Events List for the Academic Year
Event Time:
Tuesday, November 21, 2023 | 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Event Location:
Zoom:https://ubc.zoom.us/j/66771351287?pwd=YnJNUXJ3RHVrcHBEeXk3eEJWNFNDZz09 Passcode: 530425
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2023-11-21T10:00:00
2023-11-21T12:00:00
Four dimensional dose calculations and planning strategies for dynamic tumour tracking treatments
Event Location:
Zoom:https://ubc.zoom.us/j/66771351287?pwd=YnJNUXJ3RHVrcHBEeXk3eEJWNFNDZz09 Passcode: 530425
Event Time:
Monday, November 20, 2023 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 318
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2023-11-20T16:00:00
2023-11-20T17:00:00
Exoplanet Atmospheres Through the Eyes of JWST
Event Information:
Abstract:
JWST is now delivering ultra-precise spectra of exoplanet atmospheres over a significantly wider wavelength range than afforded by previous observations. This exceptional improvement in data quality has opened new areas of atmospheric science to observational study that were previously out of reach.
I will summarize how we infer atmospheric properties of exoplanets from remote spectra and the profound ways in which JWST is transforming our knowledge of exoplanets. Next, I will outline several new frontiers in exoplanet atmospheric analyses enabled by JWST data. Finally, I will highlight the most significant discoveries from the first year of exoplanet atmosphere science with JWST.
Bio:
I am an astrophysicist and NASA Sagan Fellow researching exoplanet atmospheres at the University of Michigan. My research merges observational astronomy and theoretical models, with a particular emphasis on atmospheric retrieval techniques.
I am currently using observations from the world’s newest space observatory, JWST, to characterise exoplanet atmospheres.
Learn More:
See Ryan's U of Michigan Faculty webpage here
Learn about Ryan's research and more on his website: DistantWorlds.space
Event Location:
HENN 318
Event Time:
Friday, November 17, 2023 | 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 318
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2023-11-17T13:00:00
2023-11-17T14:00:00
UBC High Energy Seminar: Non-Supersymmetric Heterotic Branes
Event Information:
Abstract:
The common statement that any consistent quantum gravity theory contains dynamical objects with all possible charges suggests that there are still a number of hitherto-unidentified branes in string theory. In this talk I will discuss four of these new branes, focusing on heterotic string theories. The focus of the discussion will be on the relationship between these branes and the lower-dimensional vacua obtained by closed string tachyon condensation in the ten-dimensional, non-supersymmetric heterotic string theories.
Bio:
Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 2020
My research is broadly focused on string theory and quantum field theory. Recently I have been interested in symmetries and their generalization to "categorical" or "non-invertible" symmetries, as well as in revisiting subtle, topological issues in string theory. My previous work has explored string perturbation theory, its connections to number theory, and various topics in (super)conformal field theory.
Learn More:
View his faculty webpage at the University of Washington
Event Location:
HENN 318
Event Time:
Thursday, November 16, 2023 | 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Event Location:
BRIM 311
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2023-11-16T10:00:00
2023-11-16T11:00:00
Observation of Fractional Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect
Event Information:
CM Seminar: Xiaodong Xu – University of WashingtonTitle: Observation of Fractional Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect
Abstract: The interplay between spontaneous symmetry breaking and topology can result in exotic quantum states of matter. A celebrated example is the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) state, which exhibits an integer quantum Hall effect at zero magnetic field due to topologically nontrivial bands and intrinsic magnetism. In the presence of strong electron-electron interactions, fractional-QAH (FQAH) states at zero magnetic field can emerge, which is a lattice analog of fractional quantum Hall effect without Landau level formation. In this talk, I will present experimental observation of FQAH states in twisted MoTe2 bilayer, using combined magneto-optical and -transport measurements. In addition to the Chern number -1 integer, and -2/3 and -3/5 fractional QAH states, we find an anomalous Hall state near the filling factor -1/2, whose behavior resembles that of the composite Fermi liquid in the half-filled lowest Landau level of a two-dimensional electron gas at high magnetic field. Direct observation of the FQAH and associated effects paves the way for researching charge fractionalization and anyonic statistics at zero magnetic field.
Speaker bio: Xiaodong Xu is a Boeing Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. He obtained a PhD in Physics from the University of Michigan in 2008. After postdoc research at Cornell University, he joined the University of Washington in 2010. He is a Fellow of American Physical Society and Optical Society of America.
