Events

Public Observing Night

Presenters: Nico Adams, Stella Christensen, Emma de Bruin, and Cristina Andrade

Observe some of the same celestial objects that have inspired the sky-gazers throughout history. Presented by knowledgeable and passionate astronomy graduate students!

8pm | Presentation | Tate Hall Room B50
8:30pm | Telescope observation, if weather permits | RM 510

Colloquium: Dr. Daniela Calzetti, UMASS Amherst

Abstract: Dust represents about 0.1% of the mass in baryons in galaxies today, yet it has a disproportionate impact on their physics and appearance. I will briefly discuss measurements of dust and dust effects in galaxies at different cosmic distances, and highlight what we understand and where the  challenges and unknowns currently are. Recent observations from the recently  launched James Webb Space Telescope are paving the way for answering  some of the remaining questions.

 

FTPI Workshop: Muons in Minneapolis

Muons in Minneapolis workshop will bring together theorists and experimentalists to explore future opportunities to utilize muons in the search for new physics.  In this workshop, we hope to expand on ongoing efforts to probe the muon sector, as well as discuss possible new directions.  Topics covered in this workshop will include:

Colloquium: Dr. Bryan Ramson, Fermilab

Abstract: Long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments present some of the most compelling paths towards beyond-the-standard-model physics through measurement of PMNS matrix elements and observation of the degree of leptonic CP violation. State-of-the-art long-baseline oscillation experiments, like NOvA and T2K, are currently statistically limited, however uncertainty in neutrino-nucleus scattering represents an important source of systematic uncertainty in future experiments like DUNE and Hyper-Kamiokande. Neutrino cross-section uncertainties can be reduced through high-statistics measurement of neutrino interactions on light nuclei, but creating a detector with an appropriate light target has proved elusive since the hydrogen bubble chambers designed in the 70’s. Modern bubble chamber-based dark matter detectors like PICO and the Scintillating Bubble Chamber have demonstrated that advances in sensor technology, computing, and automation would allow a modern bubble chamber to fully utilize the megawatt scale intensity LBNF beam. This talk will review the broad physics program and the construction of a hydrogen bubble chamber for use with neutrinos at Fermilab.

No Colloquium: Thanksgiving Holiday

Happy Thanksgiving! See you next week.

Colloquium: Dr. Kathy Levin, University of Chicago

Abstract: This talk will introduce the world of cold atom experiments. This world is engaged in many of the same pursuits as more conventional laboratories which focus on problems in cosmology, chemistry, and condensed matter. There are 2 particularly strong advantages which ultracold gases possess: firstly, at the low temperatures involved, the dynamical evolution is slow enough to be followed in real time. This provides otherwise inaccessible information about very fine details of non-equilibrium physics in a closed system. Secondly one can tune the inter-particle interactions making it possible to have the strongest possible (‘‘resonant") interaction strength. For Fermi systems this provides a prototype for a realizable high Tc superconductors/superfluids. For Bose systems a new form of "superchemistry" can emerge. In this talk we highlight what we can learn from these cold atom studies and how they complement the understanding gleaned from more conventional experiments.

Colloquium: Dr. Frederick Lamb (University of Illinois- Urbana-Champaign)

The Growing Danger of Nuclear Weapons:
What Physicists Can Do

Abstract:

Today’s nuclear arsenals pose enormous risks for all humanity. Many agreements that reduced the threat of nuclear weapons have been abandoned and we now face a new, multi-country nuclear arms race that could have devastating consequences. Enormous resources are being expended by the United States, Russia, China, and North Korea to deploy new nuclear weapons and nuclear-armed long-range missiles. New countries are considering acquiring nuclear weapons. The war in Ukraine and other factors have increased the threat they might be used. In past times of danger, scientists and especially physicists have played a critical role in helping citizens and decision makers understand and reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons, and they can do so again. I will describe a project initiated by the American Physical Society to inform, engage, and mobilize physical scientists and engineers to act now to reduce the current nuclear threat.

Zoom Option Available Here

Kaufmanis Lecture: Sheperd Doeleman , Founding Director, Event Horizon Telescope

Abstract: Black holes are cosmic objects so small and dense, that nothing, not even light can escape their gravitational pull. Until recently, no one had ever seen what a black hole actually looked like. Einstein's theories predict that a distant observer should see a ring of light encircling the black hole, which forms when radiation emitted by infalling hot gas is lensed by the extreme gravity near the event horizon. The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a global array of radio dishes, linked together by a network of atomic clocks to form an Earth-sized virtual telescope that can resolve the nearest supermassive black holes where this ring feature may be measured. On April 10th, 2019, the EHT project reported success: we have imaged a black hole, and have seen the predicted strong gravitational lensing that confirms the theory of General Relativity at the boundary of a black hole. In 2022, our team again saw this phenomenon towards the supermassive  black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy.  This talk will cover how this was accomplished, the impact, and what the future holds for the study of black holes.
 
