Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2016 Annual Meeting of the APS Mid-Atlantic Section
Volume 61, Number 16
Saturday–Sunday, October 15–16, 2016; Newark, Delaware
Session B1: Astronomy, Astrophysics and High Energy Physics I |
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Chair: Debanjan Sengupta, University of Delaware Room: Sharp Laboratory 123 |
Saturday, October 15, 2016 11:00AM - 11:36AM |
B1.00001: Re-Examining Astrophysical Constraints on the Dark Matter Model Invited Speaker: Alyson Brooks The cosmological model based on cold dark matter (CDM) and dark energy has been hugely successful in describing the observed evolution and large scale structure of our Universe. However, at small scales (in the smallest galaxies and at the centers of larger galaxies), a number of observations seem to conflict with the predictions CDM cosmology, leading to recent interest in Warm Dark Matter (WDM) and Self-Interacting Dark Matter (SIDM) models. These small scales, though, are also regions dominated by the influence of baryons. I will present results from high resolution cosmological galaxy simulations that include both baryons and dark matter to show that baryonic physics can significantly alter the dark matter structure and substructure of galaxies, revolutionizing our expectations for galaxy structure and influencing our interpretation of the Dark Matter model. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 15, 2016 11:36AM - 11:48AM |
B1.00002: Supersymmetry and Yukawa Unification Aditya Hebbar, Qaisar Shafi, George Leontaris Supersymmetry is arguably the most compelling extension of the remarkably successful Standard Model of strong, weak and electromagnetic interactions. One of the salient features of supersymmetry is the prediction of gauge unification i.e unification of the above 3 forces at a high energy scale ($\sim 10^{15}$ GeV). This unification also compels us to posit the existence of grand unification theories (GUTs) at these higher energies, which at low energies break down to the Standard Model due to spontaneous symmetry breaking. In this presentation, we show some predictions of supersymmetric GUTs that exhibit Yukawa unification (unification of masses of fermions) in addition to gauge unification, that can be tested at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the proposed 100 TeV collider. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 15, 2016 11:48AM - 12:00PM |
B1.00003: Search for Neutrinos from the Supergalactic Plane Stephen Sclafani Point sources that produce high energy neutrinos remain elusive. While multiple studies have focused on high energy cosmological phenomenon such as gamma ray bursts, few have looked for correlation with local superstructures like the supergalactic plane that can produce these neutrinos not only directly but also through secondary cosmic ray interactions. Interaction within galactic media can produce neutrinos that can be observed in IceCube, a Cherenkov detector buried at the south pole in one and a half kilometers of glacial ice. The density of local galaxies in the sky, as surveyed by the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) provide a spacial template for the supergalactic plane. The 2MASS Survey is an infrared survey of over 300 million astrophysical objects and contains over 45,000 local galaxies' position and redshift. Spacial templates for the supergalactic plane are tested with one year of event data from Icecube. This analysis will aid in the understanding of the methods of production of high energy neutrinos and cosmic rays. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 15, 2016 12:00PM - 12:12PM |
B1.00004: Search for Galactic PeV Gamma Rays with IceCube Neutrino Observatory Hershal Pandya IceCube has detected an isotropic flux of astrophysical neutrinos but their sources are not yet known. Photons from neutral pions accompany neutrinos at production. PeV photons can only travel a short distance, $\mathcal{O}(10 kpc)$, before attenuating. Hence, PeV photons from the same direction as high energy neutrinos would indicate Galactic origin for those neutrinos. IceTop, the surface component of IceCube Neutrino Observatory detects extensive air showers(EAS) initiated by cosmic rays and gamma rays in the energy range of PeV to EeV. Gamma ray EAS have characteristic properties such as fewer muons, lesser fluctuations, and a more curved shower front relative to cosmic ray EAS. Using IceTop observables we calculate a Log Likelihood Ratio of two hypotheses, one that a given event is a gamma ray and another that it is a cosmic ray. Along with IceTop, high energy muons from EAS also trigger the IceCube detector. Gamma ray EAS leave none or a relatively smaller signal in IceCube. We use the distribution of LLH Ratio and the IceCube signal, in a two parameter space, to discriminate gamma rays from cosmic rays. In this conference contribution, we present the capability of this method in terms of best signal to background ratio attainable. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 15, 2016 12:12PM - 12:24PM |
B1.00005: The Solar Plasma Limb is found to deflect Microwaves from Extra Galactic Radio Sources precisely at Minimum Impact Parameter $\xi$ = R Edward Dowdye Findings show that the gravitational deflection of electromagnetic waves in the microwave frequency spectrum are severely impact parameter dependent at the plasma limb of the sun. By definition the impact parameter $\xi$ is the nearest point of approach of a given ray of light or a ray of microwaves to the center of the gravitating mass M that is inclosed in an analytical Gaussian sphere of radius R. The light bending rule of General Relativity predicts that impact parameters of $\xi$ $\approx$ R for gravitationally bent rays of light and microwaves should occur in empty vacuum space as well as in the plasma limb of the sun, where R is the radius of the analytical Gaussian sphere that encloses the gravitating mass M of the sun. With current technical means in Astrophysics, the gravitational light bending effect should be an easily observable effect for impact parameters corresponding to several solar radii above the plasma limb of the sun, namely, at $\xi$ = $2R$, $\xi$ = $3R$, $\xi$ = $4R$, etc., etc., at $\xi$ = $nR$, for Gaussian spheres of several radii R. The corresponding gravitational deflection of should be 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, ..., 1/n times 1.752 arcsec observed at the solar plasma limb. This result is confirmed by nearly a century of observations. [Preview Abstract] |
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