Research
I started my graduate work in fall 2005, working with Dr. Tom
Harrison.
My principal interests are in CVs, star formation, and stellar evolution.
My present work is focused on understanding the accretion disk and secondary
star around the cataclysmic variable WZ Sagittae. In particular, molecules
have been identified in IR spectra and we hope to identify their origin.
Concerning another project, recent work has suggested that the accepted
evolutionary track for cataclysmic variables, CVs, may be in error.
Measurements of carbon abundances have suggested that the secondary stars in
these systems may have undergone far more changes during the formation of the
CV than previously thought. Magnetic and non-magnetic CVs also appear to
follow different evolutionary tracks. A principal probe of this evolution is
metal abundance in the secondary star.
To expand our understanding in this area, we have obtained near infrared
spectra of a sample of CVs with SPEX on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility.
These data permit quantitative measurements of carbon and other metal
abundances in the secondary stars with the aid of a stellar atmosphere model.
We have used the program SPECTRUM to generate these models. We find that both
AE Aqr and GK Per show extreme carbon 12 deficits. In the future we plan to
extend these models to include Na, Mg, and Fe.
I have previously worked with infrared observations, studying dust extinction
in star clusters from data taken with the 1-meter telescope at the Table
Mountain Observatory and the Two Micron All Sky Survey.
I have also worked at the Spitzer Science Center, analyzing Chandra x-ray data
for several binary systems to probe for their infrared counterparts, and also
used the 2MASS survey data to study infrared counterparts of white dwarfs.
My senior thesis project at HMC focused further on these objects, to
understand the properties of magnetic white dwarfs and identify possible
white dwarf + low
mass Main Sequence pairs.
Meetings
January 2007: American Astronomical Society meeting, Near Infrared Quantitative Abundance Analysis of The Secondary Stars in a Sample of CVs
J.W. Wellhouse & T.E. Harrison
January 2007: American Astronomical Society meeting, Cool Companions of White Dwarfs from 2MASS
D W. Hoard, S. Wachter, L. K. Sturch, A. M. Widhalm, K. P. Weiler, J. W. Wellhouse,
& M. Gibiansky
January 2006: American Astronomical Society meeting, The Origin of the Molecular Emission in WZ
Sagittae
J.W. Wellhouse, T.E. Harrison, S.B. Howell, & P. Szkody
January 2005: American Astronomical Society meeting, Magnetic White Dwarfs in the Infrared
J. W. Wellhouse, D. W. Hoard, S. B. Howell, & S. Wachter
Publications
Magnetic White Dwarfs in the Two Micron All Sky Survey: A Search for
Candidate Binary Systems
J. W. Wellhouse, D. W. Hoard, S. B. Howell, S. Wachter, & A. A. Esin 2005,
PASP, 117, 1378
Chandra HRC Localization of the Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries X1624-490 and X1702-429: The Infrared Counterparts,
S. Wachter, J. W. Wellhouse, S. K. Patel, A. P. Smale, J. F. Alves, &
P. Bouchet 2005, ApJ, 621, 393
My CV in PDF format.
