Claire Max - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Claire Max

Research paper thumbnail of 4. Title and Subtitle

OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information estimated to average... more OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for review instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of

Research paper thumbnail of Giant Flares and Nonthermal Activity in the Crab Nebula

Research paper thumbnail of Mechanisms of the plasma spatial filter for high‐power lasers

Applied Physics Letters, 1976

We describe mechanisms operating in the plasma spatial filter. Curvature of the critical density ... more We describe mechanisms operating in the plasma spatial filter. Curvature of the critical density surface of the blow-off plasma causes high and intermediate spatial frequencies on the incoming laser beam to be rejected. In addition, time-dependent plasma motions result in the masking of high spatial frequency information on a time-integrated near-field photograph of the beam. Effects on the spectrum of

Research paper thumbnail of Observations of Parametric Instabilities in Long Scalelength Plasmas

Laser Interaction and Related Plasma Phenomena, 1984

This is a preprint of i paper intended for publication in a journal or proceedings. Since changes... more This is a preprint of i paper intended for publication in a journal or proceedings. Since changes may be made before publication, this preprint is made available with the un derstanding that it will not be cited or reproduced without the permission of the author. DISCLAIMER This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States ZZrt. wZrfa United States Government nor any agency Hereof, nor any of to S?JL any warranty, express or implied, or assumes an, legal "**.«»-»«-; SL accuracy, completeness, o, usefulness of any informal. apparaW, product, or herein to any sp«iiic commercial prtfucl. p^cess, or sendee ^^T^^ .uan.fac.urer. or otherwise does not necessarily console or unply flJ"*™*JZs mendaUon, or favoring by the United Slates Government or any agency *"**!•" L opinions of authors expressed he™, do not necesanly state or reflect those of tie United States Government or any agency thereof. wawanf*" 8 " 1 IS BHUKWIB UCRL-0C055 DCP3 0flnp,o7 OBSERVATIONS OF PARAMETRIC INSTABILITIES

Research paper thumbnail of NIR Imaging of ULIRGs and QSOs with Outflow Signatures

Research paper thumbnail of The Planetary Systems Imager for TMT: overview and status

Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IX

Research paper thumbnail of Can We See Double Quasars and Kicked Black Holes in Distant Galaxies

Research paper thumbnail of Reconstructing Merger Timelines Using Star Cluster Age Distributions: The Case of MCG+08-11-002

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2016

We present near-infrared imaging and integral field spectroscopy of the centre of the dusty lumin... more We present near-infrared imaging and integral field spectroscopy of the centre of the dusty luminous infrared galaxy merger MCG+08-11-002, taken using the Near InfraRed Camera 2 (NIRC2) and the OH-Suppressing InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (OSIRIS) on Keck II. We achieve a spatial resolution of ∼25 pc in the K band, allowing us to resolve 41 star clusters in the NIRC2 images. We calculate the ages of 22/25 star clusters within the OSIRIS field using the equivalent widths of the CO 2.3 µm absorption feature and the Br γ nebular emission line. The star cluster age distribution has a clear peak at ages 20 Myr, indicative of current starburst activity associated with the final coalescence of the progenitor galaxies. There is a possible second peak at ∼65 Myr which may be a product of the previous close passage of the galaxy nuclei. We fit single and double starburst models to the star cluster age distribution and use Monte Carlo sampling combined with two-sided Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests to calculate the probability that the observed data are drawn from each of the best-fitting distributions. There is a >90 per cent chance that the data are drawn from either a single or double starburst star formation history, but stochastic sampling prevents us from distinguishing between the two scenarios. Our analysis of MCG+08-11-002 indicates that star cluster age distributions provide valuable insights into the timelines of galaxy interactions and may therefore play an important role in the future development of precise merger stage classification systems.

