| Title |
Scope |
Type |
Summary |
|
The first project examines the implications of strong magnetic fields
for white dwarf stars.
|
| Structure of Magnetized White Dwarfs |
M/D |
TC |
A natural extension of my work with neutron-star envelopes and
atmospheres is the determination of the structure of strongly
magnetized white dwarfs. Some questions that need to be answered include:
-
How does a strong magnetic field affect the structure of a white
dwarf?
-
Does the strong magnetic field cause the temperature of the
surface to vary?
- Is the emission from the surface polarized?
|
|
These next three projects focus on young neutron stars.
|
| Old AXPs |
U |
P |
How do AXPs die? Do they go out with a burst (lots of them as in
the soft-gamma repeaters) or do they fade away? What does the
relative numbers of AXPs and SGRs tell us about the connection between
these populations?
|
|
These next two projects focus on Type-I X-ray bursts.
|
| Nucleosynthesis in X-ray Bursts? |
U/M |
P,TA |
|
| Oscillations in Type-I X-ray Bursts |
U/M |
P |
|
|
Although these next projects are connected intimately with the previous three,
they each have a much larger scope.
|
| Neutron-Star Seismology |
M/D |
TC/TA |
|
| Hydrodynamic Modelling of X-ray Bursts |
D |
TC |
|
| Stability of Nuclear Burning on White Dwarfs |
M/D |
TC/TA |
|
|
This project has to do with axions, plasmas and strong magnetic fields.
|
| Axions in the Double Pulsar |
U/M |
TC/TA |
|
|
These projects have to do with more fundamental physics but there are a variety of applications for compact objects.
|
| Effective Action of Flux Tubes in Neutron Stars |
M/D |
TC/TA |
This builds on calculation by my former doctoral student, Dan Mazur. |
| Strong Magnetized Atoms |
U/M |
TC |
My former doctoral student, Anand Thirumalai, developed a versitile atomic structure program. The project would be use this software to perform calculations for
large atoms that may be present in neutron-star and white-dwarf atmospheres. |
| Reconnection in Strongly Magnetized Plasmas |
U/M/D |
TC/TA |
My former doctoral student, Ramandeep Gill, examined several possible triggers for soft-gamma repeater bursts. The project would be develop a plasma physics simulation of reconnection in magnetar magnetospheres. |
The project types denote what type of project it is. O is
mainly observational. Because I don't have any pending proposals
right now, this means the analysis of existing observations rather
than going to the telescope. P denotes phenomenological.
These projects are focussed on the interpretation of observations and
predictions of future observations. The T, theoretical,
projects examine various issues from the perspective of the physical
processes, rather than to answer a specific observational question.
These projects hopefully can make observational predictions, but this
is gravy. C says that the project will probably be rather
computational, while A indicates that significant progress may
be possible with an analytic treatment.
If you don't see anything that interests you, let me know as we could
probably come up with something together.
