Events
Events Calendar
Workshop on Quantum Materials: New Insights from Neutron Scattering
Wednesday, June 9, 2021, 9:45 a.m. through Thursday, June 10, 2021, 4:30 p.m.
via Zoom. Register for information. (Registration is free and open to the first 300 people to sign up)
Center for Quantum Materials, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory present a workshop featuring talks by:
- Simon Billinge, Columbia University
- Collin Broholm, Johns Hopkins University
- Morten Eskildsen, University of Notre Dame
- Bruce Gaulin, McMaster University
- Alexander Grutter, National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Mingda Li , Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Sajna Hameed, University of Minnesota
- Peter Littlewood, University of Chicago
- Despina Louca, University of Virginia
- Martin Mourigal, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Sebastian Mühlbauer, Technische Universität München
- Raymond Osborn, Argonne National Laboratory
- Damjan Pelc, University of Zagreb
- Natalia Perkins, University of Minnesota
- Kate Ross, Colorado State University
- Alan Tennant, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- John Tranquada, Brookhaven National Laboratory
- Zhentao Wang, University of Minnesota
- Stephen Wilson, University of California, Santa Barbara
Kristen McQuinn, Rutgers University: Dwarf Galaxies as Time Machines
Tuesday, May 18, 2021, 5:30 p.m. through Tuesday, May 18, 2021, 6:30 p.m.
The zoom can be found on the WAPHLS Website https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/wipaumn/waphls), or by using the direct link (https://umn.zoom.us/j/96986229329?pwd=TUZ1ODBKVmY4OThodnlGWG5YNzd3Zz09 pwd: n*4r2M).
Dwarf Galaxies as Time Machines Abstract: The smallest galaxies in our Universe encode their history in the age of their stars and in the distribution of their chemical elements, yielding some of the most precise observational constraints on galaxy evolution across 10 billion years of time. Because they are also the most fragile of galaxies – susceptible to both powerful internal events like supernovae and external forces like the radiation field that pervades space – the survivability and present-day properties of dwarfs also provide unique tests for our theories of cosmology. I will describe some of the measurements we can make from dwarf galaxies and how these measurements constrain our models of galaxy evolution.
Commencement Ceremony for the School of Physics and Astronomy
Monday, May 10, 2021, 7 p.m. through Monday, May 10, 2021, 8 p.m.
McNamara Alumni Center (graduates only) and online.
Members of the School of Physics and Astronomy would like to extend their congratulations to the Class of 2021. There will be a commencement ceremony on Monday May 10th, from 7:00-8:00pm at McNamara Alumni Center. In order to keep within social distancing guidelines, in person participation is limited to the graduates themselves. Guests and well-wishers will be able to watch the ceremony online via the link above.
Please join us in celebrating our graduates and their contributions to the School!
Colloquium: Dr. Jason Crnkovic, University of Mississippi
Thursday, April 29, 2021, 3:35 p.m. through Thursday, April 29, 2021, 4:35 p.m.
via Zoom: https://umn.zoom.us/j/95347694426
Abstract:The Fermilab Muon g-2 Collaboration has recently released its first measurement of the positive muon magnetic anomaly with a precision of 0.46 ppm. This measurement is consistent with the previous measurement made at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where there is a 4.2 standard deviation difference between the Standard Model prediction recommended by the Muon g-2 Theory Initiative and the combined first Fermilab and final BNL measurements. This difference hints at the possibility of physics beyond the Standard Model. This talk will give an overview of the Muon g-2 Experiment and the first measurement of the muon anomaly at Fermilab.
Colloquium will be preceded by short ceremony to honor scholarship and fellowship award recipients
Colloquium: Christophe Grojean, DESY
Thursday, April 22, 2021, 3:35 p.m. through Thursday, April 22, 2021, 4:35 p.m.
via Zoom: https://umn.zoom.us/j/95347694426
With the discovery of the long sought-after Higgs boson at CERN in July 2012, a new state of matter and a new dynamical principle have been revealed as essential building blocks of the fundamental laws of physics. It provides a solution to the half-century-old mass conundrum, i.e., the apparent incompatibility between the mass spectrum of the elementary particles and their fundamental interactions. I shall describe the Higgs physics precision program that will guide new physics searches at the high-energy frontier at the next runs of the LHC itself and at other future facilities.
Women in Physics and Astronomy talk: Marija Vucelja, University of Virginia
Tuesday, April 20, 2021, 5:30 p.m. through Tuesday, April 20, 2021, 6:30 p.m.
