Events at Physics |
Events During the Week of April 20th through April 27th, 2008
Monday, April 21st, 2008
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar
- Kinetic Studies of Low Temperature Non-Equilibrium Weakly Ionized Air Plasmas
- Time: 12:05 pm
- Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Walter Lempert, Ohio State University
- Chaos & Complex Systems Seminar
- A Complex Systems Engineering approach to software development in large organizations
- Time: 12:05 pm
- Place: 4274 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Jacob Jesson, Shared Context Inc.
- Abstract: The codification of business and governmental processes in software systems means that an organization’s ability to adapt to its environment is highly dependent on its ability to effectively adapt its software systems. As software systems grow in size and become more interconnected, effective adaptation becomes increasingly difficult. Fast cycle iterative development methodologies such as Agile and architectures such as Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) are the most visible attempts to address the issue. A small but growing alternative is Complex Systems Engineering (CxSE), also termed Enlightened Evolutionary Engineering (e3). CxSE as a formal discipline is in its infancy but variations are already proving their worth in organizations such as Google. I will describe the problematic aspects of systems development in large organizations. I will then discuss CxSE as a discipline and potential option. I will give special attention to the not-so-simple issue of how an organization can migrate from a control focused approach to a more exploratory CxSE approach.
- Astronomy Colloquium
- Outflows from massive (proto) stars and evidence for an 'improved' evolutionary sequence
- Time: 3:45 pm
- Place: 6515 Sterling Hall (coffee at 3:30 pm in 6521 Sterling)
- Speaker: Debra Shepherd, NRAO
- Medical Physics Seminar
- Title to be announced
- Time: 4:00 pm
- Place: 1345 Health Science Learning Center (refreshments will be served)
- Speaker: Brian Nett, Resarch Assistant, student of Dr. Guang-Hong Chen, Department of Medical Physics, UW-School of Medicine and Public Health
- High Energy Seminar
- Mixing and CP Violation in Bs Meson Decays
- Time: 4:00 pm
- Place: 4274 Chamberlin Coffee and Cookies at 3:30 pm
- Speaker: Hal Evans, Indiana University
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
- Astronomy Colloquium
- Outflows from massive (proto) stars and evidence for an 'improved' evolutionary sequence
- Time: 3:45 pm
- Place: 6515 Sterling Hall
- Speaker: Debra Shepherd, NRAO
- Abstract: Stars of all masses form in dense clouds of molecular gas. They begin life as a protostar; a warm ball of gas and dust heated by thermal pressure. For more than a million years, the protostar gains material through an accretion disk which regulates the accretion rate onto the star and directs high angular momentum material into spectacular molecular and ionized outflows. Disks and molecular outflows in the form of wide-angle winds and/or well-collimated jets are associatedwith protostars of all luminosities. Because outflows provide record of the mass-loss history of the system, they can be useful tools to help understand the underlying formation processes of young stars. There is reasonable evidence that accretion-related processes are responsible for generating massive molecular flows from protostars up to spectral type B0 (10-15 Msun). Above a luminosity of 10,000 L sun, O stars generate powerful wide-angle, ionized winds that dramatically affect outflow morphology and even call into question the relationship between outflow and accretion. Recently Beuther & Shepherd proposed an evolutionary scenario in which massive protostellar flows begin collimated. Once the star reaches the Main Sequence, the ionizing radiation affects the balance between magnetic and plasma pressure, inducing changes in the flow morphology and energetics. I will review the known properties of outflows from young, massive OB stars, discuss implications and observational tests of this proposed evolutionary scenario, and examine differences between low-mass and massive star formation.
- Host: Prof Emeritus Ed Churchwell
- Educational Technology in Physics Seminar
- Mathematica 6 in Education and Research
- Time: 4:00 pm
- Place: 5310 Chamberlin
- Speaker: Josh Lietz, Wolfram Research, Inc.
- Abstract: A wide variety of practical and theoretical applications of Mathematica 6 in education and research will be discussed. Attendees will not only see the new features of Version 6, but will also receive examples of this functionality to begin using immediately. No Mathematica experience is required, and students are encouraged to attend.
- Host: Franz Himpsel
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
- No events scheduled
Thursday, April 24th, 2008
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar
- Rare events and phase transitions in reaction-diffusion systems
- Time: 10:00 am
- Place: 5310 Chamberlin
- Speaker: Alex Kamenev, University of Minnesota
- Abstract: I shall discuss a way to evaluate tails of the probability distribution functions in stochastic reaction-diffusion systems. The method is based on the semi-classical treatment of a proper ''quantum'' field theory, which may be associated with the reaction-diffusion models. The same set of ideas may be applied to a classification of non-equilibrium phase transitions, taking place in these models.
- Host: Vavilov
- Special Atomic Physics Seminar
- Quantum memory for sqeezed light
- Time: 3:00 pm
- Place: 5310 Chamberlin
- Speaker: Dmitry Korystov, Institute for Quantum Information Science, University of Calgary
- Abstract: The talk will be focused on our recent progress in realization of quantum memory using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). For the first time storage and retrieval of a squeezed vacuum state in atomic rubidium atoms was demonstrated. The retrieved light retains quadrature squeezing, albeit degraded by absorption and atomic decoherence. Time-domain homodyne tomography allowed to perform full characterization of input and retrieved states, obtain density matrices of both ensembles and evaluate the memory fidelity.
- Host: Saffman
- NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum
- Minimal Flavor Violation: from quarks to leptons
- Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
- Place: 4274 Chamberlin
- Speaker: Vincenzo Cirigliano, Los Alamos
- Abstract: In this talk I discuss the formulation of the "minimal flavor violation" hypothesis in the lepton sector. I then construct the relevant low-energy effective field theory and analyze the phenomenological signatures of this scenario.
Friday, April 25th, 2008
- High Energy Seminar
- Joint High Energy and Neutrino Physics Seminar
- NuMI Muon Monitor Studies and First Results from the MINOS Sterile Neutrino Search
- Time: 11:00 am
- Place: 5280 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Jason Koskinen, University College, London
- Host: Albrecht Karle
- NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum
- Joint Pheno and NPAC Seminar
- Disentangling the Strong Interactions in Two-Jet Event Shapes
- Time: 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
- Place: 5280 Chamberlin
- Speaker: Chris Lee, LBL
- Abstract: Event shapes characterize hadronic final states produced in e+ e- collisions. The two-jet kinematic endpoint of event shape distributions is particularly sensitive to the nonperturbative effects of hadronization. Soft-collinear effective theory provides the tools to factorize event shape distributions in the two-jet region into perturbatively-calculable and nonperturbative contributions. From the resulting factorization theorem we can deduce the extent to which these nonperturbative contributions are universal across different event shapes.