Laura A. Lopez

Last updated
Laura A. Lopez
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California Santa Cruz Ph.D.
Scientific career
Fields Astrophysics
Institutions Ohio State University
Thesis The tumultuous lives and deaths of stars  (2011)
Doctoral advisor Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz
Other academic advisors Mark Krumholz

Laura A. Lopez is an associate professor of astronomy at Ohio State University studying the life cycle of stars. She was awarded the Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy in 2016, which is awarded by the American Astronomical Society (AAS) for outstanding research and promise for future research by a postdoctoral woman researcher.

Contents

Early life and education

Lopez is originally from Barrington, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, and graduated from Barrington High School in 2000. She received her undergraduate degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2004. Lopez earned her PhD in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of California Santa Cruz in 2011. After completing her PhD she was an Einstein Fellow and Pappalardo Fellow in Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2011–2014). Following that, she was a Hubble Fellow at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (2014–2015). [1]

Career

Lopez has contributed to the field of the life cycle of stars. She has used the NuSTAR X-ray satellite to study Tycho's Supernova remnant. [2] Using optical, infrared, radio, and X-ray images, she measured the pressures exerted on the remnant shells from direct stellar radiation, dust-processed radiation, warm ionized gas, and hot X-ray-emitting gas. [3]

Lopez has used data acquired from various observatories to show that Supernova Remnant (SNR) 0104–72.3 in the Small Magellanic Cloud arose from a jet-driven bipolar core-collapse supernova. [4]

Using the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer on board the Chandra X-ray Observatory, Lopez observed the Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) W49B to understand the thermodynamic properties and explosive origin of the SNR. The observed electron temperature and absorbing column toward W49B suggest that the mean metal abundances are consistent with the predicted yields in models of bipolar/jet-driven core-collapse SNe. W49B is thus likely a bipolar Type Ib/Ic SN, making it the first of its kind to be discovered in the Milky Way. [5]

Lopez is interested in diversity in astronomy and is an advocate of the LGBTIQ astronomical community. Additionally, she has previously served on the AAS Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy (CSMA). [6]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supernova</span> Explosion of a star at its end of life

A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion. The original object, called the progenitor, either collapses to a neutron star or black hole, or is completely destroyed to form a diffuse nebula. The peak optical luminosity of a supernova can be comparable to that of an entire galaxy before fading over several weeks or months.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cassiopeia A</span> Supernova remnant in the constellation Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is a supernova remnant (SNR) in the constellation Cassiopeia and the brightest extrasolar radio source in the sky at frequencies above 1 GHz. The supernova occurred approximately 11,000 light-years (3.4 kpc) away within the Milky Way; given the width of the Orion Arm, it lies in the next-nearest arm outwards, the Perseus Arm, about 30 degrees from the Galactic anticenter. The expanding cloud of material left over from the supernova now appears approximately 10 light-years (3 pc) across from Earth's perspective. It has been seen in wavelengths of visible light with amateur telescopes down to 234 mm (9.25 in) with filters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W49B</span> Supernova remnant nebula in the constellation Aquila

W49B is a nebula in Westerhout 49 (W49). The nebula is a supernova remnant, probably from a type Ib or Ic supernova that occurred around 1,000 years ago. It may have produced a gamma-ray burst and is thought to have left a black hole remnant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RX J0852.0−4622</span> Relatively young and nearby supernova remnant

RX J0852.0−4622 is a supernova remnant. The remnant is located in the southern sky in the constellation Vela ("sail"), and sits inside the much larger and older Vela Supernova Remnant. For this reason, RX J0852.0−4622 is often referred to as Vela Junior. There have been a minority of suggestions that the remnant may be a spurious identification of a complicated substructure within the larger and better studied Vela SNR, but most studies accept that G266.2−1.2 is a SNR in its own right. Indeed, its detection in the high energy Teraelectronvolt range by the High Energy Stereoscopic System in 2005 is strong confirmation of such.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tycho G</span> Star in the constellation Cassiopeia

Tycho G has been proposed as the surviving binary companion star of the SN 1572 supernova event. The star is located about 6,400±1,500 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. It is a subgiant, similar to the Sun in temperature, but more evolved and luminous.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GU Piscium</span> Star in the constellation Pisces

GU Piscium is a star in the constellation Pisces. An RS Canum Venaticorum variable, it ranges from magnitude 12.96 to 13.24 over 1.04 days. It is 48 Parsecs distant from Earth. This star is also believed to be a member of the AB Doradus moving group with a membership probability of 96.9%.

A tidal disruption event (TDE) is an astronomical phenomenon that occurs when a star approaches sufficiently close to a supermassive black hole (SMBH) to be pulled apart by the black hole's tidal force, experiencing spaghettification. A portion of the star's mass can be captured into an accretion disk around the black hole, resulting in a temporary flare of electromagnetic radiation as matter in the disk is consumed by the black hole. According to early papers, tidal disruption events should be an inevitable consequence of massive black holes' activity hidden in galaxy nuclei, whereas later theorists concluded that the resulting explosion or flare of radiation from the accretion of the stellar debris could be a unique signpost for the presence of a dormant black hole in the center of a normal galaxy. Sometimes a star can survive the encounter with an SMBH, and a remnant is formed. These events are termed partial TDEs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiona A. Harrison</span> American astrophysicist

Fiona A. Harrison is the Kent and Joyce Kresa Leadership Chair of the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy at Caltech, Harold A. Rosen Professor of Physics at Caltech and the Principal Investigator for NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission. She won the Hans A. Bethe Prize in 2020 for her work on NuSTAR.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peryton (astronomy)</span> Short man-made radio signals

In radio astronomy, perytons are short man-made radio signals of a few milliseconds resembling fast radio bursts (FRB). A peryton differs from radio frequency interference by the fact that it is a pulse of several to tens of millisecond duration which sweeps down in frequency. They are further verified by the fact that they occur at the same time in many beams, indicating that they come from Earth, whereas FRB's occur in only 1 or 2 of the beams, indicating that they are of galactic origin. The first signal occurred in 2001 but was not discovered until 2007. First detected at the Parkes Observatory, data gathered by the telescope also suggested the source was local. The signals were found to be caused by premature opening of a microwave oven door nearby.

SN 2009ip was a supernova discovered in 2009 in the spiral galaxy NGC 7259 in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus. Since the brightness waned after days post-discovery, it was redesignated as Luminous blue variable (LBV) Supernova impostor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4302</span> Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices

NGC 4302 is an edge-on spiral galaxy located about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on April 8, 1784 and is a member of the Virgo Cluster.

HAT-P-16 is a F-type main-sequence star about 725 light-years away. The star has a concentration of heavy elements slightly higher than solar abundance, and low starspot activity. The survey in 2015 have failed to find any stellar companions to it. The spectral analysis in 2014 have discovered the HAT-P-16 has a carbon to oxygen molar ratio of 0.58±0.08, close to Sun`s value of 0.55.

HAT-P-15 is a G-type main-sequence star about 630 light-years away. The star is older than Sun yet has a concentration of heavy elements roughly 190% of solar abundance. The star has no noticeable starspot activity.

John Craig Wheeler is an American astronomer. He is the Samuel T. and Fern Yanagisawa Regents Professor of Astronomy Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin. He is known for his theoretical work on supernovae. He is a past president of the American Astronomical Society, a Fellow of that society, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

A central compact object (CCO) is an x-ray source found near the center of a young, nearby supernova remnant (SNR). Given the observed x-ray flux and spectra observed from these objects, the almost certain conclusion is that CCOs are the remnant neutron stars which resulted from the recent supernova. Unlike most pulsars, CCOs generally lack pulsed radio emission or variation in the observed x-rays due to such phenomena being either nonexistent or difficult to detect. The weaker magnetic fields than most other detected neutron stars means that most of the detected x-rays are due to blackbody radiation. Confirmation that the CCO is associated with the past supernova can be done using the kinematics of the objects and matching them to the age and kinematics of the host SNR.

References

  1. ↑ "Laura Lopez's personal page".
  2. ↑ Lopez, Laura A.; Grefenstette, Brian W.; Reynolds, Stephen P.; An, Hongjun; Boggs, Steven E.; Christensen, Finn E.; Craig, William W.; Eriksen, Kristoffer A.; Fryer, Chris L. (2015). "A SPATIALLY RESOLVED STUDY OF THE SYNCHROTRON EMISSION AND TITANIUM IN TYCHO'S SUPERNOVA REMNANT USINGNuSTAR". The Astrophysical Journal. 814 (2): 132. arXiv: 1504.07238 . Bibcode:2015ApJ...814..132L. doi:10.1088/0004-637x/814/2/132. S2CID   23932358.
  3. ↑ Lopez, Laura A.; Krumholz, Mark R.; Bolatto, Alberto D.; Prochaska, J. Xavier; Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico; Daniel Castro (2014-01-01). "The Role of Stellar Feedback in the Dynamics of H II Regions". The Astrophysical Journal. 795 (2): 121. arXiv: 1309.5421 . Bibcode:2014ApJ...795..121L. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/795/2/121. hdl:1885/152107. ISSN   0004-637X. S2CID   13365680.
  4. ↑ Lopez, Laura A.; Castro, Daniel; Slane, Patrick O.; Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico; Badenes, Carles (2014-01-01). "Identification of a Jet-driven Supernova Remnant in the Small Magellanic Cloud: Possible Evidence for the Enhancement of Bipolar Explosions at Low Metallicity". The Astrophysical Journal. 788 (1): 5. arXiv: 1310.4498 . Bibcode:2014ApJ...788....5L. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/788/1/5. ISSN   0004-637X. S2CID   41133138.
  5. ↑ Lopez, Laura A.; Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico; Castro, Daniel; Pearson, Sarah (2013-01-01). "The Galactic Supernova Remnant W49B Likely Originates from a Jet-driven, Core-collapse Explosion". The Astrophysical Journal. 764 (1): 50. arXiv: 1301.0618 . Bibcode:2013ApJ...764...50L. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/764/1/50. hdl:1721.1/94512. ISSN   0004-637X. S2CID   15588994.
  6. ↑ "About Me". www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu. Retrieved 2023-07-08.
  7. ↑ "Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy | American Astronomical Society". aas.org. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  8. ↑ "RCSA Names Two Dozen 2019 Cottrell Scholars | Research Corporation for Science Advancement". rescorp.org. Retrieved 2019-03-24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.