Event Location:
BRIM 311
Event Time:
Wednesday, November 15, 2023 | 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Event Location:
Hennings 318
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2023-11-15T15:00:00
2023-11-15T16:00:00
Analytical approaches to the relativistic two-body problem
Event Information:
Abstract:
I will give a basic introduction to the various analytical approaches to describe the dynamics of compact binaries in general relativity. These include including post-Newtonian, post-Minkowskian and gravitational self-force theories, as well as the use of effective field theory and scattering amplitudes. I will also comment on their role in generating waveforms templates for gravitational wave observatories, and challenges ahead.
Event Location:
Hennings 318
Event Time:
Thursday, November 9, 2023 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 202
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2023-11-09T16:00:00
0223-11-09T17:00:00
Molecular Simulations of Protein Structure and Dynamics
Event Information:
Abstract:Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations offer a powerful tool to investigate the structure and dynamics of proteins because they can provide an all-atom view of their complex conformational landscapes. Using simulations, we study biomolecular systems consisting of hundreds of thousands to millions of atoms on a nanosecond to microsecond timescale. These system sizes and timescales are relevant to functionally important processes, such as ligand binding, protein allostery, and protein aggregation. With recent advances in both simulation and experiment, it is now possible to make direct comparisons between data obtained in silico and in vitro. MD offers a useful tool to elucidate the molecular basis for effects observed using experimental methods, and to quantitatively describe differences in protein ensembles. I will present recent and ongoing simulation studies of proteins across the continuum of protein disorder, from ordered states of proteins in crystals to intrinsically disordered regions.
Bio:
Dr. Sarah Rauscher is a computational biophysicist whose research addresses the challenging problem of understanding the structure and dynamics of intrinsically disordered proteins. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Physics and Chemistry at the University of Toronto Mississauga.
Learn More:
View her faculty webpage from UofT
See what's happening at the Rauscher Lab at UofT
Event Location:
HENN 202
Event Time:
Wednesday, November 8, 2023 | 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Event Location:
Henning 318
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2023-11-08T15:00:00
2023-11-08T16:00:00
Gravitational-wave astrophysics
Event Information:
TALK RECORDING AVAILABLE AT: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KhUBNa57gTUUcqiO76yYEErsIPNuI9v5/view?usp=sharing
Abstract:
Eight years after the discovery of the first gravitational-wave signal, the ground-based gravitational-wave detectors LIGO and Virgo have observed more than 100 mergers of black holes and neutron stars. After describing what gravitational waves can reveal, both about individual sources and their underlying populations, I will summarize some of the results obtained with the most recent dataset. These include measurements of the mass and spin distribution of black holes in binaries and hints of how their astrophysical formation channels might have evolved with redshift.
Event Location:
Henning 318
Event Time:
Monday, November 6, 2023 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 318
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2023-11-06T16:00:00
2023-11-06T17:00:00
JWST’s Distant Universe as Seen by CANUCS
Event Information:
Abstract:The James Webb Space Telescope has been the most anticipated astronomical observatory of the first part of the 21st century. And it has not disappointed: since the beginning of Webb’s science operations just over a year ago, amazing new discoveries made by JWST have been shedding new light on our understanding of the Universe and its contents.Having built of Webb’s four science instruments, NIRISS, Canadians are fully engaged in this research, learning about the Universe from the era of Cosmic Dawn (when galaxies were first forming) through Cosmic Noon (when the Universe was bursting with star formation), through to the current cosmic epoch. Along the way so far we have observed young galaxies getting assembled from their building blocks, found some of the first star clusters to have formed after the Big Bang, and saved cosmology as we know it from premature reports of its demise.This talk will give an overview of how Canada came to be a key player in Webb and will describe some of the results to have come from CANUCS, which stands for “Canadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey” and which is — at 200 hours of Guaranteed Time Observations — the largest JWST program to observe the distant Universe behind massive, gravitationally-lensing galaxy clusters.
Bio:
I am Canada Research Chair (Tier I) and Professor in the Department of Astronomy and Physics at Saint Mary’s. I also serve as the (acting) Director of the Institute for Computational Astrophysics as reshape the Institute for coming decade.
