Institute of Astronomy University of Cambridge Natural Sciences Tripos

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Institute of Astronomy University of Cambridge Natural Sciences Tripos Institute of Astronomy University of Cambridge Natural Sciences Tripos Part III/MASt Astrophysics Project Booklet Version date: 7th October 2016 2016-2017 Editors: Ian Parry, George Efstathiou and Judith Moss CONTENTS # Supervisor(s) Assoc.UTO/ Project title pp 2nd supervisor 1 Robert Izzard Christopher Tout Asterosemismology of stellar populations 2 2 Robert Izzard Christopher Tout The Galactic stellar population of single and 3 binary stars 3 Paula Jofre, [Gerry Gilmore] Cosmic trees: understanding the relationships 4-5 Gerry Gilmore between different generations of stars 4 John Ilee, Farzana Meru, [Cathie Clarke] The chemical effects of tidal interaction in the 6-7 Cathie Clarke RW Aurigae system 5 Amy Bonsor, Quentin [Mark Wyatt] Gas around white dwarfs 8-9 Kral and Mark Wyatt 6 Grant Kennedy, [Mark Wyatt] A better search for Tatooine 10-11 Mark Wyatt 7 Grant Kennedy, [Mark Wyatt] The long arm of binary perturbations to 12-13 Mark Wyatt planetary systems 8 Thomas de Boer The stellar populations of the Sagittarius dwarf 14-15 spheroidal galaxy 9 Girish Kulkarni, [Martin Haehnelt] Intensity Mapping of the High-Redshift Universe 16-17 Martin Haehnelt 10 Clare Worley, [Gerry Gilmore] Simulating the Gaia-ESO Selection Function 18 Anna Hourihane, Gerry Gilmore 11 Clare Worley, [Gerry Gilmore] Data-mining stellar evolution samples in the 19 Gerry Gilmore AMBRE catalogue 12 Nick Bate, Paul Hewett [Paul Hewett] Hot spots and warps in quasar accretion discs 20-21 13 Ciro Pinto,Anne Lohfink, [Andy Fabian] Extreme matter accretion onto black holes in 22-23 Andy Fabian ultraluminous X-ray sources 14 Ciro Pinto, Andy Fabian [Andy Fabian] The fight between cooling and heating in 24-25 clusters of galaxies 15 Roman Rafikov Cathie Clarke Understanding the Outcomes of Planet-Planet 26-27 Scattering I Supervisor(s) Assoc.UTO/ Project title # 2nd supervisor # 16 Roman Rafikov Cathie Clarke Signs of Planetary Demise Around White Dwarfs 28-29 17 Ian Parry Can we observe the A-band oxygen biomarker 30 in Proxima b with the European Extremely Large Telescope? 18 Ian Parry Searching for signs of life using a large spinning 31 space telescope 19 Amaury Triaud, Nikku How long is a day when a planet has two Suns? 32-33 John Papaloizou Madhusudhan 20 Christopher Tout, [Christopher Tout] Lithium Production by Hot-bottom Burning 34-35 Robert Izzard 21 Giulio del Zanna Henrik Latter Signatures of nanoflare heating in solar active 36-37 regions 22 Rik van Lieshout, Mark [Mark Wyatt] Strange Kepler light curves: Modelling the dips 38-39 Wyatt, Grant Kennedy of KIC 8462852 as transiting dust clouds 23 Rik van Lieshout, Amy [Mark Wyatt] Circularising spaghettified asteroids around 40-41 Bonsor, Mark Wyatt white dwarfs 24 Giovanni Rosotti, [Cathie Clarke] The impact of the birth environment on the 42-43 Cathie Clarke lifetime of proto-planetary discs 25 Ghina Halabi Christopher Tout Nucleosynthesis in Single and Binary Stars of 44 Intermediate Mass 26 Denis Erkal, [Vasily Belokurov] 45-46 Vasily Belokurov The effect of the Milky Way bar on tidal streams 27 Farzana Meru Cathie Clarke Can planets survive in young turbulent 47 protoplanetary discs? 28 William Alston, Andy [Andy Fabian] The high-frequency rms-flux relation in 48-49 Fabian accreting black holes 29 Richard Booth, Cathie [Cathie Clarke] Accretion and the location of planet formation 50-51 Clarke, Amaury Triaud in binary systems II # Supervisor(s) Assoc.UTO/ Project title pp 2nd supervisor 30 James Fergusson Anthony Challinor Parameter constraints from the CMB 52 31 Taysun Kimm [Martin Haehnelt] 53-54 Martin Haehnelt Lyman Alpha Profile of Simulated Galaxies 32 Cathie Clarke, [Mike Irwin] The search for a hot Jupiter in the young star FU 55-56 Mike Irwin Orionis 33 Paul Hewett A search for redshifted emission in the quasar 57-59 population – constraining the properties of outflows and inflows 34 Mark Wyatt Modelling the stochastic replenishment of 60 exozodiacal debris disks 35 Paula Jofre Christopher Tout Blue stragglers: can lithium tell us if a star has 61-62 experienced cannibalism? 36 Nic Walton Gerry Gilmore Planetary Nebulae Revealed by Gaia: Distances 63-64 and Dynamics 37 Richard McMahon, [Richard ALMA observations of star formation in the host 65-66 Manda Banerji, McMahon] galaxies of quasars and the coevolution of Peter Hague supermassive black holes 38 Thomas Maedler Gerry Gilmore Wobbling holostars 67-68 39 Vasily Belokurov [Wyn Evans] Uncovering the Milky Way with variable stars in 69-70 Wyn Evans Gaia DR1 #1 40 Vasily Belokurov [Wyn Evans] Uncovering the Milky Way with variable stars in 71-72 Wyn Evans Gaia DR1 #2 41 Jean Teyssandier Mark Wyatt Formation of hot Jupiters via high-eccentricity 73-74 mechanisms APPENDIX – Project timetable format and 75-77 content Contact Lists: Supervisors (project # order) 78-80 81 Supervisors (alphabetical) III Part III/MASt Astrophysics 2016-2017 Version: 7th October 2016 Introduction This booklet contains descriptions of the individual projects available in the academic year 2016- 2017. Each entry contains a brief description of the background to the project along with a summary of the type of work involved and several references where more information can be obtained. The booklet is made available just before the start of the Michaelmas term to give students about 2 weeks to choose which projects they are interested in. George Efstathiou Part III/MASt Astrophysics Course Coordinator 2016-2017 Page 1 Part III/MASt Astrophysics 2016-2017 Version: 7th October 2016 1. Part III project: Asterosemismology of stellar populations Context Asteroseismology is a vastly underused and underestimated statistical tool. The pulsa- tional properties of a star tell us much about its evolutionary state, e.g. Cepheids, Miras, RR Lyraes (see e.g. https://www.aavso.org/types-variables). Aim The recent paper of Jeffery, C. S. & Saio, H. 2016, MNRAS, 458, 1352 predicts which stars pulsate as a function of temperature,luminosity,mass and chemical abundance in all phases of stellarevolutionfrom main-sequencestars to giants. The task of this project is to combine this data with our single- and binary-star population code binary_c. A prediction of the the timescales that stars spend in each of these pulsating phases will be made, and hence the number of pulsating stars in each region of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram will be made. This data will be directly comparable to the number of observed pulsating stars, such as Cepheids, and provide a useful guide to observing strategies and constraints on their evol- utionary channels. The final aim is to combine the generated population with the Kepler selection function to determine the numbers and properties of pulsating stars of different types observed by Kepler, in all phases of stellar evolution, and in both single and binary stars. This will be compared to Sharma et al. (2016), and the contribution of binary stars to the Kepler sample quantified (cf. Jofre et al. 2016). Education Astrophysics/astronomy: stellar evolution and hydrodynamics. Technical: coding (Linux, C, Perl). Presentation and communication skills. Collaborators Stellar group, Simon Jeffery (Armagh Observatory). Reading • Neilson, H. R., Schneider, F.R. N., Izzard, R. G., Evans, N. R., & Langer, N. 2015, A&A, 574, A2 • Miglio, A., Eggenberger, P., Girardi, L., & Montalbán, J., eds. 2015, Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, Vol. 39, Asteroseismology of Stellar Populations in the Milky Way • Jeffery, C. S. & Saio, H. 2016,MNRAS, 458, 1352 • Izzard, R. G., Tout, C. A., Karakas, A. I., & Pols, O. R. 2004, MNRAS, 350, 407 • Izzard, R. G., Dray, L. M., Karakas, A. I., Lugaro, M., & Tout, C. A. 2006, A&A, 460,565 • Izzard, R. G., Glebbeek, E., Stancliffe, R. J., & Pols, O. R. 2009, A&A, 508, 1359 • http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/∼rgi/binary_c.html Hertzsprung-Russell, or luminosity-temperature, diagram showing locations of pulsating variable stars coloured by spectral type. Taken from Jeffery & Saio (2016, Fig. 1). Small red numbers are stellar masses. Shadings are different types of pulsations (p-modes , g modes , strange modes 9, acoustic modes ≡). Project No. 1 Page 2 Part III/MASt Astrophysics 2016-2017 Version: 7th October 2016 2. Part III project: The Galactic stellar population of single and binary stars Context With the forthcoming Gaia data release, it is more important than ever that we model the stars in our Galaxy as accurately as possible. Models of our galaxy have been developed previously (e.g. the Be- sançon model) but not applied to our single/binary stellar population models. We require an accurate model of the distribution of stars in the Galaxy, as well as their birth parameters (chemistry, binary frac- tion, initial mass distribution etc.), to determine the properties of stellar populations in a very general way. Selection effects in the broadest sense will have to be taken into account. Aim Develop a model of the Galactic distribution of stars as a function of position, age (i.e. star formation history) and metallicity, suitable for implementing into the binary_c population synthesis code. This will require a literature survey of the current attempts to model galactic stellar populations, e.g. the Besançon model and that implemented in Gaia simulations, and a decision on which is the “best” for our purposes. An efficient model will be implemented that can take our binary population data as in- put and generate a model of the Galaxy, such that all the stellar populations currently modelled can be counted as a function of position on the sky. Selection effects, such as an extinction law, will have to be implemented to count magnitude- and volume-limited surveys. The Gaia colours have already been implemented,but not well tested, so this could also form part of the project. The first Gaia release should be available by the time the project starts, but are already preliminary datasets (e.g Hipparcos) which could be used as test data.
Recommended publications
  • The Wonders of Star Formafion
    The Wonders of Star Forma;on A tribute to Hans Zinnecker Edinburgh, Scotland 3-7 September, 2018 i John McIntyre Conference Centre Edinburgh UK 3rd - 7th September 2018 SOC Anthony Whitworth (Cardiff, UK, Co-Chair) Ken Rice (Edinburgh, UK, Co-Chair) Bo Reipurth (Hawaii, USA) Cathie Clarke (Cambridge, UK) Ian Bonnell (St Andrews, UK) Mark McCaughrean (ESA) Stephanie Walch (Cologne, Germany) Hal Yorke (USRA, USA) John Bally (Colorado, USA) Dimitris Stamatellos (UCLAN, UK) LOC Lyndsey Ballantyne Ken Rice ii Contents General Information 1 Information for Speakers . .1 Information for Posters . .1 WiFi Access . .1 Social Media . .1 Open forum: The Challenges Ahead . .2 Timetable . .3 Floorplan . .4 Getting Around Edinburgh . .5 Dining Options . .6 Excursions . .7 Useful Information . .7 Code of Conduct . .8 Talk Abstracts 9 Poster List & Abstracts 87 iii iv General Information Information for Speakers You are welcome to use your own laptops, but we will also be providing a Mac with OS X and a Windows machine for speakers to use. We can accomodate PDF, Keynote and Powerpoint. Please ensure you have uploaded and tested your talk on the computers prior to your session beginning, or have tested your own laptop/device. All contributed talks are 15 minutes plus 5 minutes for questions, while invited review talks are 30 minutes plus 10 minutes for questions. Session chairs will give appropriate warnings when you are approaching your time limit. To ensure the smooth running of each session, please keep to time. Thank you! Information for Posters Posters are allocated a numbered board based on the session to which they've been allocated.