Research paper thumbnail of Advanced accelerators

Research paper thumbnail of The altitude of Neptune cloud features from high-spatial-resolution near-infrared spectra

Icarus, 2003

We report on observations of Neptune from the 10-meter W.M. Keck II Telescope on June 17-18 (UT) ... more We report on observations of Neptune from the 10-meter W.M. Keck II Telescope on June 17-18 (UT) 2000 and August 2-3 (UT) 2002 using the adaptive optics (AO) system to obtain a spatial resolution of 0.06 arcseconds. With this spatial resolution we can obtain spectra of individual bright features on the disk of Neptune in a filter centered near 2 microns. The use of a gas-only, simple reflecting layer radiative transfer model allows us to estimate the best fit altitudes of 18 bright features seen on these 4 nights and to set a constraint on the fraction of hydrogen in ortho/para equilibrium. On these nights there were three main types of features observed: northern hemisphere features in the range from +30 to −45 degrees; southern hemisphere features in the range from −30 to −50 degrees; and small southern features at −70 degrees. We find that the altitudes of the northern features are in the range from 0.023-0.064 bar, which places them in Neptune's stratosphere. Southern features at −30 to −50 degrees are mainly at altitudes from 0.10 to 0.14 bars. The small features at −70 degrees are somewhat deeper in the upper troposphere, at 0.17 and 0.27 bars. This pattern of features located at higher altitudes in the northern hemisphere and lower altitudes in the south has also been noted by previous observers. The best fits for all the observed spectra give a value of 1.0 for the fraction of hydrogen in ortho/para equilibrium; the value of the helium fraction is less well constrained by the data at 0.24. We suggest that the southern mid-latitude features are methane haze circulated up from below, while the −70 • features may be isolated areas of upwelling in a general area of subsidence. Northern bright features may be due to subsidence of stratospheric haze material rather than upwelling and condensation of methane gas. We suggest that convection efficiently transports methane ice clouds to the tropopause in the Southern mid latitudes and thus plays a key role in the stratospheric haze production cycle.

Research paper thumbnail of Merger NGC 6240

We have obtained a deep, sub-arcsecond resolution X-ray image of the nuclear region of the lumino... more We have obtained a deep, sub-arcsecond resolution X-ray image of the nuclear region of the luminous galaxy merger NGC 6240 with Chandra, which resolves the X-ray emission from the pair of active nuclei and the diffuse hot gas in great detail. We detect extended hard X-ray emission from kT ∼ 6 keV (∼70 million K) hot gas over a spatial scale of 5 kpc, indicating the presence of fast shocks with velocity of ∼2200 km s −1. For the first time we obtain the spatial distribution of this highly ionized gas emitting Fe XXV, which shows a remarkable correspondence to the large scale morphology of H 2 (1-0) S(1) line emission and Hα filaments. Propagation of fast shocks originated in the starburst driven wind into the ambient dense gas can account for this morphological correspondence. With an observed L 0.5−8keV = 5.3 × 10 41 erg s −1 , the diffuse hard X-ray emission is ∼100 times more luminous than that observed in the classic starburst galaxy

Research paper thumbnail of 3 Chandra, Keck and VLA Observations of the Crab Nebula during the 2011-April Gamma-ray Flare

We present results from our analysis of Chandra X-ray Observatory, W. M. Keck Observatory, and Ka... more We present results from our analysis of Chandra X-ray Observatory, W. M. Keck Observatory, and Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) images of the Crab Nebula that were contemporaneous with the γ-ray flare of 2011 April. Despite hints in the X-ray data, we find no evidence for statistically significant variations that pinpoint the specific location of the flares within the Nebula. The Keck observations extend this conclusion to the "inner knot", i.e., the feature within an arcsecond of the pulsar. The VLA observations support this conclusion. We also discuss theoretical implications of the γ-ray flares and suggest that the most dramatic γ-ray flares are due to radiation-reaction-limited synchrotron emission associated with sudden, dissipative changes in the current system sustained by the central pulsar.

