Physics Colloquia

"Scaling Down the Laws of Thermodynamics"
Christopher Jarzynski, University of Maryland - College Park
Thermodynamics provides a robust conceptual framework and set of laws that govern the exchange of energy and matter. Although these laws were originally articulated for macroscopic objects, it is hard to deny that nanoscale systems, as well, often exhibit “thermodynamic-like” behavior. To what extent can the venerable laws of thermodynamics be scaled down to apply to individual microscopic systems, and what new features emerge at the nanoscale?

"Topologically Protected Fermi Surfaces"
Daniel Agterberg, UW-Milawukee Department of Physics
The recent rapid development in understanding quantum materials has been shaped by the concept of topological stability: topology ensures robustness of physical properties even when the underlying interactions change substantially

"Detectable Changes in Astronomy"
Federica Bianco, Center for Cosmology & Particle Physics, Center for Urban Science & Progress, NYU
The way we do science in general, and astronomy in particular, is changing rapidly. I will talk about the future of astronomy at the verge of the LSST survey. As the (newly elected) LSST Science Collaborations Coordinator, I will discuss how the whole science community is preparing for this revolution: the largest astronomical survey ever planned, which starting in 2022 will image the entire southern hemisphere sky once every 3 nights to depth and spatial resolution that approach that of the Hubble Space Telescope.

"The Cosmological Context of Star Formation"
Tom Quinn, University of Washington
On the molecular cloud scale, star formation is a very complicated process that involves gravitational collapse, radiative transfer and magnetic fields on sub-parsec scales. On the other hand, there are a number of observed relationships between star formation and galactic and cosmic environment such as star formation rate - molecular surface density relationship in disk galaxies, the stellar mass - halo mass relationship, and the evolution of the star formation rate over time.

"Velocity Gradients as a New Way of Studying Galactic Magnetic Fields"
Alex Lazarian, UW-Madison
I shall introduce three new techniques of magnetic field tracing. The first two use Doppler-shifted emission lines and employs the gradients of velocity in order to trace magnetic fields in the diffuse interstellar media as well as to trace regions of star formation associated with the gravitational collapse. The differences between these techniques is that they use different observationally available measures, i.e. the first one uses the velocity centroids and the other uses velocity channel maps.

"Feedback in Dwarf Galaxies at z>2"
Ryan Trainor, Franklin & Marshall College
High-redshift dwarf galaxies (L << L*) are high-priority science targets for both JWST and current surveys: these galaxies appear extremely sensitive to stellar feedback, and they are likely to dominate the ionizing photon budget during the epoch of reionization (EoR). However, the physical properties of the stellar populations and interstellar media in these galaxies are difficult to constrain because of their extremely faint continuum and line emission.

"Rethinking the Fundamentals of Classical Nova Explosions"
Laura Chomiuk, Michigan State University
Over the past few years, a revolution has been taking place in our understanding of classical novae, largely driven by the discovery of GeV gamma-rays emanating from these garden-variety explosions. These gamma-rays hint that shocks are energetically important---perhaps even dominant---in novae.

The Shocking Ways Stars Die.
Dr. Tony Piro, The Carnegie Observatories
Supernovae are amazing cosmic explosions where for a few weeks to months a single star can become as bright as a billion stars combined. Even though supernovae are crucial to a wide range of areas in astrophysics, from producing the elements to galactic evolution to measuring the accelerating expansion of our Universe, the actual progenitors are frustratingly elusive in many cases.

Professor Ed Lattman, Principal Research Scientist at the Hauptman-Woodward Institute; Professor of Structural Biology & Materials Design and Innovation at the University of Buffalo (SUNY)

Of Course, an STC is Only a Means to An End, Which Is (Hopefully) Science

NSF Science and Technology Centers are large, prestigious awards intended to enable transformative research that cannot readily be carried out by individual investigators.

There is currently no Physics Colloquium scheduled for Friday, February 9th, 2018.