emit γ-rays are not detected, and only small percentages of some populations are detected. For example, solar flares are detected in …

Reverberation Mapping Of Markarian 421 Using V,R, I, And Ha Filters, Alex Whitman

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) at their most basic level are supermassive blackholes that emit light. While that sounds paradoxical, it speaks volumes to how little we know about these extraordinary objects. One technique that can be used, and was used here to better understand these objects is reverberation mapping. We employed this method on the AGN Markarian 421 (Mrk 421) at Bridgewater State University (BSU). Mrk 421 was chosen because it is the brightest known AGN, averaging 12.7 magnitudes, and the observational abilities of BSU are best suited for objects brighter than 18 magnitudes in optical wavelengths. We observed Mrk …

X-Ray Properties Of Early-Type Stars In The Tarantula Nebula From T-Rex, Paul A. Crowther, Patrick S. Broos, Leisa K. Townsley, Andy M. T. Pollock, Katie A. Tehrani, Marc Gagné

Earth & Space Sciences Faculty Publications

We reassess the historical L-X/L-Bol relation for early-type stars from a comparison between T-ReX, the Chandra ACIS X-ray survey of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), and contemporary spectroscopic analysis of massive stars obtained primarily from VLT/FLAMES, VLT/MUSE, and HST/STIS surveys. For 107 sources in common (some host to multiple stars), the majority of which are bolometrically luminous (40 per cent exceed 10(6)L(circle dot)), we find an average log L-X/L-Bol = -6.90 +/- 0.65. Excluding extreme systems Mk 34 (WN5h+WN5h), R140a (WC4+WN6+), and VFTS 399 (O9 IIIn+?), plus four WR sources with anomalously hard X-ray components (R130, …

Unlocking The Mystery Of Tev J2032+4130 Through Veritas Data, Devon J. Barros

Honors Program Theses and Projects

TeVJ2032+4130 is a high energy celestial object that emits Very High Energy (VHE) gamma rays and is located in the star forming region of the Cygnus constellation. It was first detected by the High Energy Gamma Ray Astronomy (HEGRA) experiment. Later observations from the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS2014) were used to determine that the gamma-ray emission from the source could be coming from a Pulsar Wind Nebula (PWN) powered by a binary pulsar named PSR J2032+4127. For the PWN scenario, VERITAS predicted a cutoff in the gamma-ray spectrum above 10 TeV. Using ~33 hours of VERITAS …

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 …

Revisit Of Open Clusters Upk 39, Upk 41 And Phoc 39 : A New Binary Open Cluster Found, Xianhao Ye, Terry D. Oswalt, Jingkun Zhao, Yong Yang, Gang Zhao

Publications

We investigate the three open clusters near Aquila Rift cloud, named as UPK 39 (c1 hereafter), UPK 41 (c2 hereafter) in Sim et al. (2019) and PHOC 39 (c3 hereafter) in Hunt & Reffert (2021), respectively. Using photometric passpands, reddening, and extinction from Gaia DR3, we construct the color-absolute-magnitude diagram (CAMD). Using isochrone fits their ages are estimated as 6.3 ± 0.9, 8.1 ± 1.4 and 21.8 ± 2.2 Myr, respectively. Their proper motions and radial velocities, estimated using data from Gaia and LAMOST are very similar. From their orbits, relative distances among them at different times, kinematics, ages, and …

Recreating Nasa Images Using Hubble Data: Two Populations Of Stars In Messier 5, Adam N. Looper

Physics

This project seeks to recreate a color photo from NASA using Hubble data that shows the two distinct populations of stars in the cluster. Although the colored image displays the two types of stars, scientists often recolor astronomical pictures for two reasons: in order to clearly define objects, or to convert an image taken outside the visible spectrum into color. Thus, overlapping Hubble images colored according to filter should verify that there are two populations of stars in Messier 5, and the colored NASA photograph is valid in highlighting the unusual distribution of stars.

Du Undergraduate Showcase: Research, Scholarship, And Creative Works: Abstracts, Emma Aggeler, Elena Arroway, Daisy T. Booker, Justin Bravo, Kyle Bucholtz, Megan Burnham, Nicole Choi, Spencer Cockerell, Rosie Contino, Jackson Garske, Kaitlyn Glover, Caroline Hamilton, Haley Hartmann, Madalyne Heiken, Colin Holter, Leah Huzjak, Alyssa Jeng, Cole Jernigan, Chad Kashiwa, Adelaide Kerenick, Emily King, Abigail Langeberg, Maddie Leake, Meredith Lemons, Alec Mackay, Greer Mckinley, Ori Miller, Guy Milliman, Katherine Miromonti, Audrey Mitchell, Lauren Moak, Megan Morrell, Gelella Nebiyu, Zdenek Otruba, Toni V. Panzera, Kassidy Patarino, Sneha Patil, Alexandra Penney, Kevin Persky, Caitlin Pham, Gabriela Recinos, Mary Ringgenberg, Chase Routt, Olivia Schneider, Roman Shrestha, Arlo Simmerman, Alec Smith, Tessa Smith, Nhi-Lac Thai, Kyle Thurmann, Casey Tindall, Amelia Trembath, Maria Trubetskaya, Zachary Vangelisti, Peter Vo, Abby Walker, David Winter, Grayden Wolfe, Leah York

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Abstracts from the DU Undergraduate Showcase.

