Project Index
Click on a project title to link directly to the project description.
Project SP22a – Prospects for Atmospheric Characterization of Radial Velocity Exoplanets – position closed
Project SP22b – Constraining Atomic Dark Matter With LIGO – position filled
Project SP22c – Planning for Microlensing Surveys with a Galactic Population Synthesis Model – position filled
Project SP22d – Recent star formations in X-ray TDE hosts – position filled
Project SP22e – Forward modeling of large-scale galaxy number density distribution from dark matter simulations – position filled
Project SP22a: Prospects for Atmospheric Characterization of Radial Velocity Exoplanets
Researcher: Arvind Gupta arvind@psu.edu
Application deadline: December 15, 2021
Application URL: https://sites.psu.edu/astronomyresearch/undergrads-apply-for-a-project/
Project and position description
The NEID spectrograph is expected to facilitate the discovery of terrestrial-mass exoplanets in the habitable zones of nearby, Sun-like stars. Over the next 5 years, our team at Penn State seeks to realize these discoveries by conducting the NEID Earth Twin Survey (NETS) and observing 40 nearby stars. For this project, the student will explore the potential for atmospheric studies of the types of exoplanets we expect to find by the end of this 5-year survey. The student will assess the physical and orbital properties of these hypothetical exoplanets in the context of the detection of atmospheric biosignatures with a LUVOIR-style space telescope. The expected final product of this project is a written research report that will form the basis of a future co-authored or first-authored scientific paper. Upon successful completion of the project, there may also be an opportunity for the student to continue to do research with the mentor & the broader NEID/exoplanet team at Penn State beyond the Spring semester.
Desired qualifications
Completion of or concurrent enrollment in Astro 291 is recommended but not expected or required, and Astro 320 is preferred as well. The student should have some experience with scientific programming. The project will require the use of Python, so familiarity with Python is preferred, but experience in languages such Julia or C is fine. This project does not require an extensive background knowledge of exoplanets, but I’m looking for someone who is willing to spend time developing this foundation.
This is a 2-3 credit project (90-135 hours). In addition to the actual analysis work, this includes time spent reading relevant papers, developing scientific writing and programming skills, and writing a final report.
Project SP22b: Constraining Atomic Dark Matter With LIGO
Researcher: James Gurian jhg5248@psu.edu
Application deadline: December 15, 2021
Application URL: https://sites.psu.edu/astronomyresearch/undergrads-apply-for-a-project/
Project and position description
If interpreted as a binary neutron star merger, the gravitational wave event GW190425 implies a system with a total mass 5σ greater than the mean of known galactic binary neutron star systems. The merger may alternatively be interpreted as a merger of black holes formed from dark matter “dark black holes” (DBH). Singh 2020 constrained the minimum dark black hole mass assuming GW190425 was a DBH merger and each other LIGO/Virgo event has equal probability of being a conventional binary black hole merger or a DBH merger. This estimate has not yet been translated to a constraint on the dark matter microphysics.
The student will study the range of “atomic dark matter” parameters which could produce a minimum black hole mass in the range determined by Singh 2020. The student will convert the constraints on minimum black hole mass into constraints on the masses of the dark proton, dark electron, and dark fine structure constant by determining the corresponding dark Chandrasekhar Limit and minimum Jeans mass. The student will further constrain the parameter space based on the following criteria: 1) for the black holes to form, “mini-haloes” must be able to cool efficiently, 2) to satisfy constraints on a “dark disk,” Milky Way sized haloes must not cool efficiently, 3) galaxy clusters must merge losslessly. To this end, the student will calculate the atomic and molecular cooling rates for the dark matter. From these rates, the cooling time for haloes of various masses can be calculated. The final constraint, that galaxy clusters merge losslessly, is well described in the literature. The student will produce a report summarizing their findings.
Desired qualifications
No prerequisites. Up to three credits.