Research paper thumbnail of Can We See Double AGNs in Distant Galaxies

Research paper thumbnail of Adaptive Optics and Laser Guide Stars for Astronomy and Medical Applications

Research paper thumbnail of Optical-scattering measurements from 1. 06-. mu. m, 0. 53-. mu. m, and 0. 35-. mu. m laser-heated disk targets

Research paper thumbnail of Plasma flows in the conduction region of a spherical laser target

Research paper thumbnail of ARGUS disk-target experiments at 1.06 micrometer, 0.53 micrometer and 0.35 micrometer

Research paper thumbnail of Optical-scattering measurements from 1.06-micron, 0.53-micron, and 0.35-micron laser-heated disk targets

Research paper thumbnail of Unveiling the Hearts of Major Mergers with Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics

Major mergers are thought to be an important stage of galaxy evolution, and in gas-rich galaxies ... more Major mergers are thought to be an important stage of galaxy evolution, and in gas-rich galaxies can instigate intense star formation and nuclear activity. Much of this activity goes on in the inner kiloparsec, which has been difficult to study due to resolution and extinction concerns. We present < 0.1"-resolution near-infrared integral field spectroscopy of the nuclear regions of nearby (U)LIRGs in late stages of merging. Our observations were taken with the OSIRIS spectrograph on the Keck II telescope, with laser guide star adaptive optics, and provide stellar and gas kinematics on scales of ~20-80 pc. In our sample, we find nuclear disks of stars and/or gas on scales of a few hundred parsecs around one or both nuclei in all nine of the merging systems observed. Binary black hole merger simulations suggest that the presence of these nuclear disks may be important for angular momentum loss and final coalescence. By studying the kinematics of these nuclear disks, we can als...

Research paper thumbnail of Polarization-dependent absorption of laser radiation incident on dense-plasma planar targets

Physical Review Letters, 1977

Polarization-dependent absorption of obliquely incident laser radiation by dense plasmas has been... more Polarization-dependent absorption of obliquely incident laser radiation by dense plasmas has been observed. Irradiation of a planar plasma with a nearly collimated ppp-polarized laser beam shows an enhancement in absorption by a factor of 2 to 2.5 over sss-polarized irradiation. Theoretical estimates of the effect of resonance absorption under the present conditions show agreemwnt with the experimentally observed results.

Research paper thumbnail of 4. Title and Subtitle

OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information estimated to average... more OMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for this collection of information estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for review instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of

Research paper thumbnail of Giant Flares and Nonthermal Activity in the Crab Nebula

Research paper thumbnail of Mechanisms of the plasma spatial filter for high‐power lasers

Applied Physics Letters, 1976

We describe mechanisms operating in the plasma spatial filter. Curvature of the critical density ... more We describe mechanisms operating in the plasma spatial filter. Curvature of the critical density surface of the blow-off plasma causes high and intermediate spatial frequencies on the incoming laser beam to be rejected. In addition, time-dependent plasma motions result in the masking of high spatial frequency information on a time-integrated near-field photograph of the beam. Effects on the spectrum of

Research paper thumbnail of Observations of Parametric Instabilities in Long Scalelength Plasmas

Laser Interaction and Related Plasma Phenomena, 1984

This is a preprint of i paper intended for publication in a journal or proceedings. Since changes... more This is a preprint of i paper intended for publication in a journal or proceedings. Since changes may be made before publication, this preprint is made available with the un derstanding that it will not be cited or reproduced without the permission of the author. DISCLAIMER This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States ZZrt. wZrfa United States Government nor any agency Hereof, nor any of to S?JL any warranty, express or implied, or assumes an, legal "**.«»-»«-; SL accuracy, completeness, o, usefulness of any informal. apparaW, product, or herein to any sp«iiic commercial prtfucl. p^cess, or sendee ^^T^^ .uan.fac.urer. or otherwise does not necessarily console or unply flJ"*™*JZs mendaUon, or favoring by the United Slates Government or any agency *"**!•" L opinions of authors expressed he™, do not necesanly state or reflect those of tie United States Government or any agency thereof. wawanf*" 8 " 1 IS BHUKWIB UCRL-0C055 DCP3 0flnp,o7 OBSERVATIONS OF PARAMETRIC INSTABILITIES

Research paper thumbnail of NIR Imaging of ULIRGs and QSOs with Outflow Signatures

