Chemistry 108

Gravitational Waves from Galactic Nuclei
Nicholas Stone, Assistant Professor
Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The discovery of GW150914 inaugurated the era of gravitational wave (GW) astronomy, opening a new window to study our Universe's compact objects and through which to test general relativity. Now, a decade later, the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) collaboration has seen hundreds of GW signals, overwhelmingly from mergers of binary stellar mass black holes. Despite the many successes of GW astronomy, a zeroth-order astrophysical question remains unanswered: what astrophysical environments produce the LVK binary black holes, and by what process are they assembled? Although many formation channels have been proposed, one uniquely testable solution is the "AGN channel:" a scenario in which individual black holes pair up and merge in the dissipative gaseous environment of an active galactic nucleus.

This week's Physics Colloquium has been cancelled.

Superconductors Investigated by High-Energy Particle Irradiation
Dr. Kyuil Cho, Assistant Professor
Department of Physics, Hope College

Superconductor is a material that shows zero resistivity and Meissner effect below its critical temperature. This material has been used for various applications such as superconducting wires, medical device MRI, superconducting magnets for particle accelerators, quantum computing circuits, and many more. The superconductivity research group at Hope College conducts unique research on novel superconductors by using high energy particles. High energy particle irradiation is a useful method to generate homogeneous artificial defects on superconductors. By investigating how the defects affect the properties of superconductors, one can uncover the fundamental mechanism of superconductivity.

Titin-based Molecular Underpinnings of Skeletal and Cardiac Muscle Function
Jorge Alegre-Cebollada, PhD
Associate Professor & Group Leader, CNIC (Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research)

Titin is the largest protein in the human body. The function of the protein is not any smaller: it is critical for the contractile activity of muscles in the skeletal system and in the heart. In my presentation, I will introduce fundamental concepts that link titin nanomechanics with the macroscopic mechanical function of muscle. I will focus on our recent data demonstrating dysregulation of titin nanomechanics that can contribute to increased risk of heart failure in diabetic patients.