Events List for the Academic Year
Event Time:
Saturday, April 12, 2025 | 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Event Location:
TRIUMF - Main Office Building Auditorium (4004 Wesbrook Mall Vancouver, BC / V6T 2A3)
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2025-04-12T10:00:00
2025-04-12T12:00:00
Saturday Morning Lectures
Event Information:
April 12 (TRIUMF)10:00 Sabrina Leslie (UBC): "New eyes on medicines and vaccines: seeing how they work one molecule at a time"11:10 Andrea Capra (TRIUMF): "Dropping anti-atoms at CERN"
Event Location:
TRIUMF - Main Office Building Auditorium (4004 Wesbrook Mall Vancouver, BC / V6T 2A3)
Event Time:
Thursday, April 10, 2025 | 9:30 am - 2:30 pm
Event Location:
Earth Sciences Building, 1st Floor Lobby and Atrium
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2025-04-10T09:30:00
2025-04-10T14:30:00
2025 Science Education Open House
Event Information:
Welcome, faculty and instructors to the 2025 Science Education Open House:
Event Schedule
9:30am - Registration
Check in at registration desk, coffee and snacks available
10:00am - Morning Session, Part 1
Welcome and Schedule Overview
Remarks from Mark MacLachlan, Dean pro tem
Highlights from the Skylight Team
Looking Back to Look Forward - Karen Smith (Microbiology & Immunology)
11:15am - Break
Coffee and snacks available
11:30am - Morning Session, Part 2
Integrating Generative AI into Curricula: Motivation, Challenges, and Approaches – Dongwook Yoon (Computer Science)
The Development and Delivery of a Pre-term, Unassessed Laboratory Foundations Event (LFE) for Incoming First-year Students with Minimal Prior Laboratory Experience – Navreet Grewal, Anne Thomas & Anka Lekhi (Chemistry)
12:30pm - Lunch
Lunch and socializing with colleagues, food will remain available during the poster session
1:00pm - Poster (or “Show and Tell”) Session
Afternoon session showcasing teaching and learning projects from across the Faculty of Science
Event Location:
Earth Sciences Building, 1st Floor Lobby and Atrium
Event Time:
Monday, March 31, 2025 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 318
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2025-03-31T16:00:00
2025-03-31T17:00:00
A Pan-STARRS Search for Distant Planets
Event Information:
Abstract:
I present a search for distant planets in Pan-STARRS1 data. This search has been calibrated by injecting an isotropic control population of synthetic detections into Pan-STARRS1 source catalogs, providing a high-fidelity approximation to injecting synthetic sources at the image level. The search method is sensitive to a wide range of distances, as well as all rates and directions of motion. The search discovered and recovered 692 solar system objects, including 642 TNOs, 23 of which are dwarf planets. By raw number of detections, this is the third most productive Kuiper Belt survey to date, in spite of the fact that distances closer than 80 au were not explicitly searched.
Although the search did not find Planet Nine or any other planetary objects, to date, it shows that the remaining parameter space for Planet Nine is highly concentrated in the galactic plane.
A catalog-based approach to characterizing searches will be increasingly important for surveys such as Rubin, Euclid, and Roman, for which injecting synthetic moving sources directly into the images will be even more challenging.
Bio:
Matthew Holman is an Astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and a Lecturer in the Harvard University Department of Astronomy. Holman received an S.B. degree in Mathematics in 1989 and a Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences in 1994, both from MIT. After postdoctoral positions at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, he joined the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in 1997 as a tenure-track civil servant and received tenure in 2001.
Holman is credited with the discovery of satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Holman, along with Jack Wisdom, developed an algorithm for the efficient and accurate numerical integration of the orbits in the solar system n-body problem. This is now the framework of nearly every solar system integration package available.
Holman, along with Norman Murray, received the 1999 Newcomb Cleveland Award, given annually by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for the outstanding refereed publication in Science.
Learn More:
Read his faculty wepage from the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard & Simthsonian here: Matthew Holman | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
Go through his personal webpage here: Matthew Holman's Home Page
Some of his discoveries:
"Discovery of Three Irregular Neptunian Moons": Text of Neptunian Press Release
"The Irregular Satellites of Saturn": THE SATURNIAN IRREGULARS HOME PAGE
"The Uranian Irregulars home page": THE URANIAN IRREGULARS HOME PAGE
View his wikipedia page: Matthew J. Holman - Wikipedia
Event Location:
HENN 318
Event Time:
Saturday, March 29, 2025 | 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Event Location:
SFU Surrey (13450 - 102nd Avenue Galleria 250 Surrey, BC / V3T 0A3)
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2025-03-29T10:00:00
2025-03-29T12:00:00
Saturday Morning Lectures
Event Information:
March 29 (SFU)10:00 Sabrina Leslie (UBC): "New eyes on medicines and vaccines: seeing how they work one molecule at a time"11:10 Annika Lennarz (TRIUMF): "Hunting for Ghosts - Searching for massive neutrinos with superconducting sensors"
Event Location:
SFU Surrey (13450 - 102nd Avenue Galleria 250 Surrey, BC / V3T 0A3)
Event Time:
Thursday, March 27, 2025 | 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 200 (in the atrium outside of the classroom)
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2025-03-27T15:00:00
2025-03-27T16:00:00
PHAS Thursday Tea!
Event Information:
Event Information:
We welcome you to our weekly PHAS THURSDAY Tea!
Term 2 has delivered a new schedule for our friendly neighbourhood tea event: join us Thursdays from 3-4pm in the atrium outside of HENN 200. For those interested, we invite you to follow up with our weekly Department colloquia in HENN 201 from 4-5pm.
We welcome all students, staff and faculty to meet new-to-you colleagues, catch up with your physics community and to learn about current happenings in the PHAS Department.
Meet your hosts from the EDI Community Building Working Group:
Jess McIver
Adele Ruosi
Megan Bingham
Evan Goetz
Mona Berciu
Howard Li
Mandana Amiri
We look forward to meeting you!
Event Location:
HENN 200 (in the atrium outside of the classroom)
Event Time:
Thursday, March 27, 2025 | 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Event Location:
BRIM 111
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2025-03-27T10:00:00
2025-03-27T11:00:00
Shedding nano-light on quantum materials
Event Information:
Optical spectroscopies have contributed immensely to the present understanding of metals, semiconductors and superconductors. Unfortunately, optics encounters problems when it comes to “seeing” effects at length scales below the diffraction limit of light and also with probing physics outside of the light cone. Both capabilities are highly desirable for the exploration of quantum physics of new quantum materials. Over the last decade or so, our group has developed and deployed scanning-probe nano-optical methods for the nano-scale spectroscopy and imaging of complex materials. In this talk, I will discuss our progress with the understanding of the electronic phenomena in atomically layered van der Waals (vdW) materials, all empowered by deeply subdiffractional nano-light imaging. I will focus on two recent results: 1) Good plasmons in a bad metal: MoOCl_2 is the latest addition to hyperbolic vdW materials with non-trivial electrodynamics spanning a broad range of frequencies from mid-IR to visible [Frank Ruta et al. Science 387, 786 (2025)]; 2) vdW waveguide quantum electrodynamics: we observed notable Purcell enhancement of the spontaneous emission produced by MoTe_2 monolayers integrated in WSe_2 waveguides [Sam Moore et al. Nature Photonics (2025)].
Dmitri N. Basov (PhD 1991) is a Higgins professor and Chair of the Department of Physics at Columbia University [http://infrared.cni.columbia.edu], the Director of the DOE Energy Frontiers Research Center on Programmable Quantum Materials [since 2018] and co-director of Max Planck Society – New York Center for Nonequilibrium Quantum Phenomena [2018-2030]. He has served as a professor (1997-2016) and Chair (2010-2015) of Physics, University of California San Diego. Research interests include: physics of quantum materials, superconductivity, two-dimensional materials, infrared nano-optics. Prizes and recognitions: Sloan Fellowship (1999), Genzel Prize (2014), Humboldt research award (2009), Frank Isakson Prize, American Physical Society (2012), Moore Investigator (2014, 2020), K.J. Button Prize (2019), Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (U.S. Department of Defense, 2019), National Academy of Sciences (2020).
Event Location:
BRIM 111
Event Time:
Tuesday, March 25, 2025 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 318
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2025-03-25T16:00:00
2025-03-25T17:00:00
Quantum Field Theory, Separation of Scales, and Beyond
Event Information:
Welcome to the last talk in our new Pioneers in Theoretical Physics Colloquium Series.
