Astrophysics Notre Dame’S Partnership in the Large Binocular Telescope

NOTRE DAME ASTROPHYSICS NOTRE DAME’S PARTNERSHIP IN THE LARGE BINOCULAR TELESCOPE

The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) stands on carbon and oxygen are created, and the LBT will Mt. Graham in Arizona, at 10,700 feet above sea support our quest for understanding. level, and next to the 1.8-m Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope. The unique facility is Telescopes not only look at distant objects, actually two 8.4-m telescopes that act in tandem but also act as time machines. Because light to produce images unlike any seen before. The may travel for billions of years before being LBT has the equivalent collecting power of a captured by the LBT’s mirrors, the images 12-m and the resolution of a 22-m telescope, far reveal the Universe as it was long ago. One of better than any other telescope today. It is the the big mysteries uncovered by the Hubble forerunner of the next generation of ultra-large Space Telescope program is the existence of telescopes. fully formed galaxies in the early universe, much earlier than physicists predicted. Their formation The LBT has extraordinary capabilities. will be a key research program for the LBT and Its design allows it to directly observe distant Origins Institute faculty Dinshaw Balsara and stars systems and to actually see planets in the Christopher Howk, who aim to understand the systems. Its ability to measure very precise atomic dynamics that govern the formation of galaxies spectra even enables researchers to determine the and with them the beginnings of life. chemical makeup of the planets’ atmospheres. Exploiting the LBT’s unique design, Justin With a total cost of $200 million, the LBT Crepp is currently building a novel spectrometer is one of the world’s greatest observatories. Its that will detect the small wobble of an Earth-size suite of instruments allows for versatility and planet in the habitable zone of a cool star. the ability to study an extremely wide range of astrophysical research topics. The LBT has the Notre Dame faculty are using the LBT world’s best adaptive optics (AO) system, which to study distant supernovae so they can better reduces the blur caused by the Earth’s atmosphere understand the nature of dark energy. These to the point that LBT imaging rivals that of the same exploding stars are the fiery furnaces that Hubble Space Telescope. Soon, a state-of-the-art produce most of the elements that make up laser guide star system will form points of light in our bodies. We have incomplete knowledge of the upper atmosphere to allow the AO system to how such simple and important elements as work anywhere on the sky.

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CONTENTS DINSHAW BALSARA Associate Professor Notre Dame’s Partnership in the Large Binocular Concurrent Associate Professor, Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics Telescope...... 1 Dinshaw Balsara...... 3

