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MIT Department of Physics Colloquia Schedule
SPRING 2009
Coming up on THURSDAY, 5.14, 2009:
Xiaowei Zhuang, "Imaging the Nanoscopic World of Living Systems"
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February 5, 2009
PAUL CANFIELD
Iowa State University
"Ending of the Tyranny of Copper: Intermetallic Superconductivity in the Post Copper-oxide Age"
In this colloquium I will present a broad overview of humanity's 100 year search for higher transition temperature, and generally more useful, superconductors. Particular emphasis will be placed on the past 20 years. The talk will start with an introduction to superconductivity (historically, phenomenological, and theoretically) and then progress through several of the key discoveries of the past one-score years. The basic conclusion is that this is a field that is still dominated by highly intuitive searches and sudden discoveries. That being said, the past decade has seen several discoveries that seem to point toward a very promising and rich phase space. The talk is intended to be a light and fluffy review of an exciting field.
Time: 4:15 pm
Place: Room 10-250 / MIT
Refreshments @ 3:45 pm in 4-349 (Pappalardo Community Room)
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February 12, 2009
JOCHEN SCHNEIDER
LCLS Experimental Facilities Division, SLAC, CA and Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL), Germany
"Science at SASE Free-Electron Lasers"
The broad and very compelling science case for X-ray free-electron lasers motivated the construction of 3 hard X-ray FELs: The Linac Coherent Light Source LCLS in Stanford, USA, which will start operation in summer 2009, the Spring-8 Compact SASE Source SCSS in Japan, which is expected to start operation in 2011, and the European XFEL Facility in Hamburg, Germany, with start of operation expected for 2014/15. In the beginning these facilities will work on the principle of self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE). However, various upgrade schemes are currently under discussion to further improve the beam properties.
At DESY in Hamburg the XUV free-electron laser FLASH is operated as a user facility since summer 2005. It is the prototype for the European XFEL and research is currently focused on understanding the interaction of extremely intense X-ray pulses with matter. Some of the results obtained so far, including the first steps towards single particle imaging, will be presented. The FLASH results strongly support the high expectations for revolutionary science from hard X-ray FELs.
In the second part of the talk the status of the LCLS in Stanford will be presented together with the upgrade plans currently pursued at SLAC.
Time: 4:15 pm
Place: Room 34-101 / MIT
Refreshments @ 3:45 pm in 4-349 (Pappalardo Community Room)
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February 19, 2009
MATTHIAS BURKARDT
New Mexico State University / Jefferson Lab
"Nucleon Spin Physics"
Studies of nucleon spin structure have provided many unexpected and exciting results. For example, experiments by the European Muon Collaboration about 20 years ago revealed that only a small fraction of the nucleon spin is due to quark spins, thus implying a large contribution from the gluon spins and/or quark and gluon orbital angular momentum. Furthermore, many high-energy hadronic reactions exhibit large transverse polarization phenomena, that also suggest significant orbital angular momentum components in the nucleon wave function. Complementary efforts, such as gluon polarization experiments, deeply-virtual Compton scattering, semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering, and lattice QCD calculations are under way to explore different facets of nucleon spin physics. Using simple intuitive pictures, I will explain how these experiments explore spin, orbital angular momentum, and spin-orbit correlations, and also help provide 3-dimensional images of nucleon (spin) structure.
Time: 4:15pm
Place: Room 34-101 / MIT
Refreshments @ 3:45 pm in 4-349 (The Pappalardo Community Room)
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February 26, 2009
ZOLTAN FODOR
University of Wuppertal, Eotvos University of Budapest, John von Neumann Institute for Computing, DESY-Zeuthen, and Forschungszentrum-Juelich
"The Origin of Mass of the Visible Universe"
More than 99 percent of the mass of the visible universe is made up of protons and neutrons. Both particles are much heavier than their quark and gluon constituents. The Standard Model of particle physics is supposed to explain this difference. A full ab-initio calculation (based on lattice quantum chromodynamics) of the masses of protons, neutrons and other light hadrons is presented. The cosmological transition, at which the mass of the visible universe has been generated, is also discussed.
