IAP 2018 Activities by Sponsor - Lab for Nuclear Science

Bruno Coppi, Professor of Physics

Jan/25

Thu

04:00PM-05:00PM

26-414 (Kolker Room)

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Prereq: None

The collapse of black hole binaries without a following or a simultaneous emission of  high energy electromagnetic radiation has led us to predict that this kind of emission should occur immediately before the collapse. The theoretical model on which this prediction was made involves plasma structures which are assumed to exist around black hole binaries.  These can sustain intrinsic plasma collective modes that have characteristic “low” frequencies about equal to the orbiting frequencies of the binary system components.  As the collapse approaches, with the loss of angular momentum by emission of gravitational waves from the binary system, it was suggested that intrinsic plasma density oscillations having the frequency of the fluctuating component of the gravitational potential are excited in the surrounding plasma structure. Thus the precursor to the event tentatively identified by the Agile X-ray observatory can be associated with the high energy radiation emission due to the fields produced by excitation of the proposed plasma modes. Following that, the August 17, 2017 event, identified first by the LIGO-Virgo detection of gravitational waves and featuring the inferred collapse of a neutron star binary, gave ample evidence of a precursor of electromagnetic emission preceding the collapse.

See for example

PlPhR 43 289-297

PRL 118 221101

ApJL 847 L20

Sponsor(s): Lab for Nuclear Science, Physics
Contact: Bruno Coppi, 26-547, 617-253-2507, coppi@mit.edu

Bruno Coppi, Professor of Physics

Jan/22

Mon

12:00PM-01:00PM

26-414 (Kolker Room), Bring your lunch!

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

Reminisences from friends and collaborators on Enrico Fermi and the physics they were pursuing at Chicago, including presentations by Prof. Jerome Friedman, Prof. Lawrence Rosenson and Prof. Irwin Pless, with Prof. Bruno Coppi as moderator.  Commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Chicago Pile-1 experiment 12/2/42.

Sponsor(s): Lab for Nuclear Science, Physics
Contact: Bruno Coppi, 26-547, 617-253-2507, coppi@mit.edu

Stephen Steadman, Research Affiliate, Senior Research Scientist (ret.), Shalev Gilad, Principal Research Scientist

Jan/19

Fri

03:00PM-04:00PM

26-414

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

Both of the presenters are senior research staff within the Lab for Nuclear Science. One of us (Steve Steadman), who has visited Israel several times over 40 years, recently returned from a two-week pilgrimage to Christian churches and holy sites in Israel and the West Bank as part of a group sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and led by its suffragan bishop the Rt. Rev. Gayle Harris.  The other (Shalev Gilad) grew up in Israel, came to MIT, but has continued a long relationship with Israel through strong family and scientific ties. Steve Steadman will share some highlights of his pilgrimage, and each will share their perspective of what they have learned and how they see the future of these two peoples in this contested land. This will be followed by a question-and-answer period.

Sponsor(s): Lab for Nuclear Science
Contact: Stephen Steadman, 26-443, 617 258-8678, STEADMAN@MIT.EDU