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Events During the Week of May 5th through May 12th, 2024
Sunday, May 5th, 2024: Academic Calendar; Final Exams; Abstract: *Note: actual end time may vary.* URL:; Add this event to your calendar
Monday, May 6th, 2024: Academic Calendar; Final Exams; Abstract: *Note: actual end time may vary.* URL:; Add this event to your calendar
Tuesday, May 7th, 2024: Academic Calendar; Final Exams; Abstract: *Note: actual end time may vary.* URL:; Add this event to your calendar; Graduate Program Event; Personal Finance Workshop for Grad Students; Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; Place: 5280 CH; Speaker: Carol Hulland; Abstract: Several of you have asked me about arranging for someone to come speak about personal finance for graduate students. Questions about saving and budgets and generally managing funds are challenging. Carol Hulland is willing to present a workshop for you on starting early and continuing throughout one’s work life to take steps that build financial resilience.; Host: Sharon Kahn; Add this event to your calendar; Preliminary Exam; Flow-based Nonperturbative Simulation of First-order Phase Transitions; Time: 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm; Place: B343, Sterling Hall; Speaker: Dean Chen, Physics PhD Graduate Student; Abstract: In this talk, I will introduce a flow-based nonperturbative method to study the first-order phase transition (FOPT) of a scalar field theory on a lattice. Motivated by possible early-universe first-order electroweak and QCD phase transitions and recent developments in machine learning tools, including normalizing flows (NFs) for lattice field theory, we have developed a simulation algorithm to efficiently calculate bubble nucleation rates. We propose the ``partitioning flow-based (PF) sampling" method to overcome two challenges in the application of NFs for lattice field theory: the "mode-collapse" and "rare-event sampling" problems. Using a (2+1)-dimensional real scalar model as an example, we demonstrate the capability of our PF method to calculate the nucleation rates for the thermal FOPT. This method could be applied to (3+1)-dimensional theories and used to study realistic cosmological phase transitions.; Host: Yang Bai; Add this event to your calendar; Network in Neutrinos, Nuclear Astrophysics, and Symmetries (N3AS) Seminar; Phenomenology of Effective Field Theory with Sterile Neutrinos; Time: 2:00 pm; Place: Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 912 3071 4547; Speaker: Kaori Fuyuto , LANL; Abstract: Sterile neutrino is one of the attractive hypothetical particles that can explain major puzzles in our Universe: the origin of neutrino mass, the existence of dark matter, and the matter-antimatter asymmetry. Standard Model (SM) effective field theory with light sterile neutrinos is called nuSMEFT, which includes not only renormalizable interactions between the SM particles and sterile neutrinos but also higher-dimensional operators obtained by integrating out heavy degrees of freedom. In this talk, I will discuss how nuSMEFT interactions contribute to neutrinoless double beta decay and sterile neutrino Dark Matter.
Join Zoom Meeting; Host: Baha Balantekin; Add this event to your calendar; Wisconsin Quantum Institute; Quantum Coffee Hour; Time: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm; Place: Rm.5294, Chamberlin Hall; Abstract: Please join us for the WQI Quantum Coffee today at 3PM in the Physics Faculty Lounge (Rm.5294 in Chamberlin Hall). This series, which takes place approximately every other Tuesday, aims to foster a casual and collaborative atmosphere where faculty, post-docs, students, and anyone with an interest in quantum information sciences can come together. There will be coffee and treats.; Add this event to your calendar
Wednesday, May 8th, 2024: Academic Calendar; Final Exams; Abstract: *Note: actual end time may vary.* URL:; Add this event to your calendar; Theory Seminar (High Energy/Cosmology); The Minimal Weak Gravity Conjecture; Time: 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm; Place: 5280 Chamberlin; Speaker: Alessandro Mininno, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY; Abstract: I examine the minimal constraints imposed by the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC) on the particle spectrum of a quantum gravity theory. Recently, we have argued for the existence of a minimal radius for circle reductions of generic quantum gravity theories. Below this threshold, the notion of a circle compactification breaks down, bypassing the need for a tower of super-extremal states to satisfy the WGC after circle reduction. Based on this, we propose that if a theory satisfies the WGC at the particle level below the black hole threshold, these states are sufficient for consistency under dimensional reduction, even in absence of a tower of super-extremal particles. Evidence for this main result is found in F-, M- and string theory compactifications. The only exception to the appearance of a minimal radius arises in asymptotically weak-coupling limits for heterotic strings, which aligns with the appearance of a weakly coupled super-extremal tower of particle states. This observation motivates a Minimal Weak Gravity Conjecture which states that towers of super-extremal particles occur if and only if they are required by consistency of the WGC under dimensional reduction. The talk is based on [2312.04619].; Host: Gary Shiu; Add this event to your calendar
