Jack Littleton
Professor
B.S., Cornell University, 1965
Ph.D., University of Rochester, 1972

West Virginia University
Department of Physics
PO Box 6315
Morgantown, WV 26506

Tel: (304)293-3422 ext. 1454
Fax: (304)293-5732
E-mail: jel@wvnvms.wvnet.edu

Recent research involved analyses of laboratory spectra of heavy metal oxides observed in stellar spectra of asymptotic giant branch stars and carbon stars. Transition rates for molecules and radicals observed in stars are used to synthesize stellar spectra to learn the abundances of isotopes of atoms such as zirconium in ZrO. The isotopic ratios provide temporal information about the evolution of the stars in which they are observed.

Development of research activities in the area of radio astronomy, using the facilities of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank, WV, is underway with observations of nearby, dwarf irregular galaxies. Spectra in the 21-cm line of hydrogen provide distances and hydrogen masses. These data provide information about the distribution of galaxies in the local universe and the mass distribution of the nearby galaxies.

More recent research has centered on analysis of transport properties associated with the stellar wind using electron data from the Ulysses space craft.

Recent Publications
"Solar Cycle Variations in the Electron Heat Flux: Ulysses Observations"

with Scime, Gary, Skoug, and Lin,
Geophys. Res. Letters 28, 2169, (2001)

"The Electron Heat Flux in the Poar Solar Wind: Ulysses Observations"
with Scime and Badeau,
Geophys. Res. Letters 26, 2129, (1999).

"HI Observations of Southern Extreme Late-Type Galaxies. II. Small Angular Size Galaxies
and Galaxies Near the Galactic Plane" with Matthews and Gallagher,
Astron. J. 110, 581, (1995).

"HI Observations of Southern Extreme Late-Type Galaxies. I. An Optically Faint Sample"
with Gallagher and Matthews,
Astron. J. 109, 2003, (1995).

"Transition Rates for ZrO from a Laboratory Absorption Spectrum"
with Davis and Song, Astrophys. J. 404, 412 (1993).

"Constraints on Starburst Models for Dwarf Galaxies Using HI Observations in the LSC"
with Matthews and Gallagher, in Massive Stars: Their Lives in the
Interstellar Medium, ASP Conf. Series, 35, eds. Cassnelli and Churchwell,
501 (PASP: San Fran., 1992).

Curriculum Vitae (in PostScript)

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