Events on Friday, September 25th, 2020
- Graduate Introductory Seminar (Physics 701)
- Frontiers in Linear and Nonlinear Plasma Physics
- Time: 12:05 pm - 12:55 pm
- Place: BBCollaborate
- Speaker: Jeff Parker, UW Madison Department of Physics
- Host: Sridhara Dasu
- Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology)
- Probing Particle Physics with Gravitational Waves
- Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
- Place: For zoom link, sign up at:
- Speaker: Horng Sheng Chia, Institute for Advanced Study
- Abstract: Gravitational wave astronomy will transform astrophysics in many ways; can it do the same for particle physics? In this talk, I will describe how the gravitational waves emitted by binary systems offer us a new window onto physics beyond the Standard Model. I will focus on a specific class of new physics called ultralight bosons, which can spontaneously form boson clouds around rotating black holes. Remarkably, the dynamics of these clouds in binary systems can be formulated as “scattering events” that are quantified by a “S-matrix”. Furthermore, the signatures emitted by these binary systems allow us to infer the masses and intrinsic spins of these ultralight bosons, making binary black holes novel detectors for these putative new fields. I will end with a brief discussion on probes of other types of new physics, including current efforts to search for these novel signatures in the data.
- Host: Lars Aalsma
- Department Coffee Hour
- Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- Place:
- Abstract: Join us weekly for an informal virtual coffee hour! Catch up with others in the department, tell us how things are going, and impress everyone with your Zoom background skills. Coffee Hour is open to any and all faculty, staff, and students in the department. Sometimes we have a topic, and we'll try to get that topic posted here in advance or sent out by email before each coffee hour.
- Host: Department