    [Show full text]
  • Bondi-Hoyle Accretion
    A Review of Bondi–Hoyle–Lyttleton Accretion Richard Edgar a aStockholms observatorium, AlbaNova universitetscentrum, SE-106 91, Stockholm, Sweden Abstract If a point mass moves through a uniform gas cloud, at what rate does it accrete ma- terial? This is the question studied by Bondi, Hoyle and Lyttleton. This paper draws together the work performed in this area since the problem was first studied. Time has shown that, despite the simplifications made, Bondi, Hoyle and Lyttleton made quite accurate predictions for the accretion rate. Bondi–Hoyle–Lyttleton accretion has found application in many fields of astronomy, and these are also discussed. Key words: accretion PACS: 95.30.Lz, 97.10.Gz, 98.35.Mp, 98.62.Mw 1 Introduction arXiv:astro-ph/0406166v2 21 Jun 2004 In its purest form, Bondi–Hoyle–Lyttleton accretion concerns the supersonic motion of a point mass through a gas cloud. The cloud is assumed to be free of self-gravity, and to be uniform at infinity. Gravity focuses material behind the point mass, which can then accrete some of the gas. This problem has found applications in many areas of astronomy, and this paper is an attempt to address the lack of a general review of the subject. I start with a short summary of the original work of Bondi, Hoyle and Lyt- tleton, followed by a discussion of the numerical simulations performed. Some issues in Bondi–Hoyle–Lyttleton accretion are discussed, before a brief sum- mary of the fields in which the geometry has proved useful. Email address: [email protected] (Richard Edgar).
    [Show full text]
  • 115 Abell Galaxy Cluster # 373
    WINTER Medium-scope challenges 271 # # 115 Abell Galaxy Cluster # 373 Target Type RA Dec. Constellation Magnitude Size Chart AGCS 373 Galaxy cluster 03 38.5 –35 27.0 Fornax – 180 ′ 5.22 Chart 5.22 Abell Galaxy Cluster (South) 373 272 Cosmic Challenge WINTER Nestled in the southeast corner of the dim early winter western suburbs. Deep photographs reveal that NGC constellation Fornax, adjacent to the distinctive triangle 1316 contains many dust clouds and is surrounded by a formed by 6th-magnitude Chi-1 ( ␹ 1), Chi-2 ( ␹ 2), and complex envelope of faint material, several loops of Chi-3 ( ␹ 3) Fornacis, is an attractive cluster of galaxies which appear to engulf a smaller galaxy, NGC 1317, 6 ′ known as Abell Galaxy Cluster – Southern Supplement to the north. Astronomers consider this to be a case of (AGCS) 373. In addition to his research that led to the galactic cannibalism, with the larger NGC 1316 discovery of more than 80 new planetary nebulae in the devouring its smaller companion. The merger is further 1950s, George Abell also examined the overall structure signaled by strong radio emissions being telegraphed of the universe. He did so by studying and cataloging from the scene. 2,712 galaxy clusters that had been captured on the In my 8-inch reflector, NGC 1316 appears as a then-new National Geographic Society–Palomar bright, slightly oval disk with a distinctly brighter Observatory Sky Survey taken with the 48-inch Samuel nucleus. NGC 1317, about 12th magnitude and 2 ′ Oschin Schmidt camera at Palomar Observatory. In across, is visible in a 6-inch scope, although averted 1958, he published the results of his study as a paper vision may be needed to pick it out.
    [Show full text]
  • 10. Scientific Programme 10.1
    10. SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME 10.1. OVERVIEW (a) Invited Discourses Plenary Hall B 18:00-19:30 ID1 “The Zoo of Galaxies” Karen Masters, University of Portsmouth, UK Monday, 20 August ID2 “Supernovae, the Accelerating Cosmos, and Dark Energy” Brian Schmidt, ANU, Australia Wednesday, 22 August ID3 “The Herschel View of Star Formation” Philippe André, CEA Saclay, France Wednesday, 29 August ID4 “Past, Present and Future of Chinese Astronomy” Cheng Fang, Nanjing University, China Nanjing Thursday, 30 August (b) Plenary Symposium Review Talks Plenary Hall B (B) 8:30-10:00 Or Rooms 309A+B (3) IAUS 288 Astrophysics from Antarctica John Storey (3) Mon. 20 IAUS 289 The Cosmic Distance Scale: Past, Present and Future Wendy Freedman (3) Mon. 27 IAUS 290 Probing General Relativity using Accreting Black Holes Andy Fabian (B) Wed. 22 IAUS 291 Pulsars are Cool – seriously Scott Ransom (3) Thu. 23 Magnetars: neutron stars with magnetic storms Nanda Rea (3) Thu. 23 Probing Gravitation with Pulsars Michael Kremer (3) Thu. 23 IAUS 292 From Gas to Stars over Cosmic Time Mordacai-Mark Mac Low (B) Tue. 21 IAUS 293 The Kepler Mission: NASA’s ExoEarth Census Natalie Batalha (3) Tue. 28 IAUS 294 The Origin and Evolution of Cosmic Magnetism Bryan Gaensler (B) Wed. 29 IAUS 295 Black Holes in Galaxies John Kormendy (B) Thu. 30 (c) Symposia - Week 1 IAUS 288 Astrophysics from Antartica IAUS 290 Accretion on all scales IAUS 291 Neutron Stars and Pulsars IAUS 292 Molecular gas, Dust, and Star Formation in Galaxies (d) Symposia –Week 2 IAUS 289 Advancing the Physics of Cosmic
    [Show full text]
  • The Star Clusters Young & Old Newsletter
