Events
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Sun20Jan20199:00 pmKennon Observatory
We are offering astronomy open houses and viewings with our telescopes:
We plan to observe a total eclipse of the Moon though our telescopes. All these events are weather permitting. Admission is free.
Children are welcome!See this page for the full schedule.
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Tue29Jan20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Thomas Werfel
Department of Chemical Engineering
University of MississippiTargeted Therapies at the Interface of Nanotechnology and Cancer Biology
In the Interdisciplinary NanoBioSciences (iNBS) Lab, we work largely at the interface of nanotechnology and cancer biology. The complexity of cancer necessitates creative, multi-faceted solutions that nanotechnologies have the potential to offer. However, the successful application of nanotechnologies is currently stymied by oversimplified biological models and a dearth of data from advanced biological studies that faithfully recapitulate human disease. Ultimately, our scientific goals are to better understand nanomaterial-biological system interactions to improve the performance of nanotechnologies in humans, discover new cancer molecular targets ideal for nanotechnology-based therapies, and identify cellular and molecular processes that impact drug delivery efficiency, cancer metastasis, and resistance to therapy. In this colloquium, I will highlight three research thrusts in the iNBS Lab that span nanotechnology and targeted cancer therapy: 1) Drugging previously 'undruggable' cancer-causing genes with siRNA nanomedicines, 2) Combating the immunosuppressive impact of efferocytosis in the tumor microenvironment, and 3) Targeting the platelet-tumor cell interaction to prevent breast cancer metastasis.
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Tue05Feb20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Kyle Parfrey
Astrophysics Division
NASA Goddard Space Flight CenterThe Magnetic Lives of Black Holes and Neutron Stars
The most extreme and surprising behaviors of black holes and neutron stars are driven by their surrounding plasmas and magnetic fields. Numerical simulations which capture basic physical processes like particle acceleration, magnetic reconnection, and magneto-rotational turbulence can yield insight into such disparate phenomena as black-hole jets and X-ray coronae, magnetar giant gamma-ray flares, and the spin limit of millisecond pulsars. I will focus on what simulations can teach us about the launching of relativistic jets in compact binary mergers, and will describe how a new technique for general-relativistic plasma kinetics will aid in understanding black holes' jets and particle acceleration, and in interpreting future observations with the Earth-spanning Event Horizon Telescope.
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Thu07Feb20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Shaon Ghosh
Department of Physics
University of Wisconsin — MilwaukeeAstrophysics with Synergy of Electromagnetic and Gravitational Wave Observations
About three and a half years ago, the direct detection and measurement of gravitational waves from a pair of coalescing black holes by the LIGO interferometers opened a new window for astrophysicists to look into the universe. Almost two years later, the discovery of gravitational wave from a binary neutron star system marked the beginning of the era of joint electromagnetic and gravitational wave astronomy. In this talk, I will present a brief history of this discovery and its importance in that context. I will then focus on the rich scientific results of the multi-messenger observation and finally, discuss how such joint observations can help us extract astrophysical information from some of the most extreme objects in the universe. Specifically, I will highlight how observations of neutron stars can help us understand how matter behaves in conditions that cannot be replicated in earth-based laboratories. The required information for such studies comes to us from various avenues of astrophysical observations. I will delineate the methods that we will be employing in combining these information to make robust inferences on the neutron star equation of state.
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Sun10Feb20196:00 pmKennon Observatory
We are offering astronomy open houses and viewings with our telescopes:
We plan to observe the Moon, Mars and Uranus, nebulae and star clusters though our telescopes. All these events are weather permitting. Admission is free.
Children are welcome!See this page for the full schedule.
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Tue12Feb20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Stephen Taylor
Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy
California Institute of TechnologyFrontiers of Multi-Messenger Black-Hole Physics
The bounty of gravitational-wave observations from LIGO and Virgo has opened up a new window onto the warped Universe, as well as a pathway to addressing many of the contemporary challenges of fundamental physics. I will discuss how catalogs of stellar-mass compact object mergers can probe the unknown physical processes of binary stellar evolution, and how these systems can be harnessed as standard distance markers (calibrated entirely by fundamental physics) to map the expansion history of the cosmos. The next gravitational-wave frontier will be opened within 3-6 years by pulsar-timing arrays, which have unique access to black-holes at the billion to ten-billion solar mass scale. The accretionary dynamics of supermassive black-hole binaries should yield several tell-tale signatures observable in upcoming synoptic time-domain surveys, as well as gravitational-wave signatures measurable by pulsar timing. Additionally, pulsar-timing arrays are currently placing compelling constraints on modified gravity theories, cosmic strings, and ultralight scalar-field dark matter. I will review my work on these challenges, as well as in the exciting broader arena of gravitational-wave astrophysics, and describe my vision for the next decade of discovery.
