Friday, April 1, 2011

8:45 - 5:00

Workshop W1
"Astrometry"
   Robert Holmes, Joshua Hawkins, and Hannah Tanquary
Astronomical Research Institute and Eastern Illinois University
Physical Science Building 2409

Astrometry is the branch of astronomy that relates to the precise measurements of the positions and movements of astronomical objects. In this workshop we will be giving a tutorial on the free software program Astrometrica which is widely used by astronomers (amateur and professional) to analyze astrometric data. We will show specifically how it is used to precisely measure and track the positions of asteroids and near-earth-objects. This type of survey and data gathering is vital in the search for objects that could potentially impact Earth. This workshop will be conducted by Bob Holmes, a local professional astronomer who is employed by NASA to obtain and analyze data on these types of objects (sometimes called the "Killer Asteroid Project"). In this workshop we will demonstrate how this data gathering and analyzing process is accomplished.

With the cooperation of the weather the night before the workshop, attendees will work with new images that have not been previously analyzed. Measurements made by an attendee can be sent to the IAU Minor Planet Center with their name recorded as the measurer. Attendees might even discover an asteroid during the workshop!

Workshop W2
"Activities from Teaching About Lightwave Communications"
Cherie Lehman and Jie Zou -- Eastern Illinois University
Physical Science Building 1140

This hands-on workshop based on the PTRA workshop, "Teaching About Lightwave Communications," includes activities demonstrating the physics of communicating with light such as the superposition principle, energy transformations, magnetic forces, and internal reflection. In addition, an exploration of converting between analog and digital signals will be included. Participants will leave with classroom ready activities. Note: There is a $5 fee to cover take home materials.

Workshop W3
"Inquiry-Oriented Activities for Teaching Introductory Astronomy"
Carl Wenning -- Physics Department, Illinois State University
Physical Science Building 2167

Because astronomy is fundamentally an observational science, teaching introductory astronomy in a hands-on fashion is at best difficult. The workshop presenter will share a wide array of resources that he has assembled for use with students - ranging from simple paper and pencil worksheets to computer simulations. Suitable for middle school through college teachers.

Workshop W4
"Effectively Implementing Technology into Your Classroom"
John Metzler -- Niles West High School
Physical Science Building 2409

In this workshop, participants will discuss how technology can be effectively implemented into the classroom in order to assist in student understanding of curricular material. Additionally, participants will take part in a video lab in order to analyze mechanical energy transfer of a ball as it bounces. This workshop is designed for teachers who want more technology in their classroom or who want to discuss the effectiveness of technology in the classroom. This workshop is suitable for science teachers from middle school level to college level.

Workshop W5
"Physics, It's Making a Comeback (The Physics of Boomerangs)"
Society of Physics Students -- Eastern Illinois University
Physical Science Building 1140

Attendees will be introduced to the basic theory of flight of boomerangs from an introductory physics perspective, complete the construction of a boomerang, and, weather permitting, receive training on properly throwing the boomerang.

12:00 - 1:00

Session A - Chair: Don Pakey
Physical Science Building 2153

"Where's the Antimatter?"
Michael Fortner
Department of Physics, Northern Illinois University

Session B - Chair: Jie Zou
Student Research Symposium
Physical Science Building 2167

The fact that we live in a matter-dominated universe is not consistent with the Standard Model of particle physics. In 1967 Sakharov suggested anomalous CP-violating decays as a condition to explain the asymmetry between matter and antimatter in the universe. Recent results from the Dzero experiment at Fermilab show an anomalously high asymmetry in the production of two like sign muons from b-quark decays in proton-antiproton collisions. This asymmetry is a measure of CP violation in neutral B-mesons and is inconsistent with the Standard Model.

The nanomechanical oscillator (NMO) is dynamically equivalent to a nonlinear oscillator with significant fourth order (quartic) nonlinearity in the elastic potential energy. The objective is to determine if, and under what conditions, the nonlinearity permits the observation of the bistable behavior and self induced transparency in classical treatment of coherently driven NMO having quartic nonlinearity in the elastic potential energy. The NMO has been described by a model of three ordinary springs attached to a single mass exhibiting nonlinear oscillations. Also, the electrical analogue of the NMO in terms of simplified Young-Silva oscillator with a fewer circuit elements is used to simulate quartic potential behavior. This circuit will eventually be used to experimentally demonstrate the nonlinear behavior of nanomechancal oscillators.

2:00

Laser spectroscopy based on resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization of molecules using tunable intense lasers is a powerful method in exploring the structure of molecules at atomic level. We are presently conducting research on the mass-selective resonance enhanced two-photon ionization laser spectroscopy of biomolecules and their hydrated clusters. In this talk I will present our experimental setup, as well as our initial results of laser-induced two-photon ionization of styrene molecule. The experimental setup includes a tunable ultraviolet laser by frequency-doubling a dye laser, a pulsed molecular beam, a high vacuum chamber, a mass spectrometer, a microchannel plate detector, and a fast digitizer. We resolved a number of spectral lines of styrene molecule near its original electronic and vibrational transition at 288 nm. Attempts have been made to assign all spectral lines to their corresponding vibrational modes. This project is supported by the WIU-URC grant.

I will discuss the challenges associated with improving upon the design of a parametric oscillator that is analogous to a one dimensional ponderomotive ion trap. As the end goal of this project is to refine the device for use in a laboratory classroom setting, further development is geared towards ease of use and reliable data capture. In particular, discussion will focus upon the capacitive sensor apparatus that is being developed to give accurate position data for the moving "ion" in the trap.

2:15

I will present an outline for an honors course that I have developed and will deliver next fall at WIU, called "Seeing the Invisible." It will be a one hour seminar course for non-science and science honors students focusing on the process of scientific reasoning about unseen phenomena. The idea for this course grew out of my involvement in our teacher education program at WIU, and the apparent need of our future teachers to understand how science is done. I wonder if the need isn't just as acute among the regular majors.

Non-holonomic constraint systems are the ones that have the constraint equations as functions of velocity and may also be time dependent. There is still a debate going on the research community about appropriate generalized methods to mathematically handle non-holonomic constraints within the Lagrangian approach to classical mechanics. In this presentation, we investigate methods to solve systems subject to the linear non-holonomic constraints (functions linearly dependent on velocity) by discussing certain problems such as a rotational system, for example cart wheel, and a particle sliding on a rough incline. We are going to explore application of Lagrange's undetermined multipliers technique to check whether it can consistently deal with the linear non-holonomic constraints and we would like to further investigate if they can be used to solve some non-linear non-holonomic problems.

2:30

Stated crudely, but memorably, functionals are mathematical objects that eat an entire function (over its domain) and poop a real number. Many areas of physics require us to minimize functionals of various kinds as the function "moves" "continuously" in Hilbert Space. Because this subject is usually NOT included in the undergraduate mathematics curriculum in the U.S., it is presented, in context, when we teach Lagrangian dynamics or the path-integral approach to quantum mechanics. Often, students find this topic to be non-intuitive and hazy. I will share a Mathematica-assisted, simple and direct method of conceptualizing and visualizing this abstract concept. I will also demonstrate explicitly that the textbook techniques for such minimization (Euler Lagrange Differential Equations) do indeed work as advertised. During the current semester, the technique is being used for the first time, in our sophomore level course in Mathematical Methods of Physics.

Time-of-flight mass spectrometers are scientific instruments that separate different species of ions produced in a reaction according to their mass-to-charge ratios. They are also powerful in studying the initial momentum and kinetic energy distribution of the ion species. In this talk we present a home-made Wiley-McLaren time-of-flight mass spectrometer in our lab, which is known for its high mass resolution and easy operation. The mass spectrometer consists of two short acceleration regions of 10-20 mm, and one free drift tube of about 250 mm. The resolution of the mass spectrum is optimized by controlling the electric fields in the two acceleration regions of the mass spectrometer, so that the condition of space-focusing is achieved. The trajectory of the ions is simulated using the SIMION software. As an application of the mass spectrometer, we show our experiments of laser-induced multi-photon ionization of benzene molecules.

Break - Refreshments - Physical Sciences Building 2170

"The Future of Near Earth Object Observations
 at the Astronomical Research Observatory"
Robert Holmes
Astronomical Research Observatory, Eastern Illinois University
Physical Sciences Building 2120

Science fiction both inspires and exhausts us as physics teachers. All the bad science sometimes hinders our teaching, but the idea that we are not alone in the universe is inspiring. While still the stuff of science fiction, life on other planets is serious business to a new branch of science called astrobiology. Through our knowledge of chemistry, biology, earth science, and physics; scientists are able to understand what defines life and habitat with far better precision then ever before. Astrobiology also provides content for an excellent and exciting interdisciplinary course - our version of forensics. It is also a course whose content is updated nearly everyday, providing excellent opportunities to talk with your students about what they have just heard in the news or tweets.

Session C - Chair: Cherie Lehman
Physical Science Building 2120

Session D - Chair: Jie Zou
Student Research Symposium
Physical Science Building 2153

An active learning lesson on gravity and planetarian motion is presented. The context of the lesson is the search of extrasolar planets and the origin of life, and central to the lesson is a lab-activity in which students are measuring the light curve of a "star" while an "exoplanet" is eclipsing it. At the presentation, the activity will be demonstrated and ideas of data manipulation discussed. The additional use of raw data from the Kepler and the CoRoT missions will be addressed as well.

The mathematical description of the laser beams is given in terms of a differential equation called the Helmholtz equation. It is a partial differential equation that relates the spatial variation of the electromagnetic fields in the transverse and longitudinal directions. Normally the equation is solved in terms of the standard Cartesian coordinates to obtain the transverse spatial profile of the laser beams in terms of the so called Hermite Gaussian functions. It turns out that the laser beams can carry orbital angular momentum and the orbital angular momentum of light cannot be easily understood in terms of the Hermite Gaussian modes, instead one needs cylindrically symmetric mode functions termed as Laguerre Gaussian (LG) functions. In this presentation we will discuss the character of the angular momentum of light and how it can be understood via the solution of the Helmholtz equations in the form of the LG functions.

The "Visions of the Universe" exhibit was created by the American Library Association, Space Telescope Science Institute and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy. The exhibit consists of 12 posters. We arranged to display smaller versions of these posters at Joliet Junior College. To encourage ASTR 101 and Life in the Universe students to expand their interest in astronomy via these posters, in Spring 2010 we designed a short essay assignment that counted as one homework. The assignment involved exploring a poster topic further via the internet, critiquing the webpage chose as the primary reference, and to recommend whether or not their chosen webpage would be a suitable resource for non-science majors. We will provide details of the assignment, and report on which exhibit topics were most popular, which websites students referred to and which they recommended for introductory astronomy courses.

Strands of DNA undergo two important processes during reproduction, recombination and inversion. These processes may enable a species to evolve into a new species by changing the locations of genes, reducing the likelihood of successful reproduction with the precursor species. In our simulation, individuals are modeled by a strand of DNA consisting of a set number of genes assigned to one of two traits. Each individual is limited to having only two genes at any one time assigned to the first trait, any other number results in the individual's death. We investigate how changes in a species' gene spacing can be caused by stochastic inversion events with recombination present. Specifically, we consider whether changes in gene spacing can be caused by a single well isolated inversion event, a constant rate of a small number of inversion events per generation, or a critical number of events within a given time interval.

Most, if not all, students struggle with learning physics. Yet perhaps the most helpful resource available is not utilized by the majority of students - the office hour. In this talk a physics teacher's record of office hour use will be presented along with possible reasons for students not taking advantage of this valuable resource.

The spatial organization of linked genes in an individual or population is not well understood, and the definition or classification of the form of linkage between genes can vary. In models, genes can be explicitly linked via some mathematical fitness equation or implicitly linked through the reproduction operations. In our simulation, individuals are modeled by a single strand of DNA consisting of a set number of genes assigned to one of two different traits. While, individuals are selected to reproduce according to their explicit fitness, as calculated with the two most fit genes assigned to one specific trait, the actual mechanisms of inversion and recombination play a critical role in determining genetic organization. We discuss the role of inversion and recombination on genetic organization in a system where each individual is constrained to a fixed total number of genes and the trait of interest is constrained to two genes.

"Citizen Science: Unmanned Space Exploration by You!"
Pamela Gay
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Physical Science Building 1205

Modern instrumentation allows scientists to acquire astronomical images at a rate greater than any team can process in a timely manner. At the root of this problem is the still prevalent need to use human eyes and human pattern recognition skills at one or more steps in the data analysis process.

In the past, faculty asked students and post doctoral fellows to slave away at classifying images, but it has been recognized that many of their tasks, from classifying the morphology of galaxies to tracing lunar craters, can be done by members of the public. Today, through projects such as Moon Zoo and the Planet Hunters, scientists are relying on this aid to produce published data catalogues that have so far yielded more than two dozen publications.

Return to Meeting Page