Meredith Rawls
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| Teaching Assistant |
| Entered: | 2010 |
| Office: | 110 Astronomy |
| Phone: | (575)646-2107 |
| Fax: | (575)646-1602 |
| |
| E-mail: | mrawls |
| (append "@nmsu.edu") |
| |
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| M.S. | San Diego State University, | 2010 |
| B.S. | Harvey Mudd College, | 2008 |
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Research
I have a B.S. degree in physics from Harvey Mudd College, and a M.S. degree in
astronomy from San Diego State University.
The topic of my M.S. thesis was the determination of masses for neutron stars
in eclipsing high-mass X-ray binaries, completed with my advisor Jerry Orosz.
While optical observations of such systems can yield the mass donor star's
radial velocity curve, X-ray observations can constrain the radial velocity
curve of the neutron star, as well as the duration of the X-ray eclipse. We
can combine these types of data with the orbital period and projected
semi-major axis, and the length of the X-ray eclipse, to determine the masses
of both stellar components. Historically, this has been done using analytic
approximations (rather than numerical integration) to compute the Roche lobe
radius, and by computing the duration of the eclipse using spheres rather than
equipotential surfaces. I implemented a numerical code based on Roche
geometry, together with detailed optical light curves, to more precisely
determine the Roche lobe filling factors for six binary systems of interest.
My senior thesis research project as an undergraduate was titled Ups and
Downs in the Life of a Cataclysmic Variable: The Long-Term Behavior of CM
Phoenicis, completed with advisor Donald Hoard. I combined optical and
near-infrared photometry of an unusual cataclysmic variable star with optical
spectroscopy, to explore the role of this object in refining our picture of
secular evolution of interacting binary stars. The observed spectral type of
the mass donor star in this system is inconsistent with its long orbital
period, and our long term light curve showed transitions between bright and
faint states. I reduced and analyzed several sets of photometry for this
object, and with Inese Ivans also observed with the Clay Magellan 6.5-meter
Telescope in Chile to obtain optical spectroscopy for the project.
This work was complemented by a summer project at the Carnegie Institute
spent deriving photospheric chemical compositions for mildly metal-poor
globular cluster stars from high resolution spectra.
I began my graduate studies in August 2010. I am interested in a wide
range of problems in stellar and galactic astronomy, and also enjoy
teaching.
Publications
New Observations and Neutron Star Mass for the X-ray Binary 4U 1538-52
Meredith L. Rawls, J. A. Orosz, J. E. McClintock, M. A. P. Torres,
C. D. Bailyn, & M. M. Buxton
2010, BAAS, 41, 466
Time-resolved Photometry of Two New SU UMa Dwarf Novae: V466 Andromedae and
OT J011306.7+215250
Allen W. Shafter, R. Babar, A. E. Burke, M. Fernandez, Z. R. J. Girazian,
C. M. Heffner, S. Kadakia, D. A. Krogsrud, E. Marin, M. L. Rawls, & J. S. Rice
2009, BAAS, 41, 468
Refining the Neutron Star Mass Determination in Six Eclipsing X-ray Pulsar
Binaries
Meredith L. Rawls & J. A. Orosz
2009, BAAS, 41, 211
Ups and Downs in the Life of a Cataclysmic Variable: The Long-Term Behavior of
CM Phoenicis
Meredith L. Rawls, D. W. Hoard, & S. Wachter
2007, BAAS, 39, 819
Websites
Professional Webpage
Teaching Homepage
Personal Blog
