Me

Rusty Harvin

Ph.D. Candidate
The Astronomy Program
Georgia State University

Hot Stars

The entire life cycles of hot massive stars, from their formation, through their trajectories across the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, to their supernova explosions, and finally, to the compact objects that they leave, everything about hot stars and their environments interests me. Furthermore, it's my opinion, although I can't prove it, that big stars beget little stars. I'll simply point out that it is possible that the isotope ratios of the Solar System were fixed by a nearby supernova explosion shortly before our Sun's, and its planetary system's, birth. Hot stars and their environmental effects may not be nearly as remote from the issues surrounding the formation of our biosphere as we might think.

Binary Stars and Fundamental Stellar Parameters

Accurate and precise knowledge of the stars is better than approximate knowledge. From applying Kepler's Law to get masses, through using orbital parallaxes to find accurate stellar distances (far beyond the realm of measurable trigonometric parallaxes), to the use of interferometry, both speckle and optical long baseline , to find visual orbits (and inclinations), binary stars continue to be our primary source of accurate knowledge about the stars.

Spectroscopy and Spectrophotometry

From the blackbody curve to the curve of growth, whether using cross-correlation radial velocity techniques or deconvolving composite spectra with Doppler tomography ( Georgia State , St. Andrews University ), spectroscopy is where the absolute physical details are discovered.

First Author Publications

James A. Harvin, Douglas R. Gies, William G. Bagnuolo, Laura R. Penny, and Michelle L. Thaller

in preparation

James A. Harvin, Douglas R. Gies, William G. Bagnuolo, Laura R. Penny, and Michelle L. Thaller

The Astrophysical Journal, February 1, 2002, Volume 565, Page 1216

Other Refereed Publications

A. M. Williams, D. R. Gies, W. G. Bagnuolo, Jr., D. H. Berger, P. A. Erling, T. J. Fallon, J. A. Harvin, W. Huang, W.-C. Jao, T. S. Josephs, J. P. McFarland, M. V. McSwain, R. L. Riddle, D. J. Wallace, D. W. Wingert, A. W. Fullerton, and C. T. Bolton

The Astrophysical Journal, February 10, 2001, Volume 548, Page 425

Laura R. Penny, Debra Seyle, Douglas R. Gies, James A. Harvin, William G. Bagnuolo, Jr., M. L. Thaller, A. W. Fullerton, and L. Kaper

The Astrophysical Journal, February 20, 2001, Volume 548, Page 889

Taylor, Stuart F., Harvin, James. A., and McAlister, Harold A.

to appear in PASP, May 2003

Hartkopf, William I., Martin, Christian, Harvin, James. A., Li, Zhongjie, Turner, Nils H., Roberts, Lewis C., Jr., and McAlister, Harold A.

in preparation

Conference Proceedings

Harvin, James. A. and Gies, Douglas R.

in Exotic Stars as Challenges to Stellar Evolution, 2002, Tout, C. A. and Van Hamme, W. eds. ASP Conference Series Volume 279 (San Francisco: ASP)

Poster Paper Abstracts

Harvin, J. A.

Harvin, J. A., Gies, D. R., and Penny, L. R.

Williams, A. M., Gies, D. R., Berger, D. H., Erling, P. A., Harvin, J. A., Huang, W. J., Jao, W. C., McFarland, J. P., Wallace, D. J., Fallon, T., Bagnuolo, W. G., Riddle, R. L., McSwain, M. V., Josephs, T., Wingert, D. W., and Fullerton, A. W.

Harvin, J. A., Shure, M. A., Cordes, J. M., and Jarrett, T. H.

Bachelor of Science, Mathematics
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

Master of Science, Computer Science
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
Thesis: The Vectorized Performance of an Astronomical N-body Simulation (under construction)

Master of Science, Physics
Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA

Ph.D., Astronomy
Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
Dissertation: Doppler Tomography of the Massive Compact Binary Stars in the Multiple Star Systems delta Orionis and HD 206267

Visit Georgia State's Hard Labor Creek Observatory (Open House Schedule)

My Favorite Astronomical Picture

Centaurus from Summerland Key, Florida, April 1, 1978.

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