Super Massive Black Hole Mass (SMBH) estimation by Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)

Using line width of the permitted emission line MgII, and after subtracting all unwanted FeII emission lines, we are going to estimate the mass of the giant black holes which exist at the center of every massive and far away galaxies literally named quasars. The mass of some of these quasars has been reliably estimated by H_beta (in low redshift) and CIV (in high redshift) lines recently. So our job will be a complementary job using mid-range redshift quasars. Catching this purpose, we are using SDSS quasar’s spectra which provides a vast range of quasars spectra.

Ross Baker (1), David McMillan (2), Keith Aldridge (2) and Ian Lumb (1)
Chronology Errors and their effects on the Recovery of Characteristic Time Scales of the Geodynamo from Relative Paleointensity

We model Earth’s magnetic field as a continuing sequence of growths and decays due to a rotating parametric instability (RPI) in the fluid core. We take paleomagnetic intensity as a proxy for the turbulent fluid velocity field, and thus infer properties of the fluid core and geodynamo from estimates of these rates. In this work, we examine the effect of uncertainties in tie point ages on relative paleointensity data from cores of oceanic sediments. The true change in paleomagnetic intensity with time, is distorted by stretching and compressing the observations in time to match known tie points — a process that can be described as passing a paleomagnetic intensity time series though a non-linear filter. We report the results of a simulation that passes a synthetic time series of paleointensity through a filter that distorts the location in time of the data points. Analysis of the filtered series is compared with analysis of the original data to evaluate the effect of temporal distortions on the reliability of recovered growths and decays.

Yiannis Haranas
Modeling the Gravity Field of Mars Using a Lagrangean Approach to Satellite Orbital Dynamics

We attempt to derive and study a model of the Martian gravity field. Our model is based on the study of a satellite in orbit around Mars using a Lagrangean approach to its orbital dynamics. The model includes all possible perturbative forces that the satellite will encounter. From all these forces studied in the course of our work, it was decided by a numerical order calculation that only the following perturbative forces are important in our model because, they produce accelerations comparable or greater than our model’s threshold that was set to be 10 nm/sec 2 on the Martian surface. These forces are: Harmonic correction to Mars’s central potential, solar radiation, relativistic effects, dust dissipation, third body interactions from Mars’s satellite Phobos and the Sun, and finally aerodynamic drag. In the progress of our work the final Lagrangean was derived, and transformed with the help of Keplerian orbital element transformations into a Lagrangean which now describes the motion of the satellite in its orbital coordinate system, and whose all extra terms except the central constitute a force function responsible for the perturbative accelerations exerted on the satellite. Given the force function Lagrange’s equations were derived, a system of six first order differential equations which describe the time rates of change of the satellite’s orbital elements. The solution of this system of equations by appropriate techniques will result in the extraction of the harmonic coefficients C nm and S nm for the gravity field of Mars.

Luchiano Lombardi
Precision Measurement of Hyperfine Splitting in Atomic Helium

The 2 3 p 1 to 2 3 p 2 2.291 GHz fine structure interval of atomic helium is currently being measured. The Ramsey Separated Oscillatory Field technique is currently being used to measure the interval where a 300 Hz uncertainty in the resonance will be achieved. This current measurement along with a subsequent measurement of the 29.6 GHz fine-structure interval will yield a new determination for the fine structure constant.

Jerusha Lederman
The Quasar 3C454.3: An Extragalactic Reference Source for the Gravity Probe B Mission

We have observed the quasar 3C454.3 at 3.6 cm with a VLBI array of 12 or more stations about four times per year since 1997 in support of the NASA-Stanford Gravity Probe B mission (GP-B). GP-B is designed to measure the geodetic and frame-dragging effects predicted by general relativity via the measurement of the precessions of four gyroscopes in a drag-free orbit about the Earth. A “guide star,” HR 8703 (IM Pegasi), serves as the positional reference for the GP-B spacecraft relative to which the precessions are measured. The quasar 3C454.3, in turn, serves as a distant extragalactic source relative to which the motions of HR 8703 can be measured in an inertial frame. Our mission requirement is to determine the proper motion of HR 8703 relative to an inertial frame with standard error.