    SCYON The Star Clusters Young & Old Newsletter edited by Holger Baumgardt and Ernst Paunzen SCYON can be found at URL: http://www.univie.ac.at/scyon/ SCYONIssueNo.54 February28,2012 EDITORIAL This is the 54th issue of the SCYON newsletter. Todays issue contains 14 abstracts from refereed publications and conference proceedings and a summary of Xiaoying Pang’s PhD thesis on the stellar mass function and mass segregation in NGC 3603. We also have conference announcements for a Saas-Fee winter school on star clusters in March, a workshop on young star clusters in Italy in July this year, the MODEST 12 workshop in Kobe in August 2012 and IAU Symposium 239 on cosmic distance scales also in August 2012. We finally have a job offer for a postdoctoral position at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. As usual, we would like to thank all who sent us their contributions. Holger Baumgardt and Ernst Paunzen ................................................... ................................................. CONTENTS Editorial .......................................... ...............................................1 SCYON policy ........................................ ...........................................2 Mirror sites ........................................ ..............................................2 Abstract from/submitted to REFEREED JOURNALS ........... ................................3 1. Star Forming Regions ............................... ........................................3 2. Galactic Open Clusters............................
    [Show full text]
  • A Tail Structure Associated with Protoplanetary Disk Around SU
    Draft version February 28, 2019 A Preprint typeset using LTEX style emulateapj v. 12/16/11 A TAIL STRUCTURE ASSOCIATED WITH PROTOPLANETARY DISK AROUND SU AURIGAE EIJI AKIYAMA1, EDUARD I. VOROBYOV2,3, HAUYU BAOBABU LIU4,5, RUOBING DONG5,6, JEROME de LEON7, SHENG-YUAN LIU5, MOTOHIDE TAMURA7,8,9 1Institute for the Advancement of Higher Education, Hokkaido University, Kita17, Nishi8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-0817, Japan; [email protected] 2Department of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Vienna 1018, Austria 3Research Institute of Physics, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, 344090, Russia 4European Southern Observatory, Karl Schwarzschild Str 2, 85748 Garching bei M¨unchen, Germany 5Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 23-141, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan 6Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA 7Department of Astronomy, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan 8Astrobiology Center of NINS, 2-21-1, Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588, Japan 9National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1, Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588, Japan Draft version February 28, 2019 ABSTRACT We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the CO (J=2– 1) line emission from the protoplanetary disk around T-Tauri star SU Aurigae (hereafter SU Aur). Previous observations in optical and near infrared wavelengths find a unique structure in SU Aur. One of the highlights of the observational results is that an extended tail-like structure is associated with the disk, indicating mass transfer from or into the disk.
    [Show full text]
  • The 2.2 M Telescope Is Ready
    blue central colour to have a redder halo, while those systems to three orders of magnitude compared to the preliminary with a relatively red central colour (ellipticals and SOs) seem to results for the Fornax cluster. By then we will have acquired an have a bluer halo colour. unprecedented set of properties of Southern Hemisphere At the bollom of the flow chart in Fig. 1 we have indicated the galaxies. The size of the sampie and the uniform approach as Possible presentation of the acquired data bases. Eventually attempted in this project should allow us to study the universe in Our final data base of 16,000 galaxies will be expanded by two an unbiased way. The 2.2 mTelescope is Ready M. Tarenghi, ESO The 2.2 m Zeiss telescope is the last telescope to have The erection of the telescope began on February 15, 1983, arrived on La Silla, thanks to a 25-year loan to ESO from the and as a result of a collaboration of qualified personnel from Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (MPG) who will receive for their Zeiss and MAN and the services of many ESO technicians, we contribution 25 % of the observing time. ESO assumed respon­ succeeded in obtaining the "first light" on the night of June 22, sibility for the installation of the telescope, the arrangement of 1983. Ouring the following weeks the telescope was used for necessary modifications, and construction of the building and optical, mechanical and electronic tuning. The end of the bad dome according to specifications agreed with the MPG. ESO winter weather made it possible to start using the telescope will also assume responsibility for the maintenance and opera­ with the photographic camera, the B & C spectrograph plus tion of the telescope.
