Out-of-date picture of author

K.D.Kuntz

I am a Post-Doctoral Research Associate with the Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy of The Johns Hopkins University and my office is in the X-ray Laboratory of the Exploration of the Universe Division of the Goddard Space Flight Center. I work with data from ROSAT, Chandra, HST, and XMM.

Research Area:

My interests lie primarily in the study of the hot Galactic ISM using X-ray observations, and I am particularly interested in isolating and studying the hot Galactic halo. Understanding the extent and nature of the hot Galactic halo places constraints on models of galaxy formation and will be crucial for studies of the Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium. In classical ISM studies, X-ray observations directly address such active questions as the filling factor of hot gas. Isolating the hot galactic halo requires characterization of the Galactic foreground components such as the Local Hot Bubble and the Galactic bulge by a combination of absorption and broad-band photometric techniques. The current generation of X-ray instruments makes possible isolation of the various components by spectroscopic techniques, given long exposures and accurate instrumental background calibration. I am currently using a combination of Guest Observer observations and archival data from Chandra and XMM-Newton to study the Local Hot Bubble, the Galactic bulge, and the Loop I superbubble in preparation for a large-scale study of the Galactic halo.

In parallel, I am pursuing a study of the diffuse X-ray emission in galaxies similar to the Milky Way in order to constrain the amounts/types of emission from various structural components; arms, bulge, extended spheroid, etc.. This study has recently led to an excursion into the HST optical identification of X-ray point sources in M101 in order to determine the distribution of sources among Low-Mass X-ray binaries, High-Mass X-ray binaries, and background AGN.

Education

Positions Held:

  • 2005 - present Associate Research Scientist, JHU
  • 2001 - 2005 Post Doctoral Fellow, JCA
  • 1993 - 2000 Graduate Assistant, University of Maryland
  • 1988 - 1993 Science Data Analyst, Space Telescope Science Institute

Principal Publications:

Other Publications:

Proceedings & Miscellany:

  • ``What Can We Learn about the Milky Way from M101'',
    K.D. Kuntz, 2003, Proceedings of ``How Does the Galaxy Work?''
  • ``The Galactic X-ray Halo'',
    K.D. Kuntz, 2002, Proceedings of the 17th IAP Colloquium, Gaseous Matter in Galaxies and Intergalactic Space, R. Ferlet and Martin Lemoine, eds.
  • ``The Formation of High-Ionization Species Associated with Intermediate Velocity HI'',
    Danly, L., Albert, C. E., and Kuntz, K. D., in Proc. 3rd Annual Maryland Astrophysics Conference, Back to the Galaxy, 1992, Verter, F., ed.
  • ``The Disk-Halo Connection in the Milky Way: Highly Ionized Gas in the Intermediate Velocity Arch'',
    L. Danly and K. D. Kuntz, 1992, Proc. ESO/EIPC Workshop, Star Forming Galaxies and Their Interstellar Medium, Franco, J., ed.
  • ``The HVC/IVC Complex C II: Its Distance and Ionization'',
    K. D. Kuntz and L. Danly, Proceedings of the IAU Colloquium #144, The Disk-Halo Connection in Galaxies, H. Bloemen, editor; Leiden, The Netherlands, 1990, p 17.
  • ``Infalling Gas Toward the North Galactic Pole'',
    K. D. Kuntz and L. Danly, 1989, BAAS, 21, 1123.

Publications (Non-astronomy):

  • ``The Old Goucher Historic District: A Walking Tour'',
    K. D. Kuntz and Dr. Dr. L. M. Principe, 1997.
  • ``A Plan for the Redevelopment of the Goucher Square Neighborhood (South Charles Village)'',
    K.D. Kuntz, 1993.

Resources:

  • M101
  • The XMM Non-Cosmic Backgrounds
    • is a gzipped postscript file describing my work on the XMM background. This document describes what we know about the instrumental background for the MOS detectors, and how the backgrounds can be characterized and removed. The actual tools for background removal will be posted in IDL some time in the March-April 2004 period.
  • The Chandra Non-Cosmic Background(s)
    • is a subset of the following...
  • Tools for the Analysis of Diffuse Emission with Chandra a collection of data files and IDL tools useful for analyzing diffuse emission from Chandra imaging spectroscopy. Contains
    • instrumental background spectra from the Dark Moon observations and the event histogram data,
    • the tools to extract and apply these spectra,
    • IDL tools for removing point sources,
    • IDL tools for extracting spectra from irregular regions.
    The package is 14M when gzipped and tarred. It expands to 210M, of which the event histogram data occupies 174M. Updated 23 October 2002

Notes:

  • This page was last updated 24 February 2006.
  • The border is a GIF file obtained through the William Morris Society page.
  • The header photo is me standing on the steps of my home of the last eleven years. It was designed by Howard Cassell, and was built in 1887. The facade is Beaver Dam marble, the same stone of which the Washington Monument is built. Together with Prof. Principe, I am restoring this house to its original condition.
Another out-of-date picture of author I can be reached at kuntz@milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov

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    This file was last modified on Friday, 24-Feb-2006 11:39:07 EST