Events at Physics |
Events on Thursday, May 2nd, 2024
- Thesis Defense
- A SEARCH FOR A STABLE SIX-QUARK BOUND STATE IN P-P COLLISIONS AT √ S = 13 TEV IN PARKED 2018 DATA AT CMS AND A STUDY OF THE AGING OF CATHODE STRIP CHAMBERS IN HIGH RADIATION ENVIRONMENTS.
- Time: 9:30 am - 11:30 am
- Place: 5280 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Wren Vetens, Physics PhD Graduate Student
- Abstract: A search for a Standard Model dibaryonic dark matter candidate being produced in 13 TeV proton-proton collisions and annihilating with a neutron in the beam-pipe of the CMS detector is described herein. The search is to conducted in over 230 billion collisions collected in 2018 by the CMS detector, targeting the strange neutral hadrons that would be produced in such an annihilation. A custom vertex reconstruction is used, and a multivariate discriminator is trained to distinguish between the signal and a combinatorial background. Additionally, results from a study of the aging of detector components in Cathode Strip Chambers in high radiation environments with reduced Carbon Tetrafluoride gas mixtures are also presented.
- Host: Kevin Black
- Astronomy Colloquium
- Exploring Exoplanets in the Era of JWST and Beyond
- Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- Place: 4421 Sterling Hall
- Speaker: Knicole Colon, NASA's Goddard
- Abstract: We are in an extraordinary era of exoplanet science. This is thanks in great part to the number of current and upcoming facilities that are designed to enable the discovery of exoplanet systems or provide detailed characterization of exoplanets and their host stars across a range of ultraviolet to infrared wavelengths. In particular, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which successfully launched in late 2021, is the premier space-based facility for near- and mid-infrared astronomy over 0.6-28.5 microns. The 6.5-meter telescope is specifically equipped with four state-of-the-art instruments that include capabilities for imaging, spectroscopy, and coronagraphy. JWST is providing unprecedented sensitivity enabling detailed studies of both transiting and directly-imaged exoplanets and their atmospheres. In this talk, I will review key exoplanet science results achieved so far with JWST and present results from some of our ongoing Cycle 1 and 2 programs to study giant and rocky transiting planets. I will then provide a look ahead at one of the next exciting exoplanet observatories that is planned to launch next year: a new SmallSat mission called Pandora that is being led out of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and that is designed to study the impact of star spots on the spectra of exoplanet atmospheres. Together, observatories like JWST and Pandora are poised to re-write exoplanet textbooks for years to come.
- Host: Ke Zhang
- Physics Department Colloquium
- Frontiers in Neutrino Astronomy
- Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- Place: 2103 CH -
- Speaker: John Beacom, Ohio State University
- Abstract: From successes over the past decades, we know that neutrino astronomy is both possible and powerful. But now what? I review the frontiers of this field and present a vision for its future. Success will have wide implications for both physics and astronomy.
- Host: Baha Balantekin