Timothy Beers ...... 4 M.S. in Physics, Indian Inst. of Tech., relativistic astrophysics and he continues to insights into the nature of the multi-phase Justin Crepp...... 5 Kanpur, 1982 work in all of those areas of research. ISM and the evolution of magnetic fields in M.S. in Astronomy, University of Chicago, Balsara has also played a seminal role it. Keith Davis...... 6 1989 in formulating our modern conception of Star formation in turbulent, magnetized Ph.D. in Computational Astrophysics, computational astrophysics. His work on environments has also been a topic of Peter Garnavich...... 7 Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, divergence-free adaptive mesh refinement significant recent focus. Balsara’s theories J. Christopher Howk...... 8 1990 for magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) has and simulations of two-fluid magnetized broken new ground for our understanding of turbulence have been used to decipher the Nicolas Lehner...... 9 Defense Department Award of Excellence numerical MHD. He has also produced some role of ambipolar diffusion in star formation. for significant contributions to the of the best, most accurate and most robust Fig. 2 shows linewidth-size relations from Grant Mathews...... 10 Stockpile Stewardship Program, 2014 methods for numerical MHD and has recently observations and Balsara’s simulations, Lara Phillips...... 11 begun extending this expertise to radiative indicating a good match between the two. Balsara has a dual training in physics and transfer as well as non-ideal processes that are The dynamics of dust and its role Vinicius Placco...... 12 astrophysics. After earning a Ph.D. in often very useful in regulating astrophysical in building planets within turbulent, computational astrophysics, he subsequently phenomena. Several of Balsara’s papers have magnetized, protostellar accretion disks has Terrence Rettig...... 13 worked on several problems in active galactic been cited over a hundred times. also been a topic of recent study. In-Saeng Suh...... 14 nuclei, studying the accretion on to black The above-mentioned numerical expertise Balsara also has a significant scientific holes and compact objects, starburst galaxies is routinely applied to problems in all areas interest in PetaScale and ExaScale computing Rebecca Surman...... 15 and galaxies in clusters. More recently, he of computational astrophysics. In fact, the and has worked with some of the world’s fastest has developed computational applications in robust numerics was central to the process of supercomputers. He serves on the editorial Digital Visualization Theater...... 16 the areas of interstellar medium, turbulence, carrying out path-breaking simulations of the boards of the Journal of Computational Physics star formation, planet formation, the physics supernova explosion-driven ISM turbulence, and also Computational Astrophysics and of accretion disks, compact objects and Fig. 1. That work has resulted in many new Cosmology.

