arXiv subjects

Sara Starecheski

Publications and source records attributed to Sara Starecheski.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Selecting Post-Starburst Galaxies Based on Star Formation History

Post-StarBurst (PSB) galaxies are galaxies that have undergone a large burst of star formation followed by rapid quenching. Understanding their properties as a population can help us better understand how galaxies evolve to quiescence. This project aims to use Star Formation History (SFH) measurements from the Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) surveys MaNGA, CALIFA, and AMUSING++ processed with the Pipe3D analysis pipeline in order to select PSB galaxies as well as PSB regions in galaxies. Most PSB selection methods use cutoffs determined by spectral features, but in this work we introduce a new PSB selection method based directly on the property we are most interested in; inferred SFHs. IFS data allows us to probe a galaxy's star formation on a spatially resolved scale, enabling us to examine the size, shape, and location of PSB regions within a galaxy. We select 107 PSB galaxies, only 7 of which are among known PSBs selected by other methods. Unlike traditional PSB selection methods, our approach is not biased against Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Despite this, we still find no evidence for a significant Seyfert 2 PSB population, suggesting that strong AGN activity is uncommon throughout the PSB phase. Our spatially-resolved SFH selection identifies a wide range of galaxies, including globally quiescent elliptical galaxies with centrally-concentrated PSB spaxels, galaxies with ring-like PSB spaxels and a preference for inside-out age gradients (contrary to what has previously been observed in the literature), and galaxies with widespread PSB regions that have significant star formation elsewhere in the galaxy.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

The Origin of the Cluster of Local Interstellar Clouds

The interstellar medium within $\rm\approx 15 \; pc$ of the Sun consists of a complex of fifteen diffuse, partially ionized clouds. Located within the Local Bubble, these clouds, known as the Cluster of Local Interstellar Clouds (CLIC), constitute the interstellar environment impinging upon our heliosphere. While each individual cloud can be modeled with a distinct velocity vector, the complex demonstrates a coherent bulk motion suggestive of a common origin. Here we examine two theories for the origin of the CLIC: that it formed due to an ionization front associated with nearby Strömgren spheres and/or due to a nearby supernova explosion that occurred within the pre-evacuated cavity of the Local Bubble. Tracing back the trajectory of the clouds, we disfavor a purely Strömgren sphere origin, given the CLIC's position interior to the surface of the most significant nearby Stromgren sphere and its motion transverse to the sphere's trajectory. Turning to a supernova origin, we model the formation of the CLIC assuming individual clouds have been swept up over time due to the expansion of a supernova remnant in its pressure-driven snowplow phase. We find that the 3D spatial-dynamical properties of the CLIC can be explained by the most recent supernova that exploded in the nearby Upper Centaurus Lupus cluster $\approx \rm 1.2 \; Myr$ ago and propagated into an ambient density of $n \approx 0.04 \;\rm cm^{-3}$. Our model predicts that the formation of the individual CLIC clouds occurred progressively over the past $1 \; \rm Myr$ and offers a natural explanation for the observed distribution, column density, temperature, and magnetic field structure of the complex.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Simulating $\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge theory on a quantum computer

The utility of quantum computers for simulating lattice gauge theories is currently limited by the noisiness of the physical hardware. Various quantum error mitigation strategies exist to reduce the statistical and systematic uncertainties in quantum simulations via improved algorithms and analysis strategies. We perform quantum simulations of $1+1d$ $\mathbb{Z}_2$ gauge theory with matter to study the efficacy and interplay of different error mitigation methods: readout error mitigation, randomized compiling, rescaling, and dynamical decoupling. We compute Minkowski correlation functions in this confining gauge theory and extract the mass of the lightest spin-1 state from fits to their time dependence. Quantum error mitigation extends the range of times over which our correlation function calculations are accurate by a factor of six and is therefore essential for obtaining reliable masses.

hep-lat↗