Colin Turley
Instructor Louisiana State University
Areas of Expertise
Research Focus
Multimessenger Astrophysics & Magnetars
Dr. Turley’s research focuses on multimessenger high-energy astrophysics, probing gamma-ray bursts, magnetars, and other transients that unite gamma rays, neutrinos, and gravitational waves. He applies space-borne gamma-ray monitoring, IceCube neutrino data, and time-domain coincidence analysis to pinpoint cosmic particle accelerators and trace the origins of heavy elements.
Education
Penn State University
Ph.D.
Astrophysics
2019
Media Appearances
A Strawberry Moon will appear in the Louisiana night sky, but it won't look like it sounds
NOLA online
2025-06-10
Colin Turley, an instructor with LSU's Department of Physics and Astronomy, said that while the moon will be taking a lower path in the sky, that doesn't mean it's closer to Earth than usual.
Catch celestial views this spring via LSU’s rare refracting telescope, on display at monthly Star Parties
225 Baton Rouge online
2025-04-01
“A lot of people never really get a chance to look through a big telescope,” says Colin Turley, LSU physics instructor and Star Party coordinator. “And some of these sights, like Jupiter’s moons or Saturn’s rings, are sights that never get old.”
Articles
A Search for Cosmic Neutrino and Gamma-Ray Emitting Transients in 7.3 yr of ANTARES and Fermi LAT Data
The Astrophysical Journal2019
We analyze 7.3 yr of ANTARES high-energy neutrino and Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) γ-ray data in search of cosmic neutrino + γ-ray (ν+γ) transient sources or source populations. Our analysis has the potential to detect either individual ν+γ transient sources (durations
s), if they exhibit sufficient γ-ray or neutrino multiplicity, or a statistical excess of ν+γ transients of individually lower multiplicities. Individual high γ-ray multiplicity events could be produced, for example, by a single ANTARES neutrino in coincidence with a LAT-detected γ-ray burst. Treating ANTARES track and cascade event types separately, we establish detection thresholds by Monte Carlo scrambling of the neutrino data, and determine our analysis sensitivity by signal injection against these scrambled data sets. We find our analysis is sensitive to ν+γ transient populations responsible for >5% of the observed gamma-coincident neutrinos in the track data at 90% confidence
A Coincidence Search for Cosmic Neutrino and Gamma-Ray Emitting Sources Using IceCube and Fermi-LAT Public Data
The Astrophysical Journal2018
We present results of an archival coincidence analysis between Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) gamma-ray data and public neutrino data from the IceCube neutrino observatory’s 40-string (IC 40) and 59-string (IC 59) observing runs. Our analysis has the potential to detect either a statistical excess of neutrino + gamma-ray (ν + γ) emitting transients or, alternatively, individual high gamma-multiplicity events, as might be produced by a neutrino observed by IceCube coinciding with a LAT-detected gamma-ray burst. Dividing the neutrino data into three data sets by hemisphere (IC 40, IC 59-North, and IC 59-South), we construct uncorrelated null distributions by Monte Carlo scrambling of the neutrino data sets. We carry out signal-injection studies against these null distributions, demonstrating sensitivity to individual ν + γ events of sufficient gamma-ray multiplicity, and to ν + γ transient populations responsible for >13% (IC 40), >9% (IC 59-North), or >8% (IC 59-South) of the gamma-coincident neutrinos observed in these data sets, respectively.
Media
