Events

Events at Physics

<< Fall 2009 Spring 2010 Summer 2010 >>
Subscribe your calendar or receive email announcements of events

Events During the Week of April 4th through April 11th, 2010

Monday, April 5th, 2010

Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar
How to Make a Big International Project Happen: Lessons from ITER
Time: 12:05 pm
Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall
Speaker: James W. Van Dam, University of Texas-Austin/Institute for Fusion Studies
Add this event to your calendar
High Energy Seminar
A New High-Sensitivity Search for Muon-to-Electron Conversion at Fermilab
Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Place: 4274 Chamberlin (Coffee and Cookies at 3:45 pm)
Speaker: Dr. Robert Bernstein, FNAL
Abstract: The Mu2e collaboration will search for coherent, neutrino-less conversion
of muons into electrons in the field of a nucleus with a sensitivity
improvement of approximately 10,000 over existing limits. Such a lepton
flavor-violating reaction probes new physics at a scale unavailable by
direct searches at either present or planned high energy colliders. The
physics motivation for Mu2e and the design of the muon beamline and
spectrometer will be presented, along with a scheme by which the
experiment can be mounted in the present Fermilab accelerator complex.
We will also examine the prospects for increased sensitivity of as much
as two orders-of-magnitude at the proposed Fermilab Project X Linac.
Host: Matt Herndon
Add this event to your calendar

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

Chaos & Complex Systems Seminar
Running Form Modification: When Self-selected is not Preferred
Time: 12:05 pm
Place: 4274 Chamberlin Hall
Speaker: Bryan Heiderscheit, UW-Madison, Dept. of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation
Abstract: While it is generally well accepted that an individual's patten of running is optimized to conserve metabolic energy, at times, this self-selection process may increase injury risk. That is, the selected pattern may be one that increases local joint loading and the potential for repetitive microtraumatic injury. This is most evident in those just beginning to run as part of a regular exercise program. Using research and patient care findings, I will discuss how a simple modification to one's running gait can be an effective component to the treatment and prevention of common running-related injuries.

Add this event to your calendar
Astronomy Colloquium
Sponsored by WOWSAP (Women of WI Strengthening Astronomy and Physics"
Probing the Inner and Outer Milky Way
Time: 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Place: 3425 Sterling Hall
Speaker: Juna Kollmeier, Carnegie Observatories
Abstract: The Milky Way provides an opportunity for a close-up investigation of the complex processes of galaxy and star formation. I will discuss recent efforts to do this by using rare, but important, probes of these phenomena. In the first portion of the talk I will present results on hypervelocity stars primarily from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The distribution of these stars, in physical properties and in space, allows us to place interesting limits on star formation and dynamics at the Galactic Center as well as the possibility to constrain the shape of the Milky Way's dark matter halo. I will discuss progress we have made toward these goals. In the second portion of the talk, I will discuss how one can use RR Lyrae stars to probe the outer halo of the Milky Way and find new and distant substructures that are difficult to probe by other means. Our recent confirmation of a distant structure in RR Lyrae stars highlights the power of this approach to unraveling the outer halo and showcases exciting possibilities for future all-sky time-domain surveys.
Host: WISELI
Add this event to your calendar

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Department Meeting
Time: 12:15 pm
Place: 5310 Chamberlin Hall
Add this event to your calendar

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar
Spin electronics for materials spectroscopy
Time: 10:00 am
Place: 5310 Chamberlin
Speaker: Christoph Boehme, University of Utah
Abstract: In semiconductors with weak spin-orbit coupling, spin-selection rules allow electron spins and nuclear spins to influence electrical and optical material properties. Such spin-dependent processes enable a number of applications ranging from readout of spin quantum computers and spin-electronic devices to semiconductor spin spectroscopy. The latter is of great importance for understanding the role that spins play for efficiencies of solar cells, light emitting diodes and other electronic devices. In this talk I will discuss our recent progress on the development of a spin-selection rule based coherent spin spectroscopy and I will summarize our research-activities and -results using this technique. I will then discuss in detail an experiment demonstrating the control of the electric current in organic light emitting diodes by spin-beat oscillations of Coulomb-coupled charge carriers pairs. The beat oscillations are due to a difference of the local magnetic hyperfine fields caused by a bath of hydrogen nuclear spins in the vicinity of the charge carrier pairs. The observation of this effect provides insights into how nuclear spins in organic semiconductors influence conductivity and electroluminescence.
Host: Mark Eriksson
Add this event to your calendar
NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum
The Chiral Magnetic Effect and local parity violation at RHIC
Time: 4:00 pm
Place: 4274 Chamberlin
Speaker: Dmitri Kharzeev, Brookhaven National Laboratory
Abstract: will address the role of chiral symmetry and parity invariance in the properties of hot and dense quark-gluon matter. The possibility of parity-odd effects in this matter will be discussed. Local parity violation can manifest itself in heavy ion collisions at RHIC through the spatial separation of positive and negative particles with respect to the reaction plane. The charge separation induces the electric dipole moment of the produced hot quark-gluon matter; it stems from the interplay of strong magnetic field in the early stage of the heavy ion collision and the presence of topological configurations in hot matter ("the chiral magnetic effect"). There is a recent experimental evidence for local parity violation at RHIC. The effect has interesting implications for the cosmology of the Early Universe, and has analogs in condensed matter physics (quantum wires, graphene, and topological insulators), and in astrophysics (particle acceleration in cosmic strings).
Add this event to your calendar

Friday, April 9th, 2010

NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum
Diffuse Emission of GeV and TeV Gamma Rays: Prospects with Fermi and HAWC
Time: 2:30 pm
Place: 4274 Chamberlin
Speaker: Petra Huentemeyer, Michigan Technological University
Host: Segev BenZvi
Add this event to your calendar
Physics Department Colloquium
Baryons: Testing Ground of QCD Dynamics
Time: 4:00 pm
Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall (coffee and cookies at 3:30 pm)
Speaker: Jose Goity, JLab/Hampton University
Abstract: Quantum Chromodynamics, QCD, has been established as the fundamental theory of the strong interaction for a long time, yet its non-perturbative dynamics remains incompletely understood. Most properties of hadrons, such as those of the familiar proton and neutron, are determined by these non-perturbative dynamics, and through the experimental and theoretical study of hadrons important aspects are being revealed. This talk will focus on the role played by the study of baryons, discussing in particular the spectrum of excited baryons. Two significant theoretical advances will be highlighted: studies of the baryon spectrum by means of lattice simulations of QCD, and analysis of that spectrum by the implementation of the 1/Nc expansion, where Nc is the number of color degrees of freedom in QCD.
Host: Ramsey-Musolf
Poster: https://www.physics.wisc.edu/events/posters/2010/1673.pdf
Add this event to your calendar