Possible Projects

Neutrino Astrophysics (Prof. Francis Halzen, Prof. Albrecht Karle):

Operating at the South Pole, the IceCube will be the largest and most sensitive of a new breed of telescopes. Rather than collecting light, it will probe the Universe by detecting cosmic neutrinos. Since the 1950s scientists have built a compelling case for using high-energy neutrinos as the ideal messengers from the most interesting, violent, and least understood phenomena in the Universe.

Throughout the last decade, an international collaboration of scientists have constructed and operated the first working high-energy neutrino telescope. Originally conceived at the University of Wisconsin and completed in the year 2000, the Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array (AMANDA) uses natural ice as a Cherenkov detector radiated by charged particles produced in neutrino interactions. We are now collecting data with 677 optical sensors buried deep in the Antarctic ice, detecting the faint flashes of light created by neutrino interactions in the transparent ice.

AMANDA represents a proof-of-concept for constructing IceCube, a neutrino telescope encompassing a full cubic kilometer of ice, that has recently been approved as an NSF Major Research Equipment Project. Since early construction, the UW AMANDA group has employed 2-5 undergraduates in the laboratory. Tasks have ranged from hardware (development of optical sensors), to software (e.g., for data acquisition), to data analysis (measuring atmospheric neutrino fluxes at TeV-energy and searching for gamma ray bursts). Several undergraduates have visited the South Pole to perform hardware tasks they familiarized themselves with in the laboratory. Unfortunately, this will not be feasible during Madison's summer months.

Observational Cosmology (Prof. Peter Timbie):

The photons which make up the 2.7 K cosmic microwave background (CMB) are the oldest in the universe and allow us to explore cosmological history as far back as a redshift of z = 1400, some 300,000 years after the Big Bang. Undergraduates in the Observational Cosmology group help develop new NSF supported instruments for measuring this radiation with experiments that operate from Antarctica and from scientific balloons. We are building the most sensitive detectors of microwave radiation possible. Students can learn about radio astronomy, cryogenics, superconductivity, microwave circuits and antennas, and data analysis.

The Observational Cosmology group is currently home to about 5 undergraduate physics majors and astronomy/physics majors. These students typically work about 10 hours/week during the academic year and full-time during the summer under the supervision of Timbie and his graduate stundents and/or post-docs. Many of them (typically 2 per year) have chosen to write Senior Theses about their research work. Almost all of these students have gone on to graduate school in physics or astronomy. Some students have even traveled to Antarctica to participate in observations performed there.

Observational Stellar Astrophysics (Prof. Bob Mathieu):

Angular momentum is central to almost all facets of stellar astrophysics. The Wisconsin Stellar Angular Momentum group is using the WIYN telescopes to study angular momentum evolution in several contexts.

As part of the NSF-supported WIYN Open Cluster Study, we are defining both stellar rotation period distributions and binary populations in open clusters. These data will permit the first large-scale studies of the interplay of orbital and rotational angular momentum in solar-type stars. We are also exploring rotation period distributions among pre-main-sequence stars in order to test the recent theories of coupling between stellar magnetic fields and protostellar disks. Finally, we have underway a major study of pre-main-sequence eclipsing binaries, with the ultimate goal of precisely measuring stellar masses and thereby calibrating modern pre-main-sequence stellar evolution tracks.

Depending upon the particular interests of students, possible projects could involve spectroscopic measurement of precise stellar radial velocities using the multi-object spectrograph of WIYN, reductions of CCD time-series data to light curves, techniques for modeling eclipsing binary light curves, or Monte Carlo modeling of stellar rotation evolution. An observing run at the WIYN Observatory would be likely.

Neutron stars, White Dwarfs, and Black Holes (Dr. Marina Orio):

Interested students will work on a project of optical identification and monitoring of X-ray sources. They will learn optical photometry with data taken mainly from the prestigeous WIYN telescope in which the University of Wisconsin is a partner.

The X-ray sources we study are either anomalous neutron stars of a peculiar type, or close binary stars with an extremely hot white dwarf, that is burning hydrogen in an outer shell and might one day become a supernova.

Structure and Dynamics of Dwarf Galaxies (Prof. Eric Wilcots):

Dwarf galaxies are potentially the building blocks of larger galaxies. Since dwarf galaxies are small and numerous, they provide an excellent laboratories to study the sorts of behaviors that influence the evolution of all galaxies over time.

