UMD Theses and Dissertations
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Item EXCITED DYONIC STATES OF MONOPOLES AND ASTRONOMICAL BOUNDS ON AN AXION-PHOTON-DARK PHOTON INTERACTION(2024) Ristow, Clayton James; Hook, Anson; Physics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The study of beyond the standard model physics can largely be broken into twocategories: theoretical and phenomenological. In the former, we study theories in depth to better understand their implications while in the latter, we hold models of our physical world to scrutiny against experimental evidence. Both are crucial to understanding physics beyond the standard model. To reflect this dichotomy, this thesis is broken into two acts, one covering theoretic research and the other discussing progress made on the phenomenological front. Chapter 2, comprising the entirety of Act 1 of this thesis, concerns the theory of magnetic monopoles. In the mid-1970’s t’Hooft and Polyakov discovered magnetic monopoles exist as generic solutions in spontaneously broken gauge theories. Since then much progress has been made in understanding these monopoles, most notably by Callan who argued that the fermion vacuum is non-trivial around the core of the magnetic monopole. These non-trivial vacuua can be interpreted as bound states of fermions with fractional fermion number. In this work, we explicitly compute these fermion bound states in an SU (2) gauge theory coupled to Nf fermions. We demonstrate there are two unique ways to grant mass to the fermions in the SU (2) theory which, after symmetry breaking, give the same UEM (1) theory of fermions. Despite this low energy equivalence, we show that the two theories exhibit very different physics at low energy scales around a magnetic monopole. We show that there may exist stable excited dyonic states with differing charges and energies between the two theories. We find the ground states can also differ in energy and charge between the two theories. We demonstrate the monopole can inherit a mass correction and charge distribution that depends on the topological θ angle even if one of the fermions is massless. This effect is present in one of the theories and is completely absent in the other. Finally, we discuss the implications of these effects on the SU (5) GUT monopole. Act two, comprising of chapters 3 and 4, focuses on the phenomoenological side of beyond the standard model physics. In these chapters, we consider two highly motivated beyond the standard model particles, the axion, φ, and the dark photon AD which are coupled to the standard model photon via a coupling φF ̃FD. In some models, this coupling can provide the leading order coupling between our sector and the dark sector containing the axion and dark photon. In chapter 2, we demonstrate the effect this coupling has on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) in the scenario where either the axion or the dark photon constitutes dark matter. Depending on which we choose to be dark matter, we show that this interaction leads to the conversion of the CMB photons into the other dark sector particle, leading to a distortion in the CMB spectrum. We present the details of these unique distortion signatures and the resulting constraints on the φF ̃FD coupling. In particular, we find that for a wide range of masses, the constraints from this effect are stronger than on the more widely studied axion-photon-photon coupling. We also demonstrate that CMB distortions of this type can a exhibit unique, non-thermal frequency profile which could be detected by future experiments. In chapter 3, we consider the astrophysical effects of the φF ̃FD coupling, in particular, its effect on supernova cooling rates. We show that the bound on this interaction due to supernova cooling exhibits two unusual features. If there is a large mass difference between the axion and dark photon, we show both production and scattering become suppressed and the bounds from bulk (volume) emission and trapped (area) emission both weaken exponentially. We show that these bounds do not intersect leading to a larger area of excluded parameter space than may have otherwise been expected. The other unusual feature occurs because the longitudinal modes of light dark photons couple more weakly than their transverse modes. As a consequence, the longitudinal modes can still cause excessive cooling even if the transverse modes are trapped. Thus, the supernova constraints for massive dark photons look like two independent supernova bounds super-imposed on top of each other. We also briefly consider the effect of this interaction on white dwarf cooling and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis.Item MINDING YOUR FEET: AN EXAMINATION OF CEMETERY RECORDATION AND ANALYSIS THROUGH GEOSPATIAL DOCUMENTATION IN FAIRFAX COUNTY, VIRGINIA(2024) Boyle, Colleen; Palus, Matthew; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Cemeteries are a wealth of information and are a vital cultural resource for the communities in which they reside. These spaces reflect the cultural and community practices, the evolution of public space, economic conditions, and religious traditions of those interred. This thesis seeks to answer the research question: can cemetery landscapes be understood using a phenomenological approach to interpreting cultural patterns and trends in a digital landscape? Understanding cemetery landscapes is vital to the understanding and preservation of the cultural landscapes of these communities, so clear and accurate documentation of these sites is possible and necessary when using modern geospatial technology. This thesis examines the results of the Fairfax County Park Authority’s Archaeology and Collections Branch cemetery survey using geospatial mapping methodologies to record cemetery boundaries and inventory grave and grave marker locations. Through the examination of each of the three cemeteries highlighted throughout this thesis, it was determined that a hybrid approach to cemetery analysis utilizing the theoretical framework of phenomenology in conjunction with the broader perspective offered through digital data and mapping allows for a greater understanding of a space and its use over time.Item SEARCHING FOR A FACE: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF NON-FACE-TO-FACE UNDERGRADUATE LEARNING(2021) Stakland, Steven Keyes; Hultgren, Francine; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Online education is increasingly dominating the experience of formal learning. Although possible at any level of formal education this non-traditional program of learning via the Internet seems to be most accepted for undergraduates. Few have explored the meaning of the experience. The purpose of this dissertation is to present the meaning(s) of non-face-to-face learning for undergraduates. I define online education as non-face-to-face since it never requires a fully embodied encounter with others in real time, e.g., even in a synchronous video exchange reciprocal eye contact is impossible. I met several times with nine participants from different institutions who had taken or were currently enrolled in online classes (prior to 2019). Over the course of my conversations with these participants I recorded and created a text from our conversations and their written accounts. Using the method of hermeneutic phenomenology I present themes here based on my interpretation of that text. I have found that the loss of face-to-face contact is essential to the phenomenon in ways I did not anticipate. The meaning of the phenomenon is related to the essence of technology itself. Considering the meaning of online learning engages with the definition and purpose of education. Although the experience is described in terms of efficiency (ease and convenience) it is also shot through with absence, multitasking and voyeurism. The feeling of efficiency gives a sense that learning is absent. This leads to frustration with the experience. Non-face-to-face learning is described as a kind of game. It can give undergraduates a greater sense of responsibility for their education but without embodied presence with others the vulnerability that leads to community is absent. The explicitness of the asynchronous textual nature of the exchanges between students and instructors introduces ambiguity. The purpose of earning credits comes to dominate the experience instead of the means of learning. I give insights related to the vital importance of in-person learning and indicate paths for further phenomenological work in online education particularly related to teaching. Non-face-to-face learning should be thought of as something different than in-person learning. It cannot ever be a copy or full replacement.Item HAVE THE LOCAL PEOPLE BECOME INVISIBLE? A CASE STUDY OF A MILITARY INSTALLATION ON JEJU ISLAND, SOUTH KOREA.(2018) Jo, Nayoung; Geores, Martha; Geography; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examines the effects of the construction of a military base on local communities on Jeju Island, South Korea. The South Korean military's intent in building these facilities is to demonstrate military sovereignty to neighboring countries while also providing socio-economic benefits to the local population (Korean Navy, Ministry of National Defense of Korea). However, local communities and NGOs continue to resist contemporary military construction policies due to the ecological, social and economic impacts of this process, which are exacerbated by the government’s unilateral approach and its failure to implement a system where the surrounding localities can influence construction policies (Sze et al., 2009). While resistance to military facilities is widely documented, this research highlights the disconnect between the different political scales represented by the military and the local community, or those who are empowered and the average local citizen, whose voice has been marginalized. This study focuses on the local people’s experience through the theoretical frame of environmental justice, and the concepts of scale and political ecology while using phenomenology to analyze open-ended interview data. This research concluded that 1) the local people were made voiceless and invisible through marginalization by the government; 2) this case is an environmental injustice case by identifying how the current process marginalizes local communities and environmental impacts through the analytical frames of environmental justice and the concept of scale; and 3) the combination of environmental justice theory and the concept of scale from political ecology is a more effective application of this study and can contribute to future related studies.Item IDENTITY, IMMORTALITY, INTERACTION: FEMALE FUNERARY MONUMENTS AS SITES OF IDENTITY BUILDING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE(2016) Chen, Amanda Kane; Gensheimer, Maryl B; Art History and Archaeology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)As final markers of identity and memory, the tombs of Roman women carried ritual, ideological, and emotional significance. By surveying the funerary monuments of four distinct Roman women, it is possible to reconstruct, at least in part, the exhibited identities of Eumachia, Naevoleia Tyche, Faustina the Elder, Claudia, Amymone, and Postumia Matronilla. Drawing in the viewer to participate in the creation of identity through narrative and contextual relationships, each of the sepulchers solidifies the memories of the deceased women, thereby granting them an immortality of sorts. Engaging with issues of gender, status, the politics of self, propaganda, and regional variation, this paper seeks to explore the nuances of life, death, and identity in the Roman world, with an emphasis on understanding the monuments in their original contexts.Item Difference Amongst Your Own: The Lived Experiences Of Low-Income African-American Students and Their Encounters With Class Within Elite Historically Black College (HBCU) Environments(2015) Mobley, Jr., Steve Derrick; Drezner, Noah D.; Hultgren, Francine; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The subtle and deeply impactful nuances of Black intra-racial social class differences that manifest amongst students who attend historically Black colleges (HBCU) has remained untouched and understudied in higher-education scholarship. In this phenomenological study, I explore how low-income African-American students encounter social class within elite HBCU environments. The men