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Thu14Feb20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
David Nichols
Institute of Physics
University of AmsterdamGravitational Waves and Fundamental Properties of Matter and Spacetime
Gravitational waves from the mergers of ten binary black holes and one binary neutron star were detected in the first two observing runs by the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors. In this talk, I will discuss the eleven gravitational-wave detections and the electromagnetic observations that accompanied the neutron-star merger. These detections confirmed many of the predictions of general relativity, and they initiated the observational study of strongly curved, dynamical spacetimes and their highly luminous gravitational waves. One aspect of these high gravitational-wave luminosities that LIGO and Virgo will be able to measure is the gravitational-wave memory effect: a lasting change in the gravitational-wave strain produced by energy radiated in gravitational waves. I will describe how this effect is related to symmetries and conserved quantities of spacetime, how the memory effect can be measured with LIGO and Virgo, and how new types of memory effects have been recently predicted. I will conclude by discussing the plans for the next generation of gravitational-wave detectors after LIGO and Virgo and the scientific capabilities of these new detectors. These facilities could detect millions of black-hole and neutron-star mergers per year, and they can provide insights on a range of topics from the population of short gamma-ray bursts to the presence of dark matter around black holes.
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Tue19Feb20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Sarah Vigeland
Department of Physics
University of Wisconsin — MilwaukeeProbing Massive and Supermassive Black Holes with Gravitational Waves
Observations have shown that nearly all galaxies harbor massive or supermassive black holes at their centers. Gravitational wave (GW) observations of these black holes will shed light on their growth and evolution, and the merger histories of galaxies. Massive and supermassive black holes are also ideal laboratories for studying strong-field gravity. Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) are sensitive to GWs with frequencies ~1-100 nHz, and can detect GWs emitted by supermassive black hole binaries, which form when two galaxies merge. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a planned space-based GW detector that will be sensitive to GWs ~1-100 mHz, and it will see a variety of sources, including merging massive black hole binaries and extreme mass-ratio inspires (EMRIs), which consist of a small compact object falling into a massive black hole. I will discuss source modeling and detection techniques for LISA and PTAs, as well as present limits on nanohertz GWs from the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) collaboration.
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Tue19Feb20196:00 pmUptown Coffee, 265 North Lamar Blvd, Oxford, Mississippi
Dr. Erin Calipari,
Department of Pharmacology,
Vanderbilt University School of MedicineThe Neuroscience of Addiction
We are currently in the middle of an opioid epidemic. Thus, understanding the behavioral and neurobiological factors that drive drug addiction is urgent and critical to public health. One of the most important aspects of drug addiction is the active decision to seek out and take the drug, most often at the expense of other rewards or in the face of negative consequences. Normally, organisms use information in their environment to make decisions that maximize positive – and minimize negative – outcomes. However, addicted individuals value taking drugs above all other outcomes, an effect that drives their decision- making strategies. By using animal models that allow animals to “self-administer” drugs we can determine which cells in the brain are controlling their decision to take the drug and then silence or activate these neurons to change the way that animals are behaving in their environment. By combining complex behavioral models with tools that allow us to record and manipulate different cells and circuits in the brain in awake and behaving animals we can determine how these cells help animals make decisions and develop pharmacological tools to promote abstinence and prevent relapse in addicted individuals.
See this page for details.
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Thu21Feb20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Anuradha Gupta
Department of Physics
Pennsylvania State UniversityPhysics and Astrophysics with Gravitational Waves from Compact Binary Coalescences
The recent detections of gravitational waves from several binary black holes and binary neutron star mergers have opened up new avenues for gravitational wave astronomy and astrophysics. These detections provide us with great opportunities to study astrophysical sources in both weak and strong gravity regimes. In this presentation, I'll tell you how one does physics and astrophysics with gravitational waves emitted from compact binary coalescences. In particular, how to constrain binary formation mechanisms from their observed properties, how to test general relativity and other theories of gravity and lastly how to do precision cosmology with gravitational waves. I'll also touch upon the future prospects of these efforts.