Zoom link can be found on the WAPHLs site
Abstract: Comparing two identical systems in their relaxation to the environment, we expect that the system with a smaller mismatch between its and the environment's temperature will thermalize faster -- yet it is not always the case. The Mpemba effect is an example of an anomalous relaxation process, where "hot cools down faster than cold" or "cold heads up faster than warm." The effect was experimentally observed in water, magnetic systems, clathrate hydrates, polymers, and colloidal particle systems. It was simulated in granular fluids, spin-glasses, driven gasses, quantum systems, magnetic alloys, and gases without equipartition. The numerous occurrences of the effect imply that it is general. To understand the general nature of the Mpemba effect, we theoretically study a model system -- the overdamped dynamics of a particle moving on a potential surface. We connect the occurrence of the Mpemba effect with the properties of the potential, characteristics of its meta-stable states, and provide further insight into anomalous relaxation processes.
Colloquium: Gianna Cauzzi, National Solar Observatory National Institute of Astrophysics
Thursday, April 15, 2021, 3:35 p.m. through Thursday, April 15, 2021, 4:35 p.m.
via Zoom: https://umn.zoom.us/j/95347694426
The Sun represents a template for much of our understanding of the workings of a "cool", active star, and its proximity allows us to observe exquisite details at its surface, with current facilities routinely reaching resolutions of few hundreds of km
on the solar disk.
Yet, many questions still linger, in particular concerning the actual mechanism(s) that create and maintain a hot outer atmosphere, as well as the solar wind. We know that a major role is played by the magnetic field, that mediates the transfer to the upper atmosphere of the abundant energy provided by surface convection. However, very little is currently known about the field itself in these upper layers, owing to the difficulty of measuring and interpreting the weak polarization signal created by its presence. Similarly, we observe a dazzling variety of small and highly dynamic features that are often invoked as responsible for providing mass and energy to the corona and the wind; yet big uncertainties exist on their physical characteristics due to the small scales involved.
In this talk I will focus on some of these open questions, and discuss how progress from upcoming observational facilities will improve our understanding of the magnetic and thermodynamic structure of the solar atmosphere. In particular, I will describe the possibilities provided by the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) of the US National Science Foundation, a 4-meter facility on the island of Maui, Hawai'i, which is currently being commissioned. With its unprecedented collecting area, suite of complementary instruments, and coronographic capabilities, DKIST will provide the highest-resolution observations of the Sun ever achieved, as well as the sensitivity to measure the
vector magnetic field in the chromosphere and in the faint corona.
(*) The DKIST is built and operated by the National Solar Observatory, a research center operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation Division of Astronomical Sciences.
Universe@ Home: The Theory of General Relativity (And You)
Wednesday, April 14, 2021, 8 p.m. through Wednesday, April 14, 2021, 9 p.m.
Register here for zoom information
The Theory of General Relativity (And You)
Presenters: Nico Adams, Maxwell Kuschel and Avery Wold
Right now, astronauts on the International Space Station are moving faster through time than you are. Similarly, your head is moving very slightly faster than your feet. These things are a result of the General Theory of Relativity, which states that Earth's gravity warps the space and time that we live in. In this talk, we'll discuss a few ways that general relativity is currently affecting you on Earth, and how astronomers have measured these effects in space.
CSE public lecture featuring Lindsay Glesener
Wednesday, April 14, 2021, Noon through Wednesday, April 14, 2021, 1 p.m.
Zoom webinar—Register Now
About the Talks |
“The Star in our Backyard: The Science Behind Solar Storms”
Lindsay Glesener, Assistant Professor, School of Physics and Astronomy The Sun offers us a special window into the Universe by allowing us to study astrophysics in our own neighborhood. But beyond this, there is a practical urgency to understanding the Sun because it is the driver of the space weather that surrounds and affects the Earth. The origin of this space weather lies in abrupt releases of magnetic energy on the Sun called solar flares. Glesener will describe what we currently know about the physics behind flares and what we hope to learn in the future with new telescopes. She will also discuss how students play an especially important role in the development of the next generation of telescopes and instruments to unlock the mysteries of our own star. |
“Peering Through a Microscope at Gigantic Dinosaurs”
Peter Makovicky, Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Predatory non-avian dinosaurs like T. rex are both the largest terrestrial carnivores and the largest bipedal animals to have ever lived. Different lineages evolved 5-10 ton body sizes at different times and on different continents during the Cretaceous. By examining microscopic details in cross-sections of their bones, we can quantify the rates at which these extreme animals grew, whether they all followed a common or divergent growth strategies, and how this relates to the biology of the only living dinosaurs, birds. |
Colloquium: Leon Balents, UCSB
Thursday, April 1, 2021, 3:35 p.m. through Thursday, April 1, 2021, 4:35 p.m.
via Zoom: https://umn.zoom.us/j/95347694426
Abstract: Recent advances allow study of truly two-dimensional physics in atomically thin van der Waals materials. Through examples, I will illustrate how tiny rotations of single atomic layers relative to one another induces new types of magnetism.
Faculty host: Fernandes