On March 25th, we present Dr. Nathan Seiberg, a mathematical physicist currently working at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.
Abstract:We will review the role of Quantum Field Theory (QFT) in modern physics. We will highlight how QFT uses a reductionist perspective as a powerful quantitative tool relating phenomena at different length and energy scales. We will then discuss various examples motivated by string theory and lattice models that challenge this separation of scales and seem outside the standard framework of QFT. These lattice models include theories of fractons and other exotic systems.
Bio:
Nathan Seiberg is a theoretical physicist who has made significant contributions to what has been described as a revolution in fundamental physics. His research focuses on various aspects of string theory, quantum field theory, and particle physics. He has made deep contributions to the understanding of the dynamics of quantum field theories, especially two-dimensional conformal field theories and supersymmetric quantum field theories. His exact solutions of supersymmetric systems have uncovered many new and unexpected phenomena, including the fundamental role of electric-magnetic duality in these theories. These exact solutions have led to many applications in physics and in mathematics. Recently, he combined insights from his earlier work to shed new light on quantum field theories in three space-time dimensions, which are also of interest to condensed matter physics.
Nathan has been a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study since 1997, after serving previously at the Institute from 1982-85, 1987-89, and 1994-95. From 1985 to 1986, he was a Senior Scientist with the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, where he served as professor from 1986 to 1991. He taught at Rutgers University from 1989 to 1997. He has published articles in many journals, including Nuclear Physics and the Physical Review.
He received a B.Sc. (1977) from Tel Aviv University and a Ph.D. (1982) from the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Learn More:
See Nathan's faculty webpage here: https://phy.princeton.edu/people/nathan-seiberg and personal website here: NATHAN SEIBERG - School of Natural Sciences | Institute for Advanced Study
See his Institute for Advanced study page: Nathan Seiberg - Scholars | Institute for Advanced Study
View his videos:
Anamalous Continuous Translations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcGxdwutzRo
Topics in @2+1 Dimensional Quantum Field Theories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOwqE4-7rPM
What is Quantum Field Theory (QFT): https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/quantum-field-theory/
Event Location:
HENN 318
Event Time:
Monday, March 24, 2025 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 318
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2025-03-24T16:00:00
2025-03-24T17:00:00
Interacting Galaxies in the IllustrisTNG Cosmological Simulations
Event Information:
Abstract:
Observational studies of galaxy pairs have shown that galaxy-galaxy interactions can alter numerous galaxies properties, such as star formation rates, active galactic nuclei (AGN) fractions and gas-phase metallicities. These effects have been predicted using idealized binary merger simulations, and can be attributed to inflows of gas that are triggered by gravitational and hydrodynamical interactions between the galaxies. Cosmological simulations provide an opportunity to see how changes in the properties of interacting galaxies arise within a cosmological context, with galaxy pairs spanning a wide range of masses, mass ratios, gas content, environments and orbits.
We have constructed several large, well-defined samples of interacting galaxies in the IllustrisTNG cosmological hydrodynamical simulations (TNG50, TNG100 and TNG300), along with control galaxies that are matched in stellar mass, redshift, local density and isolation. We find clear evidence of enhanced star formation rates in IllustrisTNG galaxy pairs, with the level and radial extent of these enhancements being consistent with those seen in galaxy pairs selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. By reconstructing the orbits of interacting galaxies in the TNG100 simulations, we find that close encounters trigger these enhancements, primarily via increased star formation efficiency rather than increased gas supply. These reconstructed orbits have also yielded new insights in the prevalence and timescales of close encounters and mergers.
Bio:
My primary research interests lie in the study of galaxy evolution, with a particular focus on the role of galaxy-galaxy interactions and mergers.
My collaborators and I have published an extensive series of articles on close galaxy pairs and post-merger galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, beginning with Ellison et al. (2008). As a core member of this collaboration, I have led studies on galaxy colours (Patton et al. 2011), star formation rates (Patton et al. 2013) and asymmetries (Patton et al. 2016). We have also used idealized merger simulations (e.g. Patton et al. 2013, Moreno et al. 2015, Moreno et al. 2021) to better understand the trends we have seen in observations. More recently, we have extended this line of research to cosmological simulations (especially IllustrisTNG), enabling a more direct comparison between observations and simulations of galaxy pairs (Patton et al. 2020) and post-mergers (Hani et al. 2020).