Research paper thumbnail of The Planetary Systems Imager for TMT: overview and status

Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy IX

Research paper thumbnail of Can We See Double Quasars and Kicked Black Holes in Distant Galaxies

Research paper thumbnail of Reconstructing Merger Timelines Using Star Cluster Age Distributions: The Case of MCG+08-11-002

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2016

We present near-infrared imaging and integral field spectroscopy of the centre of the dusty lumin... more We present near-infrared imaging and integral field spectroscopy of the centre of the dusty luminous infrared galaxy merger MCG+08-11-002, taken using the Near InfraRed Camera 2 (NIRC2) and the OH-Suppressing InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (OSIRIS) on Keck II. We achieve a spatial resolution of ∼25 pc in the K band, allowing us to resolve 41 star clusters in the NIRC2 images. We calculate the ages of 22/25 star clusters within the OSIRIS field using the equivalent widths of the CO 2.3 µm absorption feature and the Br γ nebular emission line. The star cluster age distribution has a clear peak at ages 20 Myr, indicative of current starburst activity associated with the final coalescence of the progenitor galaxies. There is a possible second peak at ∼65 Myr which may be a product of the previous close passage of the galaxy nuclei. We fit single and double starburst models to the star cluster age distribution and use Monte Carlo sampling combined with two-sided Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests to calculate the probability that the observed data are drawn from each of the best-fitting distributions. There is a >90 per cent chance that the data are drawn from either a single or double starburst star formation history, but stochastic sampling prevents us from distinguishing between the two scenarios. Our analysis of MCG+08-11-002 indicates that star cluster age distributions provide valuable insights into the timelines of galaxy interactions and may therefore play an important role in the future development of precise merger stage classification systems.

Research paper thumbnail of Advanced accelerators

Research paper thumbnail of The altitude of Neptune cloud features from high-spatial-resolution near-infrared spectra

Icarus, 2003

We report on observations of Neptune from the 10-meter W.M. Keck II Telescope on June 17-18 (UT) ... more We report on observations of Neptune from the 10-meter W.M. Keck II Telescope on June 17-18 (UT) 2000 and August 2-3 (UT) 2002 using the adaptive optics (AO) system to obtain a spatial resolution of 0.06 arcseconds. With this spatial resolution we can obtain spectra of individual bright features on the disk of Neptune in a filter centered near 2 microns. The use of a gas-only, simple reflecting layer radiative transfer model allows us to estimate the best fit altitudes of 18 bright features seen on these 4 nights and to set a constraint on the fraction of hydrogen in ortho/para equilibrium. On these nights there were three main types of features observed: northern hemisphere features in the range from +30 to −45 degrees; southern hemisphere features in the range from −30 to −50 degrees; and small southern features at −70 degrees. We find that the altitudes of the northern features are in the range from 0.023-0.064 bar, which places them in Neptune's stratosphere. Southern features at −30 to −50 degrees are mainly at altitudes from 0.10 to 0.14 bars. The small features at −70 degrees are somewhat deeper in the upper troposphere, at 0.17 and 0.27 bars. This pattern of features located at higher altitudes in the northern hemisphere and lower altitudes in the south has also been noted by previous observers. The best fits for all the observed spectra give a value of 1.0 for the fraction of hydrogen in ortho/para equilibrium; the value of the helium fraction is less well constrained by the data at 0.24. We suggest that the southern mid-latitude features are methane haze circulated up from below, while the −70 • features may be isolated areas of upwelling in a general area of subsidence. Northern bright features may be due to subsidence of stratospheric haze material rather than upwelling and condensation of methane gas. We suggest that convection efficiently transports methane ice clouds to the tropopause in the Southern mid latitudes and thus plays a key role in the stratospheric haze production cycle.

