Large scale 20mm photography for range resources analysis in the Western United States

Large scale 70mm aerial photography is a valuable supplementary tool for rangeland studies. A wide assortment of applications were developed varying from vegetation mapping to assessing environmental impact on rangelands. Color and color infrared stereo pairs are useful for effectively sampling sites limited by ground accessibility. They allow an increased sample size at similar or lower cost than ground sampling techniques and provide a permanent record

The gamma ray continuum spectrum from the galactic center disk and point sources

A light curve of gamma-ray continuum emission from point sources in the galactic center region is generated from balloon and satellite observations made over the past 25 years. The emphasis is on the wide field-of-view instruments which measure the combined flux from all sources within approximately 20 degrees of the center. These data have not been previously used for point-source analyses because of the unknown contribution from diffuse disk emission. In this study, the galactic disk component is estimated from observations made by the Gamma Ray Imaging Spectrometer (GRIS) instrument in Oct. 1988. Surprisingly, there are several times during the past 25 years when all gamma-ray sources (at 100 keV) within about 20 degrees of the galactic center are turned off or are in low emission states. This implies that the sources are all variable and few in number. The continuum gamma-ray emission below approximately 150 keV from the black hole candidate 1E1740.7-2942 is seen to turn off in May 1989 on a time scale of less than two weeks, significantly shorter than ever seen before. With the continuum below 150 keV turned off, the spectral shape derived from the HEXAGONE observation on 22 May 1989 is very peculiar with a peak near 200 keV. This source was probably in its normal state for more than half of all observations since the mid-1960's. There are only two observations (in 1977 and 1979) for which the sum flux from the point sources in the region significantly exceeds that from 1E1740.7-2942 in its normal state

X-ray Outflows in the Swift Burst Alert Detected Seyfert 1s

Previous surveys of outflows in low-redshift active galactic nuclei (AGN) have relied on the analysis of sources selected primarily for their optical/X-ray brightness, and are therefore biased. Towards determining the outflow properties of local AGN, we detect warm absorption signatures of O VII and O VIII absorption edges in the available Suzaku/XMM-Newton CCD spectra of an unbiased sample of 44 Seyfert 1-1.5 sources selected in the very hard X-rays (14-195 keV) with the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. From our analysis, we find that O VII and O VIII absorption edges are present in 41% of the sample. This fraction is dependent on luminosity, with outflow detections in 60% of low luminosity and 30% of high luminosity sources. However, grating spectroscopy of the highest luminosity sources reveals that ~ 80% of these sources have ionized absorbers, but that the ionization states are higher/lower than produces the O VII and O VIII edges. This suggests that ionized absorption may be present in all local Seyfert 1s.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, accepted in ApJ

The Complex X-ray Spectrum of the Sefyert 1.5 Source NGC 6860

The X-ray spectrum of the Seyfert 1.5 source NGC 6860 is among the most complex of the sources detected in the Swift Burst Alert Telescope all-sky survey. A short XMM-Newton follow-up observation of the source revealed a flat spectrum both above and below 2 keV. To uncover the complexity of the source, in this paper we analyze both a 40 ks Suzaku and a 100 ks XMM-Newton observation of NGC 6860. While the spectral state of the source changed between the newer observations presented here and the earlier short XMM-Newton spectrum - showing a higher flux and steeper power law component - the spectrum of NGC 6860 is still complex with clearly detected warm absorption signatures. We find that a two component warm ionized absorber is present in the soft spectrum, with column densities of about 10^20 and 10^21 cm$^-2, ionization parameters of xi = 180 and 45 ergs cm s^-1, and outflow velocities for each component in the range of 0-300 km s^-1. Additionally, in the hard spectrum we find a broad (approx 11000 km s^-1) Fe K-alpha emission line, redshifted by approx 2800 km s^-1.Comment: 35 pages, 9 figures, Accepted to Ap

ERTS-1 evaluation of natural resources management applications in the Great Basin

The relatively cloud free weather in the Great Basin has allowed the accumulation of several dates of excellent ERTS-1 imagery. Mountains, valleys, playas, stream courses, canyons, alluvial fans, and other landforms are readily delineated on ERTS-1 imagery, particularly with MSS-5. Each band is useful for identifying and studying one or more natural resource features. For example, crested wheatgrass seedings were most easily identified and measured on MSS-7. Color enhancements simulating CIR were useful for depicting meadow and phreatophytic vegetation along water bodies and stream courses. Work is underway to inventory and monitor wildfire areas by age and successional status. Inventories have been completed on crested wheatgrass seedings over the entire State of Nevada, and inventories of playa surfaces, water surfaces, phreatophytic vegetation, snow cover, meadows, and other features is continuing. Vegetation ecotones are being delineated for vegetation mapping. The pinyon/juniper-northern desert shrub ecotone has been identified with considerable success. Phenology changes can be used to describe vegetation changes for management

Swift/BAT and RXTE Observations of the Peculiar X-ray Binary 4U 2206+54 - Disappearance of the 9.6 Day Modulation

Observations of the high-mass X-ray binary 4U 2206+54 with the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) do not show modulation at the previously reported period of 9.6 days found from observations made with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) All-Sky Monitor (ASM). Instead, the strongest peak in the power spectrum of the BAT light curve occurs at a period of 19.25 +/- 0.08 days, twice the period found with the RXTE ASM. The maximum of the folded BAT light curve is also delayed compared to the maximum of the folded ASM light curve. The most recent ASM data folded on twice the 9.6 day period show similar morphology to the folded BAT light curve. This suggests that the apparent period doubling is a recent secular change rather than an energy-dependent effect. The 9.6 day period is thus not a permanent strong feature of the light curve. We suggest that the orbital period of 4U 2206+54 may be twice the previously proposed value.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Natural resource inventories and management applications in the Great Basin

ERTS-1 resolution capabilities and repetitive coverage have allowed the acquisition of several statewide inventories of natural resource features not previously completed or that could not be completed in any other way. Familiarity with landform, tone, pattern and other converging factors, along with multidate imagery, has been required. Nevada's vegetation has been mapped from ERTS-1. Dynamic characteristics of the landscape have been studied. Sequential ERTS-1 imagery has proved its usefulness for mapping vegetation, following vegetation phenology changes, monitoring changes in lakes and reservoirs (including water quality), determining changes in surface mining use, making fire fuel estimates and determining potential hazard, mapping the distribution of rain and snow events, making range readiness determinations, monitoring marshland management practices and other uses. Feasibility has been determined, but details of incorporating the data in management systems awaits further research and development. The need is to accurately define the steps necessary to extract required or usable information from ERTS imagery and fit it into on-going management programs

Aspects of Higgs physics

The Higgs sector is the collection of fields and particles responsible for the spontaneous symmetry breaking of the electroweak symmetry. It is the keystone of the Standard Model of particle physics. While the Standard Model Higgs sector is in agreement with current experiments alternative models often arise to explain experimental anomalies, or to answer puzzles about the Higgs model itself. In this dissertation I explore two such alternative models of the Higgs sector. The first is a model of a composite Higgs boson that is designed to be "minimally fine-tuned." I demonstrate how it generates a light Higgs boson with one fine-tuned parameter. The most accessible expected phenomenological signatures of such a model are heavy resonances decaying into weak vector bosons. I compare the predicted behavior of these resonances to recent experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. The second is alternative model attempts to use multiple Higgs to explain a possible 30 GeV resonant excess in dimuon production arising from Z boson decays. I show that the simplest such model cannot explain the excess, and then argue that all such multiple-doublet models also fail

Swift Observations of Hard X-ray Emitting White Dwarfs in Symbiotic Stars

The X-ray emission from most accreting white dwarfs (WDs) in symbiotic binary stars is quite soft. Several symbiotic WDs, however, produce strong X-ray emission at energies greater than ~20 keV. The Swift BAT instrument has detected hard X-ray emission from 4 such accreting WDs in symbiotic stars: RT Cru, T CrB, CD -57 3057, and CH Cyg. In one case (RT Cru), Swift detected X-rays out to greater than 50 keV at a > 5 sigma confidence level. Combining data from the XRT and BAT detectors, we find that the 0.3-150 keV spectra of RT Cru, T CrB, and CD -57 3057 are well described by emission from a single-temperature, optically thin thermal plasma, plus an unresolved 6.4-6.9 keV Fe line complex. The X-ray spectrum of CH Cyg contains an additional bright soft component. For all 4 systems, the spectra suffer high levels of absorption from material that both fully and partially covers the source of hard X-rays. The XRT data did not show any of the rapid, periodic variations that one would expect if the X-ray emission were due to accretion onto a rotating, highly magnetized WD. The X-rays were thus more likely from the accretion-disk boundary layer around a massive, non-magnetic WD in each binary. The X-ray emission from RT Cru varied on timescales of a few days. This variability is consistent with being due to changes in the absorber that partially covers the source, suggesting localized absorption from a clumpy medium moving into the line of sight. The X-ray emission from CD -57 3057 and T CrB also varied during the 9 months of Swift observations, in a manner that was also consistent with variable absorption.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 9 pages, 6 figure

Suzaku View of the Swift/BAT Active Galactic Nuclei (I): Spectral Analysis of Six AGNs and Evidence for Two Types of Obscured Population

We present a systematic spectral analysis with Suzaku of six AGNs detected in the Swift/BAT hard X-ray (15--200 keV) survey, Swift J0138.6-4001, J0255.2-0011, J0350.1-5019, J0505.7-2348, J0601.9-8636, and J1628.1-5145. This is considered to be a representative sample of new AGNs without X-ray spectral information before the BAT survey. We find that the 0.5--200 keV spectra of these sources can be uniformly fit with a base model consisting of heavily absorbed (log $N_{\rm{H}} > 23.5 \rm{cm}^{-2}$) transmitted components, scattered lights, a reflection component, and an iron-K emission line. There are two distinct groups, three "new type" AGNs (including the two sources reported by \citealt{Ueda2007}) with an extremely small scattered fraction ($f_{\rm{scat}} < 0.5$) and strong reflection component ($R = \Omega / 2 \pi \gtrsim 0.8$ where $\Omega$ is the solid angle of the reflector), and three "classical type" ones with $f_{\rm{scat}} > 0.5$ and $R \lesssim 0.8$. The spectral parameters suggest that the new type has an optically thick torus for Thomson scattering ($N_{\rm{H}} \sim 10^{25} \rm{cm}^{-2}$) with a small opening angle $\theta \sim 20^{\circ}$ viewed in a rather face-on geometry, while the classical type has a thin torus ($N_{\rm{H}} \sim 10^{23-24} \ \rm{cm}^{-2}$) with$\theta \gtrsim 30^{\circ}$. We infer that a significant number of new type AGNs with an edge-on view is missing in the current all-sky hard X-ray surveys.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa