As
of November, 2005 I have successfully completed the requirements for my
masters degree and am now officially a PhD candidate.
If you are interested in reading about the effects of cooling fronts in gravitationally stratified media undergoing the magnetorotational-instability (MRI) then download my Masters Thesis or you can watch a movie showing the effects of a cooling front on the density profile of an MRI unstable patch of accretion disk.
If you are interested in reading about the effects of cooling fronts in gravitationally stratified media undergoing the magnetorotational-instability (MRI) then download my Masters Thesis or you can watch a movie showing the effects of a cooling front on the density profile of an MRI unstable patch of accretion disk.
My current research involves
- Studying the effects of magnetic fields and thermal physics on variability in accretion disks around Neutron Stars, Black Holes, and White Dwarfs.
- Examining the effect of hydrodynamic turbulence on disks undergoing the MRI (magnetorotational instability)
- Simulating the spectrum of GRB afterglows (in their relativistically expanding phase) using an emmision process which acounts for the randomly oriented magnetic field which are (likely) to be found in these regimes. This process is known as 'Jitter Radiation' and was developed by Mikhail Medvedev in 'The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 540, Issue 2, pp. 704-714'
Publications
"Jitter radiation as a possible mechanism for Gamma-Ray Burst afterglows. Spectra and lightcurves", Mikhail V. Medvedev (U. Kansas), Davide Lazzati, Brian C. Morsony, Jared C. Workman (JILA, U. Colorado) The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 666, Issue 1, pp. 339-345, 2007 Astro PH Preprint
"Jitter Radiation In Gamma Ray Bursts and their afterglows: Emission and Self Absorption", Jared C. Workman, Brian C. Morsony, Davide Lazzati, (JILA, U. Colorado), Mikhail V. Medvedev (U. Kansas) MNRAS, Volume 386, pp. 199-210, 2008 Astro PH Preprint
"Jitter radiation, images, spectra, and lightcurves from a relativistic, spherical blastwave", Brian C. Morsony, Jared C. Workman, Davide Lazzati, (JILA, U. Colorado), Mikhail V. Medvedev (U. Kansas), Accepted - MNRAS
"Interaction of the magnetorotational instability with hydrodynamic turbulence", Jared C. Workman & Philip J. Armitage, In Press - Astrophysical Journal Astro PH Preprint
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