Physics Lectures for the General MIT Community
Professor Edward Farhi
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Participants welcome at individual sessions (series)
A series of physics lectures, scheduled dates and times appear below. Titles to be announced; please continue to refer to this page for lecture updates.
Web: http://websis.mit.edu/iap/ns8.html
Contact: Professor Edward Farhi, 6-309, 253-4871, farhi@MIT.EDU
What You Could Do With a Quantum Computer If You Had One
Edward Farhi
If a big enough quantum computer is ever built it could do things that no ordinary computer could ever do. I will explain the power of quantum computers to solve problems faster than ordinary computers.
Mon Jan 6, 12:30-01:30pm, 6-120
Cosmic Inflation and the Accelerating Universe
Alan Guth
Inflationary cosmology offers possible explanations for many
features of our universe, including its uniformity, its mass
density, and the faint ripples that are now being observed
in the cosmic background radiation. The recently discovered
acceleration of the universe has radically changed some
aspects of our theories, but has helped to confirm the basic
predictions of inflation.
Wed Jan 8, 12:30-01:30pm, 6-120
Teaching Feynman's Tools: The Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams in Postwar Physics
David Kaiser
Feynman diagrams have revolutionized nearly every aspect of theoretical physics since the middle of the 20th century. By following how young physicists learned about the new techniques from the late 1940s through the 1960s, broader changes in the infrastructure and intellectual development
of postwar physics come into focus. The diagrams' history thus helps us to make sense of what it was like to become a young theoretical physicist in the decades after World War II.
Fri Jan 10, 12:30-01:30pm, 6-120
Detection of Gravitational Waves With Interferometers
Nergis Mavalvala
Observatories worldwide are coming on the air to launch an era of astrophysics with gravitational waves. I will describe the principles of gravitational wave generation and detection.
Mon Jan 13, 12:30-01:30pm, 6-120
String Theory and Black Holes
Barton Zwiebach
Black holes have temperature and radiate.
These facts, hard to understand within the
context of Einstein's theory of General Relativity,
have a surprisingly natural explanation in
String Theory.
Wed Jan 15, 12:30-01:30pm, 6-120
Scanning Tunneling Microscopy: A Tool for Atomic Scale Measurement and Manipulation
Eric Hudson
As technology drives electronics towards nanoelectronics, where wires are a few atoms wide and transistors are sensitive to single electrons, physicists must have a tool to investigate the new phenomena that arise in this regime. The Scanning Tunneling Microscope is one such tool, and in this talk I will highlight its ability to image and move atoms, and discuss some results of studies of individual atomic impurities in high temperature superconductors.
Wed Jan 22, 12:30-01:30pm, Topic TBA
How to Do an Experiment in Space
Ulrich Becker
Doing an experiment is not easy -- especially in space. But it is great fun to be challenged by ABC = Alligators, Bureaucracy, Cosmic conditions. An example is given.
Fri Jan 24, 12:30-01:30pm, 6-120
An Intriguing Transition in Quantum Dots
Ray Ashoori
About 30 years ago, experimenters learned how to place electrons on the surface of liquid helium. They found evidence that these electrons, spaced about a micron apart, are localized in a hexagonally ordered crystal. In
semiconductors, experimenters can also produce such two-dimensional electron gases. However, the spacing between electrons is much smaller (about 0.01 micron), and the electrons are instead delocalized in a "quantum fluid". In
laterally confined two-dimensional systems (quantum dots), we can produce two-dimensional systems of variable density, and we have observed striking signatures of such a localization to delocalization transition as we increase
the electron density.
Mon Jan 27, 12:30-01:30pm, 6-120
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Quantum Maps and Quantum Computers in Phase Space
Marcos Saraceno University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Wed Jan 22, Fri Jan 24, Mon Jan 27, Wed Jan 29, 10:30am-12:00pm, NW14-1112
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Participants requested to attend all sessions (non-series)
Prereq: Graduate or Advanced Undergraduate Quantum Mechanics
Four 1 1/2 hour lectures on the use of phase space techniques to analyze quantum maps and quantum algorithms. Topics to be covered are tentatively:
1) Classical and Quantum Maps: (a) Classical maps, generating functions, examples; (b) Quantum mechanics on the torus; (c) Quantization of simple classical transformations
2) Quantum Maps as Algorithms: (a) The Fourier transform; (b) Kicked, Baker's and Smale maps, (c) Grover's algorithm; (d) Cat maps
3) Phase Space Representations: (a) The density matrix; (b) Discrete "phase point" operators, translations and reflections; (c) The Weyl representation, Wigner functions; (d) The Kirkwood and Husimi representations
4) Super-operators in Phase Space: (a) The unitary case, Perron-Frobenius operator; (b) Models of decoherence in Phase space, Coarse Graining; (c) Spectral properties and rates of decoherence.
Contact: Timothy F. Havel, NW14-2218, 253-8309, tfhavel@mit.edu
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Teaching Workshop: Learning to Teach to Different Genders, Ethnicities and Cultures
Peter Dourmashkin
Thu Jan 9, 10am-12:00pm, 4-339
Single session event
One of the core values of the Institute is the notion that MIT is a place that nurtures the personal and intellectual growth of each student and staff member without the interference of intolerant or insensitive behavior based on an individual's race, gender, culture, national origin or sexual orientation. To cultivate a sensitivity of these values the Physics Department offers a training session for recitation section leaders, tutors, or any interested community members. Topics explored will include an examination of what constitutes improper or harassing behavior; the responsibilities community members have in respecting and relating to one another and strategies for fostering communication and acceptance across the diverse MIT community.
Contact: Kathy Krysiak, 6-114, 253-4804, kkrysiak@mit.edu
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The Feynman Films
Markos Hankin
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Participants welcome at individual sessions (series)
Prereq: None
This series of films by Richard Feynman is open to the MIT community. Please check IAP web site for film titles.
Web: http://websis.mit.edu/iap/ns8.html
Contact: Markos Hankin, 4-309, 253-4844, mhankin@mit.edu
The Law of Gravitation
Markos Hankin
Mon Jan 6, 11:30am-12:30pm, 6-120
The Best Mind Since Einstein
Markos Hankin
Wed Jan 8, 11:30am-12:30pm, 6-120
The Relation of Mathematics to Physics
Markos Hankin
Fri Jan 10, 11:30am-12:30pm, 6-120
The Great Conservation Principles
Markos Hankin
Mon Jan 13, 11:30am-12:30pm, 6-120
Symmetry in Physical Law
Markos Hankin
Wed Jan 15, 11:30am-12:30pm, 6-120
The Last Journey of a Genius
Markos Hankin
Fri Jan 17, 11:30am-12:30pm, 6-120
Take the World from Another Point of View
Markos Hankin
Wed Jan 22, 11:30am-12:30pm, 6-120
The Distinction of Past and Future
Markos Hankin
Fri Jan 24, 11:30am-12:30pm, 6-120
Probability and Uncertainty
Markos Hankin
Mon Jan 27, 11:30am-12:30pm, 6-120
Seeking New Laws
Markos Hankin
Wed Jan 29, 11:30am-12:30pm, 6-120
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