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Wed27Feb201912:00 pmLewis Hall 104
Mukunda Acharya
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiMukunda Acharya will discuss the article entitled "Three-dimensional Features of Sound Channel Axis in the Global Ocean"
Dr. Jake Bennet
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiDr. Bennet will host a discussion session to share the Job Interview Experience. The main goal of this discussion is to provide some basic guidelines for the graduate students who step to the job market after the graduation.
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Thu28Feb20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Libo Jiang
Department of Physics & Astronomy
University of PittsburghMicroBooNE - Using Neutrinos to Probe Nuclear Physics for the Future
MicroBooNE is a large 170-ton liquid-argon-Time Projection Chamber Neutrino experiment located on the Booster neutrino beamline at Fermilab. The detector serves as a next step in a phased program towards the construction of massive kiloton scale LArTPC detectors for future long-baseline neutrino physics (DUNE) and is the first detector in the short-baseline neutrino program at Fermilab. A major physics goals of the experiment is to probe the source of the anomalous excess of electron-like events in MiniBooNE/LSND with improved detection capabilities. In addition, MicroBooNE has an extensive cross section physics program that will improve current models on neutrino-nucleus interactions, especially nuclear effects in argon, and decrease systematic errors in the oscillation program. This colloquium introduces the detector & performance of MicroBooNE and summarizes the status of MicroBooNE's neutrino cross section analyses.
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Mon04Mar20194:00 pmNCPA Auditorium
Jonathan Eisch
Department of Physics & Astronomy
Iowa State UniversityReviving the Poltergeist: Bringing Water-Based Neutrino Experiments into the Precision Era with Efficient Neutron Detection
Advances in water-based neutrino-detection technology are setting the stage for a new generation of detectors to answer questions about the nature of matter in the universe and to make our world a safer place. Leading the way in these new technologies is the Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE) at Fermilab. ANNIE will revisit the use of neutron capturing salts, pioneered in the first experiment to detect the neutrino, to detect the number of neutrons produced in GeV-scale neutrino interactions. This measurement, the first on a neutrino beam, will help push future neutrino-oscillation experiments into the precision era by separating quasi-elastic charged-current interactions from more complicated many-body neutrino interactions and thus improving the models of neutron production in neutrino interactions. The WATCHMAN experiment, under construction in the UK, will use the same technology at a much larger scale to demonstrate the ability to remotely monitor nuclear reactors from tens of kilometers away. This demonstration will enable remote reactor monitoring to be a part of future nuclear nonproliferation treaties. In this talk, I will describe the ANNIE and WATCHMAN experiments along with their impacts on detector technology development toward future large multipurpose neutrino detectors like Theia.
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Tue05Mar20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Gavin Davies
Department of Physics
Indiana UniversityThe Wonderful World of Neutrino Oscillations
In 1998 it was discovered that neutrinos oscillate and have mass which led to the award of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics. That discovery generated a global campaign to better understand neutrino properties using oscillations of neutrinos produced in the Sun, in the atmosphere, at reactors, and by accelerators. The community has learned much but several important questions remain such as: Which neutrino is heaviest? Do neutrinos break the symmetry between matter and antimatter? Are there more than three neutrino types?
In my talk, I will introduce neutrinos and the questions surrounding them, their chameleon-like flavor-changing behavior, and the experiments that hunt for them including the leading-edge, international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.
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Wed06Mar201912:00 pmLewis Hall 104
Kevin Lin
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiKevin Lin will host a workshop on COMSOL Multiphysics - A Finite Element Software
A message from Kevin: "COMSOL has become an essential simulation package that is widely used in both the industry and academia research. I'll first introduce the basic and tricks of COMSOL, and then I'll show some case studies I've done in Dr. Mobley's Ultrasonic group. We currently looking for grads to join our group. This will also be a good chance to get to know the variety of projects we do."
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Thu07Mar20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Jingbo Wang
Department of Physics
University of California — DavisExploring the Neutrino Physics with the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment
One of the biggest surprises in particle physics is that the neutrinos have mass, which was discovered by the neutrino oscillation experiments. This fundamental property of neutrinos leads to some new questions. What is the ordering of the neutrino mass states? Do the neutrinos violate the matter/antimatter symmetry? What characteristics does the neutrino mixing matrix have? The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) will address these questions with the high-precision Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) technology. In this talk, I will give a brief overview of neutrino oscillations, then describe DUNE and its physics programs. I will also talk about the Pulsed Neutron Source as a newly proposed calibration technique for liquid argon TPCs. The precision measurements of the neutrinos will open a window to new physics beyond the standard model. The future and prospects will be discussed.