Time: 4:15 pm
Place: Room 10-250 / MIT
Refreshments @ 3:45 pm in 4-349 (The Pappalardo Community Room)
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March 5, 2009
MARC KAMIONKOWSKI
California Institute of Technology
"Is the Universe Homogeneous and Isotropic?"
Inflation predicts that the Universe is homogeneous and isotropic---that is, the same everywhere and in every direction. Although cosmological homogeneity and isotropy are generally assumed to be true, this is a prediction that can be tested quantitatively. I will first discuss tests of homogeneity and isotropy. I will then review briefly some recent evidence that may show a departure from homogeneity and present a theoretical model that may account for this anomaly. I will close by speculating wildly about the pre-inflationary Universe.
Time: 4:15 pm
Place: Room 10-250 / MIT
Refreshments @ 3:45 pm in 8-329 (Marble Room)
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March 12, 2009
MARGARET MURNANE
JILA, University of Colorado at Boulder and NIST
"Harnessing Attosecond Science in the Quest for Coherent X-Rays"
To generate coherent x-ray beams, extreme nonlinear optical techniques have succeeded in upshifting visible laser light into the soft x-ray region of the spectrum. This ability has given us a new coherent light source that spans a large spectral bandwidth, with pulse durations on sub-femtosecond or attosecond (1 as=10-18 s) time-scales. Equally intriguing is the fact that we have learned how to use light to coherently manipulate electrons in atoms and molecules on their fundamental, attosecond, timescales. The richness and complexity of attosecond science and technology is only just beginning to be uncovered. As I will discuss in this talk, attosecond science can capture the complex, interwoven dance of electrons in molecules and materials. Attosecond science also shows great promise for developing new ultrasensitive molecular imaging and spectroscopic techniques. Finally, attosecond science represents the most promising avenue to achieve what had seemed hopelessly impractical until now -- the generation of bright, coherent, hard X-ray beams using a tabletop-scale apparatus.
Time: 4:15 pm
Place: Room 10-250 / MIT
Refreshments @ 3:45 pm in 4-349 (The Pappalardo Community Room)
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March 19, 2009
JEFF KIMBLE
California Institute of Technology
"Quantum Networks"
Quantum networks offer a unifying set of opportunities and challenges across exciting intellectual and technical frontiers, including for quantum computation, communication, and metrology [1]. The realization of quantum networks composed of many nodes and channels requires new scientific capabilities for the generation and characterization of quantum coherence and entanglement. Fundamental to this endeavor are quantum interconnects that convert quantum states from one physical system to those of another in a reversible fashion. Such quantum connectivity for networks can be achieved by optical interactions of single photons and atoms, thereby enabling quantum state transfer and teleportation between nodes. Within this setting, I will describe ongoing research in the Caltech Quantum Optics Group related to cavity QED with single atoms strongly coupled to the fields of high-quality optical resonators and collective interactions of atomic ensembles with single photons and entangled states of light.
Time: 4:15 pm
Place: Room 10-250 / MIT
Refreshments @ 3:45 pm in 4-349 (The Pappalardo Community Room)
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March 26, 2009
Spring Break
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April 2, 2009
GEORGE WHITESIDES
Harvard University
"Problems at the Interface between Physics, Chemistry, and Energy"
Abstract not available.
Time: 4:15 pm
Place: Room 10-250 / MIT
Refreshments @ 3:45 pm in 4-349 (The Pappalardo Community Room)
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Please note: this particular colloquium is held on Wednesday as well as a room change for refreshments.
April 8, 2009
DAM THANH SON
University of Washington
"Viscosity, Quark Gluon Plasma, and String Theory"
Viscosity is a very old concept which was introduced to physics by Navier in the 19th century. However, in strongly coupled systems viscosity is extremely difficult to compute ab initio. In this talk I will describe some recent surprising developments in string theory which allow one to compute the viscosity for a class of strongly interacting fluids not too dissimilar to the quark gluon plasma. I will describe efforts to measure the viscosity and other physical properties of the quark gluon plasma at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.