About the Speaker: Sheperd Doeleman (Principal Investigator, next-generation EHT, Founding Director, Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), Harvard University Senior Research Fellow, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian)


About the Lecture : More about the series here. 

The Lecture is free and open to the public but registration is requested. Register here

Colloquium: Dr. Thomas Humanic (Ohio State University)

 

Abstract: Tetraquark particles, i.e. particles composed of four quarks, with masses less than 1 GeV/c2 have been predicted for over 40 years. Candidate particles with the predicted masses and charge states have been identified, but to this date it is still controversial as to whether or not these candidate particles, listed in the Review of Particle Physics as two-quark mesons, can be interpreted as tetraquark states. Low-lying mesons that are considered as candidate tetraquarks are the f0(500), K∗0(700), f0(980) and a0(980). These particles are normally studied experimentally in low-energy pp collisions which produce higher-mass particles for which these are the decay products. The method used to produce and study these exotic particles for the present work is two-particle femtoscopy in pp and Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC with the ALICE experiment. Femtoscopy with identical particle-pairs is a method that is usually used to measure the geometry in high-energy particle interactions. By detecting non-identical pairs of ordinary mesons, femtoscopy picks out the strong final-state interaction (FSI) between the mesons in the pair.

Colloquium: Dr. Matthias Hohenberger (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)

Abstract: At approximately 1 am on December 5th, 2022, a fusion experiment at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved, for the first time, a target gain exceeding 1. By imploding a small capsule containing deuterium-tritium fuel with 2.05 MJ of laser light, the resulting fusion reactions released a total energy of 3.15 MJ of nuclear fusion yield, thus exceeding the initial input energy. This was the first time for a laboratory experiment to meet the 1997 definition by the National Academy of Sciences of fusion ignition, an accomplishment six decades in the making. It is the result of focused work by a multi-lab team and required significant advances in high-energy-density physics, as well as laser, target, and diagnostics capabilities. This talk will discuss this momentous result, the steps that went into achieving it, and the implications of this achievement for Inertial Fusion Energy.

School News

Alexander McLeod, Nitzan Hirschberg and Alyssa Bragg

Inside Professor McLeod’s Nano-Imaging Laboratory

Professor Alexander McLeod’s nano-imaging lab creates novel ways to study materials as well as looking for new physics in those materials. Nano-spectroscopy is a technique that attaches conventional
Zhen Liiu smiling man in glasses and a blue polo shirt

Liu receives prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship for early-career researchers

School of Physics and Astronomy Assistant Professor Zhen Liu is one of only 126 early-career researchers who will receive a prestigious 2024 Sloan Research Fellowship.
Michael Coughlin and Alexander Criswell

Coughlin and Criswell part of comprehensive UV light survey

Assistant Professor Michael Coughlin and graduate student Alexander Criswell of the School of Physics and Astronomy are part of a new NASA mission that has just been selected to conduct a
Three School Alumni elected to engineering society

Three School Alumni elected to National Academy of Engineering

Three alumni of the School of Physics and Astronomy:  Martha C. Anderson (Ph.D., Astrophysics ‘93), Kei May Lau (B.A.,’76, M.S. ‘77), and Jeffrey Puschell (Ph.D., Astrophysics ‘79) have been elected
Michael Coughlin smiling man wearing glasses

Coughlin receives McKnight Professorship

School of Physics and Astronomy Assistant Professor Michael Coughlin has been awarded a 2024 McKnight Land-Grant Professorship.
Wall of Discovery shows the plot for the Humphreys-Davidson Limit, Professor Humphreys stands near it with Prof. Davidson.

Humphreys Awarded Medal from Royal Astronomical Society

Professor Emerita Roberta Humphreys of the School of Physics and Astronomy will receive the 2024 Herschel Medal from the Royal Astronomical Society for her discovery of the empirical upper luminosity
John Broadhurst

John Broadhurst, 1935 - 2023

Professor Emeritus John Broadhurst of the School of Physics and Astronomy passed away on October 17 th , 2023. He was 88 years old. John was born in England in 1935 and received all of his degrees
Fiona Burnell

Burnell elected APS Fellow

Associate Professor Fiona Burnell of the School of Physics and Astronomy has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society. 
Michael Wilking

Moving Target: New Faculty member does neutrino research with a twist

Professor Michael Wilking is a new faculty member in high energy physics. Wilking’s research is focused on neutrinos and he is a member of several international neutrino collaborations, including
Professor Lindsay Glesener presenting a lecture

Three faculty positions open at the School

The School of Physics and Astronomy invites applications for three tenure track or tenured faculty positions in Experimental Particle Physics, Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, and Experimental

School of Physics and Astronomy Seminar Calendar