The following
are the hands-on projects planned for the 2005 Single Dish Summer
School. The schedule of these projects on the telescopes is available at this link.
Project
code: AO-1
Title : Radar Observations of Mercury
Advisor : Dr. J. Harmon (AO)
Students : Sabyasachi Pal, Matt Lykins, Paul Carr, Felipe Perez
The project
will be to do a radar imaging observation of Mercury using the
long-code delay-Doppler method. The students will take the data, do the
delay-Doppler analysis, and generate the final images. These will then
be compared with Mariner-10 maps and earlier Arecibo images of the same
region. The students will also estimate the total Mercury radar cross
section from the data using the radar equation.
Project Code: AO-2 Title : Orbit determination of Binary
Pulsars Advisor : Dr. P. Freire (AO) Students : Alessandro Corongui,
Angel Muneoz, Joseph Foy, Vladislav Kondratiev
In this
project, the students will observe a binary pulsar with a short orbital period on
several consecutive days. To do that, they will become familiar with
the CIMA gui and the Wideband Arecibo Pulsar Processors. They
will then learn how to search for pulsars, using several trial
dispersion measures, and learn how to fold pulsar data at the pulsar's
periodicity, once they find the pulsar's periodicity. They will then
learn how to search for pulsars, using several trial dispersion measures,
and learn how to fold pulsar data at the pulsar's periodicity, once
they find it.
Project
Code: AO-3 Title
: OH Masers Advisor
: Dr. M. Lebron (AO) Students
: Tiffany Borders, Eduardo De la Fuente Acosta, Ji-hyun Kang, Emily
Mercer, Mansi
Kasliwal
We propose to
observe the 18 cm (1665, 1667, 1612, and 1720 MHz), 6 cm (4765, 4751, and
4660 MHz) and 5 cm (6031, 6035, 6049, and 6017 MHz) OH maser lines toward
high-mass star-forming regions using the Arecibo Telescope L-band,
C-band and C-high receivers. The observations will use the
position-switched mode. In this project we will gain experience with the
standard AO spectral line observations technique, as well as data
calibration. We will also discuss the differences between the ground
state and excited OH maser lines. We will compare the measurements
with reported values from the literature (when available).
Variability in the 5 cm and 6 cm OH lines seems to be common, so we cannot
anticipate whether these lines will be detected. As a bonus in this
project we will try to include in the OH-line setup, the observations of
the methanol maser at 6.7 GHz and the formaldehyde line at 4.8 GHz.
Project Code: AO-4,
GBT-4 Title : HI
Emission in Extended Galaxies Advisors : Drs.
K. O'Neil (GBT) & C. J. Salter (AO) Students : Rik
Williams, Prasanth Nair, Stephen Redman,Maarten Baes (AO-4).
Sabrina
Stierwalt,
Sabina Sabatini, Cristy Bredeson,
Simona Toscano (GBT-4)
This project is
designed to demonstrate the fundamentals of spectral line observing. Two
different groups will observe the same galaxies using the GBT (one
group) and Arecibo (the 2nd group). Of the galaxies observed, a number
have HI emission known to extend beyond the Arecibo beam, while some do
not. The results from the two telescopes will be compared to
determine the extent of the sources. Beam maps of the Arecibo telescope
will also be made, as well as calibration (gain) measurements for
both telescopes. These will be used to both to calibrate the data
and to aid in understanding the results.
Project
Code: AO-5 (Canceled) Title
: Stalking the Cosmic 3-Helium Abundance Advisor
: Dr. T. Bania (BU)
We propose to
use Arecibo to derive He-3 abundances in Galactic planetary nebulae
(PNe). The cosmic abundance of the He-3 isotope has important
implications. He-3 can be used to test the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis; it
gives important limits on models of Galactic chemical evolution;
it can help constrain Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. We use the hyperfine
transition of He-3 at 8665 MHz to derive He-3 abundances in
Galactic H-II regions and PNe. We find a lack of substantial He-3
enrichment in the Milky Way interstellar medium which in turn means that
the bulk of solar mass stars do not return significant
quantities of He-3 to the ISM. This conclusion is based on a small (6 sources)
PNe sample which needs to be expanded. Arecibo's superior X-band
gain together with its ~30 arcsec beam (an excellent match to many
Galactic PN sizes) makes it the instrument of choice for this program.
Project Code: AO-6 Title :
Polarization calibration of the central-pixel of ALFA Advisor : Dr.
A. Deshpande (AO) Students :
Nikhil Jethava, Brian Kent, Claudia Cyganowski, Laura Kasian
This experiment
will involve full Stokes measurements on a (partially) polarized continuum
calibrator using the central pixel of ALFA. The facility to rotate
ALFA about its axis will be utilized to sample the variation in the
Stokes output as the relative feed angle changes over ± 90 degrees.
These measurements will be interpreted appropriately leading to estimates
of the on-axis polarization response of the feed, as well as of the
polarization properties of the astronomical source. The spectral
dependence of the relevant quantities will also be explored. The
hands-on experience here will include designing the experiment, actual
observations and interpretation of the measurements.
Project
Code: GBT-1 Title
: Searching for the second double-pulsar binary Advisor
: Dr. S. Ransom (NRAO) Students
: Steve Begin, Julia Deneva, Marta Burgay, James Sheckard
Recently, as
part of the early stages of the Pulsar ALFA surveys at Arecibo, the PALFA
consortium discovered a highly relativistic binary pulsar in orbit
around either a massive white dwarf or another neutron star. If the
companion is a neutron star, it seems likely that the discovered pulsar is
the second born neutron star in the system, and therefore the
original neutron star might still be visible as a pulsar. Another
"double-pulsar" system would be a fantastic discovery and would allow many
more tests of General Relativity. For this project we will
observe the new pulsar system for 3 hrs with the S-band receiver at the GBT
using the SPIGOT backend and then search the data for the "other"
pulsar.
Project
Code: GBT-2 Title
: OH Masers/Megamasers Advisors
: Dr. J. Braatz (GBT) Students
: Christopher Aneorve, Marta Cueto, Laura Gomez, Myriam
Cruz, Rachel
Osten
We will observe
OH maser systems in sources near and far using the GBT L-band receiver and
the spectrometer. A position-switching technique will be employed.
The observations are rather straightforward, so we will take the
opportunity to inspect the calibration in some detail. For example, we will
calculate the gain, system temperature and antenna temperature "by
hand" and then compare these results with the automated calibration
procedures available in the software. We will observe a Galactic
star-forming region, where OH emission is bright and easily detected. We will
then observe an ultraluminous infrared galaxy. These systems, which
produce bright IR emission associated with the collision of gas-rich
galaxies, also produce OH "megamasers". We will determine the isotropic
luminosities of the Galactic and extragalactic OH maser systems, and learn
why the extragalactic maser sources are prefixed by "mega."
Project
Code: GBT-3 Title
: Galactic HI in Absorption Advisors
: Drs. K. O'Neil, R. Maddlena (GBT) Students
: Samantha Lugo, Alyson Ford, Larry Morgan, Leonidas Dedes
Galactic
neutral hydrogen (HI) will be observed in absorption towards a strong continuum
source. By observing "off" positions at different places around the
continuum source you can elucidate the problem of determining exactly
what the "on-source on" spectrum really is. This will also allow the
student to determine the opacity and spin temperature of the
HI.
Project
Code: GBT-5 Title
: Molecules in nearby sources Advisor
: Dr. P. Jewell (GBT) Students
: Hyunjoo Kim, Marco Krco, Yvonne Tang, Stevens
Johnson
The HC3N
molecule will be observed in its J=1-0 transition at 9 GHz in a several different
sources, including star forming regions and evolved star outflows. Chemistry
and source kinematic differences will be determined, and the basics of
molecular spectroscopy in radio astronomy will be illustrated.