Learn More:
About galaxy pairs: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/physics-and-astronomy/galaxy-pairs
About Cosmological simulations of galaxy formation: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-019-0127-2
See his Trent University webpages here: https://dpatton.trentu-physics-astronomy.ca/
Read this article, "Trent Prof Part of International Research Team that Makes Galactic Discovery" here
Event Location:
HENN 318
Event Time:
Friday, March 21, 2025 | 9:30 am - 5:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 318
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2025-03-21T09:30:00
2025-03-21T17:00:00
ALMA cycle 12 Proposal Planning Workshop
Event Information:
Dear ASTRO folks,
This event is designed for all astronomers, with a particular goal to reach those that do not yet regularly utilize radio/millimeter data in their research. This one-day workshop will provide a primer on millimeter/radio interferometry and the basics of ALMA, a review of how to design and prepare successful ALMA proposals, and an overview of how best to take advantage of the latest resources developed by NRAO/ALMA (such as pipeline processing and simulating interferometric observations). An interactive session in the afternoon will offer a tutorial for preparing and submitting proposals with the ALMA Observing Tools, where attendees can start to build a foundation for their own Cycle 12 proposals (deadline April 24). Throughout the day, we will feature some of the latest science results from ALMA, including work from members of the McGill community, and offer a preview of the exciting new capabilities of ALMA coming in the next few years.
Topics:
ALMA capabilities
Wideband Sensitivity Upgrades
Intro to radio interferometry
Observing Tool, casa, almasim
Proposal writing tips
Canadian computing resources
A free catered lunch will be provided on-site for registered participants. While attendance for the full day is not required, we hope you will join us for as much of the day as you can. Registration is completely free, but please complete this registration form by March 17 (sooner is better!) so that we can plan for lunch and ensure that the workshop is best tailored to your interests.
RSVP: https://science.nrao.edu/facilities/alma/naasc-workshops/nrao-cd-ubc25
Event Location:
HENN 318
Event Time:
Thursday, March 20, 2025 | 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Event Location:
Vancouver Public Library - Central Library (Montalbano Family Theatre); 350 West Georgia St.
Vancouver V6B 6B1
Vancouver V6B 6B1
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2025-03-20T18:00:00
2025-03-20T19:30:00
Exoplanets - the Search for Habitable Planets in our Solar system
Event Information:
Curious about how the universe actually works? Join the experts from UBC's Department of Physics & Astronomy to find out fun facts about everything from eclipses to space junk in this new, accessible science series. All are welcome!
How the Universe Works is a new partnership with the Vancouver Public Library and the Department of Physics & Astronomy. Monthly talks are posted on the VPL events page here: Events | Vancouver Public Library | BiblioCommons. Please register to attend!
Abstract:
Discoveries of planets outside of the Solar System ("exoplanets") have exploded over the last couple decades, and exoplanet science is one of the fastest growing fields of astronomy today. This talk will cover how to find exoplanets, how to identify those that are potentially habitable, and how anyone can take part in the hunt - even you - from the comfort of your own home!
Bio:
Michelle Kunimoto is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UBC, where she also obtained her PhD. She was previously a postdoctoral fellow at MIT where she worked on NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. Dr. Kunimoto is an expert on discovering and characterizing strange new worlds outside of the Solar System, known as exoplanets. She aims to understand the demographics and diversity of exoplanets, especially those that are potentially habitable and Earth-like. Across all of her planet-hunting endeavours, Dr. Kunimoto has found over 3000 planets and planet candidates.
Event Location:
Vancouver Public Library - Central Library (Montalbano Family Theatre); 350 West Georgia St.
Vancouver V6B 6B1
Event Time:
Monday, March 17, 2025 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 318
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2025-03-17T16:00:00
2025-03-17T17:00:00
The cold Circumgalactic Medium and its role in galaxy evolution
Event Information:
Abstract:
Galaxies are not isolated systems but complex ecosystems. Current theories predict that they form in dark-matter halos connected by a network of filaments, mainly made of gas, but for galaxies to keep forming stars, fresh gas needs to be continuously accreted through filaments onto galaxy halos. Some of this gas is pristine, of cosmological origin, while some is recycled from galaxy discs by energetic events such as powerful winds. This cycle of gas inflow and outflow creates a reservoir between a galaxy's disc and its outer environment, known as the circumgalactic medium (CGM).
Recent studies are showing that a -- so far unconstrained -- fraction of the CGM mass may reside in the cold molecular and atomic phase, especially in high-redshift dense environments. These gas phases, together with the warmer ionised phase, can be studied through bright far-infrared and sub-millimetre emission lines such as [CII](158um), [OIII](88um), CI[1-0](609um) CI[2-1](370um), and the rotational transitions of CO.
Using observations from the largest ground-based and space telescopes (ALMA and JWST), combined with traditional and AI-driven analysis techniques, and advanced simulations, we are undertaking a project making use of gas emission, kinematics, excitation and magnetic fields to address key questions in galaxy evolution: Is there sufficient gas and dust to solve the cosmological missing baryon puzzle? How does outflowing gas that reaches the CGM regulate star formation in galaxy discs? How do galaxies acquire material to sustain star formation via inflows?
Bio:
Paola received her PhD in Physics from the Universita' di Roma La Sapienza, Rome, Italy and has held positions at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), at the Instituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) in Rome, Italy, the Max-Planck Institute in Munich, Germany, at the University of Padova in Padua, Italy, the Italian National Council of Research (CNR) and the Italian Ministry for University Research, Science, and Technology (MURST), and the Institut Astrophysique (IAP) in Paris, France.
She is currently Head of the ESO-Garching Office for Science and Chair of the Astronomer Faculty with academic interests in Cosmology and the Early Universe, the evolution of galaxies and the ISM and QSOs, observational cosmology, tand far infrared and submillimetric extragalactic backgrounds.
Learn More:
About Galaxy Evolution: https://science.nasa.gov/universe/galaxies/evolution/
About the Circumgalactic Medium (CGM): https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017ARA%26A..55..389T/abstract
About the European Southern Observatory (ESO): https://www.eso.org/public/about-eso/
About ESO Telescopes: https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/
Links:
Discover Paulo Andreani's research website: https://www.eso.org/~pandrean/index.html
See article/images of the CMG in "Probing the Circumgalactic Medium with X-Ray Absorption Lines" from SpringNature: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-981-16-4544-0_112-1/figures/1
Event Location:
HENN 318
Event Time:
Friday, March 14, 2025 | 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 201 + observation event
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2025-03-14T19:00:00
2025-03-14T21:00:00
Beyond Earth: Unveiling the wonders of our Solar System
Event Information:
Abstract:
In this beginner-friendly talk, we will explore our solar system, focusing on the 2025 planetary alignment, upcoming eclipses and potential asteroid impacts! We will consider the planets and moons where we would most likely find life outside of Earth and discuss some of the findings and oddities of the inner planets and the outer gas giants. Tim will cover basic solar system structure and how we could ever achieve interstellar travel. And as usual, there will be time for Q&A where he will (hopefully) be able to shed light on a few queries of our unique place in the galaxy!
Your Host:
UBC Astronomy Club with guest speaker Tim Stephenson.
Tim Stephenson, from Langley BC, is a veteran science and astronomy educator with over 30 years of teaching experience, recognized with the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence. Known for his passionate approach, Tim focuses on making science accessible, meaningful, and relevant. He is the author of Beyond the Classroom, a book detailing his teaching journey, and he shares his knowledge as the host of the Science 360 podcast and YouTube channel (Science 360 - Beyond the Sky). Tim is also a regular public presenter on space and astronomy topics.
Learn More:
About planetary alignments and parades: https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/planetary-alignments-and-planet-parades/
About future eclipses: https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/
About Asteroids: https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/asteroids/
About Exoplanets (or habitable planets outside our solar system): https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanets/
Event Location:
HENN 201 + observation event
Event Time:
Friday, March 14, 2025 | 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Event Location:
Dodson Room (Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall )
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2025-03-14T12:00:00
2025-03-14T14:00:00
UBC Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Final
Event Information:
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) is an academic competition that assists current graduate students with fostering effective presentation and communication skills. Participants have just three minutes to explain the breadth and significance of their research project to a non-specialist audience. Originally developed at the University of Queensland, the 3MT is now held across the world.