Molecular Line Search In Archival Alma Imaging Of M87, Xueyi Li

Macalester Journal of Physics and Astronomy

We present a molecular line search in spectral imaging of the elliptical galaxy M87 using archival data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA). The primary goal of this project is to verify and characterize possible CO transition lines, which can be used for future studies to determine the dynamics of the system, or the mass of the supermassive black hole (BH) in the center of the galaxy. After performing extensive atmospheric modeling, we found that most of the absorption features have a corresponding atmospheric ozone transition, so it is unlikely that these features are either Galactic or extragalactic. We …

Ligers Interferometric Survey Of M Dwarf Diameters, Tyler Gregory Ellis

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I present the largest single collection of M dwarf stellar radii in over a decade and contextualize these measurements with the systematic model discrepancies. The measurements of stellar angular diameters are also important in the quantification of the properties of exoplanets. In order to estimate the property of the exoplanet, it is first necessary to quantify the properties of the planet's host star. Using the survey results complemented with previous direct observations of the angular diameters of low mass stars, I develop updated updated surface brightness relationships. These relationships allow predictions of angular diameters using easy to …

Topological Changes In The Magnetic Field Of Lq Hya During An Activity Minimum, Jyri J. Lehtinen, Maarit J. Käpylä, Thomas Hackman, Oleg Kochukhov, Teemu Willamo, Stephen C. Marsden, Sandra V. Jeffers, Gregory W. Henry, Lauri Jetsu

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

Aims. Previous studies have related surface temperature maps, obtained with the Doppler imaging (DI) technique, of LQ Hya with long-term photometry. Here, we compare surface magnetic field maps, obtained with the Zeeman Doppler imaging (ZDI) technique, with contemporaneous photometry, with the aim of quantifying the star’s magnetic cycle characteristics.

Methods. We inverted Stokes IV spectropolarimetry, obtained with the HARPSpol and ESPaDOnS instruments, into magnetic field and surface brightness maps using a tomographic inversion code that models high signal-to-noise ratio mean line profiles produced by the least squares deconvolution (LSD) technique. The maps were compared against long-term ground-based photometry acquired with …

Helium-Like X-Ray Line Complexes Show That The Hottest Plasma On The Zeta Supergiant Puppis Is In Its Wind, David H. Cohen, Ariel M. Overdorff, Maurice A. Leutenegger, Marc Gagné, Veronique Petit, Alexandre David-Uraz

Earth & Space Sciences Faculty Publications

We present an analysis of Chandra grating spectra of key helium-like line complexes to put constraints on the location with respect to the photosphere of the hottest (T greater than or similar to 6 x 10(6) K) plasma in the wind of the O supergiant zeta Pup and to explore changes in the 18 yr between two sets of observations of this star. We fit two models - one empirical and one wind-shock-based - to the S XV, Si XIII, and Mg XI line complexes and show that an origin in the wind flow, above r approximate to 1.5 R*, …

Monitoring The M-Dwarf Host Stars Of Tess Exoplanet Candidates: Stellar Flares And Habitability, Ashley Lieber

Physics Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the search for life beyond our solar system, the study of M-dwarfs has become increasingly important due to their unique characteristics including their small size, flaring capabilities, and long lifespans. Their small size allows for exoplanet detection due to observable gravitational interactions, and the stellar flares could potentially trigger prebiotic life on exoplanets in the system. Lastly, their long lifespans may provide the conditions necessary to foster prebiotic life and the development of more complex organisms over time. Flare rate is a critical factor in determining the habitability of the exoplanet due to its potential to damage or incubate …

Emergent Spectra Of Young X-Ray Emitting Populations Across Environments, Alex Siebenmorgen

Physics Undergraduate Honors Theses

We construct reasonably accurate models of the X-Ray spectra of a multitude of sources in M51. We construct both average and individual models for the sources, which are split into 16 groups as the counts per source increases. Then, we create a plot to show how the model-predicted values of column density (nH) and photon index (gamma) change with luminosity. These models will be used to create an accurate X-Ray stellar energy distribution (SED) for M51, and to better understand how the SED changes with environmental factors like metallicity and star formation rate (SFR).