Type IIb supernovae (SNe) are important candidates to understand mechanisms that drive the stripping of stripped-envelope (SE) supernova (SN) progenitors. ', 'While binary interactions and their high incidence are generally cited to favor them as Type IIb SN progenitors, this idea has not been tested using models covering a broad...
The overall goal of my thesis is to enhance our quantitative understanding of the biophysical properties of DNA a long polynucleotide chain, present in every living cell, that embodies the genetic information. The existence of DNA has been known to us for over a century, however, our understanding of its...
This thesis focuses on the role of upcoming neutrino oscillation experiments for the search for beyond-the-Standard-Model physics in the neutrino sector. Specically, I focus on the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment and Hyper-Kamiokande neutrino experiment, and the experimental sensitivity to non-standard neutrino interactions, sterile neutrinos, incorrect signals of CP-violation, differences between...
Stars, planets and massive black holes are ubiquitous in binary and multiple configurations. In stellar systems the binary components interact through various type of mass loss and mass transfer. Mass transfer interactions in eccentric systems are inprinciple phase-dependent and can occur in different ways. We formulate the understanding of mass...
The recent development of quantum biology results in various breakthroughs in exploring the role of quantum physics in biological systems, as well as in observing and controlling light-matter interactions in biological materials on a fundamental quantum level. We seek to combine the concept of quantum biology with quantum optics to...
A vast portion of the Universe is predicted to consist of an as-of-yet undetected, non-luminous form of matter, known as dark matter. Evidence of its existence has been corroborated by various astrophysical observations at many cosmological scales, and its relative abundance has been determined. However, knowledge of its nature and...
Dark matter represents one of the most sought after discoveries in physics, and leading theories predict that extremely low-background detectors could be sensitive to nuclear recoils from dark matter interactions. The PICO collaboration uses bubble chambers to look for the energy deposition from such an interaction. However, unknown backgrounds have...
The most promising probe into compact binary formation and evolution will be the populations resolved by both gravitational wave (GW) and electromagnetic (EM) observatories. As with any observation, theoretical models must be characterized to gain a fuller understanding of the underlying physics governing the observed population. Investigation of these models...
Of the thousands of planetary candidates discovered by the Kepler mission, roughly a third are in known multiple transiting-planet systems. High-multiplicity Kepler systems (referred to as Kepler Multis) are often tightly packed and may be on the verge of instability. Many systems of this type could have experienced past instabilities,...
Ions dissolved in solution are known to interact in remarkable ways with charged Langmuir monolayers. The organic monolayer can be used as a molecular template for ordered nucleation of inorganic crystals (biomineralization) and functional nanoparticles. However, the clear majority of experiments demonstrating these behaviors have been performed with divalent ions....
Polarized emission from aligned interstellar dust is both a crucial tool for studies of magnetism in the interstellar medium (ISM) and a troublesome contaminant in studies of the polarized cosmic microwave background. In each case, an understanding of the significance of the dust polarization signal requires well-calibrated models that accurately...
In this thesis I develop and apply techniques to the masses and eccentricities of tran-siting exoplanets from their transit timing variations. These techniques include both analytic and numerical means for measuring planet masses and orbits and assessing the robustness of the inferred properties. I apply these techniques to a sample...
The advent of computers brought a profound change in the way the practical problems in the physics of materials are addressed. Within the last decade, a rapidly evolving area of research is oriented towards interfacing the existing numerical tools in an optimized way, by explicitly taking advantage of the specifics...
In this thesis we investigate the orbital evolution of planets in binaries.Unlike our own Solar System, at least one out of five planetary systems known to date is associated with additional stellar companions. Despite their large distances from the planetary systems, these stellar companions play an important role in significantly...
Microarrays are powerful tools in gene expression assessment, protein profiling, and protein function screening, as well as cell and tissue analysis. With thousands of small array spots assembled in an ordered array, these small devices makes it possible to screen for multiple targets in a fast, parallel, high-throughput manner. The...
With the interference of several coherent beams, a periodical potential is produced for the particles trapped inside. The theoretical calculations show that the optical force applied on the particle in such optical lattice is in sinusoidal form. The force amplitudes vary greatly depending on the ratio of the particle size...
The mechanisms governing selective CaCO3 crystal nucleation in living organisms remain unclear. For example, nacreous layers from the inner surfaces of shells are built as brick-and-mortar complexes of plate-like aragonite single crystals and organic layers. Unstable [001] surfaces of calcite columns in prismatic layers are also stabilized by organic molecules....
We present initial results from Hertz/VPM, the first submillimeter polarimeter employing the dual Variable-delay Polarization Modulator (dual-VPM). This device differs from previously used polarization modulators in that it operates in translation rather than mechanical rotation. We discuss the basic theory behind this device, and its potential advantages over the commonly...
Breakout reactions from the CNO cycles leading into the rp-process in explosive stellar hydrogen burning environments have been studied using the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS). Earlier work is reported and summarized with an introduction to the beam, target and detector development in the nuclear astrophysics group at Argonne...
One of the central features of the now half-century old theory of the microscopic origins of superconductivity in elemental materials is the correlations between pairs of electrons with opposite spin and momentum. The constituent electrons of these Cooper pairs have the unusual property that their mean spatial separation is much...
The recent observation of nonzero neutrino mass is the first concrete indication of physics beyond the Standard Model. Their properties, unique among the other fermions, leads naturally to the idea of a Majorana neutrino mass term. Despite the strong theoretical prejudice toward this concept, it must be tested experimentally. This...
This thesis is a description of the measurement of the W boson mass using the D0 Run II detector with 770 pb^-1 of proton-antiproton collision data. These collisions were produced by the Tevatron at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV between 2002 and 2006. We use a sample of W -> e...
