Peyton Benac

Peyton Benac

Graduate student at UCLA studying Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Publications

Senior Undergraduate Thesis

Published in Wolbach Library, 2021

Testing Optical Elements of the Wide-Field Phasing Testbed for the Giant Magellan Telescope.

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AJ: Re-examining the Radial Distributions of M13 Multiple Populations

Published in Astronomical Journal, 2020

We seek to resolve the tension in the literature regarding the presence of radially segregated multiple populations in the Galactic globular cluster M13. Previous studies of this nearby cluster have presented discordant results about the degree of dynamical mixing in the inner region of M13. Using ground-based (UBVI) photometry, we show that cumulative radial distributions of stars on the blue and red sides of the red giant branch are statistically identical.

Recommended citation: Smolinski, J., Hoogendam, W., Van Kooten, A., Benac, P., & Bruce, Z. (2020). Re-examining the Radial Distributions of M13 Multiple Populations. The Astronomical Journal, 160(5), 208. http://www.peytonbenac.com/files/2011.08684.pdf

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ApJ: A Dust Trap around the Young Multiple System HD 34700

Published in Astrophysical Journal, 2020

Using SMA observations, we detect a region of azimuthally asymmetric dust emission in a circumbinary disk around HD 34700Aa/Ab that is indicative of dust trapping.

Recommended citation: Benac, P., Matrà, L., Wilner, D., Jimènez-Donaire, M., Monnier, J., Harries, T., Laws, A., Rich, E., & Zhang, Q. (2020). A Dust Trap in the Young Multiple System HD 34700. The Astrophysical Journal, 905(2), 120. http://www.peytonbenac.com/files/2011.03489.pdf

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Astronomy 98 Final Paper

Published in Wolbach Library, 2019

A research project for course credit, using Prospector to perform SED fitting on galaxies included in the SDSS MaNGA sample.

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