UBC was one of the first universities in North America to host a 3MT competition, when it held the inaugural 3MT @UBC in 2011. Every year heats are held across campus beginning in February, with winners moving on to the UBC-wide Semi-Finals and Finals in March. More than 130 graduate students compete annually, hoping to advance.
Come support the last ten who have advanced to the final competition! The winner of the event will represent UBC at the Western Regional 3MT competition in Victoria in the spring.
Event Information:
https://3mt.grad.ubc.ca/schedule/
View Organizer Website
Event Location:
Dodson Room (Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall )
Event Time:
Thursday, March 13, 2025 | 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Event Location:
BRIM 311
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2025-03-13T10:00:00
2025-03-13T11:00:00
Electron-hole atomic double layers: towards high-temperature exciton condensation
Event Information:
Excitons, bound electron-hole pairs, in semiconductors are bosons that can form condensates. With a much smaller mass than atoms, they have been predicted to condense at a much higher temperature scale. Although the concept has been understood for more than sixty years, experimental realization of exciton condensates or superfluids has remained challenging. In this talk, I will discuss our recent efforts in creating a high-density equilibrium exciton fluid in atomic double layers made of semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides. I will present results from both thermodynamics and transport measurements that establish high-temperature excitonic insulators. I will also discuss the physics of doped excitonic insulators that can support a Bose-Fermi mixture and an equilibrium trion fluid.
Event Location:
BRIM 311
Event Time:
Tuesday, March 11, 2025 | 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 318
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2025-03-11T13:00:00
2025-03-11T14:00:00
Supporting Students in Distress
Event Information:
Dear PHAS Community,
The PHAS EDI committee in coordination with the Head, has booked a workshop intended for faculty, staff, post docs and RAs, and Ph.D. students:
This workshop, "Supporting Students in Distress", will review resources for recognizing and supporting students through the Early Alert system, as described in UBC’s Green Folder (https://wellbeing.ubc.ca/supporting-students-distress). Brian Barth, Manager of Student Support Services at the VP Students Office explains when and how to use the Early Alert (EA) system to support students. Attendees will gain an understanding of student concerns and how to facilitate efficient coordination of support efforts.
Event Location:
HENN 318
Event Time:
Tuesday, March 11, 2025 | 11:00 am - 3:30 pm
Event Location:
Abdul Ladha Science Student Centre
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2025-03-11T11:00:00
2025-03-11T15:30:00
2025 UBC Quantum Career Fair
Event Information:
2025 UBC Quantum Career Fair
Celebrate the International Year of Quantum and 100 years of quantum mechanics at the the 2025 UBC Quantum Career Fair! Open to all students, attend our event on March 11th 11am - 3:30pm at the Abdul Ladha Science Student Centre for a day of networking, booths, and panel discussions exploring quantum science and technologies in the real world. Joined by Amazon, SBQMI, a panelist from IBM, and many more—come meet the professionals and academics at the forefront of quantum research!
RSVP here: https://forms.gle/X45Q6eHFMhmDv7TU7
Visit our event page for updates: https://www.ubcquantum.com/2025careerfair/
Event Location:
Abdul Ladha Science Student Centre
Event Time:
Tuesday, March 11, 2025 | 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Event Location:
Dodson room, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
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2025-03-11T10:00:00
2025-03-11T12:00:00
UBC Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Semi-final Heat #1
Event Information:
UBC 3 Minute Thesis Semifinal Heat #1
Everyone is invited to come cheer on our PHAS grad student Vismaya Pillai as she competes in Semifinal Heat #1 of the UBC 3 Minute Thesis on March 11, 10am-noon, in the Dodson Room in Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, or watch on zoom.
See https://3mt.grad.ubc.ca/news/nearly-30-students-compete-in-semi-final-events/ for full information!
*This is also available via zoom.
*Please register for this event: https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6PujFWab47txDTw
Event Location:
Dodson room, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre
Event Time:
Monday, March 10, 2025 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 318
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2025-03-10T16:00:00
2025-03-10T17:00:00
Searching for Dark Matter with ADMX
Event Information:
Abstract:
What is the particle nature of dark matter? No standard model particle seems to fit, but the axion, a hypothetical particle motivated by the strong CP problem in nuclear physics, is an excellent candidate. The Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX) is an axion 'haloscope' that searches for local dark matter axions through their conversion to microwave photons in a strong magnetic field. ADMX is gradually expanding its reach to cover a wider range of theoretically well-motivated axion masses and couplings. I will discuss the principle of the axion haloscope as a dark matter search and its sensitivity to local dark matter structure, the current operations of ADMX, the near term search strategy, and potential improvements in future axion searches.