B_s mixing studies provide a precision test of Charge-Parity violation in the Standard Model. A measurement of deltaMs constrains elements of the CKM quark rotation matrix, providing a probe of Standard Model Charge-Parity violation.
This thesis describes a study of B_s mixing in the semileptonic decay B_s -> D_s mu...
We use transverse sound spectroscopy to probe excited states of the Cooper pairs in the B-phase of superfluid 3He. In particular we study those excited states with non-zero energy at zero momentum, the so called gapped, or exciton, modes. This includes precise measurements of the imaginary squashing mode energies as...
A study of the optical properties and superconductivity in semiconductors is presented using the highly precise all-electron full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW) density functional calculations.
Optical properties [$\varepsilon(\omega)$,$n(\omega)$,$k(\omega)$,$R(\omega)$ and $\alpha(\omega)$] of some III-V semiconductors [InAs, InSb, GaSb, and AlSb] and their critical point (CP) energies, are calculated from the...
Since its emergence, the Ginzburg-Landau theory has had a tremendous success in describing thermodynamic properties of superconductivity. In the case of superfluid 3He, not all five fourth-order parameters in the theory are known. Only four combinations of the five parameters have been experimentally established and theoretical attempts to calculate the...
Weak optical signals, e.g., Raman scattering, fluorescence emission, etc., are typically enhanced by increasing both the excitation field and the collection efficiency. Near a surface, signals can be resonantly enhanced using either surface plasmon polaritons or a resonant dielectric waveguide, provided the sources lie within an evanescent decay length of...
Living organisms grow precisely controlled assemblies of inorganic crystals using organic substrates. This observation has inspired the strategy of using synthetic organic templates for the growth of tailored inorganic thin films. It has been previously shown that monomolecular organic layers floating on supersaturated aqueous subphases (Langmuir monolayers) select the structure...
One of the current goals in the biomaterials research is to develop implants with improved osteoconductivity and long-term stability. Thanks to its chemical similarity to the mineral phase of natural bone, hydroxyapatite (HA) has been extensively studied and clinically tested as a coating on metallic substrates, to obtain bioactive implants...
Graphene sheets (one-atom-thick, two-dimensional layers of sp2-bonded carbon) are predicted to have a range of unusual properties. Recent studies have shown that individual graphene sheets have extraordinary electrical properties, but an efficient method of graphite exfoliation remains a challenge. A number of approaches to exfoliation have been tried, such as...
Measurements of the ratios of charged kaon decay rates for Ke3/K2pi, Kmu3/K2pi and Kmu3/Ke3 are presented. These measurements are based on charged kaon decays collected in a dedicated run in 2003 by the NA48/2 experiment at CERN. The results obtained are Ke3/K2pi = 0.2470 +- 0.0009 (stat) +- 0.0004 (syst)...
This is a visualization of an event reconstructed in CMS HGCal. This event is consist of 10 pions with a transverse momentum of 35 GeV. The reconstruction algorithm groups all valid energy deposits (hits) into clusters, each incoming particle having one or a few corresponding clusters, so that the energy...
This dissertation presents a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) study of anisotropic superconductors, MgB$_2$ and Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+\delta}$ (Bi2212), and diffusion in glass-forming aqueous solutions of glycerol. In glycerol and deuterated water mixtures, the diffusion of glycerol is measured selectively by the $^1$H NMR stimulated echo technique in the gradient field of a...
The Galactic center (GC) is a dense and chaotic region filled with unusual sources, such as intense star forming regions, dense star clusters, nonthermal radio filaments, and a massive black hole. The proximity of the GC region makes it an ideal place to study the unusual processes that tend to...
This dissertation presents submillimeter polarimetry methods and scientific results. The scientific results focus on revealing the magnetic field structure of giant molecular clouds (GMCs). The basic principles, instrumentation, observing strategy, and data analysis methods of submillimeter polarimetry are introduced. The scientific data were acquired by SPARO during the observing campaign...
The High Energy Density Sciences group at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory studies materials in extreme conditions such as very high temperatures and pressures. We use shock waves produced by the Linac Coherent Light Source to compress polycrystalline diamond samples. Compressing these samples allows us to use x-ray diffraction to study...
ESA and NASA are moving forward with plans to launch LISA around 2030. With data from the Illustris large-scale cosmological simulation, we provide analysis of LISA detection rates accompanied by characterization of the merging massive black holes and their host galaxies. Massive black holes of total mass $\sim10^6-10^9 M_\odot$ are...
In this dissertation, I discuss the role of neutrino masses and fermion flavor in modern particle physics and present several efforts aimed at exploiting these properties in searches for new physics. In particular, I discuss (1) the effects of neutrino decays on neutrino propagation; (2) the sensitivity of the Deep...
This dissertation presents a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) study of a novel anisotropic superconductor, HgBa$_{2}$CuO$_{4+\delta}$ (Hg1201) and unconventional strain dependence of the mean free path of silica aerogel. Hg1201 is one of the most structurally simple cuprates known. Therefore, it is an ideal compound in investigation of various phases in...
An atom interferometric gyroscope (AIG) made with an uncorrelated ensemble of N two-level atoms, rotating at a rate ΩG about an axis normal to the area Θ accrues a phase ϕ = 2ωCΘΩG/c2 due to the Sagnac effect. Here ωC is the Compton frequency of the atoms used, and c...
In 2012 the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) collected 19.7 fb-1of data at a center of mass energy of 8 TeV. This thesis presents two analyses focusing on the Z boson. The first is a search for the never before seen decay of a...
Planets and planetary systems change in brightness as a function of time. These "light curves" can have several features, including transits where a planet blocks some starlight, eclipses where a star obscures a planet's flux, and rotational variations where a planet reflects light differently as it spins. One can measure...