After an undergrad at McMaster University, I did my graduate work at the University of Toronto where I did some of the first work on photometric redshifts and the seminal work on galaxy physical property estimation using broadband SED fitting.
Between grad school and coming to Saint Mary’s, I held an NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Caltech, was a Plaskett Fellow at NRC's Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Victoria, and Research Physicist at the University of California at Santa Barbara. I came to Halifax in 2007 to take up a faculty position at Saint Mary’s, was Chair of the Department in the mid-2010’s, and was appointed Canada Research Chair in 2017.
While permanently based in Halifax, I have also held visiting positions at Kyoto University (2006-07), Tohoku University in Sendai (2011-12), NRC-Herzberg in Victoria (2019-20), and Kyoto University again (2021)
Learn More:
Browse his Faculty website here
Read this news article on Marcin from CBC Nova Scotia
Event Location:
HENN 318
Event Time:
Thursday, November 2, 2023 | 5:15 pm - 6:15 pm
Event Location:
HENN 202
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2023-11-02T17:15:00
2023-11-02T18:15:00
Real-Time Biosensor Technology
Event Information:
Abstract:
A biosensor capable of continuously measuring specific molecules in vivo would provide a valuable window into patients’ health status and their response to therapeutics. Unfortunately, continuous, real-time molecular measurement is currently limited to a handful of analytes (i.e. glucose and oxygen) and these sensors cannot be generalized to measure other analytes. In this talk, we will present a biosensor technology that can be generalized to measure a wide range of biomolecules in living subjects. To achieve this, we develop novel reagents (molecular switches) that change its structure upon binding to its target analyte and emit light or produce an electrochemical signal. Our real-time biosensor requires no exogenous reagents and can be readily reconfigured to measure different target analytes by exchanging the molecular switches in a modular manner. Importantly, we will discuss methods for generating the molecular switches which are at the heart of this biosensor technology.
Bio:
Dr. H. Tom Soh is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Radiology at Stanford University. He earned his B.S. with a double major in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science with Distinction from Cornell University and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Between 1999 and 2003, he served as a technical manager of MEMS device research group at Bell Laboratories and Agere Systems. Between 2003 and 2015, he was the Ruth Garland Professor at UC-Santa Barbara (UCSB) in the department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials. His lab moved to Stanford in 2015. He is a recipient of numerous awards including MIT Technology Review’s “TR 100” Award, ONR Young Investigator Award, Beckman Young Investigator Award, ALA Innovator Award, NIH TR01 Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Humboldt Fellowship, and was a Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator. He is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
Learn More:
See his faculty webpage here
Browse his CV here
Event Location:
HENN 202
Event Time:
Thursday, November 2, 2023 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 202
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2023-11-02T16:00:00
2023-11-02T17:00:00
Chirality and Kinetomagnetism
Event Information:
Abstract: Chirality, which arises from the breaking of mirror symmetries combined with any spatial rotations, plays a ubiquitous role in a wide range of phenomena, from the DNA functionality, vine climbing to the piezoelectricity of quartz crystals. It's important to note that chirality does not necessarily involve a screw-like twisting, and magnetic chirality means chirality in spin ordered states or mesoscopic spin textures. Despite being mathematically well-defined, the term "chirality" has been extensively used, often in confusing ways, in the physics community in recent years. In steady states, chirality (C) does not change with time-reversal operation, while chirality prime (C¢) denotes the breaking of time-reversal symmetry in addition to broken all mirror symmetries, combined with any spatial rotations. Various examples of magnetic chirality and chirality prime and their emergent phenomena, such as self-inductance, directional nonreciprocity in magnetic fields, current-induced magnetization, chirality-selective spin-polarized current, Schwinger scattering, magneto-optical Kerr effect, linear magnetoelectricity, and chiral tunneling will be discussed. Many of these phenomena can be understood with one hypothesis on kinetomagnetism that I will present. Some of these exotic phenomena have been recently observed, while many others require experimental confirmation in the future.
