arXiv subjects

J. Turner

Publications and source records attributed to J. Turner.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

LUnar-based Survey for Time-domain Exploration and Research network (LUSTER-net)

LUSTER-net is a lunar-surface UVOIR observatory network mission concept for time-domain astrophysics. The concept envisions a scalable array of approximately 6-12 commonly designed telescope nodes, with apertures in the $\sim0.5-1$ m class, distributed across the lunar surface to provide long-duration monitoring, rapid follow-up, and coordinated imaging and spectroscopy of transient and variable sources. By combining continuous observing windows from the lunar surface with adaptive network scheduling, LUSTER-net would provide persistent UVOIR characterization of discoveries from facilities such as Rubin, Roman, ULTRASAT, UVEX, and multi-messenger observatories. The science enabled includes exoplanet atmosphere studies, microlensing parallax, Solar System object characterization, fast transients, electromagnetic counterparts to multi-messenger events, and broader UVOIR variability studies. This white paper outlines the science motivation, notional architecture, implementation trades, and role of LUSTER-net as a step toward future lunar astrophysics facilities.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

Magnetic domains reconfiguration on the Fe3O4(110) surface across the Verwey transition by Spin-Polarized Low-Energy Electron Microscopy

We have studied the (110) surface of Fe$_3$O$_4$ single crystals by means of spin-polarized low-energy electron microscopy (SPLEEM). After preparation by sputtering and annealing a well defined reconstructed surface was achieved, composed of rows aligned in the [010] direction. By acquiring SPLEEM images along different spin directions the vector magnetization was mapped on the surface, both at room temperature and at a temperature well below the Verwey transition. At room temperature, domains were observed with their magnetization aligned along the two <111> bulk easy axes which are in the (110) surface plane. They presented 180$^\circ$, 71$^\circ$ and 109$^\circ$ N\'eel-type domain walls. Below the Verwey transition, the magnetization directions changed to regions where the magnetization was oriented along the in-plane [100] and [001] directions. Those observations can be interpreted as the presence of magnetized regions on the surface where the monoclinic $c$ axis is in-plane in the former, and regions where the $c$ is out-of-plane in an oblique direction in the latter. However, the magnetization was at all times within the surface plane, with no out-of-plane component detected.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

The multiple facets of millisecond pulsar binaries

Millisecond pulsar (MSP) binaries are unique laboratories for studying matter and radiation under extreme conditions that are unattainable on Earth. Recent detections of optical millisecond pulsations from three systems in distinct evolutionary stages have opened an entirely new observational window to investigate particle acceleration, pulsar-disk interplay, and intrabinary wind interactions. These discoveries reveal unexpectedly diverse emission mechanisms across accretion regimes, with optical efficiencies in some systems far exceeding those predicted by rotation-powered models. Despite decades of research, key questions remain unresolved: are optical pulsations a universal property of MSPs? How does the presence of an accretion disk boost the conversion of spin-down power into coherent optical emission? What physical processes drive the observed fast variability, and how do pulsar and companion winds regulate mass transfer and binary evolution? Addressing these fundamental problems requires high-time-resolution optical observations, rapid-response observing capabilities, and time-resolved spectroscopy at moderate spectral resolution to map disk and intrabinary-shock variability. Future facilities dedicated to time domain astronomy present a unique opportunity to perform a systematic exploration of optical pulsars across all MSP evolutionary stages for the first time and answer the above-mentioned fundamental questions.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2025

