Kendrah Murphy
Associate Professor
Office: Annex 207
Telephone: (518) 580-8121
Email: kmurphy1@skidmore.edu
Education
- B.A., Physics and Mathematics, Skidmore College
- M.A., Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University
- Ph.D., Physics & Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University
Research Interests
Professor Murphy's current research focuses on the X-ray spectral analysis of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). After graduating from Skidmore with majors in Physics and Mathematics, she earned her Ph.D. from the Physics and Astronomy Department at Johns Hopkins University. While completing her doctoral studies, she gained experience in X-ray instrumentation and data analysis at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and, as part of her dissertation work, developed a computational model of X-ray reprocessing in AGN that is now used extensively by the AGN community. Prof. Murphy continued her research at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research as a post-doctoral research associate before joining the Skidmore faculty in 2010. She regularly works with Skidmore Physics students at all levels on AGN research. Her research interests include: the analysis, interpretation, and modeling of X-ray data; Monte Carlo and numerical simulations of transmission and reflection (Compton scattering) in obscuring matter in AGN; the construction of spectral fitting routines using Monte Carlo simulations to model the putative torus in AGN; and numerical analyses of photons in Kerr metric to investigate observational measures of black-hole spin and emission line diagnostics.
Courses
- Introductory Physics I with Laboratory: Forces and Energy
- Introductory Physics II with Laboratory: Electrodynamics
- Modern Physics
- Mathematical & Computational Methods in Physics
- Classical Mechanics
- Electricity & Magnetism
- Quantum Mechanics
- Special Topics: Advanced Quantum Mechanics
- Physics Seminar
- Imagination, Innovation, & the Impossible (Scribner Seminar)
Selected Publications
The Nuclear X-ray Emission-line Structure in NGC 2992 Revealed by Chandra-HETG, Murphy, K. D., Nowak, M.A., & Marshall H. L. 2017, ApJ, 797, 120.
A Chandra-HETG View of MCG +8-11-11, Murphy, K. D. & Nowak, M.A. 2014, ApJ, 797, 12.
Monte Carlo Simulations of the Nickel Kα Fluorescent Emission Line in a Toroidal Geometry, Yaqoob, T. & Murphy, K. D. 2011, MNRAS, 412, 1765.
The Energy Budget for X-ray to Infrared Reprocessing in Compton-thin and Compton-thick Active Galaxies, Yaqoob, T. & Murphy, K. D. 2011, MNRAS, 412, 835.
The Compton Shoulder of the Fe Kα Fluorescent Emission Line in Active Galactic Nuclei, Yaqoob, T. & Murphy, K. D. 2011, MNRAS, 412, 277.
Soft X-ray Polarimeter Laboratory Tests, Murphy, K. D.,Marshall, H. L., Heilmann, R., Schultz, N., Jenks, K., Sommer, S. J. B., & Marshall, E. A. 2010, in conf. proc. of the SPIE, Vol. 7732, 108.
Broad-Band Soft X-ray Polarimetry, Marshall, H. L., Heilmann, R., Schultz, N., & K. D. Murphy 2010, in conf. proc. of the SPIE, Vol. 7732, 14.
NGC 2992 in an X-ray high state observed by XMM: Response of the Relativistic Fe K alpha Line to the Continuum, Shu, X. W., Yaqoob, T., Murphy, K. D., Braito, V., Wang, J. X., & Zheng, W., 2010, ApJ, 713, 1256.
On the efficiency of production of the Fe Ka emission line in neutral matter Yaqoob, T., Murphy, K. D., Miller, L., & Turner, T. J., 2010, MNRAS, 401, 411.
Broad-Band Soft X-ray Polarimetry, Marshall, H. L., Heilmann, R., Schultz, N., & K. D. Murphy 2009, in conf. proc. "The Coming of Age of X-ray Polarimetry", in press, arXiv:0908.0677.
An X-ray spectral model for Compton-thick toroidal reprocessors, Murphy, K. D. & Yaqoob, T. 2009, MNRAS, 397, 1549.
On the Prospect of Constraining Black Hole Spin Through X-ray Spectroscopy of Hotspots, Murphy, K. D., Yaqoob, T., Karas, V., & Dovˇciak, M. 2009, ApJ, 701, 635.
NGC 2992 in an X-ray high state observed by XMM-Newton: Response of the relativistic Fe Ka line to the continuum, Shu, X. W., Yaqoob, T., Murphy, K. D., Braito, V., Wang, J. X., & Zheng, W. 2009, ApJ, in press.
On the efficiency of production of the Fe Ka emission line in neutral matter, Yaqoob, T., Murphy, K. D., Miller, L., & Turner, T. J. 2009, MNRAS, in press, arXiv:0909.0899
Monitoring the Violent Activity from the Inner Accretion Disk of the Seyfert 1.9 Galaxy NGC 2992 with RXTE, Murphy, K. D., Yaqoob, T., & Terashima, Y. 2007, ApJ, 666, 96.
Precision Fe Ka and Fe K¯Line Spectroscopy of the Seyfert 1.9 Galaxy NGC 2992 with Suzaku, Yaqoob, T., Murphy, K. D., Griffiths, G. E., Yoshito, H., Hajime, I., Takeshi, I., Kelley, R., Motohide, K., Markowitz, A., Mushotzky, R., et al. 2007, PASJ, 59, 283.
Non-Linear Effects in Transition Edge Sensors for X-ray Detection, Bandler, S. R., Figueroa-Feliciano, E., Iyomoto, N., Kelley, R. L., Kilbourne, C. A, Murphy, K. D., Porter, F. S., Saab, T., & Sadleir, J. 2006, NIMPA, 559, 817.
Position-Sensitive Transition Edge Sensors, Iyomoto, N., Bandler, S. R., Brekosky, R. P., Chervenak, J. A., Figueroa-Feliciano, E., Finkbeiner, F. M., Kelley, R. L., Kilbourne, C. A., Lindeman, M. A., Murphy, K., Porter,F.S., Saab, T., Sadleir, J. E., & Talley, D. J. 2006, NIMPA, 559, 49.