Bio:
Cheong has made ground-breaking contributions to the research field of enhanced physical functionalities in quantum materials originating from collective correlations and collective phase transitions such as colossal magnetoresistive and colossal magnetoelectric effects in complex oxides. He has also made pivotal contributions to topological self-organization in quantum solids, including the nanoscale charge stripe formation, mesoscopic electronic phase separation in mixed valent transition metal oxides, and the formation of topological vortex domains in multiferroics, which was found to be synergistically relevant to mathematics (graph theory) and even cosmology. His recent focus includes 2D materials, topological Weyl materials, magnetically-chiral solids, and functional low-symmetry materials. He has published >950 scientific papers, and the total citation is more than 63,000 (Web of Science: seven papers cited more than 1000 times, and his h-index is 114). His educational background includes mathematics in college, string theory (about three years) in graduate school, and solid state physics for his Ph. D. He has worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory and AT&T Bell Laboratories. He is currently the Director of the Keck Center for Quantum Magnetism, the Director of the Center for Quantum Materials Synthesis, the Director of Rutgers Center for Emergent Materials, a Henry Rutgers Professor and a Board of Governors Professor at Rutgers, a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Postech in S. Korea as well as in Nanjing University in China, and one of two Editors-in-Chief for npj Quantum Materials. His work on complex oxides has been recognized through various prizes, including the 2007 Hoam Prize sponsored by Samsung, the KBS 2009 Global Korean Award, and the 2010 James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials sponsored by IBM.
From 1986-89 Cheong worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory before joining AT&T Bell Laboratories. He was appointed as a Professor at Rutgers University in 1997 and founded the Rutgers Center for Emergent Materials (RCEM) in 2005. He is currently the Director of RCEM, a Board of Governors Professor at Rutgers, and a Distinguished Professor at Postech, Korea.
His work on complex oxides has been recognized through various prizes, including the 2007 Ho-am Prize, the KBS 2009 Global Korean Award, and the 2010 James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials.
He has published more than 600 scientific papers which have been cited more than 34,000 (six papers cited more than 1,000 times, and his h-index is 92). He was the 13th most cited physicist in the world in from 1993-2003. Honours/Awards: 2023 Global Fellowship, University of St. Andrews2014 Listed by Thomson-Reuters as among "The Most Influential Scientific Minds2012 Lee Hsun Research Fellowship on Materials Science, IMR, CAS2010 2010 James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials, APS 2009 KBS Korean Global Award (해외동포상)2008-2011 Editorial Board of Physical Review Letters – Divisional Associated Editor2008- Distinguished Visiting Scholar, National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Taiwan.2007 Ho-Am Prize in Science 2003 Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in Research at Rutgers University 2003 13th Most Cited Physicist in the world for the last decade 2000 Fellow, American Physical Society
Learn More:
See his faculty webpage from Rutgers - State University of New Jersey
Browse through his research areas
Event Location:
HENN 202
Event Time:
Thursday, November 2, 2023 | 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Event Location:
BRIM 311
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2023-11-02T10:00:00
2023-11-02T11:00:00
Natural Superlattice Design of Modulated Superconductors
Event Information:
Title: Natural Superlattice Design of Modulated Superconductors
Abstract: Connecting theoretical models for exotic quantum states to real materials is a key goal in quantum materials synthesis. Two-dimensional model systems have been proposed to host a wide variety of exotic phases- historically a number of techniques have been used to realize these including thin film growth and mechanical exfoliation. We describe here our recent progress in experimentally realizing 2D model systems using bulk crystal synthesis including modulated superconducting states. We discuss their structures and the new phenomena that they support. We comment on the perspective for realizing further 2D model systems in complex material structures and their connections to other methods for realizing 2D systems.
Bio: Research in Checkelsky lab at MIT focuses on the study of exotic electronic states of matter through the synthesis, measurement, and control of solid state materials. Of particular interest are studies of correlated behavior in topologically non-trivial materials, the role of geometrical phases in electronic systems, and novel types of geometric frustration. Professor Checkelsky joined the Department of Physics at MIT as an assistant professor in January 2014. He received his B.S. in Physics in 2004 from Harvey Mudd College and Ph.D. in Physics in 2010 from Princeton University. Before coming to MIT, Professor Checkelsky did postdoctoral work at Japan’s Institute for Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN) and held the position of lecturer at the University of Tokyo. He was promoted to associate professor in 2019 and in 2020 named a Mitsui Career Development Professor in Contemporary Technology, an appointment he will hold until 2023.