Identifying Habitable Exoplanets with Radio Telescopes on the Lunar Farside

The search for habitable conditions beyond Earth is a top priority in astrophysics. The discovery of habitable exoplanets beyond our solar system will require a suite of instruments providing long-term monitoring for detection (e.g. with space and ground-based radial velocity observations), spectroscopic characterization of atmospheric and surface properties, and eventually deep chronograph-aided observations from e.g. JWST, Roman Space Telescope, and the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). Detection of exoplanet magnetospheres is necessary to identify the most promising targets for follow-up characterization of biosignatures with these assets, and to provide an ensemble of objects for studies of magnetospheric conditions and atmospheric composition. Only observations of low-frequency radio emission will distinguish exoplanet magnetospheres (Hallinan et al. 2021). In this white paper, we present the two lunar radio array concepts under development that would be suitable to detect these exoplanet radio emissions. In addition, we also discuss the human exploration needed prior to construction of such lunar radio arrays while highlighting preferred candidate sites (Krolikowski & Elvis 2024) for the radio telescope.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2025

Neutrinos from Stored Muons (nuSTORM)

The Neutrinos from Stored Muons, nuSTORM, facility has been designed to deliver a definitive neutrino-nucleus scattering programme using beams of ,{\nu}e- and ,{\nu}{\mu}- from the decay of muons confined within a storage ring. The facility is unique, it will be capable of storing {\mu} beams with a central momentum of between 1 GeV/c and 6 GeV/c and a momentum spread of 16%. This specification will allow neutrino-scattering measurements to be made over the kinematic range of interest to the DUNE and Hyper-K collaborations. At nuSTORM, the flavour composition of the beam and the neutrino-energy spectrum are both precisely known. The storage-ring instrumentation will allow the neutrino flux to be determined to a precision of 1% or better. With its existing proton-beam infrastructure, CERN is uniquely well-placed to implement nuSTORM. A summary of the proposed implementation of nuSTORM at CERN is presented below.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2021

Crystal plasticity finite element simulation of lattice rotation and x-ray diffraction during laser shock-compression of Tantalum

Wehrenberg et. al. [Nature 550 496 (2017)] used ultrafast in situ x-ray diffraction at the LCLS x-ray free-electron laser facility to measure large lattice rotations resulting from slip and deformation twinning in shock-compressed laser-driven [110] fibre textured tantalum polycrystal. We employ a crystal plasticity finite element method model, with slip kinetics based closely on the isotropic dislocation-based Livermore Multiscale Model [Barton et. al., J. Appl. Phys. 109 (2011)], to analyse this experiment. We elucidate the link between the degree of lattice rotation and the kinetics of plasticity, demonstrating that a transition occurs at shock pressures of $\sim$27 GPa, between a regime of relatively slow kinetics, resulting in a balanced pattern of slip system activation and therefore relatively small net lattice rotation, and a regime of fast kinetics, due to the onset of nucleation, resulting in a lop-sided pattern of deformation-system activation and therefore large net lattice rotations. We demonstrate a good fit between this model and experimental x-ray diffraction data of lattice rotation, and show that this data is constraining of deformation kinetics.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2019

Leptogenesis in the Neutrino Option

We examine the compatibility between the Neutrino Option, in which the electroweak scale is generated by PeV mass type I seesaw Majorana neutrinos, and leptogenesis. We find the Neutrino Option is consistent with resonant leptogenesis. Working within the minimal seesaw scenario with two heavy Majorana neutrinos $N_{1,2}$, which form a pseudo-Dirac pair, we explore the viable parameter space. We find that the Neutrino Option and successful leptogenesis are compatible in the cases of a neutrino mass spectrum with normal (inverted) ordering for $1.2 \times 10^6 < M \text{ (GeV)} < 8.8 \times 10^6$ ($2.4 \times 10^6 < M \text{ (GeV)} < 7.4 \times 10^6$), with $M = (M_1 + M_2)/2$ and $M_{1,2}$ the masses of $N_{1,2}$. Successful leptogenesis requires that $ΔM/M \equiv (M_2 - M_1)/M \sim 10^{-8}$. We further show that leptogenesis can produce the baryon asymmetry of the Universe within the Neutrino Option scenario when the requisite CP violation in leptogenesis is provided exclusively by the Dirac or Majorana low energy CP violation phases of the PMNS matrix.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