and women in this study graduated between the years of 2001 and 2010. Contemporary HBCU student experiences are underscored and reveal great tension between self, community, and place. The philosophical works of Martin Heidegger, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Edward Casey are joined with the voices of Black scholars including W.E.B. DuBois, Audre Lorde, Frantz Fanon, bell hooks, and Toni Morrison to provide critical context for the phenomenon being studied. Max van Manen’s key phenomenological insights also provide a methodological foundation for the study. My co-researchers encountered significant shifts and evolved within their oppressed identities during their undergraduate years. During their undergraduate years they felt a difference amongst their own that they still reconcile today. The participants within this study endured feelings of alienation, wonder, and even confusion within their distinct higher education environments. This study concludes with phenomenological insights for myriad educational stakeholders that include higher educational researchers, higher education practitioners, families, and students. I provide pedagogical insights into how elite HBCU environments can not only intercede and provide a more enriching cultural environment for their low-income students, but their families as well. The pedagogical insights that “end” this study also summon the need for future research to continue to explore Black intra-racial differences that are present within both elite HBCU communities and elite PWI institutions as well. Exposure to the pertinent issues that are outlined in this scholarship provide a new entry into critical discourses that must now be had. This dialogue is needed so that students within elite HBCU environments do not continue to suffer in silence within their oppressed identities.Item CHANNELING THE CURRENT: THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF MOVING MEDITATION FOR FINDNG A FLOW IN THINKING AND WRITING(2013) Morris, Sarah Lynn; Hultgren, Francine H.; McCaleb, Joseph; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)CHANNELING THE CURRENT: THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF MOVING MEDITATION FOR FINDNG A FLOW IN THINKING AND WRITING Sarah Lynn Morris, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Dissertation Directed by: Professor Francine H. Hultgren Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership, University of Maryland, College Park This phenomenological study explores lived experience of moving meditation for finding flow in thinking and writing. Moving meditation is intentional practice of mindfulness that brings us deeply into our selves and the world. Connecting to pedagogical implications for teaching composition, this study suggests embodied practices may open a flow of words and ideas for those practicing movement meditation. Grounded in the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty, Heidegger, and van Manen, this work explores embodiment and lived experience, using human science phenomenology as method. Further grounded in writing process and moving meditation texts, this work connects body movement and writing practices through lived experience. I first turn toward my own experience to examine moving meditation as method of finding flow in my thinking and writing. Next, I explore the phenomenon in a range of traditions to further uncover the lived experience of moving writers. The metaphor of the circuit as descriptive of writing process and body process further illuminates the phenomenon. Initial emergent themes include process, practice, flow, solitude, and nature. Recognizing the intersubjective in the particular, this study focuses on lived experience of four high school English teachers as they make meaning through focused movement. In four sessions of meditative contemplation, these teachers walked in the woods, wrote reflections, and considered personal and pedagogical experiences. Renderings of these teachers' journals and conversations suggest themes including fear, care, wholeness, and transcendence. Drawing from these conversants' insights, I explore ways in which meditative movement opens a flow in thinking and writing for these teachers, writers themselves in the current of life. Orienting toward pedagogical implications, I engage with lived experience in order to suggest ways in which teachers of writing may create wholeness of experience for classroom communities: taking students outside, seeing students in wholeness, positioning themselves as more experienced writers, focusing on process rather that product, and being bodies themselves. In doing so, they may generate a culture of care that fosters growth of writing and writers--body, mind, and spirit wholeness-- with the world as classroom and lived life as text.Item Prisms and Polyphony: The lived experiences of high school band students and their director as the prepare for an adjudicated performance.(2012) Miles, Stephen Wayne; Hultgren, Francine; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry is called by the question: What are the lived experiences of high school band students and their director as they prepare for an adjudicated performance? While there are many lenses through which the phenomenon of music preparation and music making has been explored, a relatively untapped aspect of this phenomenon is the experience as lived by the students themselves. The experiences and behaviors of the band director are so inexorably intertwined with the student experience that this essential contextual element is also explored as a means to understand the phenomenon more fully. Two metaphorical constructs - one visual, one musical - provide a framework upon which this exploration is built. As a prism refracts a single color of light into a wide spectrum of hues, views from within illumine a variety of unique perspectives and uncover both divergent and convergent aspects of this experience. Polyphony (multiple contrasting voices working independently, yet harmoniously, toward a unified musical product) enables understandings of the multiplicity of experiences inherent in ensemble performance. Conversations with student participants and their director, notes from my observations, and