Events at Physics |
Events During the Week of November 14th through November 20th, 2010
Monday, November 15th, 2010
- No events scheduled
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010
- String Theory Seminar
- D-brane Instanton Effects from D-brane Particle Loops
- Time: 4:00 pm
- Place: 5280 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Pablo Soler, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
- Host: Shiu
Wednesday, November 17th, 2010
- NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum
- New Applications of World Line Effective Theories
- Time: 4:30 pm
- Place: 4274 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Ira Rothstein, Carnegie Mellon University
- Host: Andreas Ross
Thursday, November 18th, 2010
- Astronomy Colloquium
- The Diverse Fates of Single and Binary Massive Stars
- Time: 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
- Place: 4421 Sterling Hall
- Speaker: Nathan Smith, University of Arizona
- Abstract: Core-collapse supernovae (SNe) are bright, and therefore have the
potential to reveal details about the outcome of stellar evolution at large distances and different environments. However, our ability to theoretically predict which initial masses (and metallicities) produce which specific types of SNe they produce (e.g., Types Ib, Ic, II-P,II-L, IIn, IIb) is in rather miserable shape. This has critical implications for understanding the origin of long-duration GRBs, for example, which have been linked to Type Ic SNe. Observational input about the diverse end fates of massive stars helps this situation on two main fronts: 1. A growing number of direct detections of progenitor stars at the locations of SNe in archival pre-explosion data, mostly from HST, provides important links between the type of SN and the star's initial mass. 2. We now have reasonably good estimates about the relative fractions of different SN subtypes from the first decade of the Lick Observatory SN Search, allowing us to quantify what fraction of massive stars explode as which types of SN. Combining these two constraints, I will discuss the implications for the range of initial stellar masses that correspond to each type of SN. A key result (long suspected but now quantified) is that simple predictions of single-star stellar evolution models cannot be reconciled with the observed SN fractions, and that close binary evolution must be a primary agent responsible for SNe that have lost their H envelopes. Even accounting for this binary evolution (which has its own pitfalls), the remaining single-star progenitors contradict single-star evoution models, with some surprising implications. Time permitting, I will discuss some of the strange things that can occur in massive evolved binary systems -- especially one of them. - NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum
- Astrophysics with Gravitational-Wave Detectors
- Time: 4:00 pm
- Place: 4274 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Vuk Mandic, University of Minnesota
- Abstract: Gravitational waves are predicted by general theory of relativity to be produced by accelerating mass systems with quadrupole moment. The amplitude of gravitational waves is expected to be very small, so the best chance of their direct detection lies with some of the most energetic events in the universe, such as mergers of two neutron stars or black holes, Supernova explosions, or the Big-Bang itself. I will review the status of current gravitational-wave detectors, such as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), as well as some of the most recent results obtained using LIGO data. I will also discuss plans and expectations for the future generations of gravitational-wave detectors.
- Host: Peter Timbie
- Graduate Introductory Seminar
- Medical Physics
- Time: 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
- Place: 2223 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Birn, Christian, Nickles
Friday, November 19th, 2010
- Phenomenology Seminar
- Theory/Phenomenology Seminar
- The Little Hierarchy Problem in a Generalized NMSSM
- Time: 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
- Place: 5280 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Christopher Kolda, University of Notre Dame
- Host: Lisa Everett
- Physics Department Colloquium
- Weighing Neutrinos
- Time: 4:00 pm
- Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall (coffee at 3:30 pm)
- Speaker: Joseph Formaggio, MIT
- Abstract: Neutrino oscillation experiments performed throughout the latter half of the twentieth century have yielded valuable information on the nature of neutrino masses and mixings. The evidence gathered has provided the first positive evidence for physics beyond the standard model. As the next century begins, a new suite of precision experiments will come online to provide greater insight into the physics and significance of neutrino mass. This talk will review our current state of knowledge on neutrino masses, and how new experiments will complement that knowledge in years to come.
- Host: Westerhoff