    [Show full text]
  • Monster Image of the Fornax Galaxy Cluster 25 October 2017
    Monster image of the Fornax Galaxy Cluster 25 October 2017 telescope technology to observe the finer details of NGC 1316's unusual structure through a combination of imaging and modelling. The mergers that formed NGC 1316 led to an influx of gas, which fuels an exotic astrophysical object at its centre: a supermassive black hole with a mass roughly 150 million times that of the Sun. As it accretes mass from its surroundings, this cosmic monster produces immensely powerful jets of high- energy particles , that in turn give rise to the Credit: ESO characteristic lobes of emission seen at radio wavelengths, making NGC 1316 the fourth- brightest radio source in the sky. Countless galaxies vie for attention in this monster NGC 1316 has also been host to four recorded type image of the Fornax Galaxy Cluster, some Ia supernovae, which are vitally important appearing only as pinpricks of light while others astrophysical events for astronomers. Since type Ia dominate the foreground. One of these is the supernovae have a very clearly defined brightness, lenticular galaxy NGC 1316. The turbulent past of they can be used to measure the distance to the this much-studied galaxy has left it with a delicate host galaxy; in this case, 60 million light-years. structure of loops, arcs and rings that astronomers These "standard candles" are much sought-after by have now imaged in greater detail than ever before astronomers, as they are an excellent tool to with the VLT Survey Telescope. This astonishingly reliably measure the distance to remote objects. In deep image also reveals a myriad of dim objects fact, they played a key role in the groundbreaking along with faint intracluster light.
    [Show full text]
  • University of California Santa Cruz Hard X-Ray
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ HARD X-RAY CONSTRAINTS ON FAINT TRANSIENT EVENTS IN THE SOLAR CORONA A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in PHYSICS by Andrew J. Marsh June 2017 The Dissertation of Andrew J. Marsh is approved: Professor David M. Smith, Chair Professor Lindsay Glesener Professor David A. Williams Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Table of Contents List of Figures vi List of Tables xv Abstract xvi Dedication xviii Acknowledgments xix 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Origins . .1 1.2 Structure of the Sun . .2 1.2.1 The Interior . .2 1.2.2 Lower Atmosphere . .4 1.2.3 Outer Atmosphere (Corona) . .5 1.3 Solar Cycle . .8 1.4 Summary . .9 2 Flares, Transient Events and Coronal Heating 12 2.1 Flare Physics . 12 2.1.1 Standard Flare Model . 13 2.1.2 Magnetic Reconnection . 14 2.1.3 Particle Acceleration . 17 2.2 Emission from the Solar Corona . 20 2.2.1 Thermal Bremsstrahlung . 21 2.2.2 Non-thermal Bremsstrahlung . 23 2.2.3 Emission Lines . 24 2.3 Observing the Corona . 27 2.3.1 Instruments . 27 2.3.2 Non-Flaring Active Regions . 30 2.3.3 Flares . 31 iii 2.3.4 The Quiet Sun . 33 2.4 The Coronal Heating Problem . 34 2.4.1 Flare Heating . 37 2.4.2 Nanoflare Heating . 38 3 Imaging Hard X-rays with Focusing Optics 42 3.1 Focusing Optics . 42 3.2 FOXSI . 48 3.2.1 Optics .
    [Show full text]
  • New Type of Black Hole Detected in Massive Collision That Sent Gravitational Waves with a 'Bang'
    New type of black hole detected in massive collision that sent gravitational waves with a 'bang' By Ashley Strickland, CNN Updated 1200 GMT (2000 HKT) September 2, 2020 <img alt="Galaxy NGC 4485 collided with its larger galactic neighbor NGC 4490 millions of years ago, leading to the creation of new stars seen in the right side of the image." class="media__image" src="//cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/190516104725-ngc-4485-nasa-super-169.jpg"> Photos: Wonders of the universe Galaxy NGC 4485 collided with its larger galactic neighbor NGC 4490 millions of years ago, leading to the creation of new stars seen in the right side of the image. Hide Caption 98 of 195 <img alt="Astronomers developed a mosaic of the distant universe, called the Hubble Legacy Field, that documents 16 years of observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. The image contains 200,000 galaxies that stretch back through 13.3 billion years of time to just 500 million years after the Big Bang. " class="media__image" src="//cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/190502151952-0502-wonders-of-the-universe-super-169.jpg"> Photos: Wonders of the universe Astronomers developed a mosaic of the distant universe, called the Hubble Legacy Field, that documents 16 years of observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. The image contains 200,000 galaxies that stretch back through 13.3 billion years of time to just 500 million years after the Big Bang. Hide Caption 99 of 195 <img alt="A ground-based telescope's view of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring galaxy of our Milky Way.