journal offerings provide the text for phenomenological reflection and interpretation. The methodology underpinning this human science inquiry is identified by Max van Manen (2003) as one that "involves description, interpretation, and self-reflective or critical analysis" (p. 4). I have reflected on the counterpoint of the student experience, and both purposefully and inadvertently, viewed this counterpoint through the various windows O'Donohue (2004) suggests await our gaze in the inner tower of the mind (p. 127). The student experience showed itself through the ensemble culture, the repertoire studied, the rehearsal process, and the adjudicated performance itself. Student conversations and reflections indicate that they experienced both discovery and transformation as they interacted with the music, each other, and their director throughout this process. The fresh prismatic and polyphonic understandings that emerged may offer the possibility for others to consider more deeply the context of how students experience who they are within an ensemble and how that experience shapes their musical understandings and personal growth.Item SPIRITUALIST RITUAL AND THE PERFORMANCE OF BELIEF: SPIRIT COMMUNICATION IN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY AMERICA(2013) Thompson, Robert Charles; Frederik Meer, Laurie; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Spiritualism is an alternative religion focused on establishing contact between living participants and the spirits of the dead, dating to the mid nineteenth century. Drawing on eighteen months of ethnographic research at the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment in Falls Church, Virginia, I analyze the three primary rituals of Spiritualist practice--spirit messages, spirit healing, and unfoldment--and argue that performance is central to Spiritualists' ability to connect with the spirit world in a way that can be intersubjectively confirmed by more than one participant. Spirit messages are performed by mediums to a congregation or audience in order to prove to individual spectators that their deceased loved ones have continued to exist as disembodied spirits after their deaths. Spirit healing is performed by healers who channel the energy of the spirits into participants in order to improve the participant's mental, physical, and spiritual condition. And unfoldment is the process whereby Spiritualists study and practice to be able to make their own direct personal contact with the spirit world. Spiritualism purports to be a science, religion, and philosophy. I consider the intersection between criticism of empirical evidence and entertainment in order to establish how Spiritualists attract newcomers and the intersection between religious belief and ritual participation in order to establish why newcomers choose to become converts. I consider Spiritualism's early history in order to discover the nature of the delicate balance that criticism and belief have established in Spiritualist practice. And, in my analysis of contemporary Spiritualist ritual, I trace the path of the convert from a newcomer with a primarily critical attitude toward Spiritualism to a believer pursuing an increasingly direct connection with the spirit world. I conclude that the live, personal interaction of Spiritualist performance is central to Spiritualists' ability to negotiate a cooperative integration of scientific criticism and religious belief.Item Walking the Woods: The Lived Experience of Sexual Assault Survival for Women in College(2012) Monahan-Kreishman, Mollie Marie; Hultgren, Francine; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: WALKING THE WOODS: THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVAL FOR WOMEN IN COLLEGE Mollie M. Monahan-Kreishman, Doctor of Philosophy 2012 Dissertation directed by: Professor Francine Hultgren Department of Teaching, Learning, Policy and Leadership This phenomenological study explores the lived experience of sexual assault survival for women in college. Through a grounding in the philosophy of hermeneutic phenomenology (Gadamer, 1960/2000; Heidegger, 1927/1962, 1968, 1928/1998, 1971/2001, 1950/2002), this work uncovers the lives of six sexual assault survivors who lived through rape during their university years. The research activities designed by van Manen (1997) provide the methodological framework for the study. Within this framework, the researcher is able to bring readers into a visceral feeling of the lived experience. Deep, rich meaning is brought forth from the words of each rape survivor. The six survivors in this study remained at their respective universities for one to four years following the rape. They identified as American Indian, Taiwanese American, Italian American, European American, Caucasian, and White. At the time of the study, participants ranged in age from their late twenties to early forties. They attended different universities across the country. Hermeneutic phenomenological conversation revealed one overarching theme of the all en-COMPASS-ing nature of rape survival in college. In other words, after being raped in college, the experience continued to be intimately connected to everything they would live through thereafter. The first of two sub-themes, stoppings, uncovered experiences that halt survival from the outside, the inside, through (re)iterations of the rape, through divisions, and through loss of control. The second of two sub-themes, movings, uncovered experiences that progress rape survival, such as moving away from campus, reclaiming reiterations, reclaiming voice, reclaiming strength, reclaiming body, reclaiming reactions, reclaiming foundation, and the movement from victim to survivor. From this work, two main sets of pedagogical implications come into view. The first, being with, examines the personal ways in which we, as college and university professionals, can authentically listen and respond to women surviving rape. The second, being-for, examines the campus world, and the possibilities brought forth when faculty, staff, students, friends, family and survivors come together in the creation of communities that pause and focus on what survivors need in order to survive.
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