Events on Tuesday, March 14th, 2017
- Chaos & Complex Systems Seminar
- The complexity of the U.S. tax system and the consequences for reform
- Time: 12:05 pm - 1:00 pm
- Place: 4274 Chamberlin (refreshments will be served)
- Speaker: John Witte, UW Lafollette Institute
- Abstract: This talk will review the changing status of “tax expenditures” (loopholes) from 1975 to 2015 based on data from a new book by the author. It will be argued that after a brief respite produced by the 1986 Tax Reform Act, tax expenditures have again grown precipitously to the point that classical tax reform is very improbable. Part of the problem is that tax loophole growth and expansion are a policy mechanism for both political parties and both the legislative and executive branches of government. Thus, unlike an earlier suggestion by the author for reforming the tax code, he will propose that perhaps it is best now to simply accept tax expenditures as inevitable and try to establish guidelines for which should be supported and which cut back or eliminated.
- Host: Clint Sprott
- Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology)
- Lattice Insights for Composite BSM Models
- Time: 3:30 pm
- Place: 5280 Chamberlin
- Speaker: Ethan Neil, University of Colorado, Boulder
- Abstract: A number of interesting models of new physics, including composite Higgs and composite dark matter scenarios, imagine new strongly-coupled gauge interactions that give rise to compositeness. The phenomenology of these models is typically studied using low-energy effective theories, but calculations in the underlying strongly-coupled theory can predict low-energy constants from a handful of fundamental parameters, as well as giving new insights beyond the effective description. I will review recent efforts using lattice gauge theory to study theories beyond QCD, with an eye towards BSM physics.
- Physics Education Innovation Seminar
- Physics Education and Active Learning
- Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
- Place: 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Ben Spike, UW - Madison Department of Physics
- Abstract: Dr. Ben Spike has recently joined the Department of Physics through the REACH initiative as our new Coordinator of Active Learning. Ben will discuss his experience with similar course transformations in Physics at UC Berkeley and his experience in Physics Education Research there and at CU Boulder.
- Host: Peter Timbie