Research paper thumbnail of Merger NGC 6240

We have obtained a deep, sub-arcsecond resolution X-ray image of the nuclear region of the lumino... more We have obtained a deep, sub-arcsecond resolution X-ray image of the nuclear region of the luminous galaxy merger NGC 6240 with Chandra, which resolves the X-ray emission from the pair of active nuclei and the diffuse hot gas in great detail. We detect extended hard X-ray emission from kT ∼ 6 keV (∼70 million K) hot gas over a spatial scale of 5 kpc, indicating the presence of fast shocks with velocity of ∼2200 km s −1. For the first time we obtain the spatial distribution of this highly ionized gas emitting Fe XXV, which shows a remarkable correspondence to the large scale morphology of H 2 (1-0) S(1) line emission and Hα filaments. Propagation of fast shocks originated in the starburst driven wind into the ambient dense gas can account for this morphological correspondence. With an observed L 0.5−8keV = 5.3 × 10 41 erg s −1 , the diffuse hard X-ray emission is ∼100 times more luminous than that observed in the classic starburst galaxy

Research paper thumbnail of 3 Chandra, Keck and VLA Observations of the Crab Nebula during the 2011-April Gamma-ray Flare

We present results from our analysis of Chandra X-ray Observatory, W. M. Keck Observatory, and Ka... more We present results from our analysis of Chandra X-ray Observatory, W. M. Keck Observatory, and Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) images of the Crab Nebula that were contemporaneous with the γ-ray flare of 2011 April. Despite hints in the X-ray data, we find no evidence for statistically significant variations that pinpoint the specific location of the flares within the Nebula. The Keck observations extend this conclusion to the "inner knot", i.e., the feature within an arcsecond of the pulsar. The VLA observations support this conclusion. We also discuss theoretical implications of the γ-ray flares and suggest that the most dramatic γ-ray flares are due to radiation-reaction-limited synchrotron emission associated with sudden, dissipative changes in the current system sustained by the central pulsar.

Research paper thumbnail of Can We See Double AGNs in Distant Galaxies

Research paper thumbnail of Adaptive Optics and Laser Guide Stars for Astronomy and Medical Applications

Research paper thumbnail of Optical-scattering measurements from 1. 06-. mu. m, 0. 53-. mu. m, and 0. 35-. mu. m laser-heated disk targets

Research paper thumbnail of Plasma flows in the conduction region of a spherical laser target

Research paper thumbnail of ARGUS disk-target experiments at 1.06 micrometer, 0.53 micrometer and 0.35 micrometer

Research paper thumbnail of Optical-scattering measurements from 1.06-micron, 0.53-micron, and 0.35-micron laser-heated disk targets

Research paper thumbnail of Unveiling the Hearts of Major Mergers with Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics

Major mergers are thought to be an important stage of galaxy evolution, and in gas-rich galaxies ... more Major mergers are thought to be an important stage of galaxy evolution, and in gas-rich galaxies can instigate intense star formation and nuclear activity. Much of this activity goes on in the inner kiloparsec, which has been difficult to study due to resolution and extinction concerns. We present < 0.1"-resolution near-infrared integral field spectroscopy of the nuclear regions of nearby (U)LIRGs in late stages of merging. Our observations were taken with the OSIRIS spectrograph on the Keck II telescope, with laser guide star adaptive optics, and provide stellar and gas kinematics on scales of ~20-80 pc. In our sample, we find nuclear disks of stars and/or gas on scales of a few hundred parsecs around one or both nuclei in all nine of the merging systems observed. Binary black hole merger simulations suggest that the presence of these nuclear disks may be important for angular momentum loss and final coalescence. By studying the kinematics of these nuclear disks, we can als...

Research paper thumbnail of Polarization-dependent absorption of laser radiation incident on dense-plasma planar targets

Physical Review Letters, 1977

Polarization-dependent absorption of obliquely incident laser radiation by dense plasmas has been... more Polarization-dependent absorption of obliquely incident laser radiation by dense plasmas has been observed. Irradiation of a planar plasma with a nearly collimated ppp-polarized laser beam shows an enhancement in absorption by a factor of 2 to 2.5 over sss-polarized irradiation. Theoretical estimates of the effect of resonance absorption under the present conditions show agreemwnt with the experimentally observed results.