Dr. Randall Smith
Code 662
Laboratory for X-ray Astrophysics
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD 20771

rsmith (at) milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov

301-286-1155 / 301-286-1684(Fax)

Table of Contents

Biography

 I was born in Stow, Ohio, a small town near Kent, where four students were killed and Cuyahoga Falls, the river that caught on fire, both of which occurred many years ago. Fortunately, little of note has happened in Stow to date.

Education: In 1991, I received my B.S. in Mathematics and Physics from Carnegie Mellon University. I then went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I worked with the Space Physics group and my advisor, Dr. Donald P. Cox. I received my Ph.D in 1997 after writing a thesis titled "Modeling the Soft X-Ray Background with Multiple Supernovae".

Present Position: Research Scientist, Department of Physics and Astronomy at The Johns Hopkins University, working with the XMM Guest Observer Facility at NASA/GSFC.

Research Overview

 I began working on the X-rays from the interstellar medium, and much of my work remains related to one or both of those. I have also spent substantial time developing, a collisional plasma code. My general interests are as follows:
  • Interstellar Medium: morphology, phases, X-ray emission
  • X-ray Spectra: collisional plasma processes, diffuse emission, supernova remnants, X-ray scattering in dust grains
  • Interstellar Dust: evolution, destruction, cooling

    Selected Papers
  • Suzaku Observations of the Local and Distant Hot ISM Smith, R. K. et al. 2007, Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of Japan, 59S, 141 ADS
  • The Chandra X-ray Observatory: An Astronomical Facility Available to the World Smith, R. K. 2006, Astrophysics and Space Science, 305, 321 ADS
  • Fully relativisitic R-matrix calculation of electron impact excitation of Ne IX Chen, G. X., Smith, R. K., Kirby, K, Brickhouse, N. S., Wargelin, B. J. 2006, Physical Review A, 74, 042709 ADS
  • The X-ray Halo of GX5-1 Smith, R. K., Dame, T. M., Costantini, E, Predehl, P. 2006, Astrophysical Journal, 648, 452 ADS
  • Far-Ultraviolet and X-Ray Observations of the Reverse Shock in the Small Magellanic Cloud Supernova Remnant 1E 0102.2-7219, Sasaki, M, Gaetz, T. J., Blair, W. P., Edgar, R. J., Morse, J. A., Plucinsky, P. P., Smith, R. K. 2006, Astrophysical Journal, 642, 260ADS
  • Chandra Observations of the X-ray Halo around the Crab Nebula Seward, F. D., Gorenstein, P., Smith, R. K. 2006, Astrophysical Journal, 636, 873ADS
  • An Assessment of the Fe XVIII and Fe XIX Line Ratios from the Chandra Grating Observations of Capella Desai, P et al. 2005, Astrophysical Journal, 625L, 59 ADS
  • Chandra Observations of MBM 12 and Models of the Local Bubble Smith, R. K., Edgar, R. J., Plucinsky, P. P., Wargelin, B. J., Freeman, P. E., Biller, B. A. 2005, Astrophysical Journal, 623, 225ADS
  • XMM-Newton Observations of the Galactic Supernova Remnant CTB 109 (G109.1-1.0) Sasaki, M., Plucinsky, P. P., Gaetz, T. J., Smith, R. K., Edgar, R. J., Slane, P. O. 2004, Astrophysical Journal, 617, 322ADS
  • A Million Second Chandra View of Cassiopeia A Hwang, Una et al. 2004, Astrophysical Journal, 615L, 117ADS
  • Chandra View of Kesteven 79: A Nearly Isothermal Supernova Remnant with Rich Spatial Structure Sun, M.; Seward, F. D.; Smith, R. K.; Slane, P. O. 2004, Astrophysical Journal, 605, 742 ADS
  • An X-Ray Jet Discovered by Chandra in the z=4.3 Radio-selected Quasar GB 1508+5714 Siemiginowska, A., Smith, R. K. Aldcroft, T. L., Schwartz, D. A., Paerels, F., Petric, A. O. 2003, Astrophysical Journal, 598, 15LADS
  • A Compact Central Object in the Supernova Remnant Kesteven 79 Seward, F. D., Slane, P. O., Smith, R. K., Sun, M. 2003, Astrophysical Journal, 584, 414ADS
  • The X-ray Halo of GX 13+1, Smith,~R., Edgar,~R. \& Shafer,~R. 2002, Astrophysical Journal, 581, 562ADS
  • An X-Ray Study of the Supernova Remnant G290.1-0.8, Slane, P. Smith, R. K., Hughes, J. P., Petre, R. 2001, Astrophysical Journal, 564, 284ADS
  • The CHANDRA X-ray Grating Spectrum of Eta Carinae, Corcoran, M. F., Swank, J. H., Petre, R., Ishibashi, K.,Davidson, K. Townsley, L., Smith, R. K., White, S., Viotti, R., Damineli, A. 2001, Astrophysical Journal, 562, 1031ADS
  • Electron collisional excitation of the low-lying fine-structure levels in oxygen-like Fe 18+, McLaughlin, B. M., Kirby, K. P., Smith, R. K., Brickhouse, N. S. \& Liedahl, D. A. 2001, Journal of Physics B, 34, 4521
  • Collisional Plasma Models with APEC/APED: Emission-Line Diagnostics of Hydrogen-like and Helium-like Ions, Smith, R. K., Brickhouse, N. S., Liedahl, D. A., Raymond, J. C. 2001, Astrophysical Journal, 556, L91 ADS
  • Multiple Supernova Remnant Models of the Local Bubble and the Soft X-Ray Background, Smith, R. K. & Cox, D. P. 2001, Astrophysical Journal Supplement, 134, 283 ADS
  • A New ASCA and ROSAT Study of the Supernova Remnant G272.2-3.2, Harrus, I. M., Slane, P. O., Smith, R. K., & Hughes, J. P. 2001, Astrophysical Journal, 552, 614 ADS
  • X-Ray Halos and Large Grains in the Diffuse Interstellar Medium, Witt, A. N., Smith, R. K., & Dwek, E. 2001, Astrophysical Journal, 550, L201 ADS
  • Enhanced Noble Gases in the Coronae of Active Stars, Drake, J. J., Brickhouse, N. S., Kashyap, V., Laming, J. M., Huenemoerder, D. P., Smith, R., & Wargelin, B. J. 2001, Astrophysical JournalADS
  • Satellite dielectronic spectra created from autoionizing 2lnl' and 1s2lnl' states with n = 4-5, Safronova, U. I., Vasilyev, A. A., Smith, R. K. 2000, Canadian Journal of Physics} 78, 1055 Local
  • Chandra X-Ray Observatory Arcsecond Imaging of the Young, Oxygen-rich Supernova Remnant 1E 0102.2-7219, Gaetz, T. J., Butt, Y. M., Edgar, R. J., Eriksen, K. A., Plucinsky, P. P., Schlegel, E. M., & Smith, R. K. 2000, Astrophysical Journal, 534, L47 ADS
  • Modeling W44 as a Supernova Remnant in a Density Gradient with a Partially Formed Dense Shell and Thermal Conduction in the Hot Interior I: The Analytical Model, Cox, D. P., Shelton, R. L., Maciejewski, W., Smith, R. K., Plewa, T., Pawl, A., & Rozyczka, M. 1999, Astrophysical Journal, 524, 179 ADS
  • Modeling W44 as a Supernova Remnant in a Density Gradient with a Partially Formed Dense Shell and Thermal Conduction in the Hot Interior II: The Hydrodynamic Models, Shelton, R. L., Cox, D. P., Maciejewski, W., Smith, R. K., Plewa, T., Pawl, A., & Rozyczka, M. 1999, Astrophysical Journal, 524, 192 ADS
  • Soft X-ray Scattering and Halos from Dust, Smith, R. K. & Dwek, E. 1998, Astrophysical Journal, 503, 831 ADS
  • A Simplified Model of Time-Dependent Cooling and Grain Destruction in Hot Dusty Plasmas, Smith, R. K., Krzewina, L. G., Cox, D. P., Edgar, R. J., & Miller, W. W. 1996, Astrophysical Journal, 473, 864 ADS
  • Energy Deposition and Photoelectric Emission from the Interaction of 10 eV to 1 MeV Photons with Interstellar Dust Particles, Dwek, E. & Smith, R. K. 1995, Astrophysical Journal, 459, 686 ADS
  • Dust and Gas Contributions to the Energy Output of SN 1987A on Day 1153, Dwek, E., Moseley, S. H., Glaccum, W., Graham, J. R., Loewenstein, R. F., Silverberg, R. F. & Smith, R. K. 1992 Astrophysical Journal, 389, L21 ADS

