Events at Physics |
Events During the Week of December 2nd through December 9th, 2018
Monday, December 3rd, 2018
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar
- The new, flexible upper divertor at ASDEX-Upgrade
- Time: 12:05 pm
- Place: 2241 chamberlin hall
- Speaker: Dr. T. Lunt, IPP Garching
- Abstract: ASDEX-Upgrade is being equipped with anew upper divertor system. This system aims on combining the plasma operation space at ASDEX-Upgrade with flexible tokamak divertor configurations. The system will allow to assess upper single null standard divertors to divertor configurations with enhanced magnetic flux expansion in the snowflake configuration. An overview of the new system and its goals will be given.
Tuesday, December 4th, 2018
- Chaos & Complex Systems Seminar
- Advancing climate science education, inquiry, and literacy across rural Wisconsin communities
- Time: 12:05 pm - 1:00 pm
- Place: 4274 Chamberlin (Refreshments will be served)
- Speaker: Michael Notaro and Rosalyn Pertzborn, Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research and UW Space Science and Engineering Center
- Abstract: Our project, recently funded by the Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment, aims to inspire scientific, placed-based inquiry and advance climate science education and literacy across the economically disadvantaged rural communities of Wisconsin. The collaborative team synergistically unites the climate change expertise of the UW-Madison Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research, science education experience of the UW-Madison Atmospheric, Earth, and Space Outreach Program of the Space Science and Engineering Center, and local environmental sustainability focus and extensive volunteer network of the Wisconsin Ice Age Trail Alliance. We aim to (1) expand understanding of environmental issues by facilitating accessibility to climate researchers; (2) incorporate data collection within the Global Learning and Opportunities to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program for comparison of climate phenomena and local environmental impacts; (3) provide teacher/citizen scientist training for GLOBE protocol application at schools; and (4) provide authentic K-12 research experiences by developing GLOBE special measurement protocols in collaboration with climate scientists to facilitate effective community climate change adaptation. Data collection focuses on a north-south transect of schools along the Wisconsin Ice Age Trail through the sharp climatic and ecological gradients of the Curtis tension zone. Environmental data collection and analysis will support evidence-based scientific understanding of climate change risks for guiding community decisions on adaptation.
- Host: Clint Sprott
Wednesday, December 5th, 2018
- No events scheduled
Thursday, December 6th, 2018
- Physics Education Innovation Seminar
- Energy-Interaction Diagrams: Fostering resources for productive disciplinary engagement with energy
- Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
- Place: 5310 Chamberlin
- Speaker: Dr. Benedikt Harrer, San Jose State University
- Abstract: Over the years, numerous graphical representations have been proposed that allow learners of physics to visualize energy states and dynamics in a particular situation. Each diagram highlights different aspects of energy and therefore may represent different conceptualizations of energy. The Energy-Interaction Diagram is a representation for energy dynamics in a physical system that highlights energy conservation and was originally developed by the late Wendell Potter (formerly of the University of California, Davis) for use in the Collaborative Learning through Active Sense-making in Physics (CLASP) curriculum. We have found that students’ use of the Energy-Interaction Diagram can evoke productive resources for disciplinary engagement with energy. I will show this with the example of a student group trying to make sense of a puzzling scenario: Two billiard balls on parallel incline tracks with different widths – why does one ball roll down the ramp faster than the other? In particular, these students activate the resources indicator reasoning, systems thinking, metaphor use, and mechanistic reasoning while modeling this scenario with the Energy-Interaction Diagram.
- Host: Benjamin Spike
- Astronomy Colloquium
- Devasthal Optical Telescope Integral Field Spectrograph
- Time: 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
- Place: 4421 Sterling Hall, Coffee and Cookies 3:30 PM, Talk begins at 3:45 PM
- Speaker: Sabyasachi Chattpadhyay, UW Madison Astronomy Dept
- Abstract: Devasthal Optical Telescope Integral Field Spectrograph (DOTIFS) is a new multi-object integral field spectrograph being built by the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, India for the 3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope, (DOT). The Devasthal Observatory has been constructed by the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital. DOTIFS is mainly designed to study the physics and kinematics of ionized gas, star formation and H II regions in the nearby galaxies. DOTIFS is a novel instrument in terms of multi-IFUs, built in deployment system, and high throughput. A magnifier at the Cassegrain side port of the telescope feeds sixteen integral field units (IFUs). The IFUs can be deployed over an 8’ diameter focal plane by x-y actuators. An intelligent deployment algorithm has been developed to allow optimized reconfiguration and to avoid any collision between IFUs. The whole deployment system has a complex 3-dimensional structure to allow maximum positioning freedom to the IFUs. The speaker will provide details of the instruments and the challenges. The instrument is at the phase of fabrication and is scheduled to be commissioned in late 2020.