Event Location:
BRIM 311
Event Time:
Wednesday, November 1, 2023 | 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Event Location:
Henn 318
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2023-11-01T15:00:00
2023-11-01T16:00:00
Downward spirals: a PhD on risky rocket reentries
Event Information:
Abstract:
TALK RECORDING AVAILABLE AT: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dxf3FnXZUTK7MsYFDV7Wy-Ul0NSmCpyZ/view?usp=sharing
In over two thirds of rocket launches, the upper stage of the rocket is simply abandoned in orbit, where it eventually falls back down to Earth. These uncontrolled reentries create a risk of casualty to people on the ground, at sea and in aircraft. With a record 180 launches in 2022 (soon to be broken in 2023), and more people on Earth than ever, this risk is growing. There is a technical solution to this problem: using controlled reentries, which aim the upper stage to crash into a remote area of the ocean, away from people and aircraft. But these are not widely used. Why not? And what can I do about it, as a PhD student sitting in my bedroom talking to a laptop? This interdisciplinary talk will discuss some history, some rocket engineering, some law, some international relations, and maybe even some physics.
Event Location:
Henn 318
Event Time:
Monday, October 30, 2023 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 318
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2023-10-30T16:00:00
2023-10-30T17:00:00
Five Surprising Results From the Simba Simulations
Event Information:
Abstract:
Cosmological simulations of galaxy formation have matured rapidly in the last decade, with recent models combining structure formation, hydrodynamics, stellar and black hole growth, and associated feedback processes to accurately reproduce the demographics of the galaxy population. The input physics required to do so can have consequences that run counter to conventional notions of how galaxies form and evolve. In this talk I present our Simba simulations, a state-of-the- art suite that uses novel approaches for modeling black hole growth, AGN feedback, and dust to yield a galaxy population that uniquely reproduces key observations. I will then discuss some unexpected outcomes from Simba that offer surprising takes on how galactic feedback processes interact with and impact their cosmic ecosystem.
Bio:
Why Does the Universe Look the Way It Does?I am a theoretical astrophysicist who uses supercomputer simulations to study how the visible Universe evolves from the Big Bang until today.
My scientific interests include:Galaxy Formation and EvolutionCircum-Galactic and Intergalactic GasSupermassive Black HolesThe Epoch of ReionizationThe Cosmic WebDark Matter and Dark Energy
Learn More:
See Romeel's faculty webpage at the University of Edinburgh and his personal website here
See his LinkedIn profile
View his CV
Event Location:
HENN 318
Event Time:
Thursday, October 26, 2023 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 202
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2023-10-26T16:00:00
2023-10-26T17:00:00
Teaching students to think like physicists
Event Information:
Abstract: I will discuss the two educational challenges that many physicists must confront if the field is to continue to thrive. First, how can we best train advanced students to become skilled physicists, and second, how can we effectively introduce the broad population of introductory students to the joys and value of physicist thinking. My group’s studies of expert problem-solving by scientists has provided insights for how to achieve both these goals. We have identified a set of 29 specific decisions that frame the process by which successful physicists and other scientists solve authentic problems in their fields. I will present how to provide practice and feedback in making these decisions to develop advanced students into skilled physicists. I will also discuss how structuring an introductory college physics course around solving real-world problems following a template based on a subset of these problem-solving decisions allowed more students to succeed, regardless of their prior physics background.
Bio:
Carl Wieman holds a joint appointment as Professor of Physics and of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. He has done extensive experimental research in both atomic physics and science education at the university level. Wieman served as founding chair of the Board of Science Education of the National Academy of Sciences and was the founder of PhET, which provides online interactive simulations that are used 100 million times per year to learn science. Wieman directed the science education initiatives at the Universities of Colorado and British Columbia (2007 - 2017), which carried out large scale change in teaching methods across university science departments. He served as Associate Director for Science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House from 2010-12. He has also studied student learning and problem solving and the comparative effectiveness of different methods for teaching science.
