Honors Theses and Capstones

Date of Award

Spring 2022

Project Type

Senior Honors Thesis

College or School

CEPS

Department

UNH Physics Department

Program or Major

Physics BS

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

First Advisor

Nathan Schwadron

Second Advisor

Eberhard Moebius

Abstract

This paper aims to study if the thinner carbon foils of IMAP-Lo will lead to a better resolution of the C/O ratio and by extension, the Ne/O ratio. This is done by fitting an asymmetric kappa function to the time of flight spectra of both types of carbon foils. The ETU used in the most recent round of IMAP-Lo testing is outfitted with both 2ug/cm^2 and 1ug/cm^2 foils letting us create a model relating how the spectra change in response to different foil thickness. Using this model and validating it against test results, we simulate what we would expect to see from spectra of C and O generated from IBEX-Lo calibration data if they were to be measured using 1ug/cm^2 foils that will be used in IMAP-Lo. This simulation shows that the energy straggling tails of the spectra are lessened when using the thinner foils.

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