    [Show full text]
  • High Resolution Imaging of the Early-Type Galaxy NGC 1380: an Insight Into the Nature of Extended Extragalactic Star Clusters
    A&A 467, 1003–1009 (2007) Astronomy DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20066546 & c ESO 2007 Astrophysics High resolution imaging of the early-type galaxy NGC 1380: an insight into the nature of extended extragalactic star clusters A. L. Chies-Santos, B. X. Santiago, and M. G. Pastoriza Departamento de Astronomia, Instituto de Física, UFRGS. Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] Received 11 October 2006 / Accepted 27 February 2007 ABSTRACT Context. NGC 1380 is a lenticular galaxy located near the centre of the Fornax Cluster, northeast of NGC 1399. The globular cluster system of this galaxy has hitherto only been studied from the ground. Recent studies of similar early-type galaxies, specially lenticular ones, reveal the existence of star clusters that apparently break up the traditional open/globular cluster dichotomy. Aims. With higher quality photometry from HST/WFPC2 we study the star clusters in NGC 1380, measuring their magnitudes, colours, sizes and projected distances from the centre of the galaxy. Methods. We used deep archival HST/WFPC2 in the B and V bands. We built colour magnitude diagrams from which we selected a sample of cluster candidates. We also analysed their colour distribution and measured their sizes. Based on their location in the luminosity-size diagram we estimated probabilities of them being typical globular clusters as those found in the Galaxy. Results. A total of about 570 cluster candidates were found down to V = 26.5. We measured sizes for approximately 200 of them. The observed colour distribution has three apparent peaks.
    [Show full text]
  • Vanderbilt University, Department of Physics & Astronomy VU Station B 1807, Nashville, TN 37235 Phone: 615-322-2828, FAX: 61
    CURRICULUM VITAE: KEIVAN GUADALUPE STASSUN SENIOR ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR GRADUATE EDUCATION & RESEARCH, COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCE Vanderbilt University, Department of Physics & Astronomy VU Station B 1807, Nashville, TN 37235 Phone: 615-322-2828, FAX: 615-343-7263 [email protected] DEGREES EARNED University of Wisconsin—Madison Degree: Ph.D. in Astronomy, 2000 Thesis: Rotation, Accretion, and Circumstellar Disks among Low-Mass Pre-Main-Sequence Stars Advisor: Robert D. Mathieu University of California at Berkeley Degree: A.B. in Physics/Astronomy (double major) with Honors, 1994 Thesis: A Simultaneous Photometric and Spectroscopic Variability Study of Classical T Tauri Stars Advisor: Gibor Basri EMPLOYMENT HISTORY Vanderbilt University Director, Vanderbilt Center for Autism & Innovation, 2017-present Stevenson Endowed Professor of Physics & Astronomy, 2016-present Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Education & Research, College of Arts & Science, 2015-18 Harvie Branscomb Distinguished Professor, 2015-16 Professor of Physics and Astronomy, 2011-present Director, Vanderbilt Initiative in Data-intensive Astrophysics (VIDA), 2007-present Co-Director, Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program, 2004-15 Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy, 2008-11 Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, 2003-08 Fisk University Adjunct Professor of Physics, 2006-present University of Wisconsin—Madison NASA Hubble Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Astronomy, 2001-03 Area: Observational Studies of Low-Mass Star Formation Mentor: Robert D. Mathieu University of Wisconsin—Madison Assistant Director and Postdoctoral Fellow, NSF Graduate K-12 Teaching Fellows Program, 2000-01 Duties: Development of fellowship program, instructor for graduate course in science education research Mentor: Terrence Millar HONORS AND AWARDS Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math, and Engineering Mentoring—2018 AAAS Mentor of the Year—2018 HHMI Professor—2018- Research Corporation for Science Advancement SEED Award—2017 1/29 Keivan G.
    [Show full text]