Events During the Week of October 2nd through October 9th, 2022
Monday, October 3rd, 2022
- Plasma Physics (Physics/ECE/NE 922) Seminar
- Prospects for experiments to measure the lifetime of spin polarized fuel
- Time: 12:00 pm
- Place: 1610 Engineering Hall
- Speaker: Bill Heidbrink, UC-Irvine
- Host: Benedikt Geiger
Tuesday, October 4th, 2022
- Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology)
- Quantum current dissipation in superconducting strings
- Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
- Place: Chamberlin 5280
- Speaker: Yoshihiko Abe, UW Madison
- Abstract: We discuss the current stability of a cosmic string with the bosonic superconductivity. A non-vanishing curvature of the string generally induce the instability of the current-carrying particle. We explore the decay rates for various types of model parameters, curved string shapes, and decay processes. As a cosmological application, the stability is examined for superconducting strings in the string network and also for cosmic vortons by evaluating their cosmological evolution. This work is based on the collaboration with Yu Hamada, Kota Saji, and Koichi Yoshioka, arXiv:2209.03223 [hep-ph].
- Host: George Wojcik
Wednesday, October 5th, 2022
- Physics ∩ ML Seminar
- Maths with transformers
- Time: 11:00 am - 12:15 pm
- Place: Online Seminar: Please sign up for our mailing list at www.physicsmeetsml.org for zoom link
- Speaker: François Charton, Meta
- Abstract: Transformers can be trained, from synthetic data, to solve problems of mathematics, by considering them as translations from problems into solutions. Models achieve high accuracy on a variety of tasks, learn deep mathematical properties, and generalize out of distribution if their training set is selected with care. I illustrate their use on several problems, from symbolic integration to numerical computation, and symbolic regression.
- Host: Gary Shiu
Thursday, October 6th, 2022
- Astronomy Colloquium
- The dark side of massive galaxies and new light with JWST
- Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- Place: 4421 Sterling Hall, Or via zoom
- Speaker: Christina Williams, NOAO
- Abstract: Our most powerful telescopes have glimpsed galaxies in their early growth phase only a few billion years after the Big Bang. Surprisingly, galaxy surveys show that the most massive galaxies in the Universe were formed the earliest in cosmic time, in extreme but short-lived bursts of star-formation. I will discuss my research into the unknown astrophysics that drives, and abruptly ends, the extreme lives of massive galaxies. By integrating uniquely deep ALMA and optical/infrared imaging, I will present new insights into the growth rates and gas reservoirs of both quiescent and dusty star-forming massive galaxies during their early evolution. This research will soon take a leap forward using JWST, which will unveil the hidden astrophysics of early galaxy growth with the deepest infrared imaging and spectroscopy ever taken. I will conclude with an overview of two galaxy surveys I will co-lead during the first year of JWST and forcast how they will contribute to outstanding questions about the life cycle of massive galaxies.
Friday, October 7th, 2022
- Physics Department Colloquium
- Future Colliders: The Higgs and Beyond
- Time: 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
- Place: 2241 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Patrick Meade, SUNY-Stony Brook
- Abstract: I will discuss the current status of LHC measurements and physics prospects at potential future colliders based on electrons, protons and the resurgent idea of a muon collider. I will emphasize how many of the unanswered questions about the Standard Model of particle physics are connected to measuring properties of the Higgs with higher precision. In particular I will point out how improving quantitative precision in certain measurements can lead to qualitative changes about our understanding of the universe. I will primarily focus on a few examples from flavor physics and cosmology in making this case. Additionally I will show some of the possibilities that high energy colliders offer for physics discovery beyond the Higgs.
- Host: Sridhara Dasu