Meir Schochet

Meir Schochet

I am a first year PhD student, studying baby stars and their activity

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Pages

Posts

Future Blog Post

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portfolio

publications

talks

‘Where Are the Smallest Black Holes?’: Probing the mass gap with APOGEE

Published:

The existence of the least massive black holes and most massive neutron stars are still debated, and with few objects identified between two to five solar masses, many believe in a “compact object mass gap”. Compact objects are dim and small, a consequence of being end of life stellar remnants. Therefore, our best chance to observe them is through influences on a close companion star in a binary system, where the objects orbit around a shared center of mass and can be detected by a radial velocity (RV) Doppler shift of the system’s spectral lines between observations. Using the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) we search for candidate host systems that have considerable evidence of binary interactions including RV variations, rapid rotation indicative of tidal interaction, and a single set of stellar spectral lines suggesting the secondary is compact. We find that only 0.7% of the APOGEE catalog possesses all these signatures, and we explore the 120 systems whose companion mass estimates are in the mass-gap regime. While previous efforts have identified individual systems, our work provides a more comprehensive search of a large sample that will help constrain the history and evolution of stellar-mass compact objects. Read more

Using Rotation to Explore Stellar Binarity and Period Prediction Techniques

Published:

Stars rotate, and measuring that rotation is critical to understanding the star’s history and future evolution. First, I will discuss the utility of rapid rotation for finding close companions to binary systems using APOGEE DR17. We identify 4,751 binary systems with rapid rotation, radial velocity scatter, and evidence of only one set of spectral lines. By assuming tidal synchronization, we estimate minimum masses for companions to 4,288 of these systems. Second, I will present a method for stellar rotation period prediction using a convolutional neural network on ASAS-SN light curves. We feed the network a transformed 2D frequency-time representation of the light curve and train the network using quiescent light curves injected with simulated rotation models. Finally, we present the efficacy of the network at period prediction and discuss ASAS-SN systematics that make period prediction difficult. Read more

teaching

IDH2930: Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

Undergraduate Course, University of Florida, Honors College, 2025

Proposed, designed, and co-lead instructor for a 1-credit course to ~15 students. This course was centered around the text Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Section was 50-minutes once a week, and consisted of discussions and conversations about a chapter in the text and the physical concepts discussed within. Read more

ISP205L: Visions of the Universe

Undergraduate Lab, Michigan State University, Integrative Studies in General Sciences, 2025

Led a lab to a class of ~100 students each week, including lecturing and grading all associated assignments. The course had one lab session each week for 2 hours and was taught at the MSU Abrams Planetarium. Classes consisted of a 5 to 10 minute planetarium show, 10 to 20 minute lecture on necessary concepts for the lab, followed by lab time which involved students finishing labs in groups. Grade Read more