Events at Physics |
Events on Friday, March 22nd, 2013
- Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology)
- Solution-generating techniques in supergravity and their applications to AdS/CFT
- Time: 2:15 pm
- Place: 5280 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Jerome Gaillard, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Abstract: We present different ways of generating new supergravity solutions starting from known ones. It is useful in the context of gauge/gravity duality where it provides us with new duals of field theories with interesting features. In addition, because the new backgrounds are derived by transforming some known solutions, one can study how this process translates at the level of field theory and see if it sheds some light on how apparently different field theories can in fact be related.
- Physics Department Colloquium
- Core-Collapse Supernova Explosions: The Theoretical Challenge
- Time: 3:30 pm
- Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall (coffee at 4:30 pm)
- Speaker: Adam Burrows, Princeton University
- Abstract: Core-collapse supernovae have challenged theorists and computational science for half a century. Such explosions are the source of many of the heavy elements in the Universe and the birthplace of neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes. However, determining the mechanism of explosion remains the key goal of theory. Recently, using sophisticated numerical tools and platforms, theorists have been able to conduct multi-dimensional simulations with some physical fidelity that have provided insight into the phenonoma that attend stellar death and explosion. The core of the emerging theoretical synthesis is the centrality of hydrodynamic instability and asphericity. In this talk, I review the state of the field and the contending explosion models. In the process, I will highlight the computational astrophysics that has been applied to date, and that may be necessary in the future to credibly unravel this mystery.
- Host: Halzen