Honors & AwardsResearch:E. O. Lawrence Award (1993)Fritz London Memorial Prize (1996)King Faisal International Prize in Science (1997)Lorentz Medal (1998)The Benjamin Franklin Medal (2000)Nobel Prize in Physics (2001)
Teaching:Carnegie US University Professor of the Year, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (2003)Oersted Medal (2007)Yidan Prize (2020)
Professional EducationPh.D., Stanford University, Physics (1977)B.S., MIT, Physics (1973)
Learn More:
See Carl's Stanford profile page
View his CV
News: "Stanford professor awarded $4 million prize for education research"
Event Location:
HENN 202
Event Time:
Thursday, October 26, 2023 | 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Event Location:
BRIM 311
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2023-10-26T10:00:00
2023-10-26T11:00:00
Light-matter interactions in cold and ultracold neutral atomic gases: Applications to quantum memory and holonomic quantum operations
Event Information:
Title: Light-matter interactions in cold and ultracold neutral atomic gases: Applications to quantum memory and holonomic quantum operations
Abstract: Neutral atomic gases provide fantastic opportunities for studying and controlling quantum phenomena, ranging from many-body physics to quantum computers. In our research, we use the well-known interactions between cold gases and electromagnetic radiation to harness various quantum degrees of freedom. Quantum memories, used for storing and manipulating photonic signals, will be a key component in quantum communications systems, especially in realizing critical quantum repeater infrastructure. Cold atoms have significant potential as high performance spin-wave quantum memories, due to the long storage times associated with low temperature and slow thermal diffusion. In our work, we demonstrate two memory protocols in ultracold (sometimes Bose-condensed) atoms, which hold the potential for high-performance light storage: the Autler-Townes splitting (ATS) and superradiant approaches. These methods provide a path towards practical implementations in both ground- and satellite-based quantum communications systems, and we are working on both increasing performance and developing practical implementations. In a separate direction, our lab also uses ultracold ensembles to study unconventional quantum gates for quantum computing. In our work on holonomic operations, we engineer degeneracies into our system through Floquet driving, with the goal of realizing non-Abelian geometric phases. Our experiments reveal that we indeed rotate quantum states in this degenerate manifold, though we find that the naive expectation of geometric robustness to fluctuations is less resilient to real experimental issues than expected. We fully characterize our system in terms of its performance in realistic conditions and propose a path forward for working with holonomic operations on a variety of quantum platforms.
Brief bio: Lindsay LeBlanc is an experimental atomic physicist working with ultracold atoms and quantum technologies. Lindsay earned her BSc in Engineering Physics from the University of Alberta in 2003 and her Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Toronto in 2011, after which she joined the Joint Quantum Institute in Maryland in 2013 as a postdoctoral fellow, before returning to join the University of Alberta where she is Canada Research Chair in Ultracold Quantum Gases and Associate Professor in Physics.
Event Location:
BRIM 311
Event Time:
Monday, October 23, 2023 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 318
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2023-10-23T16:00:00
2023-10-23T17:00:00
Astronomy Jamboree!
Event Information:
Today's astronomy colloquium slot will consist of the Astronomy Jamboree, with astronomy students, postdocs, and faculty giving 55-second 'lightning talks' with a summary of what they are working on. If you want to see the breadth of astronomy research in the department, come and listen!
Event Location:
HENN 318
Event Time:
Thursday, October 19, 2023 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Location:
*This week's talk is available via Zoom only*
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2023-10-19T16:00:00
2023-10-19T17:00:00
Facilitating thinking and learning in and beyond the physics classrooms using research-based approaches
Event Information:
Abstract:
I will discuss, using my research in physics education, how research can be used as a guide to develop curricula and pedagogies to reduce student difficulties and for making physics equitable and inclusive. I will also discuss innovations in teaching and learning methods for physics after the new normal using my research conducted during emergency remote teaching and lessons learned that can be valuable for innovation in teaching and learning going forward. My research has focused on improving student understanding of introductory and advanced concepts. We are developing research-validated learning tools such as tutorials and peer instruction tools that actively engage students in the learning process. I will discuss how we evaluate the effectiveness of these tools using a variety of methodologies and then describe our research studies that provide guidelines for how to enhance physics by making it inclusive. Finally, I will discuss how a field-tested short intervention was implemented at the beginning of a physics course and how it improved the performance of underrepresented students in introductory physics classes compared to the comparison group.
Bio:
Chandralekha Singh is a Distinguished Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Founding Director of the Discipline-based Science Education Research Center (dB-SERC) at the University of Pittsburgh. She is a Past President of the American Association of Physics Teachers. She obtained her bachelors and masters degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and her Ph.D. in theoretical condensed matter physics from the University of California Santa Barbara. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, before joining the University of Pittsburgh.
