Abstract

The Physics and Astronomy department at the University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNCA) is currently conducting research to glean valuable information about the cosmic web, interstellar medium, and evolution of cosmological structure using spectra from distant quasar objects observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).1,7,9 An existing processing pipeline was developed in C++ and Python by researchers at UNCA, the University of Chicago, and Yale University to identify systems of metal-enriched gas located along the line of sight between the Earth and the observed quasars, essentially taking a ‘core-sample’ of the Universe. In this project the team analyzed, updated, and optimized this pipeline for a more recent SDSS data release, Data Release 16 (DR 16). The second phase of the project produced a relational MySQL database to store this processed data, and a web application to serve as a user interface for researchers to access the data. The processed data from the SDSS DR 16 has been stored in a MySQL database hosted on a locally accessible Apache server. This database is serviced by a web application which provides a variety of tools to search and access pipeline output and general information for each SDSS quasar observation. The newly processed data, MySQL database, and web application user interface will facilitate research at the University of North Carolina at Asheville with the potential to expand the scope to researchers across different projects and institutions. These tools will support a variety of research topics which will yield valuable insights about the interstellar medium, formation of galaxies, and evolution of large-scale cosmological structure.

How to Cite