Research Projects by Subject
Note:
If a research project is listed as having openings for more than one SIP intern,
it should be assumed that the interns are expected to work collaboratively on the
same project and/or data set. This may preclude rising seniors
from submitting papers based on such projects to the Intel Science Talent Search competition.
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Research Project Descriptions |
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AST-01
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Title:
How Supermassive Black Holes Grow
Primary mentor: Martin Gaskell
Location: UCSC main campus
Number of interns: 2
Project description:
Astronomers now believe that every large galaxy contains a supermassive black hole in its center. Because of the tremendous energy released as the black hole grows by swallowing gas, these black holes can be readily detected as so-called “active galactic nuclei” (AGNs) back to very early times in the Universe. The details of how supermassive black holes form and grow and how this is related to the formation of normal galaxies is one of the central mysteries of contemporary astrophysics. The mentor’s research group is analyzing spectra and spectral variability to try to understand how AGNs produce the intense radiation seen and how supermassive black holes grow.
Tasks:
SIP intern involvement in the project will consist of analyzing multi-wavelength spectral observations of relatively nearby actively accreting supermassive black holes to try to understand the emissions and how the black holes grow. This work will involve compiling data sets, applying corrections, making statistical estimates of parameters, and comparing the results with theoretical models of how black holes grow. The aim is to present the results at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society and publish them in a paper in a major international journal.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None
Skills intern(s) will acquire/hone: Statistical data analysis
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AST-02
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Title:
Galaxies and Dark Matter – I
Primary mentor: Christoph Lee
Other mentors: ,
Location: ISB, UCSC Main Campus
Number of interns: 2
Project description:
Several research projects are available studying galaxy formation and evolution and the properties of the dark matter halos in which galaxies form. The mentors’ research group is providing theoretical support for CANDELS, the largest-ever Hubble Space Telescope (HST) program. The group is doing a large suite of high-resolution galaxy formation simulations and comparing them with HST and ground-based telescope observations in order to determine how galaxies evolve. The group’s simulated galaxies are often elongated and clumpy in the early universe, and the group is determining why this is the case and to what extent these features agree with the observations. The group is also measuring the velocities of the stars and gas in the simulations and comparing to observations. The group has also run the most accurate simulations of the Universe on large scales, and is studying how the features of the dark matter halos that host galaxies correlate with other properties of the halos such as their mass, internal structure, shapes, spins, and location within the cosmic web.
Tasks:
SIP interns will help the mentors’ research group: (1) analyze observations of galaxies and compare them with the simulations, or (2) analyze how the properties of dark matter halos in the group’s cosmological simulations correlate with each other and with their locations within the cosmic web. SIP interns who work on this project will have access to powerful computers and to the group’s 3D Astronomical Visualization Lab.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer programming
Skills intern(s) will acquire/hone: Computer programming; statistical data analysis
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AST-03
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Title:
Galaxies and Dark Matter – II
Primary mentor: Dr. Aldo Rodriguez
Other mentors: ,
Location: ISB, UCSC main campus
Number of interns: 1
Project description:
Several research projects are available studying galaxy formation and evolution and the properties of the dark matter halos in which galaxies form. The mentors’ research group has run the most accurate simulations of the Universe on large scales, and the group is studying how the features of the dark matter halos that host galaxies correlate with other properties of the halos such as their mass, internal structure, shapes, spins, and location within the cosmic web. The group is providing theoretical support for CANDELS, the largest-ever Hubble Space Telescope (HST) program. Using halo occupational models for connecting galaxies to dark matter halos and data with HST and ground-based telescope observations, the group is determining how galaxies evolve across the cosmic time.
Tasks:
The SIP intern will help the mentors’ group: (1) analyze how the properties of dark matter halos in the cosmological simulations correlate with each other and with their locations within the cosmic web, or (2) improve existing halo occupational models in order to constrain how galaxies evolve. The intern who works on this project will have access to powerful computers and to the group’s 3D Astronomical Visualization Lab.
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer programming; statistical data analysis
Skills intern(s) will acquire/hone: Computer programming; statistical data analysis
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AST-04
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Title:
Exotic Molecules in Exoplanet Atmospheres
Primary mentor: Caroline Morley
Other mentors:
Location: UCSC main campus
Number of interns: 2
Project description:
The mentors’ research group works to understand exoplanets (planets around stars other than the Sun). One of the ways one can learn about exoplanets is by simulating their spectra; the group calculates using computer simulations what a planet of a given composition and temperature will look like. One can then compare these modeled spectra to observations of a particular planet. This analysis can be used to figure out what planets are made of, how warm they are, and other parameters. Right now the group mostly studies giant planets like Jupiter and Neptune, but in the future these techniques will be used to study object like our own Earth! The SIP interns this summer will investigate the importance of exotic molecules in exoplanet atmospheres. It is already known that one can detect very abundant molecules like water and methane. Can “weird” molecules like hydrogen sulfide, benzene, and phosphine also be detected? Using a combination of existing modeling tools and their own analysis, the interns will determine which exotic species can be detected, and at what wavelengths. They will also figure out whether other scientists who have ignored these molecules have inaccurately inferred properties of the planets they have studied.
Tasks:
(see above)
Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer programming; statistical data analysis
Skills intern(s) will acquire/hone: Computer programming; statistical data analysis
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Research Project Descriptions |
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AST-05
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Title:
Looking for Extended Wind Emission in Very Distant Galaxies
Primary mentor: Hassen Yesuf
Other mentors:
Location: ISB, UCSC main campus
Number of interns: 2
Project description:
Gas accretion onto galaxies and its ejection by galactic winds are two important processes in shaping the properties of galaxies but they are still poorly understood (read: http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.6405 for background information). Last summer, this mentor supervised two SIP interns who worked on developing a python script to combine hundreds of 2D galaxy spectra to achieve better signal-to-noise. The aim of the project was to look for faint wind signatures at the outskirts of galaxies. The mentor is now seeking two interns with computer programing experience who will work together on the next phase of this research project.
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