- Host: UW Astronomy Dept
Friday, December 7th, 2018
- SPECIAL SEMINAR
- Proposal of International Mega-science Project on Fusion Volumetric Neutron Source (FVNS)
- Time: 10:00 am
- Place: B343 Sterling Hall
- Speaker: Zhibin CHEN, Frontier Development of Science
- Abstract: Main challenges for fusion energy development are the steady-state operation and tritium self-sufficiency (tritium breeding). However, in current fusion development strategy in the world, main programs were proposed aiming to solve the steady-state operation and tritium self-sufficiency challenges simultaneously in one reactor, such as EU-DEMO, CFETR and so on. It will be in a predicament due to that the tritium self-sufficiency requires steady state operation of fusion reactor for high availability, but which in turn relies on high reliability of breeding blanket for tritium self-sufficiency. Thus, we believe that the reliability of breeding blanket, including the related materials, should be developed and tested in advance without considering the tritium self-sufficiency. Gas dynamic trap is expected to be the most promising compact volumetric fusion neutron source concept, mainly because of its own features and meanwhile benefited from the magnificent advancement of fusion technologies, such as superconducting magnet, plasma auxiliary heating, neutral beam injection, plasma diagnostics and control, etc. It can reach steady-state operation and high neutron flux with relative low fusion power (~3 MW) and low tritium consumption (<200g per year), so that it is not necessary to have tritium breeding but provide a real multiple-effect coupling fusion nuclear environment, with relatively large test volume for fusion material test and components test. Based on these, an international mega-science project on fusion volumetric neutron source (FVNS) based on GDT was jointly initiated by Institute of Nuclear Energy Safety Technology (INEST), Chinese Academy of Sciences and Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics (BINP), Russia Academy of Sciences. FVNS will be used for fusion nuclear technology and fusion-fission hybrid reactor development, and also for other early fusion applications such as neutron radiography, medical isotope production, neutron therapy, etc. It is planned to be designed in 5 years, constructed in 5 years and operated in 20 years in both DD and DT operation modes. An international preparatory committee of FVNS has been established together with world distinguished scientists from University of Wisconsin-Madison, National Science Center Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, and Uppsala University, etc. The 1st preparatory committee meeting was held on 21 November 2018 at INEST to form the development strategy and collaboration plans in different development stage of FVNS. A wider international collaboration is also being built under the framework of the international preparatory committee.
- Host: Cary Forest
- NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum
- Higgs and Dark Matter: Absence of Evidence != Evidence of Absence?
- Time: 1:00 pm
- Place: 5280 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Prof Nausheen Shah, Fermilab
- Abstract: Since the Higgs discovery in 2012, the LHC has not found any
conclusive evidence for the presence of New Physics (NP) at the weak
scale. While there are stringent limits on strongly interacting NP, the
weakly interacting sector is minimally constrained. In addition, dark
matter direct detection experiments have been putting increasingly
stringent bounds on the cross sections of dark matter particles
scattering off nuclei. This has led to wide spread pessimism regarding
the WIMP paradigm, and most well studied SUSY models such as the MSSM or
the NMSSM. I take a different view point. What if the lack of evidence,
instead of being due to absence of NP at the weak scale, is actually
telling us where NP could be hiding? In that spirit I will discuss the
implications for an extended Higgs sector of a SM-like Higgs in generic
2HDMs+, using the NMSSM as motivation. Next I will talk about the
possible connections of 2HDMs with dark matter using an EFT formulation,
particularly focusing on the connotations of null signals in direct
detection experiments. Finally, I will discuss some tantalizing recent
results from electroweakino searches at the LHC, showing how these may
be consistent with astrophysical observations, and fit naturally in the
MSSM/NMSSM setup. - Host: Kevin Black