Prof. Wilcots' NSF-supported research focuses on understanding how a galaxy's structure is affected by the interaction with nearby companions and how the explosive energy release of supernovae effects the appearance and structure of galaxies.

Possible projects include studying the radio structure of these galaxies using VLA data to determine the distribution and velocity of neutral hydrogen, and optical imaging to study the distribution of stars and ionized gas. Prof. Wilcots has supervised several undergraduates in their research, directs the NSF-supported summer outreach program "Universe in the Park", and for two summers was the director of the REU program at NRAO-VLA.

Galaxies and their environments (Prof. Jay Gallagher):

We are obtaining optical/infrared observations from a variety of ground-based telescopes, including the 3.5-m WIYN and the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope, for a study of how the internal structures of galaxies are modified by their environments.

This project involves the quantitative analysis of galaxy images to define basic structures, the measurement of star formation rates, and determinations of internal stellar and ionized gas kinematics. We are applying these techniques to galaxies with special characteristics, such as those with signatures of recent disturbances, e.g., polar ring galaxies and starbursts, as well as to systems that appear to have been quiescent for long time periods (such as "super thin" disk galaxies).

This will provide an REU student with a range of opportunities for the collection, analysis, and interpretation of galaxy observations within the framework of dynamical constraints ontheir evolutionary processes.

X-ray astrophysics (Prof. Dan McCammon):

The last few years has seen a revolution in the spectroscopic and imaging sensitivity of X-ray astrophysical detectors. Students interested in this program can participate in the development of a new detector technology that offers 50 times better energy resolution than conventional X-ray instruments.

We are using similar detectors in a sounding rocket experiment to study the galactic and extragalactic soft X-ray backgrounds. Improvements in the detectors will allow a search for the "missing baryons" in intergalactic space, and improved studies of the very hot components of the interstellar medium in our galaxy. Interested students will learn fabrication and cryogenic techniques needed to assemble and test detectors, and methods of X-ray data analysis.

High Velocity Clouds (Dr. Bart Wakker):

Understanding the evolution of galaxies involves understanding how the gas is distributed and how it is accreted over time. Dr.Wakker works on many aspects of gas in the galactic halos, including hot gas, and high-velocity gas.

Possible summer projects involve determining distances to halo gas, measuring their composition, observing ionized gas, and also related aspects of the ISM in the Magellanic Clouds. Students working with Dr. Wakker will have access to a unique body of both ground and spaced based data.

Warm Ionized Medium (Dr. Matt Haffner):

Under the leadership of Prof. Ron Reynolds, Wisconsin has carried out the first survey of the entire galaxy in the H-alpha emission line of ionized hydrogen. These maps show the location and effect of hot ionizing stars, but also indicate the presence of a mysterious, low density ionized gas filling much of interstellar space. The velocity resolution provided by WHAM can allow astronomers to map out the distribution of this gas, while observing other diffuse optical emission lines can characterize the temperature, chemical state, and ionization level of the gas.

Star Formation in the Milky Way (Prof. Ed Churchwell, Dr. Barb Whitney):

Prof. Churchwell is leading a large scale survey, GLIMPSE (Galactic Legacy Infrared Midplane Surevey Extraordinaire), to map the inner Galactic plane using the IRAC detector on the Space Infrared Telescope Facility.

This project has been granted over 800 hours of observing time to map out the inner Galaxy in wavelengths from 3.6 to 8.0 microns with unprecedented angular resolution and sensitivity. It will produce a complete census of star formation in the inner Milky Way and resolve some fundamental questions of stellar Galactic structure.

Interested students will search for interersting star formation regions and characterize the nature of star formation in the inner Galaxy.

Star Forming Regions and Polarization (Prof. Alex Lazarian):

Far infrared (FIR) polarimetry of molecular clouds shows prominent dependence of the polarization degree on the wavelength. Probably this reflects the variation of grain alignment within a cloud. Indeed, waves of different frequency sample dust at different distances from embedded sources and thus sample different parts of the cloud. If we can model this process, we should be able to use FIR polarimetry to characterize magnetic fields in hotbeds of star formation. However, magnetic field is turbulent; thus, sampling different regions may result in variations of the polarization measure even if grain alignment did not vary.

To address this problem we propose to apply existing Monte-Carlo radiative transfer code to the realistic configurations of density and magnetic field obtained through our MHD simulations. Applying different assumptions about grain alignment as the function of the extinction measured from a star, we will be able to simulate the expected variations of polarization with the wavelength and compare this with FIR observations. This would be an intriguing project for a student with interests in theory and modeling.