Jeff Coughlin Research/Teaching Assistant Entered: 2007 Office: 111 Astronomy Phone: (575)646-4813 Fax: (575)646-1602   E-mail: jlcough (append "@nmsu.edu")
B.S. Emory University, 2007

My CV

Teaching

I currently am a teaching assistant for Astronomy 301G - Revolutionary Ideas in Science

Apache Point Observatory Observing Specialist

I work part-time as an observing specialist for the 3.5-meter telescope at Apache Point. I also assist with the operations of NMSU's robotic 1-meter telescope.

IRAF Scripting

I do quite a bit of IRAF scripting. If you use IRAF, please visit my IRAF page for a photometry package and other IRAF scripts I've created.

Research

My research interests are primarily Extrasolar Planets, Eclipsing Binary Stars, and Stellar Populations.

Extrasolar Planets
I am currently collaborating with researchers from U. Washington, U. Colorado, and the Carniege Institution of Washington on detecting a planet of about 5 Earth Masses around the nearby M-dwarf, Gliese 436, via observations of the orbital pertubations of a larger, Neptune-mass planet around the same star. We are using the 3.5-meter telescope at Apache Point and the NMSU 1-meter telescope.

In Fall of 2008 I will begin work with Dr. Tom Harrison at NMSU on a new high-speed, multi-channel photometer that will use the ingress and egress of transiting extrasolar planets to probe thier atmospheric composition.

Eclipsing Binary Stars
While an undergraduate, I logged 400+ hours on the Emory University 24-inch reflector, and obtained five nights on the 42-inch Hall Telescope at Lowell Observatory, observing eclipsing binary stars. For my senior honors thesis, I modeled UBVRI light curves of these systems and presented a formation scenario for the evolution of near-contact binaries to W Uma type contact systems. I am currently continuing this work on near-contact systems by analyzing existing data, and have additionally begun to study giant star eclipsing systems through the use of the NMSU 1-meter telescope to obtain multi-color light curves for long-period giant systems.

I spent the summer of 2006 as a REU research student at the University of Georgia, working with Dr. Scott Shaw on seven new low mass eclipsing binaries. Low-mass stars are found to have radii about 10% larger than predicted by stellar models, and eclipsing binaries currently serve as the most accurate method for measuring the fundamental parameters of mass and radius. I am currently continuing this work by obtaining light curves with the NMSU 1-meter telescope, and radial velocity curves with the 3.5-meter telescope at Apahce Point Observatory.

I have also worked with fellow graduate student, Doug Hoffman, who has identified more than 450 new eclipsing binary systems from the Northern Sky Variability Survey. I wrote a program to automatically model all of these systems, utilizing the ELC program, and in the process found 37 new candidate low-mass, main-sequence systems.

Stellar Populations
I'm working with Dr. Jon Holtzman on using narrow band Calcium H & K filters in order to photometrically derive accurate metallicities for a large-scale survey of the galactic bulge. We hope to define the metallicity distribution down to very low metallicities, [Fe/H] = -4, as well as identify some of the most metal-poor stars found to-date. We have submitted a Hubble proposal to implement this on the upcoming WFC3 camera to be installed on the Hubble Space Telescope in late 2008.

Support
I'm pleased to acknowledge support from the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium and the National Science Foundation.

Publications

New Observations and a Possible Detection of Parameter Variations in the Transits of Gliese 436b
Coughlin, J.L., Stringfellow, G., Becker, A., Lopez-Morales, M., Mezzalira, F., and Krajci, T. 2008, submitted to ApJL

Long-term Photometric Analysis of the Active W Uma-type System TU Boo
Coughlin, J.L., Dale, H.A., and Williamon, R.M. 2008, AJ, 136, 1089

New &beta Lyrae and Algol Candidates from the Northern Sky Variability Survey
Hoffman, D.I., Harrison, T.E., Coughlin, J.L., et al. 2008, AJ, 136, 1067

Orbital Solutions and Absolute Elements of the Eclipsing Binary MY Cygni
Tucker, R.S., Sowell, J.R., Williamon, R.M., and Coughlin, J.L. 2008, submitted to AJ.

Seven New Low-Mass Eclipsing Binaries
Coughlin, J.L. and Shaw, J.S. 2007, SARA, 1, 7C

Observations and Models of Eclipsing Binary Stars
Coughlin, J.L. 2007, Undergraduate Thesis, Emory University

Meetings & Posters

July 2008: Cool Stars XV
Transit Timing Observations of the Extrasolar Hot-Neptune Planet GL436b
G. Stringfellow, J. Coughlin, M. Lopez-Morales, A. Becker, T. Krajci, F. Mezzalira, E. Algol

January 2008: American Astronomical Society Meeting
Long-term Photometric Analysis of the Active W UMa-type System TU Bootis
J.L. Coughlin, H. Dale, and R.M. Williamon

January 2007: American Astronomical Society Meeting
Five New Low-Mass Eclipsing Binary Systems
J.L. Coughlin, M. López-Morales, & J.S. Shaw

November 2006: 14th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun
Six New Low-Mass Eclipsing Binaries below One Solar Mass
M. López-Morales, J.S. Shaw, & J.L. Coughlin

Talks