H$α$ Morphologies of Star Clusters: A LEGUS study of HII region evolution timescales and stochasticity in low mass clusters

The morphology of HII regions around young star clusters provides insight into the timescales and physical processes that clear a cluster's natal gas. We study ~700 young clusters (<10Myr) in three nearby spiral galaxies (NGC 7793, NGC 4395, and NGC 1313) using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging from LEGUS (Legacy ExtraGalactic Ultraviolet Survey). Clusters are classified by their H$α$ morphology (concentrated, partially exposed, no-emission) and whether they have neighboring clusters (which could affect the clearing timescales). Through visual inspection of the HST images, and analysis of ages, reddenings, and stellar masses from spectral energy distributions fitting, together with the (U-B), (V-I) colors, we find: 1) the median ages indicate a progression from concentrated (~3 Myr), to partially exposed (~4 Myr), to no H$α$ emission (>5Myr), consistent with the expected temporal evolution of HII regions and previous results. However, 2) similarities in the age distributions for clusters with concentrated and partially exposed H$α$ morphologies imply a short timescale for gas clearing (<1Myr). 3) our cluster sample's median mass is ~1000 M, and a significant fraction (~20%) contain one or more bright red sources (presumably supergiants), which can mimic reddening effects. Finally, 4) the median E(B-V) values for clusters with concentrated H$α$ and those without H$α$ emission appear to be more similar than expected (~0.18 vs. ~0.14, respectively), but when accounting for stochastic effects, clusters without H$α$ emission are less reddened. To mitigate stochastic effects, we experiment with synthesizing more massive clusters by stacking fluxes of clusters within each H$α$ morphological class. Composite isolated clusters also reveal a color and age progression for H$α$ morphological classes, consistent with analysis of the individual clusters.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2019

Leptogenesis from Low Energy $CP$ Violation

We revisit the possibility of producing the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe via thermal leptogenesis, where $CP$ violation comes exclusively from the low-energy phases of the neutrino mixing matrix. We demonstrate the viability of thermal flavoured leptogenesis across seven orders of magnitude $\left(10^{6}<T \text{ (GeV)}< 10^{13}\right)$, using modern numerical machinery, where the lower bound can be reached only if flavour effects are taken into account and its value depends on the allowed degree of cancellation between the tree-level and radiative contributions to the light neutrino masses. At very high scales $\left( T \gg 10^{12} \text{ GeV} \right)$, we clarify that thermal leptogenesis is sensitive to the low-energy phases, in contradiction with what is usually claimed in the literature. In particular we demonstrate that Majorana-phase leptogenesis is in general viable while Dirac-phase leptogenesis requires some level of fine-tuning.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Three-Flavoured Non-Resonant Leptogenesis at Intermediate Scales

Leptogenesis can successfully explain the matter-antimatter asymmetry via out-of-equilibrium decays of heavy Majorana neutrinos in the early Universe. In this article, we focus on non-resonant thermal leptogenesis and the possibility of lowering its scale. In order to do so, we calculate the lepton asymmetry produced from the decays of one and two heavy Majorana neutrinos using three-flavoured density matrix equations in an exhaustive exploration of the model parameter space. We find regions of the parameter space where thermal leptogenesis is viable at intermediate scales, $T\sim 10^{6}$ GeV. However, the viability of thermal leptogenesis at such scales requires a certain degree of cancellation between the tree and one-loop level contribution to the light neutrino mass matrix and we quantify such fine-tuning.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

The Young Star Cluster population of M51 with LEGUS: I. A comprehensive study of cluster formation and evolution