2 3 Fig 1: BD+44:493, the brightest CEMP star in the sky, discovered by Beers and his colleagues. This star has been observed using the world’s largest telescopes, as well as the Hubble Space Telescope, to provide measures of the elemental abundance patterns produced by the very first stars in the Universe.

TIMOTHY BEERS JUSTIN CREPP Notre Dame Chair of Astrophysics Freimann Assistant Professor

B.S. in Physics, Purdue University, 1979 thorium and uranium, used to establish a nuclear- His work has led to: B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering, Purdue decay lower limit on the age of the Universe. University, 1979 • The discovery of over 30,000 stars in the Galaxy Beers now leads the involvement of Notre Ph.D. in Astronomy, Harvard University, with heavy-element abundances less than 1 percent Dame astronomers in SDSS-IV, the third B.S. in Physics, Penn State, 2003 80 exoplanets, including the first one found planet-finding spectrometer is being built for 1983 of the metal abundance of the Sun, including the extension of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Beers’ Ph.D. in Physics, University of Florida, in the habitable zone. Crepp was named to the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona. most chemically primitive stars yet found. These particular interest in SDSS-IV is the APOGEE- 2008 NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite The work is searching for the presence of life Bantrell Postdoctoral Fellow, Caltech ancient stars are the “fossils of creation” that have II project, which is obtaining high-resolution (TESS) science team in 2014. elsewhere in the universe. Humboldt Senior Research Award, 2009 recorded the chemical history of the Universe. near-infrared spectroscopy of several hundred Justin Crepp, the Frank M. Freimann Crepp designs and builds instruments Crepp also leads a new observing program Director, Kitt Peak National Observatory, thousand stars in the Milky Way. These stars with Assistant Professor of Physics, is an that operate at visible and near-infrared called TRENDS that combines the Doppler University Distinguished Professor • The discovery of carbon-enhanced metal-poor help constrain the chemical evolution of all of the experimental astrophysicist. His research wavelengths to directly image and study method with high-contrast imaging to yield Emeritus, Michigan State University (CEMP) stars, whose properties are revealing the stellar populations in our Galaxy, including the involves developing new technologies to brown dwarfs and extrasolar planets. He highly accurate measures of the mass of Fellow of the American Physical Society origin of the first elements heavier than helium in thin disk, the thick disk, the bulge, and the inner detect and study planets orbiting stars other also uses the Doppler method to measure objects orbiting stars. In 2016, his laboratory the Universe. These stars include objects shown and outer halo. than the Sun, called “exoplanets.” Crepp, the radial velocity “wobble” of stars as they published the discovery of a rare brown dwarf, Timothy Beers is interested in the origin and to exhibit characteristic light-element signatures Beers is a co-PI and an associate director of a winner of the 2013 NASA Early Career gravitationally interact with their planets. using TRENDS to photograph the object and evolution of the elements in the Universe, and (enhanced C, N, O, Na, Mg), now recognized the highly successful NSF Physics Frontier Center, Fellowship, is one of 11 researchers designated Crepp is the principle investigator of a new ascertain its mass, age, and composition— the assembly of large spiral galaxies such as the to be due to nucleosynthesis by the very first stars JINA: Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics – by NASA as a Kepler Participating Scientist, instrument, the Infrared Large binOCulAr information that can be used to benchmark Milky Way, a field now referred to as Galactic born after the Big Bang. Center for the Evolution of the Elements, which advancing the goals of the Kepler Mission to Telescope Exoplanet Recovery (iLocater) the study of the elusive objects. Archaeology. For decades, Professor Beers has brings together the work of nuclear physicists and discover extrasolar planets including those in spectrograph, the first fiber-fed Doppler Crepp came to Notre Dame in 2012 from designed and executed large-scale surveys of stars • The discovery of r-process-element-enhanced astronomers worldwide to make transformational the habitable zone where water can exist in instrument designed to operate behind an the California Institute of Technology, where in the Milky Way, efficiently sifting through metal-poor stars, crucial for establishing the progress on understanding of the formation of liquid form. He has co-discovered more than adaptive optics system. The ultra-precise he had been a postdoctoral scholar since 2008. literally millions of individual stars in order to find astrophysical site of the rapid neutron-capture the elements, and the astrophysics of the sites in the rare objects that illuminate the early chemical process that accounts for the production of half of which they were produced, such as supernovae evolution of our Universe. the heavy elements in the Periodic Table. Included and neutron stars. This center, which has been among these are the first ancient stars with measured in existence for the past decade, was recently abundances of the radioactive chronometers awarded a new six-year funding cycle by the NSF. 4 5 KEITH DAVIS PETER GARNAVICH Director, Digital Visualization Theater Professor

B.S. in Applied Mathematics, University eye astronomy to all ages. Collaborating programs. The DVT regularly hosts local B.S. in Astronomy, University of Search Team that discovered that the the Kepler Space Telescope, the team spent of Tulsa, May 1999 with Mark Webb, from Adler Planetarium in schools on field trips and public lectures Maryland, 1980 expansion of the universe is accelerating. That three years observing 50 trillion stars for the M.S. in Physics, Clemson University, 2003 Chicago, and Karrie Berglund, from Digitalis in astronomy. Recently, he team-taught M.Sc in Physics, Massachusetts Institute discovery was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize chance to watch as supersonic shock waves Ph.D. in Physics, Clemson University, Education Solutions, he has helped organize Astronomy: Investigating Our Universe with of Technology, 1983 in Physics as well as the Gruber Prize and the reached their surfaces after explosions deep in 2007 and lead the Live Interactive Planetarium Lara Arielle Phillips and will be leading the Research Associate, Space Telescope Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. the core. Symposium (LIPS). LIPS is a meeting of department’s plans for observing the 2017 Science Institute, 1983-1985 Garnavich’s primary research area is Garnavich studies the variable sky over As the director of the College of Science’s planetarium professionals to develop ways to solar eclipse. Ph.D. in Astronomy, University of the study of supernovae and their diversity. a wide range of wavelengths. In addition to 50-foot planetarium and fulldome theater, increase interactivity in their presentations. Davis’ research background is Washington, 1991 These stellar explosions are excellent probes using the Hubble, Spitzer, and Kepler Space the Digital Visualization Theater (DVT), He advises QuarkNet on creating content computational hydrodynamics. He studied Postdoctoral Fellow, Dominion for distance scales relevant to cosmology. Telescopes, Garnavich also uses the Large Keith Davis creates and presents customized to teach the physics of the Large Hadron the interaction of supernova ejecta with the Astrophysical Observatory, 1992-1995 Supernovae provide the best way to measure Binocular Telescope in Arizona to understand lectures for the theater and supports other Collider and presented this material at the interstellar medium and its relationship to Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center properties of the mysterious dark energy the nature of interacting binary stars that are faculty in the use of the DVT to teach topics International Planetarium Society meeting. triggering the formation of the solar system of Astrophysics, 1995-1999 that is accelerating the cosmic expansion. the source of novae and supernovae. Recently including astronomy and astrophysics as well At the 2016 Great Lakes Planetarium using the hydrodynamics code Zeus-2D. He Garnavich was a key member of a team Garnavich and a Naughton Fellow from as the philosophy of science, psychology, Association’s pre-meeting conference, he led developed an interest in the design elements of Co-recipient, Gruber Prize in Cosmology, that definitively showed long gamma-ray Ireland studied a new short-period binary star chemistry, literature, and anatomy. a workshop on bringing publicly available scientific visualization. In 2011, Davis oversaw 2007 bursts have their origin in the collapse of at ultraviolet wavelengths using the Hubble Davis is a strong proponent of interactive data to planetarium presentations and will be Designing Information, a reading group that Co-recipient, Breakthrough Prize in massive stars. Long gamma-ray bursts had Space Telescope. They showed that it evolved teaching in planetariums. He has developed adapting it for other meetings in the future. brought together scientists, designers, and Fundamental Physics, 2015 been a mystery since the 1960s, but careful through a rare path that will eventually lead an interactive teaching style that works in the Davis is a member of the Department of education specialists to investigate differences observation of a nearby burst revealed it to to a pure helium pair with an orbital period as darkness of a planetarium and has created Physics outreach committee and participates in how the principles of design apply to Peter Garnavich’s research interests cover come from the direct collapse of a massive short as five minutes. These observations are planetarium activities that illustrate naked in many of the department’s outreach scientists’ investigations of data. a wide range of topics in observational stellar core into a black hole. Garnavich led key to understanding the nature and origin of astrophysics, focusing on time-domain an international team of astrophysicists that thermonuclear supernovae. astrophysics and cosmology. At Harvard, he discovered a “shock breakout” in an exploding was a key member of the High-Z Supernova supergiant star at visible wavelengths. Using 6 7 A composite image of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 4302 constructed from observations taken with the Hubble Space Telescope (center) and the Large Binocular Telescope. This Fig. 1: This diagram shows how galaxy is seen on its edge, allowing Howk and his group to Lehner and Howk determine the study the circulation of gas and dust from the disk into the size of the halo of the Andromeda halo and beyond. This image was used in the thesis work of galaxy. They use the light from Katherine Rueff (Ph.D., 2015). quasars, very distant bright cores of active galaxies powered by black holes to search for absorption from the halo of Andromeda in their spectra. By studying the absorption from ions and atoms, they can infer not only the presence of the halo of Andromeda, but also determine its properties, including its ionization states, kinematics, and mass.

J. CHRISTOPHER HOWK NICOLAS LEHNER Professor Research Associate Professor

B.Sc. in Physics (honors), Universite Louis international media. (93 orbit) approved Hubble program where B.A. in Physics, Hanover College, 1994 medium—matter that may be largely workings of galaxies within a cosmological Pasteur, France, 1994 An example of such discovery is illustrated he and his colleagues will now pin down the Ph.D. in Astronomy, University of unpolluted with metals since the Big Bang— context, and have been involved in millions M.Sc. in Astrophysics, Universite Louis in Figure 1. Using Hubble ultraviolet spectra physical state and metal distribution of the Wisconsin-Madison, 1999 fuels additional star formation. Howk’s of CPU node-hours worth of computations Pasteur, 1995 of bright background objects known as halo for a single galaxy, an unprecedented feat research probes this exchange of matter on high-performance computing facilities of Ph.D. in Astrophysics, The Queen’s quasars, they demonstrated for the first time never achieved previously. Postdoctoral fellow and research scientist, between galaxies and their surroundings, and NASA and the NSF. University of Belfast, N. Ireland, 2000 that our nearest massive galactic neighbor, This is one example among many Johns Hopkins University tries to assess the impact recently formed stars Howk’s group has received more than Andromeda (M31), has a massive and research projects he has been working on have on the gas within galaxies. $4.5 million in funding from the NSF and Since 2006, Nicolas Lehner has been extended halo that stretches about 1 million with a team of observers and theoreticians J. Christopher Howk and his group work Howk’s group uses large observational NASA over the last decade. conducting research with Christopher Howk light-years from M31. This is about six times that encompasses several institutions across to understand the evolution of the gaseous facilities on the ground, such as the Large In 2013, he was appointed to a three- and their graduate students and postdoc at larger and 1,000 times more massive than the nation. They have been awarded about components of galaxies and the build up of Binocular Telescope and the Keck telescopes, year term on the Space Telescope Users the University of Notre Dame. To support previously measured. They found that this $2 million in research grants from the NSF the elements since the Big Bang. The history as well as those in space, such as the Hubble Committee. The Committee serves to advise his research program on determining how immense halo contains about as much mass in and NASA in 2015 to support their work of star formation in a galaxy is largely dictated Space Telescope. They use spectroscopy to the Space Telescope Science Institute and the galaxies form and evolve into the objects its diffused gas as the stars in the Andromeda on understanding the gaseous streams in by its gas content. Star formation consumes identify the gas near galaxies and spectroscopy Goddard Space Flight Center on the scientific we see today, he has been the PI on several Galaxy. Studying the halos of other galaxies the halos of galaxies. Using data from the some of this gas, but it may also energize and and imaging to study the galaxies themselves. operations of the Hubble Space Telescope multi-year NASA grants and in 2016 alone of similar masses, they know that M31 is not Large Binocular Telescope, Keck Telescope, eject more from the galaxy. At the same time, They collaborate closely with theoretical and recommends changes that will maximize has been awarded $1.2 million of NASA peculiar in the Universe, but this is the first and Hubble Space Telescope, as well as new, the infall of new matter from the intergalactic astronomers, especially to simulate the inner its scientific productivity. funding to address the next several years time where they can study the halo toward cutting-edge numerical simulations, he and some of the most fundamental problems in more than one line of sight in a galaxy other his colleagues will determine in the coming modern astrophysics. His discoveries have than the Milky Way. This, in fact has been years how the halos around galaxies have been published in major scientific journals, a major hindrance to rigorous estimates of evolved over 12 billion years of cosmic time including Science and Nature, and have the halo properties, such as mass, density, and whether the gas around galaxies is truly a attracted the attention from national and and kinematics. Lehner is the PI of a large driver of star formation in the universe. 8 9 GRANT MATHEWS LARA ARIELLE PHILLIPS Professor and Director, Center for Astrophysics at Notre Dame Research Assistant Professor

B.S., Michigan State University, 1972 and has served several times as a Siemens stellar evolution and merging binary neutron Ph.D. the University of Maryland, 1977 competition judge. Most recently, he has stars. In addition, Mathews studies the origin B.Sc., First Class Honors in Physics, have reached thousands. She is a member and McGill University, Montreal, Canada, Fellow of the American Physical Society taught graduate and undergraduate classes of cosmic gamma-ray bursts and their after- co-producer of the artistic collaboration High 0 in astronomy, the general theory of relativity, glow. 1996 Z, a project to create a hybrid installation based t=1

Ph.D. in Astrophysics, Princeton on the 2011 Nobel Prize-winning discovery of 8×104 After post-doctoral positions at the University quantum field theory, astrophysics, and -1 log column density of California, Berkeley, and the California cosmology. University, 2003 the accelerating universe.

How do the neighborhoods that galaxies 6×104 Institute of Technology, Grant J. Mathews His research areas include various aspects -2

joined the Physics Division of Lawrence of nuclear and particle astrophysics and Lara Arielle Phillips is a research assistant live in affect their evolution? Phillips and y

professor of Physics at the University of Notre her team have developed tools to find and 4×104 Livermore National Laboratory, obtaining cosmology including numerical simulations -3 the position as group leader in astrophysics. of core collapse supernovae, studies of Dame. As a researcher, she studies the interplay characterize structure, specifically filaments,

Matthews is a fellow of the American Physical neutrino interactions and nucleosynthesis in between galaxies and the largest structures in the clusters, and voids, in large scale simulations and 2×104 -4 Society. He joined the University of Notre supernovae, as well as various aspects of the universe. She has transformed computational large data sets. This structure finder, coupled

tools used in medical physics to peer into the with the capacity to run their own simulations 0 Dame in 1994. Big Bang including constraints from Big Bang 2×104 4×104 6×104 8×104 Professor Mathews has published more nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave different neighborhoods of the cosmic web, of portions of the universe using Center for x than 250 papers in top-tier research journals background on the origin and evolution studying filaments, voids, and clusters. As Research Computing facilities, allows them to and has presented over 380 invited talks and of the universe, the early moments of the a teacher, she co-created a course on Physics explore the environmental history of galaxies Fig. 1: A view through a (466 light year)^3 colloquia on topics in theoretical astrophysics inflating universe, constraints on massive and Theatre, Science Play. Part of the Westville and tackle this question. Phillips’s team also simulation of the universe run by Ali and cosmology. The co-author of books on particles and their decay in the early universe, Educational Initiative, she is pioneering uses these tools to more broadly answer what Snedden, Ph.D., under the supervision of relativistic hydrodynamics and observational constraints on time-dependent fundamental the teaching of algebra-based physics in a the shape of the distribution of objects (galaxies professor Phillips. Over time, the particles astronomy and cosmology, he has served constants in the early universe. Mathews is Contours of the possible evidence for cosmic correctional facility. As chair of the outreach in large scale structure, stars in galaxies) can cluster into filaments and clusters, creating on various review panels for astrophysics also involved in studies of galaxy formation dark flow remaining from the birth of the committee of the department of Physics, her reveal about the history of baryons in our empty regions, or voids. Galaxies evolve in proposals to the Department of Energy, and their chemical evolution along with multiverse. efforts to involve the broader public in science universe. all these regions. National Science Foundation, and NASA studies of general relativistic hydrodynamics,

10 11 9.00 metal−poor AGB model − TP#05 8.00 HE2138−3336 7.00 Dilution 5% Best fit: Thermal Pulse #05 6.00 Residual = 0.264127 5.00 4.00 3.00

log ε (X) 2.00 1.00 0.00 −1.00

−2.00 C Mg Ca Ti Cr Fe Ni Sr Zr Ba Ce NdSm Yb Hf Pb N Na Al Sc Mn Co Y La −3.00 2.00 1.00 0.00 −1.00

model−obs −2.00 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 Z

Fig 1: Chemical abundance pattern of the Star HE2138- 3336, compared with yields from a Asymptotic Giant Branch stellar model. The dots represent the observed abundances for each chemical element. The shaded area covers the model prediction ranges from the initial to the final abundances, and the solid line shows the abundance pattern for the thermal pulse having the best match to the observed data.

VINICIUS PLACCO TERRENCE RETTIG Research Assistant Professor Professor

B.Sc. in Physics & Astronomy, University Optical Astronomy Observatory, in Tucson, Placco’s work ranges from large database of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2005 Arizona. manipulation (to identify targets for B.A. in Physics and Mathematics, His group used high-resolution spectra M.Sc. in Astronomy, University of Sao Placco’s research focuses in the chemical spectroscopic follow-up), statistical methods, Defiance College, 1968 of ices, dust, and gas phase molecules in the Paulo, Brazil, 2007 evolution of the galaxy and the universe, preparing and executing observations, reducing M.S. in Physics, Ball State University, disks of pre-main sequence stars to study the Ph.D. in Astronomy, University of Sao revealed by spectroscopic studies of low- and processing data, to high-resolution 1970 physical conditions in regions where planets Paulo, Brazil, 2010 metallicity stars. These stars, due to their low spectral synthesis of absorption features in Ph.D. in Astrophysics, Indiana University, form. High-resolution infrared observation of masses (and long lives), are excellent probes of stellar spectra. As an observer, he has more 1976 CO has provided the first direct observations Vinicius Placco came to the Department of the chemical composition in the early universe. than 3,000 hours of approved observing time of how gas and dust stratify around young Physics at the University of Notre Dame as A subset of the low-metallicity stars, the so called in 4-10 m class telescopes as PI and Co-PI in Terrence Rettig’s research focuses on stellar objects. Other molecules, such as a research assistant professor in April 2015, ultra metal-poor (UMP) stars are believed to be the last eight years. He also has experience understanding the collapse of preplanetary H2, H3+, and H2O also help researchers In addition, Rettig has recently developed coming from the Gemini Observatory in true second-generation stars. UMP stars were with proposal writing, observations, and data disks and the conditions and constraints understand the chemical processes, a course, “Earth Focus–The Science of Hawaii. As a Science Fellow at Gemini, he formed from gas polluted by the supernova processing in telescopes such as the Hubble under which planets form. Planet formation environment, and evolution of ‘other solar Climate Change,” geared to undergraduate spent 50 percent of his time on research explosions of the first (Population III) stars, Space Telescope, Gemini North, Gemini has been known to be tied to the accretion systems’ that may be in the process of planet sustainability minors and liberal arts majors. and 50 percent on observatory operations, so they hold in their atmosphere the chemical South, Subaru, ESO/VLT, Magellan/Clay, and evolution of gas and dust in disks formation. The abundance and excitation He has also written a textbook that will provide which included user support, instrument imprint of a very young evolving universe. CFHT, ESO/NTT, SOAR, KPNO/Mayall, around young stars. Researchers have never of these molecules clarify the time scales and the necessary information to critically examine commissioning, instrument performance Placco is especially interested in measuring Southern African Large Telescope, McDonald observationally quantified how the dust initial conditions for planet building, and climate change, determine its consequences, monitoring, and running the observing abundances for elements such as lithium, 82in, among others. The Beers group to which settles with respect to the gas, and how this may also provide a new technique to find and analyze potential solutions. The course queue at the telescope. This gave him an carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and neutron-capture he is a part, is responsible for the spectroscopic affects the midplane turbulence and the protoplanets. The infrared spectroscopic builds on the basic rules of science and the unique opportunity to learn about the (strontium, barium, europium, lead, among follow-up of thousands of metal-poor star process of planet formation. data have been obtained from the Infrared scientific method to analyze climate issues and structure and day-to-day operations of an others). These abundances are used to constrain candidates over the last decade using these Telescope (IRTF) and the 10-meter Keck the potential of global warming. astronomy observatory. Before that, Placco theoretical models of both stellar and galactic facilities and has many ongoing efforts to Telescope on Mauna Kea. was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National chemical evolution. increase these numbers even further.

12 13 IN-SAENG SUH Concurrent Research Associate Professor and High Performance REBECCA SURMAN Computing Engineer at the Center for Research Computing Associate Professor

B.A. in Physics, summa cum laude, State B.S. in Physics, Sogang University, 1986 relativistic University of New York College at M.S. in Physics, Hanyang University, 1991 hydrodynamics. Geneseo, 1993 Ph.D. in Physics, Hanyang University, He focuses on M.S. in Physics, Michigan State 1997 magnetars as a University, 1995 source of SGR and Ph.D. in Physics, University of North Professor Suh was awarded the Korea Research AXP which are Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1998 Foundation Fellowship, after which he spent compact objects four years at the Department of Physics, showing mysterious Stillman Prize for Excellence in Teaching, University of Notre Dame. In the Center for astrophysical Union College campuswide teaching Research Computing, he supports students, events. The award, 2007 Fig. 1: Plots of the electron neutrino (left panel) and electron antineutrino (right panel) temperatures from staff, and faculty with high performance magnetars are the surface of a merger black hole accretion disk. Only regions where the neutrinos are trapped are shown. After earning her Ph.D. at the University Contours indicate regions, from blue to red, of temperatures of 1 MeV, 3 MeV, 5 MeV, 7 MeV, 9 MeV, 11 MeV scientific and engineering research computing. strongly (over ~ and 13 MeV. The dark center indicates the inner boundary of the numerical merger model. From Surman, He also collaborates with graduate students and 1015 G) magnetized neutron stars. Under Fig.1: Proton fraction Yp = np / nB with the of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Rebecca McLaughlin, Ruffert, Janka, Hix, Astrophysical Journal Letters 679, L117 (2008). faculty members in astrophysics and cosmology such a high magnetic field strength, equation anomalous magnetic moment included vs. Surman moved directly to a faculty position in the Department of Physics. of state and internal structure of neutron stars the neutron density inside magnetars for the at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. basics of the nuclear processes that create Surman investigates aspects of the Suh’s research interests include theoretical/ could dramatically be changed, suggesting given value of log (B/Bce) where Bce is the While at Union, she rose to the rank of these elements, we do not yet know where neutrino and nuclear physics of element computational astrophysics in the internal the magnetic domain model as an engine for quantum critical magnetic field for electron professor and undertook research leaves at the appropriate astrophysical conditions synthesis in extreme astrophysical structure of neutron stars, magnetic white dwarfs, SGR and AXP. (left panel) from I. Suh and G. Mathews, North Carolina State University, Oak Ridge are found. Many of the potential sites are environments, such as within supernovae, strongly magnetized neutron stars (magnetars), Suh also actively works on the large-scale Astrophysical Journal, 546,1126 (2001). National Laboratory, and the University of environments where neutrino interactions neutron star mergers, and black hole soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGR) and anomalous parallel simulations on the cosmic large- The unstable regions of the magnetic domain Notre Dame. shape the resulting nucleosynthesis. The accretion disk outflows, with a focus X-ray pulsars (AXP), big bang nucleosynthesis, scale structure evolutions and relativistic formation at the outer crust of magnetars Rebecca Surman is a theoretical/ nuclei created are often extremely neutron on connecting these simulations to phase transitions in the early universe, cosmic hydrodynamics to simulate the binary (right panel) from I. Suh and G. Mathews, computational nuclear astrophysicist with rich, beyond what has been observed to date spectroscopic and meteoritic observations of large-scale structure simulation, and numerical neutron stars and gravitational waves. Astrophysical Journal, 717, 843 (2010). a particular interest in the origins of the but increasingly accessible to radioactive elements in the solar system and the old stars heaviest elements. While we understand the beam experiments. at the edges of our galaxy. 14 15 DIGITAL VISUALIZATION THEATER

The University of Notre Dame’s Digital Visualization Theater (DVT) offers faculty the ability to immerse students in high-resolution, high-fidelity 3D images and animations projected on a 50-foot-diameter dome. Students and visitors can tour the inside of the structure of the human body, cancer cells, DNA, or fly through the Milky Way.

The state-of-the-art facility is controlled by Digital Sky, a planetarium-controlled software provided by Sky-Skan, Inc. Digital Sky enables three separate types of presentations, and provides the ability to switch between, or even integrate them all. The system has a planetarium mode, a real- time 3D mode, and a pre-rendered movie mode. In planetarium and real-time 3D mode, the theater can incorporate 3D models, images, movies, sound files, all in a flexible and integrated way through a common scripting system. The real-time aspect of these modes allow the presenter to respond quickly, piloting through 3D models of the universe or anything else that can be created by leading 3D modeling software.

Eleven computers control the screens on the 50 foot dome, using two Sony SRX- 110 digital projectors to achieve a resolution of over 10 million visible pixels for a truly, immersive experience.

16 17 physics.nd.edu