Events at Physics |
Events During the Week of November 6th through November 12th, 2016
Monday, November 7th, 2016
- Graduate Introductory Seminar
- WIPAC: IceCube, HAWC, CTA, ARA
- Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
- Place: 5280 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Halzen, Hanson, Karle, Vandenbroucke, Westerhoff
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar
- Development and applications of Veri cation and Validation procedures
- Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
- Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Fabio Riva, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
- Abstract: The methodology used to assess the reliability of numerical simulation codes constitutes the
Veri cation and Validation (V&V) procedure. V&V is composed by three separate tasks: the code
veri cation, which is a mathematical issue targeted to assess that the physical model is correctly
implemented in a simulation code; the solution veri cation, which evaluates the numerical errors
a ecting a simulation; and the validation, which determines the consistency of the code results,
and therefore of the physical model, with experimental data.
To perform a code veri cation, we propose to use the method of manufactured solutions, a method-
ology that we have generalized to PIC codes, overcoming the diculty of dealing with a numerical
method intrinsically a ected by statistical noise. The solution veri cation procedure we put for-
ward is based on the Richardson extrapolation, used as higher order estimate of the exact solution.
These veri cation procedures were applied to GBS, a three-dimensional
uid code for SOL plasma
turbulence simulation based on a nite di erence scheme, and to a unidimensional, electrostatic,
collisionless PIC code. To perform a detailed validation of GBS against experimental measure-
ments, we generalized the magnetic geometry of the simulation code to include elongation and
non-zero triangularity, and we investigated theoretically the impact of plasma shaping e ects on
SOL turbulence. An experimental campaign to validate our ndings against experimental mea-
surements in tokamak limited con gurations has just been completed on TCV. - Host: Paul Terry
Tuesday, November 8th, 2016
- Chaos & Complex Systems Seminar
- Simulating reality: Using virtual reality to explore the complexities of the world around us
- Time: 12:05 pm - 1:00 pm
- Place: 4274 Chamberlin (refreshments will be served)
- Speaker: Kevin Ponto, UW Department of Design Studies
- Abstract: Virtual reality technologies have provided a new means to experience digital worlds. While much of the commercial interest in this technology has been focused on creating artificial worlds, our lab has instead focused on utilizing this technology to better understand real physical spaces. In this talk I will describe how our lab is using new technology to capture and create simulated experiences in order to better understand the world around us.
- Host: Clint Sprott
- Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology)
- Capture and Decay of Electroweak Wimponium
- Time: 3:30 pm
- Place: 5280 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Matthew Baumgart, Rutgers university
- Abstract: The spectrum of Weakly-Interacting-Massive-Particle (WIMP) dark matter generically possesses bound states when the WIMP mass becomes sufficiently large relative to the mass of the electroweak gauge bosons. In the specific case of the wino, we find that the rate for bound state formation is suppressed relative to direct annihilation, and so provides only a small correction to the overall annihilation rate. The implications for general nonabelian dark sectors though, show that bound state formation must be considered in any thorough treatment of observability. The soft photons radiated by the capture process and by bound state transitions could permit measurement of the dark matter's quantum numbers.
- Host: Joshua Berger
Wednesday, November 9th, 2016
- No events scheduled
Thursday, November 10th, 2016
- R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar
- Quantum FM radio for Quantum Computing
- Time: 10:00 am
- Place: 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: David Schuster, University of Chicago
- Abstract: Individual superconducting qubits have seen impressive improvements in
nearly all aspects over the past decade and now sit at the threshold
of being able to perform quantum error correction. Scaling to larger
numbers of qubits is challenging both in the fundamental aspects of
understanding the behavior of large numbers of strongly coupled qubits
and in the technical aspects of controlling such systems. We take a
unique approach in which we use a superconducting qubit as a quantum
FM radio manipulate individual photons in a array of harmonic
oscillators. This allows control with a single qubit's worth of
classical hardware and simplifies the process of designing and
building large devices. Further, these techniques are compatible with
current brute force scaling efforts and represent a promising avenue
to reach hundreds of qubits in the next several years. In this talk,
I will describe the architecture and show how parametric control can
be used to realize universal quantum logic operations between
arbitrary memory modes - Host: McDermott
- Physics Education Innovation Seminar
- *Coffee and Cookies at 10:15 AM
- Using Learning Assistants in introductory STEM Courses
- Time: 10:15 am - 11:30 am
- Place: 5280 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Tor Odden, UW - Madison Departments of Physics and Curriculum and Instruction
- Abstract: The use of undergraduate Learning Assistants has been pioneered by the Department of Physics at the University of Colorado. Tor recently attended a workshop at CU and will report on how their model could be used for the REACH transformations underway in Physics and other departments at Madison. Talk starts at 10:30.
- Host: Peter Timbie
- Cosmology Journal Club
- An Informal discussion about a broad variety of arXiv papers related to Cosmology
- Time: 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm
- Place: 5242 Chamberlin Hall
- Abstract: Please visit the following link for more details:
href="http://cmb.physics.wisc.edu/journal/index.html">http://cmb.physics.wisc.edu/journal/index.html
Please feel free to bring your lunch!
If you have questions or comments about this journal club, would like to propose a topic or volunteer to introduce a paper, please email Amol Upadhye (aupadhye@wisc.edu). - Host: Amol Upadhye
- NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum
- The AMS experiment on the International Space Station after 5 years in Space
- Time: 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
- Place: 5280 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Valerio Vagelli, University of Perugia
- Abstract: AMS-02 is a cosmic ray detector operating on the International Space Station since May 2011.
The main goals of the AMS mission are the detection of primordial antimatter and indirect Dark Matter signatures in the fluxes of cosmic rays through the accurate measurement of their composition and energy spectra up to the TeV scale.
The most recent AMS results and the consequent potential advances in the current understanding of cosmic ray origin, acceleration and propagation physics will be reviewed. - Host: Vandenbroucke
- Astronomy Colloquium
- How Can Observations of Earth Guide the Search of Exoplanets?
- Time: 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
- Place: 4421 Sterling Hall, Coffee and cookies 3:30 PM. Talk begins at 3:45 PM
- Speaker: Tristan L’Ecuyer, UW Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
- Abstract: Recent advances in satellite-based astrophysics-focused telescopes have begun an exciting new era of exoplanet exploration in which it may soon be possible to directly image exoplanets orbiting the sun’s nearest neighbors. The spectroscopic surveys enabled by such technology offer the potential to move beyond detecting and inferring the mass and orbital characteristics of exoplanets to characterize their atmospheric and surface characteristics and, ask whether some may feature the building blocks required to support life. Considerable development is, however, required before direct imaging algorithms are sufficiently mature to make optimal use of such technology. But NASA has also been collecting detailed observations of Earth since the pioneering work of some University of Wisconsin professors in the 1950’s. The subsequent five decades of satellite-based Earth observations offers an under-tapped wealth of information to guide the development of new algorithms to identify water, ice, cloud, and vegetation signatures in direct imagery of exoplanets. This presentation will introduce a subset of modern Earth observations that are particularly relevant to this problem in the context of the Earth science applications they address. Progress toward incorporating this knowledge into a new framework for searching for Earth-like spectral signatures in direct exoplanet imagery will be described. Preliminary examples demonstrate the utility of the resulting `Earth simulator’ to characterize the spectral signatures of Earth-like planets and establish the optimal band passes, spectral resolution, and minimum signal-to-noise ratio of proposed observing systems for identifying key features in these spectra. These initial results will be placed in the broader context of the rapidly evolving, emerging exoplanet imaging field.
- Host: Astronomy Deparment
Friday, November 11th, 2016
- No events scheduled