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Events During the Week of September 10th through September 17th, 2023

Monday, September 11th, 2023

Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar
Making plasma science open
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Place: 1610 Engineering Hall
Speaker: Dr. Nick Murphy, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
Abstract: Plasma science does not currently have the culture or technical infrastructure for open sharing of software, data, and educational resources. In this seminar, I will cover how we can get there together and make open science a core value of our field. To show the benefits of open access data and open source software, I will compare the data and software environments between solar physics and fusion energy sciences. I will describe several of the cultural, technical, and organizational barriers to open plasma science. We need a foundation of psychological safety for both open science and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. I will discuss recent work by the PlasmaPy project to foster the creation of an open source software ecosystem for plasma research and education. After introducing the FAIR standards for data stewardship, I will show how open plasma science hinges upon metadata standardization. I will finish by making the case for a unified web portal for open access to plasma data sets.

Biography
Dr. Nick Murphy is an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Nick attended the University of Michigan as an undergraduate and the University of Wisconsin in Madison for graduate school in astronomy. Nick began believing in open source software while still a student, even going so far as to include Fortran subroutines in an appendix of their thesis. Nick has been at the Center for Astrophysics for the last decade working largely on magnetic reconnection in solar eruptions. Nick was a co-organizer of the Inclusive Astronomy 2015 conference and co-founded the American Astronomical Society's Working Group on Accessibility and Disability, and is now a member of the APS DPP Diversity Equity and Inclusion Organizing Collective Committee. Over the last few years, Nick has been a core contributor to PlasmaPy, which is an open source software package for plasma research and education.
Host: Prof. Steffi Diem
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Tuesday, September 12th, 2023

Council Meeting
Physics Council Meeting
Time: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Place: 2314 Chamberlin Hall
Speaker: Mark Eriksson, UW - Madison
Host: Mark Eriksson
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Wednesday, September 13th, 2023

Careers for Physicists
Quantum Information Science (QIS) Career Fair
Time: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Place: virtual, visit for more info and to register
Speaker: Various, DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Centers
Abstract: The Quantum Information Science Career Fair aims to bring awareness to the wide range of QIS internships and careers available to college students, postdocs, faculty and early-career professionals — from scientific and engineering roles to supporting business roles that facilitate research objectives. Reaching the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science’s goal to meet future scientific challenges with a diversified, trained workforce is critical for the field. The QIS Career Fair addresses this need by creating opportunities for job seekers, policy and decision makers, and hiring organizations to converge.

Participants will hear from experts in government, academia, and industry about the QIS market, get their questions answered, build their professional networks, and meet directly with potential employers. The event will showcase jobs available at national laboratories, academic institutions, and industry.
Host: Department of Energy Office of Science
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Department Meeting
Time: 12:15 pm - 1:00 pm
Place: B343 Sterling Hall
Speaker: Mark Eriksson, UW-Madison
agenda to come a day or so before the meeting.
Host: Mark Eriksson
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Thursday, September 14th, 2023

R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar
Strained Si/SiGe quantum wells with oscillating Ge concentration: valley and spin-orbit physics
Time: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Place: 5310 Chamberlin
Speaker: Benjamin Woods, UW-Madison
Abstract: Electron spin qubits in Si/SiGe quantum dots hold promise for quantum computation due to their scalability and long coherence times. However, challenges persist, notably small and variable valley splitting introduces low-energy states near the qubit subspace, causing decoherence and read-out difficulties. In addition, reliance on magnetic field gradients from micromagnets in leading Si/SiGe qubit designs poses scalability issues. I will outline our solution to both problems, which utilizes Si/SiGe heterostructures featuring long-wavelength λ ≈ 1.7 nm Ge concentration oscillations and shear strain. For such a structure, we show that the spin-orbit coupling is dramatically enhanced compared to conventional Si/SiGe quantum wells without Ge concentration oscillations. This enhancement permits rapid spin manipulation via electric dipole spin resonance without the need for micromagnets. Furthermore, we show that the necessary level of shear strain for valley splitting enhancement aligns with existing fabrication techniques. Finally, I will touch on promising future directions. This includes the exploration of electric dipole spin resonance under the influence of valley disorder and the potential for significant g-factor renormalization in multi-electron quantum dots.
Host: Robert McDermott
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NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum
Neutrinos, Quantum Gravity and the Big Questions - New Ideas for New Data
Time: 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Place: CH5310/https://wipac-science.zoom.us/j/94254277222?pwd=QVJ1dHNCaFdmYnk1Vzk2TWJuQ3RwUT09
Speaker: Heinrich Päs, TU Dortmund University
Abstract: Neutrinos are perfect probes of quantum gravity. The particles’ weak interactions allow to preserve quantum coherence for very long timespans, and neutrino telescopes have started to collect data of neutrinos at extreme energies that have travelled extra-galactic distances. Moreover, the expected breaking of global symmetries such as lepton number in quantum gravity may induce neutrino Majorana masses. The talk discusses how new ideas about quantum gravity could imply exotic properties or phenomena in the neutrino sector, such as altered dispersion relations, quantum-gravitational decoherence, or UV/IR mixing that may be linked to the big open questions of particle physics and cosmology like the nature of dark matter or the electroweak hierarchy problem.
Host: Sanjib Kumar Agarwalla
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Friday, September 15th, 2023

Graduate Program Event
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship intro session
Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Place: 2241 Chamberlin
Speaker: Emma Brann, Samuel Hori, Alysa Rogers, Sarah Perdue, UW–Madison physics
Abstract: The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program application deadline is coming up (Oct 20 for physical sciences), and the physics department and PGSC are running a series of sessions and workshops to help current students prepare their applications.

Join us Sept 15 at 3:30pm (there is no colloquium that day) for an informational overview of the NSF GRFP and hear from a panel of physics PhD students who are current NSF Fellows.

This event is intended for undergraduate physics/AMEP majors and first+second year PhD students, as well as any other department members who are applying for NSG GFRP this year or plan to in the future. Visit go.wisc.edu/PhysicsGRFP to join our mailing list for future sessions
Host: Soyeon Choi, Shivani Lomte, Sarah Perdue
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