Astronomy Department Colloquia

Colloquia and PhD Talks Schedule Summer 2014

May 12 3 PM	Qualifying Exam/2nd Year Defense "Outflows and Chemical Enrichment from Clustered Supernovae in the First Galaxies" abstract Jeremy Ritter University of Texas at Austin Qualifying Exam Committee Meeting follows at 4 PM in RLM 15.216A
May 13 2 PM	Qualifying Exam/2nd Year Defense "The Lyman-alpha Signature of the First Galaxies" abstract Aaron Smith University of Texas at Austin Qualifying Exam Committee Meeting follows at 3 PM in RLM 15.216A
May 14 2 PM	Qualifying Exam/2nd Year Defense "Formation of Massive Star Clusters - an Application of Monte Carlo Radiation Hydrodynamics" abstract Tsz Ho (Benny) Tsang University of Texas at Austin Qualifying Exam Committee Meeting follows at 3 PM in RLM 15.202A
May 22 3:30 PM	Special Seminar "Fragmentation in Primordial Gas: Improving H2 Cooling and Self-Shielding" abstract Tilman Hartwig University of Heidelberg, Germany (host: Volker Bromm)
June 10 3 PM	Special Visiting Speaker Presentation (visiting: 7-14 June 2014) "Pre-supernova Convection in Massive Stars" abstract Manos Chatzopoulos University of Chicago host: Crag Wheeler
July 10 11 AM	PhD Defense Presentation "Creating and Measuring White Dwarf Photospheres in a Terrestrial Laboratory" abstract Ross Falcon University of Texas at Austin PhD Committee Meeting follows at 12 Noon in RLM 15.216A
July 10 3 PM	PhD Defense Presentation "Study of Galactic Clumps with Millimeter/Submillimeter Continuum and Molecular Emission: Early Stages of Massive Star Formation" Although massive stars play a key role in the evolution of the Galaxy, their formation process still under debate. Diverse studies show that massive stars are formed in distant, higly-dense regions of giant molecular clouds. These star-forming clumps (~few parsecs) are bound regions that form stellar clusters, and an important step in the observational study of massive star formation is the identification and characterization of clumps, and how they fragment into individual star-forming cores (subparsec scale). In this dissertation talk, I present a study of dense clumps and their substructures. For a large sample of clump-like sources from the Bolocam Galactic Plane Survey, I obtained continuum maps at 350 um at a resolution of 8.5'' using the Submillimeter High Angular Resolution Camera II (SHARC-II). I estimated clump properties such as temperatures and multiplicity of substructures, and compared my results with continuum observations at 350 microns from the Hi-GAL survey at lower resolution (28''). I also present a detailed analysis, using molecular line and dust continuum observations, of the region G331.5-0.1, one of the most luminous regions of massive star formation in the Milky Way, and the discovery of one of the most energetic and luminous molecular outflows known in the Galaxy, G331.512-0.103. For this high-speed outflow, I present ALMA observations that reveal a very compact, extremely young bipolar outflow and a more symmetric outflowing shocked shell surrounding a very small region of ionized gas. The source is one of the youngest examples of massive molecular outflows associated with the formation of a high-mass star. close Manuel Merello University of Texas at Austin PhD Committee Meeting follows at 4 PM in RLM 15.216A
July 11 11 AM	PhD Defense Presentation "Simulating the Formation, Properties, and Impact of Stellar Systems in the First Galaxies" abstract Chalence Safranek-Shrader University of Texas at Austin PhD Committee Meeting follows at 12 Noon in RLM 15.216A
Aug 8 2 PM	Special Presentation "The Violent Early Lives of Stars and Planets" abstract Joel Green University of Texas at Austin
Aug 11 11 AM	PhD Defense Presentation "The Chemical Abundances of Stars in the Halo" Julie Hollek University of Texas at Austin PhD Committee Meeting follows at 12 Noon in RLM 15.202A
Aug 14 2 PM	PhD Defense Presentation "Radiation Hydrodynamics and Simulations of Astrophysical Phenomena" Chris Lindner University of Texas at Austin PhD Committee Meeting follows at 4 PM in RLM 15.202A