Bio:
Gray Rybka is an Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Washington. His research focuses on precision measurements to expand our knowledge of the fundamental particle building blocks of the universe. These experiments often involve the use of superconducting quantum electronics in a deep cryogenic environment. He is co-spokesperson of the Axion Dark Matter Experiment (ADMX), which searches for microwave signals produced from dark matter conversion in a superconducting magnetic field. He is also involved in the Project-8 effort to measure the neutrino mass scale using Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy.
Learn More:
Read his faculty webpage here: https://phys.washington.edu/people/gray-rybka and here: http://faculty.washington.edu/grybka/
Watch his lecture on "The Search for Axion Dark Matter" on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YlLnqs42mI, or his video lecture on "ADMX results" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tii9SZ3OA6Q
What is the Axion Dark Matter Experiment (ADMX)? https://depts.washington.edu/admx/
What is Project-8? https://www.project8.org/
What is dark matter and dark energy? https://science.nasa.gov/universe/dark-matter-dark-energy/
Event Location:
HENN 318
Event Time:
Saturday, March 8, 2025 | 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Event Location:
SFU Surrey (13450 - 102nd Avenue Galleria 250 Surrey, BC / V3T 0A3)
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2025-03-08T10:00:00
2025-03-08T12:00:00
Saturday Morning Lectures
Event Information:
March 8 (SFU)10:00 Darren Grant (SFU): "Ghost chasing 101: opening a new window to the extreme Universe"11:10 Stephan Malbrunot (TRIUMF): "Unraveling mysteries and (broken) symmetries of the universe with radioactive molecules"
Event Location:
SFU Surrey (13450 - 102nd Avenue Galleria 250 Surrey, BC / V3T 0A3)
Event Time:
Friday, March 7, 2025 | 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Event Location:
UBC Hospital’s Koerner Pavilion, Level 1, Brain Research Centre conference room (in-person only)
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2025-03-07T13:00:00
2025-03-07T15:00:00
Characterizing white matter: Adventures with quantitative magnetic resonance imaging
Event Information:
Abstract:White matter in the central nervous system alters throughout the healthy lifespan as well as in disease. It is important to have non-invasive methods of characterizing white matter, such as through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), so that changes to white matter in disease can be better understood. White matter is complex, and different quantitative MRI measures are sensitive to different aspects of its microstructure. In this thesis, I explored five MRI measures to characterize white matter: myelin water fraction (MWF), fractional anisotropy (FA), microscopic fractional anisotropy (µFA), a measure of tissue heterogeneity (CMD) and the magnetization transfer (MT) ratio.
I first investigated the relationship between MWF (from myelin water imaging) and FA, µFA and CMD (from tensor-valued diffusion imaging) in twenty-five healthy volunteers through correlation analysis and tract profiling, and created atlases of these measures. I also characterised the measures in five example cases of multiple sclerosis (MS), to explore how they varied in pathology. I determined from this initial investigation that MWF, µFA and CMD would be useful to explore both healthy and pathological tissue.
Next, I developed a data-driven tissue classification framework to classify tissue using only quantitative MRI measures and no spatial input, called Clustering for Anatomical Quantification and Evaluation (CAQE). In this framework, quantitative MRI measures from multiple healthy subjects were used to derive tissue classifications with specific microstructural signatures. I clustered MWF, µFA and CMD data from twenty-five healthy controls to create a classification scheme where clusters placed themselves into anatomically similar locations in healthy people even without spatial input. I applied the classification scheme to twenty-five people with MS and found regions of changes in white matter tissue classifications that were correlated with cognitive ability.
Finally, I developed MT imaging for characterizing white matter on a new point-of-care ultra-low field 64 mT scanner, to enable myelin-sensitive monitoring in demyelinating diseases such as MS. I did this using an on-resonance approach with steady state free precession imaging, validated the approach in phantoms, assessed its reproducibility, and demonstrated it in a person with MS.
Event Location:
UBC Hospital’s Koerner Pavilion, Level 1, Brain Research Centre conference room (in-person only)