Events at Physics |
Events During the Week of February 10th through February 17th, 2008
Monday, February 11th, 2008
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar
- (none)
- Time: 12:05 pm
- Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Jim Drake, University of Maryland
- Medical Physics Seminar
- Title to be announced
- Time: 4:00 pm
- Place: 1345 Health Science Learning Center (refreshments will be served)
- Speaker: Katie McMillian, Assistant Professor of Medical Physics and Radiology, UW-School of Medicine and Public Health
- Materials Science & Engineering Seminar
- Structure, Processing, Properties, and Applications of Carbon-based Organic Semiconductors and Carbon Nanotubes
- Time: 4:00 pm
- Place: 265 MSE
- Speaker: Michael S. Arnold, Post-doctoral research fellow University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
- Chaos & Complex Systems Seminar
- Electoral dynamics in the 2008 presidential primaries
- Time: 12:05 pm
- Place: 4274 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Charles Franklin, Political Science
- Abstract: This presentation is an anecdotal treatment about ways of seeing the world, ways of looking beyond the visual scene to see what is behind it. It is not based on any scientific paradigm and I make no claim for either great insight or originality. It seems to me, however, to touch on a part of the creative process for a scientist. One of the ways of seeing that I will discuss is that of looking for interesting questions suggested by the visual scene. Since the questions come out of the background peculiar to the viewer, my examples will necessarily be personal. But I hope to illustrate some ways of seeing the world around us that others can adapt to their own particular backgrounds, and, perhaps cultivate.
- Plasma Seminar--Special Day
- Ion Pickup and Acceleration in Magnetic Reconnection Exhausts
- Time: 2:30 pm
- Place: 4274 Chamberlin Hall (coffee at 3:30 pm)
- Speaker: Jim Drake, University of Maryland
- Astronomy Colloquium
- The Evolution of the Earliest Stages of Low-mass Star Formation
- Time: 3:45 pm
- Place: 6515 Sterling Hall (coffee at 3:30 pm)
- Speaker: Yancy Shirley, University of Arizona
- Abstract: Low-mass starless cores are the incipient phase of low-mass star formation. They are observed via submillimeter dust continuum and dense gas molecular lines, they typically contain a few solar masses, they have sizes of approximately 0.1 pc, and they may form one or a few low-mass (M ~ 1 M_sun) stars. It is crucial to understand the formation and evolution of these objects to set the initial conditions for protostar and disk formation. Theoretically, the basic core formation and evolution process is still debated between a turbulent-dominated or ambi-polar diffusion-dominated model. Observationally, a fundamental challenge is to determine the evolutionary state of a starless core. I shall review the basic processes that are used to develop a chemical evolutionary sequence for low-mass starless cores and that breaks currently observed degeneracies in thephysical structure of the cores. I shall highlight results from the Arizona Radio Observatory-Green Bank Telescope Survey which has mapped a sample of 25 nearby starless cores in dust continuum emission and 10 molecular transitions.
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
- No events scheduled
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar
- Electronic transport in inhomogeneous quantum wires
- Time: 10:00 am
- Place: 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Jerome Rech, Argonne National Laboratory
- Abstract: Perhaps more importantly than the observation of characteristic signatures of one-dimensional physics, the reports of anomalies in the transport properties of quantum wires focused a lot of attention on these systems. From the theoretical point of view, these results initiated various attempts to study the effects of electron-electron interactions on the transport properties of one-dimensional conductors. In this talk, I will explain how non-uniform interactions along the wire may lead to substantial contributions to the transport properties. I will show that these inhomogeneities of the system lead to a finite resistivity associated with electron-electron scattering processes which weakly violate the momentum conservation. Using an alternative approach compatible with the bosonization formalism, I will compare these results to previous works relying on an extension of the Tomonaga-Luttinger model to inhomogeneous systems.
- Host: Chubukov
- Astronomy Colloquium
- Stellar Archaeology: Galaxy Evolution from the Ground Up
- Time: 3:45 pm
- Place: 6515 Sterling Hall (coffee at 3:30 pm in 6521 Sterling)
- Speaker: Jason Harris University of AZ - Steward Observatory
- Abstract: Two of the greatest triumphs of late twentieth-century astrophysics were the understanding of large-scale structure formation (through hierarchical collapse in a universe dominated by cold dark matter), and an exquisite, quantitative understanding of stellar evolution. Usually regarded as completely separate fields, they are nevertheless connected by the physics which govern star formation in galaxies. If CDM simulations are to reproduce the galaxy populations as we observe them in the universe, then we will need to develop a robust, quantitative theory of the physical processes which govern star formation on galactic scales. Likewise, while we now have a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of stellar populations, our ideas are much less detailed when it comes to protostellar populations, the agents that trigger star formation, and the feedback processes that may sustain or quench it. I will present some of my ongoing work in stellar archaeology that is addressing the need for a quantitative star formation theory, through detailed explorations of the stellar and protostellar populations in nearby galaxies.
- Physics Department Colloquium
- How Does A Thing Like That Work?
- Time: 4:00 pm
- Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall (coffee at 3:30 pm)
- Speaker: David Willey, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
- Abstract: 'HDATLTW', is an entertaining, interactive physics demonstration lecture consisting of the more visual and dramatic demonstrations from an introductory physics course. The show usually lasts close to microcentury and about 25 demonstrations are performed. It is fast paced and is meant to promote interest in science and further discussion, with only a simple explanation of the physics involved being given as each demonstration is presented.
- Host: Sprott
Friday, February 15th, 2008
- Physics Department Colloquium
- Hot On The Trail of Particle Dark Matter
- Time: 4:00 pm
- Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall (coffee at 3:30 pm)
- Speaker: Dan Hooper, Fermilab
- Abstract: For seventy years, evidence has steadily grown that much of the Universe's mass is non-luminous. Still today, however, we have not identified what makes up this mysteriously dark substance. Many experimental programs that hope to change this are underway, including deep underground detectors, gamma-ray telescopes, neutrino and anti-matter detectors, as well as particle colliders. Each of these efforts are searching for clues of dark matter's identity. With the new technologies needed to observe these particles rapidly developing, the hunt to discover dark matter's identity is well underway.
- Host: Balantekin
- Math Colloquium
- Geometry of boundary shear turbulence: a stroll through 61,506 dimensions
- Time: 4:00 pm
- Place: B239 Van Vleck
- Speaker: Predrag Cvitanovic, Center for Nonlinear Sciences, Georgia Tech