Events During the Week of
May 4th through May 10th, 2008

Monday, May 5th, 2008

Physics/ECE/NE 922 (Plasma) Seminar

Magnetic Reconnection, a Celestial Phenomenon in the Laboratory

Time: 12:05 pm

Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall

Speaker: Jan Egedal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

High Energy Seminar

Seach for SM Higgs with H to tautau and 2 Jets

Time: 4:00 pm

Place: 4274 Chamberlin (Coffee and Cookies at 3:30 pm)

Speaker: Kohei Yorita, University of Chicago

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

Chaos & Complex Systems Seminar

Addressing complex challenges by engaging groups

Time: 12:05 pm

Place: 4274 Chamberlin Hall

Speaker: Darin Harris and Harry Webne-Behrman, UW Office of Quality Improvement

"Physics Today" Undergrad Colloquium (Physics 301)

Galaxy Ecology: Black Holes & Outflows

Time: 1:20 pm

Place: 2223 Chamberlin Hall

Speaker: John Everett

Astronomy Colloquium

"Molecular Gas in High-Redshift Galaxies"

Time: 3:45 pm

Place: 6515 Sterling Hall (coffee at 3:30 pm in 6521 Sterling)

Speaker: Andrew Baker, Rutgers University

Abstract: Fully understanding the evolutionary state of a galaxy requires that we characterize its gas reservoir, of which the molecular component represents the mass directly available for star formation. I will discuss observations of molecular gas in two populations of star-forming galaxies at high redshift-- Lyman break galaxies and submillimeter galaxies-- and what we can conclude from them. Looking ahead to the future, I will outline what we can expect to learn from observations with two new instruments: the "Zpectrometer" (an ultrawide-bandwidth 26-40 GHz spectrometer for the 100m Green Bank Telescope) and ALMA (the Atacama Large Millimeter Array).

String Theory Seminar

Title to be announced

Time: 4:30 pm

Place: 5280 Chamberlin Hall

Speaker: Timo Weigand, University of Pennsylvania

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum

Joint NPAC/Pheno Seminar

Dirac Leptogenesis in Extended nMSSM

Time: 3:30 pm

Place: 4274 Chamberlin

Speaker: Eung Jin Chun, KIAS

Abstract: We show that a version of the nearly Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (nMSSM), extended only in the singlet sector to include the additional superfields of right-handed neutrinos and very heavy Dirac particles conserving B-L, admits a viable scenario for Dirac leptogenesis and naturally small Dirac neutrino masses. The origin of the (B-L)-conserving high singlet neutrino scale and the desired supersymmetry breaking terms is associated with dynamical supersymmetry breaking in the hidden sector.

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar

Force-Producing Machines in Living Cells

Time: 10:00 am

Place: 5310 Chamberlin

Speaker: Ben OShaughnessy, Columbia University

Abstract: Living cells exert force in many basic processes. Forces cleave the mother cell into two daughters during cytokinesis in cell division, enable rigidity sensing in cell growth and differentiation, apply traction during cell migration and stimulate extracellular matrix reorganization during wound healing. For these and many other purposes cells assemble and operate complex multiprotein cytoskeletal machines. I will discuss assembly and function of contractile cellular machines built from actin filaments, force-producing myosin motor proteins and other components. (1) How are these machines assembled? We studied the contractile cytokinetic ring in fission yeast using time-resolved quantitative confocal microscopy and computer simulations. Assembly occurs via a remarkably stochastic "search, capture, pull and release" mechanism whereby ~63 membrane-bound precursor nodes are condensed into a continuous ring when node-bound myosins pull on transient formin-nucleated node-node actin connectors. (2) How do the machines work? We discuss stress fibers, possibly the most accessible cellular contractile force-producing machines. We quantitatively modeled their kinetics as dramatically revealed by two recent experimental studies.