Project SP22c: Planning for Microlensing Surveys with a Galactic Population Synthesis Model
Researcher: Macy Huston mhuston@psu.edu
Application deadline: December 15, 2021
Application URL: https://sites.psu.edu/astronomyresearch/undergrads-apply-for-a-project/
Project and position description
Gravitational microlensing is a unique method for exoplanet detection. The gravity of a “lens” star passing in front of a “source” star will bend the source’s light, causing it to temporarily appear brighter. If the lens star hosts a planet near its Einstein ring, it will cause a perturbation in this light curve. The Microlensing Science Investigation Team for the Roman Space Telescope is wrapping up development of a population synthesis model of the Milky Way to make predictions for the Roman microlensing survey.
For this project, a student will use our model to generate catalogs of possible microlensing event source and lens stars to calculate microlensing observables like event rate, optical depth, and timescale. They will generate plots to show how these values vary across a region of sky near the Galactic center. The final product of this project with be the figures, which will be included in a paper with the student as a co-author. There may be an opportunity for the student to become more deeply involved in model development and paper writing if interested.
Desired qualifications
Preffered but not required qualifications: some introductory astronomy coursework, some programming experience (this project will use Python).
Prior knowledge of microlensing not expected.
Project SP22d: Recent star formations in X-ray TDE hosts
Researcher: Fan Zou fuz64@psu.edu
Application deadline: Open until filled
Application URL: https://sites.psu.edu/astronomyresearch/undergrads-apply-for-a-project/
Project and position description
Tidal disruption events (TDEs) occur when a star flies by a supermassive black hole, gets tidally disrupted and leads to a flare of radiation. These objects are rare but important for our understandings of supermassive black holes. TDEs are mainly identified in either X-ray or optical. Optical TDEs are found to strongly prefer to reside in (post-)starburst galaxies, but the evidence for X-ray TDEs is vaguer. In this project, we are going to directly measure recent star-formation histories of several X-ray TDE host galaxies and compare them with those of optical TDE hosts. This will help answer several scenically important questions: What is the typical SFH of X-ray TDE hosts? Are X-ray and optical TDE hosts different? Is there any evolutionary track for TDE host galaxies such that a given type of TDE is more or less likely to be observed in a specific post-starburst phase?
The student will primarily lead the project, and I will provide guidance for, e.g., literature review, sample selection, and methodology in analyzing the data. The student will meet with me each week and provide 1-3 write-up reports (depending upon the progress) throughout the whole semester.
Desired qualifications
Interested in astronomical research.
Able to work independently without step-by-step written instructions.
Familiar with Python.
Access to a computer whose operating system is either macOS or Linux.
Having basic knowledge of extragalactic astronomy.
Project SP22e: Forward modeling of large-scale galaxy number density distribution from dark matter simulations
Researcher: Zhenyuan Wang zzw173@psu.edu
Application deadline: Open until filled
Application URL: https://sites.psu.edu/astronomyresearch/undergrads-apply-for-a-project/
Project and position description
Penn State is actively involved in the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) survey. By measuring the large-scale number density distribution of approximately 1.2 million Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs), the HETDEX survey will become the first galaxy survey to probe the dark energy at redshift z = 2-3.
However, modeling the galaxy number density distribution on large scales from the first principle is quite non-trivial. Instead, we parameterize the large-scale galaxy number density field as a polynomial function of dark matter density field where the polynomial coefficients are called the “bias parameters.” In this project, the student will model the galaxy number density field on cosmological scales from the prepared dark matter simulations. With the modeled large-scale galaxy number density field, the student will learn to measure the statistics widely used in cosmological galaxy surveys. From there, the student will forecast the uncertainty of the galaxy bias parameters measured in HETDEX.
We can have the individual meet one or two times per week to make research plans, discuss papers, derive equations, or debug together. The student will submit a final report including the literature review, method, results, conclusion, and discussion.
Desired qualifications
This is a 2-3 credit project (90-135 hours).
Students with a strong interest in cosmology are preferred.
Prior knowledge of cosmology is preferred but not required.
Students familiar with Julia or Python are preferred.