Recent Results from CARMA

The Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA) is a heterogeneous array of 23 telescopes designed to operate in the 1 cm, 3 mm, and 1 mm atmospheric windows. The array is a merger of the eight 3.5 m antennas from the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich Array, the nine 6.1 m antennas from the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland array, and the six 10.4 m antennas from the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO). As a signature of Tom Phillips’ legacy, three of the CARMA antennas are from the original 3-element OVRO interferometer built under Tom’s leadership in the early 1980’s. Recent CARMA results are presented on the structure of circumstellar disks and the molecular gas distribution in M 51

Large-Scale Asymmetries in the Transitional Disks of SAO 206462 and SR 21

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations in the dust continuum (690 GHz, 0.45 mm) and 12CO J=6-5 spectral line emission, of the transitional disks surrounding the stars SAO 206462 and SR 21. These ALMA observations resolve the dust-depleted disk cavities and extended gaseous disks, revealing large-scale asymmetries in the dust emission of both disks. We modeled these disks structures with a ring and an azimuthal gaussian, where the azimuthal gaussian is motivated by the steady-state vortex solution from Lyra & Lin (2013). Compared to recent observations of HD 142527, Oph IRS 48, and LkHa 330, these are low-contrast (< 2) asymmetries. Nevertheless, a ring alone is not a good fit, and the addition of a vortex prescription describes these data much better. The asymmetric component encompasses 15% and 28% of the total disk emission in SAO 206462 and SR 21 respectively, which corresponds to a lower limit of 2 MJup of material within the asymmetry for both disks. Although the contrast in the dust asymmetry is low, we find that the turbulent velocity inside it must be large (~20% of the sound speed) in order to drive these azimuthally wide and radially narrow vortex-like structures. We obtain residuals from the ring and vortex fitting that are still significant, tracing non-axisymmetric emission in both disks. We compared these submillimeter observations with recently published H-band scattered light observations. For SR 21 the scattered light emission is distributed quite differently from the submillimeter continuum emission, while for SAO 206462 the submillimeter residuals are suggestive of spiral-like structure similar to the near-IR emission.Comment: ApJL, in press. 6 pages, 3 figures, 2 table

Searching for circumplanetary disks around LkCa 15

We present Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) observations of the 7 mm continuum emission from the disk surrounding the young star LkCa 15. The observations achieve an angular resolution of 70 mas and spatially resolve the circumstellar emission on a spatial scale of 9 AU. The continuum emission traces a dusty annulus of 45 AU in radius that is consistent with the dust morphology observed at shorter wavelengths. The VLA observations also reveal a compact source at the center of the disk, possibly due to thermal emission from hot dust or ionized gas located within a few AU from the central star. No emission is observed between the star and the dusty ring, and, in particular, at the position of the candidate protoplanet LkCa 15 b. By comparing the observations with theoretical models for circumplanetary disk emission, we find that if LkCa~15~b is a massive planet (>5 M_J) accreting at a rate greater than 1.e-6 M_J yr^{-1}, then its circumplanetary disk is less massive than 0.1 M_J, or smaller than 0.4 Hill radii. Similar constraints are derived for any possible circumplanetary disk orbiting within 45 AU from the central star. The mass estimate are uncertain by at least one order of magnitude due to the uncertainties on the mass opacity. Future ALMA observations of this system might be able to detect circumplanetary disks down to a mass of 5.e-4 M_J and as small as 0.2 AU, providing crucial constraints on the presence of giant planets in the act of forming around this young star.Comment: Accepted for publication on Ap

Idomeneo, April 18-21, 2003

This is the concert program of the Boston University Opera Institute and Boston University Chamber Orchestra performance of Idomeneo with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and libretto by Giambattista Varesco, running Friday, April 18 - Monday, April 21, 2003 at the Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

Teen Magazines and Parents: Their Impacts on Adolescent Female Sexual Scripts and Contraception

This literature review examines how magazines and parents portray cultural ideas about sex, how girls use these ideas to understand their own sexuality, and how these ideas impact their contraceptive use in interpersonal relationships. Simon and Gagnon’s Sexual Script Theory is used as a theoretical framework to explain these three levels of sexual scripts: cultural, interpersonal and personal. American teen magazines and parents are compared with their Western European counterparts to illustrate how cultural presentation of sex impacts contraceptive use. In the United States, where there were 41.5 births per 1,000 to girls aged 15-19 in 2008, sex is portrayed as a guilt-producing activity. Similarly, contraceptive use is seen as burdensome. Conversely, in Germany the birth rate in 2008 was 9.8 per 1,000 and 5.2 per 1,000 in the Netherlands. These significantly lower birth rates are explained by the presentation of sex as pleasurable, as well as high acceptance of contraceptive use. While a national change in the presentation of teenage sex is impossible, increased discussion of contraceptive use in the United States could help remove the stigma, thereby decreasing both sexually transmitted disease and pregnancy rates among teenagers

Funeral Practices in Upper Northeast Adams

In 1994 in upper north-east Adams county, local people relate thoughts of death with advanced age, hospitals, and nursing homes. Occasionally, there is an accident or irreversible medical problem involving a younger person. These infrequent occurrences receive much attention from the community. Widespread fear of infant mortality is not manifest. However, in this same area, from colonial times until about 1920 death occurred in a more widely dispersed fashion: far from being merely the prospect of the elderly, death\u27s inevitability was the unseen companion of young and old alike. Death could occur at random. Mortality was a distinct possibility for every child. The cultural effects of the ensuing, profoundly different perspective are evidenced in the area\u27s music, art, and folk beliefs. [excerpt

La Clemenza di Tito, April 18-21, 2013

This is the concert program of the La Clemenza di Tito performance on Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 8:00 p.m., at the Boston University Theater, 264 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts. The work performed was La Clemenza di Tito by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

A Little Night Music, April 21, 1994

This is the concert program of the A Little Night Music, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler, running Thursday, Friday, and Saturday April 21, 22,, and 23 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, April 24 at 2:00 p.m., at the Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund