Members of our senior class investigated an impressive range of research topics in the past year.
Jocelyne Andrade ’19
Advisor: Jeff Bary
An Infrared Study of T-Tauri Stars
Josephson T-Tauri binary stars have protoplanetary disks where interesting drivers of evolution exist. Chief among these are accretion, jets and winds. As these systems age, they become good candidates for the formation of new planetary systems. This project involves the study of infrared spectra of three T-Tauri binaries.
Tara Atkinson ’19
Advisor: Jonathan Levine
Understanding Energy in a Quantifiable Way
This project is showing how we can prove conservation of energy in a class and lab setting. By turning buckshot over and over, energy switches from potential to kinetic. The temperature change of the system will help us physically see energy being conserved.
Anthony Castillo ’19
Advisor: Jonathan Levine
Measuring Abundances of Elements Using Different Laser Powers
We are working on a mass spectrometer that will be used to date rocks on Mars. I looked at data that came in from the instrument after switching the nanosecond laser on the device to a femtosecond laser. We want to look at different components that may improve the calculation of ages.
Kathryn Chapman ’19
Advisor: Patrick Crotty
Gravitational Production of WIMPzillas During Inflation
dark matter is a mystification
don’t despair, we can look to inflation
the vacuum state changed but WIMPzilla’s stayed the same
this, says QFT, is particle creation
Brianna Holmes ’19
Advisor: Kiko Galvez
Generating Bessel Poincaré Beams
For my project, I sought to model and generate Bessel Poincare` beams, which are a type of nondiffracting beam that contains every state of polarization. In order to do this, I utilized Matlab, Spatial Light Modulators, and polarimetry to generate and then verify that these were Bessel Poincaré beams.
Jin Won Huh ’19
Advisor: Kiko Galvez
Quantum Talbot Effect
Talbot effect is the result of near-field diffraction of light. In near-field diffraction, light will form repeating fractal images of the diffraction source. I investigated the Talbot effect with the quantum nature of light.
Laura Leonard ’19
Advisor: Cosmin Ilie
Higgs Inflation
This project aimed to understand and investigate how the naïve model of Higgs inflation is not sufficient for satisfying slow roll inflation conditions, and then looked to instate how non-minimal coupling could be a solution.
Liam McGovern ’19
Advisor: Beth Parks
Measuring Building Insulation
Jillian Perkins ’19
Advisor: Jonathan Levine
Development of a Rock-Dating Spectrometer for Spaceflight
Professor Levine and a colleague in Boulder, CO are building an instrument, the purpose of which is to be sent into space to date rocks in their own geographical contexts. However, recently, we are having a problem with the data coming from the instrument in that it gives the incorrect age of our standard, the Duluth Gabbro. We have been looking at possible factors that could be causing this, and I focused on one in particular, the decreased ablation laser diameter, for my project. Tune in to learn more and see how the tale unravels!
Lekshmi Rajagopal ’19
Advisor: Tom Balonek
Variable Star Photometry
Variable star photometry with DSLR cameras using the eclipsing binary system RZ Cassiopeia as a model.
Alina Sabyr ’19
Advisor: Jeff Bary
Spectral Analysis of Accretion & Outflow Signatures in Young Binary Stellar Systems
Spectral reduction and analysis of oxygen and hydrogen features in TTauri binary systems for the purpose of studying the accretion and disk dispersal in young stars.
Jonathan Schuldt ’19
Advisor: Rob Salgado
An Exploration of Trigonometry in 2-dimensional Negative Curvature Space-times
Using simple geometry, trigonometry and calculus, we have created a method to better understand 2-dimensional, negatively curved spacetimes with an emphasis on special relativity and the twin paradox.
Araven Tiroumalechetty ’19
Advisor: Linda Tseng
Microplastics
The development of a suitable microplastics model system to study their potential uses, with specific focus on leaching and adsorption processes.
Victory Unigwe ’19
Advisor: Rob Salgado
Space-Time Geometry and Anti-DeSitter Space
This is an investigation into the geometric analogues of flat space in order to expand and apply their properties in curved space. This allows us to gain an understanding of relativistic behaviors in curved spacetimes, specifically Anti-DeSitter Space. Here, we can attempt to take a look at problems like the twin paradox and the “clock effect” while searching for a generalized formula to demystify space-time geometries.
Faith Williams ’19
Advisor: Kiko Galvez
Quantum Entanglement in Medical Diagnosis
Brain Tissue + Entangled Photons = WOW!
Nina Wittler ’19
Advisor: Kiko Galvez
Creating Pendulum Beams
Creation of pendulum beams and investigation into their relationship to the quantum pendulum.
Chenglu Wu ’19
Advisor: Jeff Bary
Measure the Sizes and Temperatures of Spots on Pre-Main Sequence Stars
Starspot is one of the most ubiquitous and significant feature of stars and my research adopts the method of synthetic spectrum to study the starspots of young T Tauri Stars.
Saiyang Zhang ’19
Advisor: Cosmin Ilie
SIMPzilla Capture by the First Stars
I studied several papers on models for dark matter being captured by massive objects like the sun or the First Stars and verified their simulations by programming. Based on equations adopted from literature, a new model for SIMPzilla captured by the first star was proposed. The First Stars were formed near the center of the dark matter halos. SIMPzilla particles came from far away from the star in the dark matter halo, entering the surface of the star and colliding elastically with nucleons. After many collisions, among some of the SIMPzillas, their speed were slowed down to be smaller than the escape velocity of the star. Then, they were captured by and condensed at the core of the star.