Nicole Granucci presents “Looking for a More Accurate Luminosity Indicator for Quasars”

Quinnipiac Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society

Seminar Series presents

 Nicole Granucci, Instructor of Physics at Quinnipiac University

“Looking for a More Accurate Luminosity Indicator for Quasars”

Thursday, October 10, 2:15 PM, Mt Carmel Auditorium (CCE 101)

Quasars (QSOs), known for being exceptionally luminous, have the potential to serve as standard candles if a sufficiently accurate way is found to determine their inherent luminosity. Our research focuses on a selected sample of QSOs within the redshift range of 1.5-1.75 where their ultraviolet light (UV) is significantly redshifted into the optical allowing for ground based observations of the QSO UV emission. We then generate color-magnitude and color-color diagrams using data from the COSMOS 2020 Catalogue to look for correlations that would connect to the QSO’s luminosity. This work aims to enhance cosmological understanding by improving estimates of the universe’s age and size by using QSOs as a distance indicator.

Nicole Granucci received her B.S. in Physics from UCONN, a M.S. in Science Education from the University of New Haven and M.S. in Applied Physics-Optics at Southern Connecticut State University. She has taught both public and private high school physics and astronomy for over 10 years. She came to Quinnipiac as an Adjunct Professor of Physics in 2015 and became a full time Instructor of Physics in Fall 2019. She has worked on several astronomy research projects through NITARP (NASA/IPAC Teacher Achieve Research Program) where she has taken students to the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Meetings to present posters in astronomy research. She is continuously looking for new ways to engage students in authentic astronomy research and traveling to present their research.