    X-ray Astronomy School Presentations

     Here is a collection of PowerPoint presentations I have given at various X-ray Astronomy schools.
    An overview of atomic processes relevant to X-rays download
    An overview of the physics of X-ray emitting collisional plasmas download
    X-rays and the Interstellar Medium download
    High-resolution X-ray Spectroscopy: A Review download

    Talk Overheads

     Here is a small collection of overheads from talks I have given, in gzipped Postscript format. Warning: some of these are quite large, due to embedded high resolution color images.

    CfA HEAD Lunch talk, Sept 26, 2001: A general overview of atomic processes that lead to line emission, primarily in X-rays. download

    X-ray Astronomy School, Sept 11, 2001: A talk on atomic processes in collisional plasmas, given at the 1st X-ray Astronomy School at NASA/Goddard. Yes, the talk was on that date. download

    CIAO Workshop, April, 2001: An introduction to X-ray astrophysical analysis, given at the beginning of the 2nd CIAO workshop. download

    CfA HEAD Lunch talk, February, 2001: A talk given on the results from analyzing the X-ray halo around the low-mass X-ray binary GX13+1. download

    CfA HEAD Lunch talk, 1999: A talk given on the results of modelling the soft X-ray background/Local Bubble with multiple supernova remnants. download

    SNORE talk, April, 2000: A talk to the CfA/MIT Supernova Group on spectral modelling and analysis of non-equilibrium plasmas. download

    The APEC Plasma Code

     Along with Nancy Brickhouse, Priyamvada Desai, John Raymond, and Duane Liehdal I have been developing the Astrophysical Plasma Emission Code (APEC) and Database (APED). More information about these projects can be found here.

    The Profit Spectral Analysis Tool

     Together with James Peachey and with the support of the XMM Guest Observer Facility, I have been developing a GUI spectral analysis tool called "Profit". More information, including screenshots and downloadable code, can be found here.

    This document is maintained by Randall Smith (rsmith (at) milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov; 301-286-1155)

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    This file was last modified on Monday, 21-May-2007 14:50:18 EDT