Comparing Long-Lasting Meteor Trains in Visible and Radio Regimes

  • CART Astrophysics Seminar Series

March 13, 2025 2:00 PM
PAIS 3205

Host:
Greg Taylor
Presenter:
Logan Cordonnier (UNM)
Previous research has indicated a connection between two meteor phenomena, namely optical persistent trains (PTs) and meteor radio afterglows (MRAs). Both phenomena arise from intrinsic emission mechanisms; PTs are associated with chemiluminescent reactions and MRAs with radiation from the plasma trail. Data obtained by the Global Meteor Network (GMN), in conjunction with the Long Wavelength Array (LWA) radio telescope, enables me to examine the meteor properties corresponding to each phenomenon. In this presentation, I will discuss my efforts to detect and analyze MRAs in the all-sky radio data and will then compare these events to the existing catalog of PTs. The resulting catalog contains a total of 2,887 meteors, with 675 MRA events and 412 optical trains. Analyses suggest that the connection between the two, while still statistically significant, is not as strong as previously supposed. Despite this, a gradient boosting classification algorithm demonstrates high accuracy in predicting whether either phenomenon is likely given a meteor’s entry parameters. This can be leveraged as a trigger for future high-resolution instrumentation.

Upcoming Events

Intro to Photonics Experience courtesy of ThorLabs
ThorLabs
No Affiliation
Outreach
Feb. 24, 12:00 AM - Feb. 26, 4:00 PM
Yale Mall, west of PAIS, UNM Main Campus

A Search for New Physics in Decays of B Mesons to Muon Pairs, Characterization of Radiation Damage in Silicon Detectors at the Large Hadron Collider, and Development of New Particle Timing Technology
Hijas Farook (UNM)
Nuclear, Particle, Astroparticle and Cosmology (NUPAC) Seminars
Feb. 24, 2:00 PM
PAIS 3205

Title TBD
Bryan Butler (NRAO)
Physics and Astronomy Colloquium
Feb. 27, 3:30 PM - Feb. 27, 4:30 PM
PAIS 1100

Hunting for Exotic Matter: How AI is Helping Our Search for the Strange Side of Quantum Physics
Cesar Luis Da Silva (LANL)
Nuclear, Particle, Astroparticle and Cosmology (NUPAC) Seminars
Mar. 3, 2:00 PM
PAIS 3205

TBD
Susmita Garai (UNM EPS)
CART Astrophysics Seminar Series
Mar. 5, 2:00 PM - Mar. 5, 3:00 PM
PAIS 3205