Research
I began doing full-time research in 2007 at the Center for Astrophysics and
Space Astronomy (CASA) at the University of Colorado, Boulder. I worked with
Ted Snow studying the interstellar medium. This research intrigues me; it
reveals clues about the chemical processing, and the interplay of dust, gas,
radiation, and dynamics that affect a region.
My first project involved a large survey of deuterated molecular hydrogen (HD)
column densities measured from archival Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
(FUSE) spectra. We looked at abundance correlations with various sight line
properties to determine how abundances relate the surrounding environment.
Another ISM project I worked on involved searching for H- in translucent
clouds and planetary nebula, using FUSE spectra I looked for narrow UV
ultraviolet resonance lines which have been measured in the lab but not yet
detected observationally. I also worked with Brain Rachford examining the
rotational and vibrational excitation of molecular hydrogen in Herschel 36,
again with FUSE data.
My most recent work focuses on developing a comprehensive database of low
redshift (z < 0.5) intergalactic absorbers, a Cycle 18 Hubble Legacy Archive
program, with Michael Shull and Charles Danforth in their CASA theoretical and
UV/x-ray space astronomy group. Many research groups are searching for missing
baryons, heavy elements, and traces of the warm-hot intergalactic medium
(IGM), using ultraviolet absorption lines of hydrogen (the Lyman series), and
various metal ions (O VI, C III, C IV, N V, Si III, Si IV, Fe III, and even a
few EUV ions). With large varied data sets available, there are disagreements
about line identifications and measurements of absorber properties such as
redshift, equivalent width of lines, Doppler width. Our archival program
involves a re-examination of all spectroscopic data from the Hubble Space
Telescope and FUSE, to create a critically-evaluated database of low-redshift
IGM absorbers for use by the entire community. From these data, we will derive
baryon densities and metallicities in the IGM, and analyze through
nearest-neighbor tests characteristic absorber sizes and distances from
galaxies.
In August 2009 I began my graduate studies and a research project with Chris Churchill.
The project involves measuring galactic photometric redshifts imaged in quasar fields,
then examining the statistical connection between galaxies and Mg II absorbers.
Publications
Molecular Hydrogen in the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Translucent
Lines of Sight: The Full Sample
Brian L. Rachford, Theodore P. Snow, Joshua D. Destree, Teresa L. Ross, Roger
Ferlet, Scott D. Friedman, Cecile Gry, Edward B. Jenkins, Doanld C. Morton,
Blair D., et al.
2009, ApJS, 180, 125
A New FUSE Survey of Interstellar HD
Theodore P. Snow, Teresa L. Ross, Joshua D. Destree, Meredith M. Drosback,
Adam G. Jensen, Brian L. Rachford, Paule Sonnentrucker & Roger Ferlet 2008,
ApJ, 688, 1124
The Search for H- in Astrophysical Environments
Teresa Ross, Emily J. Baker, Theodore P. Snow, Joshua D. Destree, Brian
L. Rachford, Meredith M. Drosback & Adam G. Jensen
2008, ApJ, 684, 358
Studies in the Mineral and Salt-Catalyzed Formation of RNA Oligomers
Shin Miyakawa, Prakash C. Joshi, Michael J. Gaffey, Elena Gonzalez-Toril,
Callen Hyland, Teresa Ross, Kristin Rybij & James P. Ferris
2006, Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres Journal, 36, 343