She has been conducting research in physics education for more than two decades. She co-led the US team to the International Conference on Women in Physics in Birmingham UK in 2017. She is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science and American Association of Physics Teachers. More information about her can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/professorsinghswebpage/.
Learn More:
See her personal webpage here
Read more on her faculty webpage here
See her Wikipedia page here
Event Location:
*This week's talk is available via Zoom only*
Event Time:
Thursday, October 19, 2023 | 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Event Location:
BRIM 311
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2023-10-19T10:00:00
2023-10-19T11:00:00
d-mon: an improved transmon qubit based on a cuprate Josephson junction
Event Information:
Title: d-mon: an improved transmon qubit based on a cuprate Josephson junction
Abstract: Transmon qubit, based on a superconducting Josephson junction shunted by a large capacitance, is the workhorse component powering the majority of intermediate scale quantum computers currently in operation. I this talk I will describe a theoretical proposal for a novel transmon architecture dubbed “d-mon” that uses unconventional oxide superconductors and is designed to overcome one of the key shortcomings of the conventional transmon. The proposed d-mon architecture is based on a c-axis Josephson junction between a d-wave high-Tc cuprate and a conventional s-wave superconductor. Its chief advantage lies in the large and tunable anharmonicity of its energy spectrum that we predict should enable faster and more reliable gate operation. In contrast to some earlier cuprate-based qubit designs d-mon operates in the regime where quasiparticles are fully gapped and can be therefore expected to achieve long coherence times.
Speaker Bio: Marcel Franz is a Professor of Physics at The University of British Columbia and a Deputy Scientific Director of The Blusson Quantum Matter Institute. Franz is a leading expert in theories of topological quantum matter, unconventional superconductivity and strongly correlated electron systems. His group has made a number of significant advances in these fields including the recent prediction of high-temperature topological superconductivity in twisted bilayers of cuprate superconductors. Franz has received numerous awards and recognitions for his contributions including the A.P. Sloan Fellowship (2002), Killam Research Fellowship (2007), has been elected Fellow of the APS (2014) and The Royal Society of Canada (2022). He obtained his PhD at The University of Rochester in 1994 and worked as a postdoctoral fellow and McMaster and Johns Hopkins universities before joining the faculty of The University of British Columbia in 2000.
Event Location:
BRIM 311
Event Time:
Monday, October 16, 2023 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Location:
HENN 318
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2023-10-16T16:00:00
2023-10-16T17:00:00
Constructing a Pulsar Interstellar Medium Array
Event Information:
Abstract:
Pulsar timing array (PTA) collaborations have recently reported evidence for the background of low-frequency gravitational waves using an array of rapidly rotating, highly stable radio pulsars distributed across the galaxy. These collaborations measured a correlated signal from these pulsars, and over time hope to extract even more information about the gravitational-wave spectrum and look for single sources of gravitational waves, all while measuring unique features along every Earth-pulsar arm of the detector. Since radio emission from the pulsars is affected by the intervening ionized plasma, we can measure correlated signatures from the interstellar medium and solar wind across many pulsars in a so-called pulsar interstellar medium array (PISMA). Along with additional measurements from pulsar scintillation and scattering observations, I will discuss how a PISMA can globally test models for turbulence in the interstellar medium, observe the dynamic solar wind, and more.
Bio:
Michael Lam is a research scientist with the SETI Institute and a research assistant professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). He completed his PhD from Cornell University working with the NANOGrav collaboration to use pulsar timing arrays as Galactic-scale detectors of gravitational waves. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow at West Virginia University and an assistant professor at RIT. He is currently the co-chair of the NANOGrav collaboration's Noise Budget and Cyber-Infrastructure Working Groups and serves as a member of its Management Team.
Learn More:
See Dr. Lam's SETI Institute webpage
Event Location:
HENN 318
Event Time:
Monday, October 16, 2023 | 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Event Location:
Henn 309
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2023-10-16T11:00:00
2023-10-16T12:00:00
Who’s moving anyway? Effects of our motion on astronomical measurements
Event Information:
Abstract:
This presentation delves into the effects of our motion through the Universe on our observations. I will discuss the significance of this phenomenon and its relevance in cosmology, including a detailed examination of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data and insights from source count studies, notably involving quasars. I will conclude by examining the broader implications of our cosmic motion.
Event Location:
Henn 309