Events at Physics |
Events on Friday, March 7th, 2025
- Graduate Program Event
- Prospective Visit Days
- Time: 8:30 am
- Place: all over Chamberlin
- Abstract: This weekend, we'll host several prospective PhD student visitors to the department. Please welcome them as you see them around Chamberlin!
- Host: Sharon Kahn
- Climate & Diversity
- Diversity Forum Fridays: Fostering Psychological Safety to Enhance Belonging and Community
- Time: 9:00 am - 10:30 am
- Place: in Chamberlin 5310 & Zoom
- Abstract: For over 20 years, UW–Madison has hosted the annual Diversity Forum for participants to engage in discourse and education on contemporary issues related to creating equitable and inclusive learning and working environments.
2024 Theme: Threads of Belonging: Navigating Differences and Building Community
Fostering Psychological Safety to Enhance Belonging and Community explores the critical role of psychological safety in fostering inclusive environments where every individual feels valued and able to bring their full selves to the community. Drawing from Madison College’s Psychological Safety training program, we will delve into best practices for creating and sustaining psychologically safe spaces that promote diversity, inclusion, and a sense of belonging. Our workshop offers a comprehensive understanding of psychological safety and its significance in creating inclusive environments that facilitate belonging and success. Through engaging activities and discussions, we’ll deepen understanding of the challenges faced by underrepresented groups and explore effective culturally responsive practices. Our session integrates principles of psychological safety, restorative practices, and intersectionality to drive meaningful change. Attendees will learn about the foundational concepts covered in the program and leave with actionable steps and innovative tools for building inclusive communities and fostering belonging for all. - Host: Rachel Zizmann
- HXS Group Meeting
- "Real-Time Plasma Control of LHD by Data Assimilation System: ASTI"
- Time: 2:30 pm - 3:10 pm
- Place: 106 Engineering Research Bldg
- Speaker: Prof. Sadayoshi Murakami, Kyoto University
- Abstract: We develop a model predictive control system for fusion plasmas based on data assimilation, which integrates predictive model (digital twin) adaptation using real-time measurements and control estimation robust against model and observation uncertainties. The main part of the control system, ASTI, predicts the probability distribution of future plasma states and estimates the optimal control input and the actual plasma state based on Bayes' theorem. In this study, the ASTI-centered control system has been implemented in the Large Helical Device (LHD) and successfully applied to control the electron and ion temperatures and electron density. The control experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the data assimilation-based control approach, which allows the synergistic interaction of measurement, heating, fueling, and simulation. This approach can provide a flexible platform for the digital twin control of future fusion reactors.
- Host: Prof. Benedikt Geiger
- HXS Group Meeting
- "Status of design activity of QA-QI flexible stellarator at NIFS"
- Time: 3:15 pm - 3:55 pm
- Place: 106 Engineering Research Bldg
- Speaker: Prof. Hiroyuki Yamaguchi, National Institute for Fusion Studies
- Abstract: As a candidate for the post-Large Helical Device at National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), Japan, our research group has been designing a new stellarator-type experiment device, Variable Symmetry Torus (VAST). To study the effect of particle motion on the collective phenomena in plasma, such as micro-turbulences, magnetic flexibility is emphasized in designing VAST: both quasi-axisymmetric (QA) and quasi-isodynamic (QI)-like magnetic configurations can be realized in a single device. With the basic design for modular and auxiliary coils being almost fixed, the physics design of VAST has made substantial progress in the last year. Both QA and QI-like modes have been confirmed to have finite-beta MHD equilibria with good magnetic surfaces. Gyrokinetic simulations have shown clear differences in ion-temperature-gradient driven turbulence and associated zonal flows between these configurations. Recent attempts to predict plasma performances and heating scenarios by integrated simulation will also be presented.
- Host: Prof. Benedikt Geiger
- Physics Department Colloquium
- Investigating cosmic origin and evolution with the oldest photons
- Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- Place: 2241 CH
- Speaker: Zeeshan Ahmed, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
- Abstract: The red-hot glow of the primordial universe, after 13.8 billion years of redshift, is observed today by our telescopes as the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). Spatial variations of CMB intensity and polarization across the sky provide a record of conditions in the early universe, possibly encoding signatures from cosmic inflation and traces of undiscovered relic particles. Additionally, the CMB ‘backlights’ the universe’s large-scale structure and picks up the influence of all matter, including neutrinos, on its way to us. Ground-based CMB imaging instrumentation has made generational leaps in sensitivity over the past few decades, while our understanding and mitigation of systematic errors in CMB measurements has advanced. Ongoing and upcoming experiments such as BICEP, South Pole Telescope and Simons Observatory will conduct the most sensitive search yet for inflation, complement DESI and Rubin Observatory in aiding our understanding of cosmic acceleration, and enhance studies of neutrinos and dark matter from direct experimental efforts. Additionally, a future observatory called CMB-S4 is the largest conceived ground-based CMB facility that plans to map over 40% of the Southern sky to unprecedented sensitivity in the 2030s. I will report on the design, status and latest results from these efforts.
- Host: Sridhara Dasu