Recently acquired WFC3 UV (F275W and F336W) imaging mosaics under the Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) combined with archival ACS data of M51 are used to study the young star cluster (YSC) population of this interacting system. Our newly extracted source catalogue contains 2834 cluster candidates, morphologically classified to be compact and uniform in colour, for which ages, masses and extinction are derived. In this first work we study the main properties of the YSC population of the whole galaxy, considering a mass-limited sample. Both luminosity and mass functions follow a power law shape with slope -2, but at high luminosities and masses a dearth of sources is observed. The analysis of the mass function suggests that it is best fitted by a Schechter function with slope -2 and a truncation mass at $1.00\pm0.12\times10^5\ M_\odot$. Through Monte Carlo simulations we confirm this result and link the shape of the luminosity function to the presence of a truncation in the mass function. A mass limited age function analysis, between 10 and 200 Myr, suggests that the cluster population is undergoing only moderate disruption. We observe little variation in the shape of the mass function at masses above $1\times10^4\ M_\odot$, over this age range. The fraction of star formation happening in the form of bound clusters in M51 is $\sim20\%$ in the age range 10 to 100 Myr and little variation is observed over the whole range from 1 to 200 Myr.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2013

Stellar population gradients and spatially resolved kinematics in luminous post-starburst galaxies

We have used deep integral field spectroscopy obtained with the GMOS instrument on Gemini-North to determine the spatial distribution of the post-starburst stellar population in four luminous E+A galaxies at z<0.04. We find all four galaxies have centrally-concentrated gradients in the young stellar population contained within the central ~1 kpc. This is in agreement with the Balmer line gradients found in local low luminosity E+A galaxies. The results from higher redshift (z~0.1) samples of luminous E+A galaxies have been varied, but in general have found the post-starburst signature to be extended or a galaxy-wide phenomenon or have otherwise failed to detect gradients in the stellar populations. The ubiquity of the detection of a centrally concentrated young stellar population in local samples, and the presence of significant radial gradients in the stellar populations when the E+A galaxy core is well resolved raises the possibility that spatial resolution issues may be important in interpreting the higher redshift results. The two early type E+A galaxies in our sample that can be robustly kinematically classified, using the LambdaR parameter, are fast-rotators. Combined with previous measurements, this brings the total number of E+A galaxies with measurements of LambdaR to twenty-six, with only four being classified as slow-rotators. This fraction is similar to the fraction of the early-type population as a whole and argues against the need for major mergers in the production of E+A galaxies, since major mergers should result in an increased fraction of slow rotators.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

Extreme Starbursts in the Local Universe

The "Extreme starbursts in the local universe" workshop was held at the Insituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia in Granada, Spain on 21-25 June 2010. Bearing in mind the advent of a new generation of facilities such as JWST, Herschel, ALMA, eVLA and eMerlin, the aim of the workshop was to bring together observers and theorists to review the latest results. The purpose of the workshop was to address the following issues: what are the main modes of triggering extreme starbursts in the local Universe? How efficiently are stars formed in extreme starbursts? What are the star formation histories of local starburst galaxies? How well do the theoretical simulations model the observations? What can we learn about starbursts in the distant Universe through studies of their local counterparts? How important is the role of extreme starbursts in the hierarchical assembly of galaxies? How are extreme starbursts related to the triggering of AGN in the nuclei of galaxies? Overall, 41 talks and 4 posters with their corresponding 10 minutes short talks were presented during the workshop. In addition, the workshop was designed with emphasis on discussions, and therefore, there were 6 discussion sessions of up to one hour during the workshop. Here is presented a summary of the purposes of the workshop as well as a compilation of the abstracts corresponding to each of the presentations. The summary and conclusions of the workshop along with a description of the future prospects by Sylvain Veilleux can be found in the last section of this document. A photo of the assistants is included.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2009

Coordinated Fermi/Optical Monitoring of Blazars and the Great 2009 September Gamma-ray Flare of 3C 454.3

