Research Experiences for Undergraduates
Summer 2013

Vanderbilt University
Physics & Astronomy

Research Projects: Astrophysics

Galaxies and Dark Matter Halos
(Prof. Andreas Berlind)
We will study the properties of galaxies and galaxy groups/clusters in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and connect them to the properties of dark matter halos. The goal is to constrain galaxy formation physics as well as cosmological parameters. Projects available for REU students will include analyzing SDSS data to measure galaxy clustering, as well as data from large cosmological N-body simulations to study dark matter halos.

Computational Simulations of Black Hole Formation
(Prof. Kelly Holley-Bockelmann)
We will use high resolution N-body simulations and numerical models to understand how black holes grow within galaxies. Projects for REU students will include calculating the gravitational wave signal from merging supermassive black holes, modeling black holes in triaxial galaxies, and studying the effect of isolation on black hole growth.

Star Formation and Extrasolar Planets
(Prof. Keivan Stassun)
The Stassun group is conducting observational studies to understand the birth of stars and to search for planets around other stars. The star formation research includes time-series photometric studies of young stars in a variety of star-forming regions in order to characterize the evolution of the stars' angular momenta and also to search for eclipsing binary stars with which to measure the fundamental properties of newly formed stars. The exoplanets research includes searches for signals of "transiting" planets through the examination of data streaming from Vanderbilt's Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) in South Africa as well as radial-velocity data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's MARVELS project. An observing run in Chile is possible. A related set of projects involves SLoWPoKeS for discovery and analysis of extremely wide binary star systems both as sites of possible exoplanet formation and also as probes of stellar evolution and galactic structure.

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