Dr. Jesper Storm Leibniz-Institut fur Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP) An der Sternwarte 16 D - 14482 Potsdam Germany
e-mail: jstorm@aip.de
Tel: +49-(0)-331-7499-394 FAX: +49-(0)-331-7499-267
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Postal address:
Dr. Jesper Storm Leibniz-Institut fur Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP) An der Sternwarte 16 D - 14482 Potsdam Germany |
A summary Curriculum Vitae
My list of publications is also available as pdf-file (85kb).
Baade-Wesselink analysis
of RR Lyrae stars and Cepheids for use
as calibrators of the extra-galactic distance scale. Although the
Space Telescope can observe Cepheids in distant galaxies the
distances derived to these galaxies still depends critically on the
local calibration of the Period-Luminosity relation where there are
still uncertainties at the 10-20% level.
Distances and physical
properties of eclipsing binaries in the
Magellanic Clouds. The goal is to provide an independent
distance measure the the Magellanic Clouds to resolve the pending
disagreement between distance derived from RR Lyrae stars and Cepheids.
The RR Lyrae K-band period luminosity
relation. As is the case for Cepheids, RR Lyrae stars also follow a
very well defined period luminosity relation in the near infrared K-band.
Potentially this relation provides a significantly more reliable
distance indicator than the traditional Mv-[Fe/H] relation. In a
collaboration with theorists and experimentalists in Italy, I am
investigating this relation and applying it to RR Lyrae stars in
a number of galactic globular clusters spanning a wide range in metallicity.
If everything goes as expected we can then apply the method to RR Lyrae
stars in other galaxies providing strong constraints on the Cepheid
distance scale.
Baade-Wesselink analysis of Cepheids in
clusters in the LMC. In collaboration with
Wolfgang Gieren
(Univ. de Concepcion, Chile),
Pascal Fouque (Observatoire Midi-Pyrenees, Toulouse) and
others I am studying Cepheids in clusters with a
large population of Cepheids. In this way we can determine the
intrinsic precision of the method and determine direct distances to
these clusters and thereby to the LMC which provides the first and
most crucial step on the distance ladder.
My interest in better defining the
extragalactic distance scale is also being stimulated by being a
Co-I on the
ARAUCARIA
project. In this project we try to compare a number of important
extragalactic standard candles in other galaxies to better understand
their strengths and weaknesses and thus to improve the calibrations.
There is an interesting ESO press release available
here
discussing some of the results which we have found for NGC300.
The Large Binocular Telescope
(LBT).
The AIP is a partner in this new telescope project which has been
built on Mt. Graham in Arizona, USA. It consists of two 8.4m mirrors
mounted in the same fork.
The guiding and wavefront sensing system
for the LBT,
which is the in-kind contribution of the AIP to the project.
The tip-tilt sensing system for the
ARGOS
laser guide star system for the LBT. This system will help the telescope
to use the adaptive optics capability all over the sky and to
produce images over large fields of view with much sharper images
than the atmosphere delivers to the telescope.
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