We describe the optical spectropolarimetric monitoring program at Steward Observatory centered around gamma-ray-bright blazars and the LAT Monitored Source List planned for Fermi Cycles 2-4. The large number of measurements made during Cycle 1 of the Fermi mission are available to the research community and the data products are summarized (see http://james.as.arizona.edu/~psmith/Fermi). The optical data include spectropolarimetry at a resolution of ~20 A, broad-band polarization and flux measurements, and flux-calibrated spectra spanning 4000-7600 A. These data provide a comprehensive view of the optical variability of an important sample of objects during the Fermi Era. In addition to broad-band flux and linear polarization monitoring, the spectra allow for the tracking of changes to the spectral index of the synchrotron continuum, importance of non-synchrotron emission features, and how and when the polarization varies with wavelength, an important clue as to the structure of the emission region or the identification of multiple nonthermal components. As an illustration, we present observations of 3C 454.3 obtained in 2009 September during an exceptionally bright gamma-ray flare. The blazar was optically bright during the flare, but except for a few short periods, it showed surprisingly low polarization (P < 5%). Opportunities exist within the Fermi research community to coordinate with our long-term optical monitoring program toward the goal of maximum scientific value to both the Fermi and associated radio VLBI monitoring of blazars.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2009

The integral field spectroscopy (IFS) wiki

In this article we present the integral field spectroscopy (IFS) wiki site, http://ifs.wikidot.com; what the wiki is, our motivation for creating it, and a short introduction to IFS. The IFS wiki is designed to be a central repository of information, tips, codes, tools, references, etc., regarding the whole subject of IFS, which is accessible and editable by the whole community. Currently the wiki contains a broad base of information covering topics from current and future integral field spectrographs, to observing, to data reduction and analysis techniques. We encourage everyone who wants to know more about IFS to look at this web-site, and any question you may have you can post from there. And if you have had any experience with IFS yourself, we encourage you to contribute your knowledge and help the site develop its full potential. Before re-inventing the wheel, consult the wiki...

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2004

Polarized Electrons for Linear Colliders

Future electron-positron linear colliders require a highly polarized electron beam with a pulse structure that depends primarily on whether the acceleration utilizes warm or superconducting rf structures. The International Linear Collider (ILC) will use cold structures for the main linac. It is shown that a dc-biased polarized photoelectron source such as successfully used for the SLC can meet the charge requirements for the ILC micropulse with a polarization approaching 90%.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2002

SLAC's Polarized Electron Source Laser System and Minimization of Electron Beam Helicity Correlations for the E-158 Parity Violation Experiment

SLAC E-158 is an experiment designed to make the first measurement of parity violation in Moller scattering. E-158 will measure the right-left cross-section asymmetry, A_LR^Moller, in the elastic scattering of a 45-GeV polarized electron beam off unpolarized electrons in a liquid hydrogen target. E-158 plans to measure the expected Standard Model asymmetry of ~10^-7 to an accuracy of better than 10^-8. To make this measurement, the polarized electron source requires for operation an intense circularly polarized laser beam and the ability to quickly switch between right- and left-helicity polarization states with minimal right-left helicity-correlated asymmetries in the resulting beam parameters (intensity, position, angle, spot size, and energy), ^beam A_LR's. This laser beam is produced by a unique SLAC-designed flashlamp-pumped Ti:Sapphire laser and is propagated through a carefully designed set of polarization optics. We analyze the transport of nearly circularly polarized light through the optical system and identify several mechanisms that generate ^beam A_LR's. We show that the dominant effects depend linearly on particular polarization phase shifts in the optical system. We present the laser system design and a discussion of the suppression and control of ^beam A_LR's. We also present results on beam performance from engineering and physics runs for E-158.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2002

Integral Field Spectroscopy with the Gemini 8-m Telescopes

We give an overview of the current and future IFU capabilities on the Gemini 8-m telescopes. The telescopes are well-suited to integral field spectroscopy and both telescopes will have optical and near-infrared IFUs within the next few years. Commissioning for the GMOS IFU on Gemini North has begun recently and it is now available to the community. Future integral field instruments will take advantage of wide-field adaptive optics systems.

astro-ph↗