Host: Joynt

NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum

The South Pole Telescope: Beyond Clusters

Time: 4:00 pm

Place: 4274 Chamberlin

Speaker: Tom Crawford, University of Chicago

Abstract: The 10-meter South Pole Telescope (SPT) is currently operating at the National Science Foundation South Pole research station. The first-generation receiver on the SPT is a 960-element array of bolometers operating near the background limit to their sensitivity. The first key project, currently underway, is a survey of <1000 square degrees for galaxy clusters using the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect (SZE), which will have sufficient statistical weight to place significant constraints on the equation of state of the dark energy. But the science yield of this survey will not be limited to the cluster catalog: This SPT dataset will provide precise measurements of the small-scale angular power spectra of primary cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies, the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect (SZE), and the kinetic SZE / Ostriker-Vishniac effect; measurements of lensing of the CMB by clusters and large-scale structure; and catalogs of high-redshift starburst galaxies and active galactic nuclei with depth and sky coverage unprecedented at millimeter wavelengths.

Friday, May 9th, 2008

Phenomenology Seminar

Title to be announced

Time: 2:30 pm

Place: 5280 Chamberlin Hall

Speaker: Terrance Figy, University of Durham

Department of Geology & Geophysics General Talk

Exploring Mercury by Spacecraft: Seeking clues to the formation and evolution of the inner planets

Time: 3:30 pm

Place: Room AB20 Weeks Hall

Speaker: Sean C Solomon, Director, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC

Poster: http://www.physics.wisc.edu/twap/posters/2008/1190.pdf

Physics Department Colloquium

Climate Change: Local to Global and Back Again

Time: 4:00 pm

Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall (coffee at 3:30 pm)

Speaker: John Magnuson, Emeritus Professor of Zoology and Limnology, UW-Madison

Abstract: While Climate Change is global in extent, the impacts are felt locally and can provide strong evidence for climate change. Lake Mendota ice cover is useful as a miner's canary and when combined with global ice information can indicate global warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the Nobel Peace prize in 2007 for its science synthesis. Its analyses reveal that the pattern of change in temperature and precipitation are heterogeneous around the world. These differences point to markedly different impacts in different regions of the globe. The challenges of climate change are to mitigate the causes to reduce the magnitude of change and to adapt to the inevitable changes that are occurring. In Wisconsin the Governors Task Force is considering the mitigation issues and the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI) is considering adaptation. Both require action and taking a long-term view.

Host: Nossal, Lawler, and Anderson

Poster: http://www.physics.wisc.edu/twap/posters/2008/1154.pdf

Saturday, May 10th, 2008

Physics Department

Huber-Fest

Time: 9:30 am

Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall

Speaker: Multiple Speakers

Abstract:

9:30 AM
Welcome: Professor Susan N. Coppersmith, Chair, Dept of Physics.

9:45 AM
Professor Giorgio Margaritondo, Provost and Professor of Physics, Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL) Switzerland. Microimaging with x-rays: it all started in Wisconsin!

10:45-11:00 coffee break

11:00 AM Dr. Raghu Raghavan. president (and cofounder) Therataxis, LLC, Baltimore, MD.
Breaching the barriers of the brain: physics and cures.

1:00 PM
Professor Frank Imbusch, Senior Vice-President of the Royal Irish Academy and former Professor of Experimental Physics, National University of Ireland, Galway.
Working with Spectroscopists: the Huber-Yen collaboration.

2:00 PM
Wai-Yim, Curators' Professor of Physics, University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Computational materials science: ceramic microstructures; biomaterials/biomolecules, and organic magnets.

3:00 PM
Chancellor John D. Wiley, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

3:15-3:30 PM coffee break

3:30 PM
Professor Francis Halzen, Hilldale Professor, Dept of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The IceCube Project: making big science possible through PSL.

6:30 PM
Dinner(Imperial Garden Restaurant, 2039 Allen Blvd, Middleton)

Poster: http://www.physics.wisc.edu/twap/posters/2008/1189.pdf

"This Week at Physics" poster: http://www.physics.wisc.edu/twap/posters/2008/2008-05-05.pdf