Time: 4:15 pm
Place: Room 32-123 / MIT
Refreshments @ 3:45 pm in 32-123
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Please note: this particular colloquium is held on Wednesday.
April 15, 2009
SIDNEY DRELL
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
"Steps Toward a World Free of Nuclear Weapons: Rekindling the Vision of Reagan and Gorbachev at Reykjavik"
Abstract: During the Cold War, the United States and the former Soviet Union relied on nuclear deterrence to navigate successfully through those perilous years. In today’s world, with the accelerating spread of nuclear material, know-how, and weapons, we are facing an increasing danger that nuclear weapons, the deadliest weapons ever invented, may be acquired by ruthless national leaders or suicidal terrorists. Under these circumstances, relying on thousands of nuclear weapons for deterrence is becoming increasingly hazardous and decreasingly effective. What will it take to rekindle the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons that President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev brought to their remarkable summit at Reykjavik in 1986? Can a world-wide consensus be forged on a series of practical steps to escape the nuclear deterrence trap?
Time: 4:15 pm
Place: Room 34-101 / MIT
Refreshments @ 3:45 pm in 4-349 (The Pappalardo Community Room)
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April 23, 2009
ALAIN ASPECT
Institut d'Optique
"Wave particle duality for a single photon: from Einstein's LichtQuanten to Wheeler's Delayed Choice Experiment"
Wave-particle duality is at the root of the quantum revolution initiated at the beginning of the XXth century, and most textbooks on quantum physics start with a description of an "experiment" to demonstrate it. In contrast to a common belief, this textbook experiment was only realized with photons in 1985, after the development of the first source of single photons. The most fascinating scheme of that Gedanken Experiment -the "delayed-choice" experiment proposed by J.A. Wheeler- has been recently implemented. We will present that experiment, which stresses one big "quantum mystery" in the words of Feynman.
Time: 4:15 pm
Place: Room 10-250 / MIT
Refreshments @ 3:45 pm in 4-349 (The Pappalardo Community Room)
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April 30, 2009
MICHAEL BROWN
California Institute of Technology
"The Dwarf Planets of the Outer Solar System"
The past few years have seen an explosion in the discoveries of Pluto- and near Pluto-sized bodies in the outer solar system, giving rise to a new classification of "dwarf planets."
Like Pluto, each of these largest dwarf planets has a unique story to tell about the history and evolution of the solar system. I'll discuss the discoveries of these objects and the new views of giant collisions, stellar encounters, and planetary rearrangement that we are gaining from their study.
Time: 4:15 pm
Place: Room 34-101 / MIT
Refreshments @ 3:45 pm in 4-349 (The Pappalardo Community Room)
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May 7, 2009
KIP THORNE
California Institute of Technology
"The Warped Side of Our Universe"
There is a "warped side" of our universe, consisting of objects and phenomena that are made solely or largely from warped spacetime. Examples are black holes, singularities (inside black holes and in the big bang), and cosmic strings. Numerical-relativity simulations are revolutionizing our understanding of what could exist on our universe's warped side, and gravitational-wave observations (LIGO, LISA, etc.) will reveal what phenomena actually do exist on the warped side, and how they behave.
Time: 4:15 pm
Place: Room 10-250 / MIT
Refreshments @ 3:45 pm in 4-349 (The Pappalardo Community Room)
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* CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE *
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
FELICITAS PAUSS
Institute for Particle Physics,
ETH Zürich
"The Large Hadron Collider at CERN: Entering a New Era in Unraveling the Mystery of Matter, Space and Time"
Abstract: Forthcoming.
Time: 4:15pm
Place: Room 32-123 / MIT
Refreshments: 3:45pm in 32-123
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May 14, 2009
XIAOWEI ZHUANG
Harvard University
"Imaging the Nanoscopic World of Living Systems"
Abstract: Forthcoming.
Time: 4:15 pm
Place: Room 10-250 / MIT
Refreshments @ 3:45 pm in 4-349 (The Pappalardo Community Room)
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