Thursday, May 9th, 2024: Academic Calendar; Final Exams; Abstract: *Note: actual end time may vary.* URL:; Add this event to your calendar; R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar; Proper correlation measures: the case with Rényi mutual information; Time: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm; Place: 5310 Chamberlin; Speaker: Laimei Nie, Purdue; Abstract: Mutual information, defined via the linear combinations of von Neumann entanglement entropies, measures the total correlations between two subsystems and has played a vital role in characterizing equilibrium and non-equilibrium phenomena in many-body physics. In practice, its Renyi counterpart is usually computed owing to its simplicity. However, this commonly used notion of Renyi Mutual Information (RMI) cannot be interpreted as a measure of correlation, because it is neither non-negative nor does it satisfy the Data Processing Inequality. In this talk, we will explore several classes of properly defined RMIs. In particular, we develop an easily implementable replica trick which enables us to evaluate these RMIs in a variety of many-body systems, including 2D conformal field theories and random tensor networks. We will also discuss the prospect of measuring these new RMIs in quantum simulator experiments.; Host: Ilya Esterlis; Add this event to your calendar; NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum; High-energy and ultrahigh-energy neutrinos: a new window for astrophysics and particle physics; Time: 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm; Place: CH 5280 /; Speaker: Bei Zhou, Fermilab; Abstract: High-energy (HE; ~100 GeV to 100 PeV) and ultrahigh-energy (UHE; >~ 100 PeV) neutrinos are crucial for neutrino astrophysics, high-energy astrophysics, and multimessenger astronomy. They also offer significant opportunities to study neutrino interactions, test the Standard Model of particle physics, and explore physics beyond the Standard Model. In this talk, I will first talk about final state radiation, which impacts both HE and UHE neutrino observations (https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.07984), a QED radiative correction as large as 25% while completely overlooked by current experiments. Then, on the astrophysics side, I will talk about the search for HE neutrinos choked-jet supernova using IceCube public data (https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.03088). Finally, I will talk about an improved calculation of the W-boson production which is relevant for HE neutrino observations (https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.10497).; Host: Francis Halzen; Add this event to your calendar
Friday, May 10th, 2024: Academic Calendar; Final Exams; Abstract: *Note: actual end time may vary.* URL:; Add this event to your calendar; Preliminary Exam; Application of geometric deeping learning in charged-particle track reconstruction in the ATLAS ITk; Time: 9:00 am - 11:00 am; Place:; Speaker: Tuan Pham, Physics Graduate Student; Abstract: The reconstruction of charged-particle trajectories, ranking amongst the most computationally demanding tasks in particle collider experiments, such as the ATLAS experiment at CERN, plays an essential role in any High-Energy Physics program, as it determines the quality of particle identification, kinematic measurement, vertex finding, lepton reconstruction, jet flavor tagging, and other downstream tasks. The upcoming High Luminosity phase of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) represents a steep increase in the average number of proton-proton interactions and hence in the computing resources required for offline track reconstruction of the ATLAS Inner Tracker (ITk). As such, track pattern recognition algorithms based on Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have been demonstrated as a promising approach to these challenges. We present a novel algorithm developed for track reconstruction in silicon detectors based on a number of deep learning techniques including GNN architectures. Using detector simulation of collision events associated with the production of a top quark pair on the latest version of ITk geometry under HL-LHC conditions, we demonstrate the performance of our algorithm, and compare to that of the tracking algorithm currently used in ATLAS on a range of important physics metrics, including reconstruction efficiency, and track parameter resolution. Finally, we discuss the algorithm's computational performance and optimisations that reduce computing costs, as well as our effort to integrate into the ATLAS analysis software for full-chain testing and production.; Host: Sau Lan Wu; Add this event to your calendar; Graduation Event; Graduation Celebration Event; Time: 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm; Place: 2241 Chamberlin; Speaker: various; Abstract: Come celebrate and congratulate our 2024 graduates from both the undergraduate and Ph.D. Programs! We will celebrate the Ph.D. graduates from 3:00 - 3:30, enjoy treats and ice cream from 3:30 - 4:00, and then celebrate the undergraduates from 4:00 - 5:00. Please RSVP at go.wisc.edu/physicscommencement; Host: Sharon Kahn and Evan Heintz; Add this event to your calendar; Academic Calendar; Graduate School Spring 2024: Master's degree deadline; Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm; Abstract: CONTACT: 262-2433, gsacserv@grad.wisc.edu; Add this event to your calendar; Academic Calendar; Commencement: Doctoral & Medical Professional; Time: 5:30 pm - 12:00 am; Abstract: URL:; Add this event to your calendar
Saturday, May 11th, 2024: Academic Calendar; Commencement: Bachelor's, Master's, Law; Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm; Add this event to your calendar
Sunday, May 12th, 2024: Academic Calendar; Graduate School Spring 2024: Doctoral degree deadline; Time: 11:55 pm - 12:55 am; Abstract: Degree candidates must complete all steps: CONTACT: 262-2433, gsacserv@grad.wisc.edu; Add this event to your calendar

Events During the Week of May 5th through May 12th, 2024