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Sun17Mar20197:30 pmKennon Observatory
We are offering astronomy open houses and viewings with our telescopes:
We plan to observe the Moon, Mars and Uranus, nebulae and star clusters though our telescopes. All these events are weather permitting. Admission is free.
Children are welcome!See this page for the full schedule.
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Tue19Mar20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Xiaobo Chao
National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering
University of MississippiThree Dimensional Numerical Modeling of Temperature Distribution in a High Dam Reservoir with the Effect of Channel Curvature on Mekong River
A three dimensional numerical model has been developed to simulate the flow circulation as well as temperature distribution in a high dam reservoir with the effect of channel curvature. In the model, the density induced buoyant force on the turbulent flow is considered. This “buoyancy-extended version of k-ε model” is used for turbulence closure, and the flow velocity and temperature distribution are simulated simultaneously. The model was first validated using a laboratory case of turbulent buoyant flow in a curved open channel. The secondary flow circulation in the curved channel was simulated and the temperature distribution in the channel was validated using experimental data. The model was then applied to simulate the flow and temperature distribution in Xiaowan Reservoir, a high dam reservoir on Mekong River, with deep water depth and curvature affect. The numerical results are generally in good agreement with field observations. The thermal stratification, temperature distribution in the reservoir and the effect of channel curvature on the temperature distribution are discussed.
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Tue19Mar20196:00 pmUptown Coffee, 265 North Lamar Blvd, Oxford, Mississippi
Dr. Ryan C. Fortenberry,
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry,
University of MississippiThe Alien Molecules of Space
Molecules float around everywhere even in the “vacuum” of space. These same little tiny pieces of everything that make up our bodies, our planet, and the air we breathe are actually also floating around between planets, around stars, and even are spread in between galaxies. Some of these molecules are familiar to us like water, methanol, and carbon dioxide. However, some are strange like protonated N2, the wing-shaped C3H2, individual salt molecules, and even one with a noble gas atom in ArH+. Some even might be the building blocks of molecules which could go on to make up our muscles, cells, and DNA. These molecules both foreign and familiar are lurking in the depths of space even when we think nothing is there. This talk will describe what molecules are present in space, how they have been detected, and what that means for us here on Earth.
Dr. Nikki Reinemann
Department of Chemical Engineering
University of MississippiMolecular Motors: Driving Life at the Nanoscale
Molecules and their actions are the basis of life. Even our seemingly large-scale movements, such as walking or breathing, are powered by tiny protein machines known as molecular motors. Motor proteins are powered by a chemical fuel called ATP, just as our cars are powered by gasoline. The fuel allows the motor to make structural changes that facilitate movement within the cell and the body. The motors can transport essential cargo in the body, power cell translocation, drive cell division, and when combined together, allow organisms to move. Defects in these proteins are the basis of many diseases. At the same time, due to their essential nature, molecular motors are also drug targets to stop cancerous cell growth. Research in the Reinemann lab focuses on understanding the behavior of motor proteins at the single molecule and cellular system level using a method called optical trapping. This talk will describe specific functions of molecular motor proteins in life and disease, their behavior on the nanoscale, and methods to study them as single molecules.
See this page for details.
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Wed20Mar201912:00 pmLewis Hall 104
Dr. Luca Bombelli
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiOur speaker, Dr. Bombelli will host a valuable workshop on SCIENTIFIC WRITING.Dr. Bombelli is willing to discuss the basic guidelines which are useful to write more impact full manuscripts, technical reports and dissertation. And also he will address some scientific writing tools like Latex. -
Sat23Mar20199:50 amHilbun Hall, Mississippi State University
4th UM-MSU Joint Physics Research Symposium
The Mississippi State PGSA is pleased to announce the 4th UM-MSU Research Symposium, to take place on March 23, 2019. This event will bring together undergraduate and graduate students from Mississippi State University (MSU) and University of Mississippi (UM) in order to promote the interaction and exchange of ideas between the participants.
The Symposium will consist of both Oral and Poster presentations. Both presentation styles are available to all participants. This event is open to Graduate students, Undergraduate students, post-docs and other staff, as well as faculty affiliated with either UM or MSU. Topics will be based on all areas of physics which are available at either institution, including AMO, Nuclear, Theoretical/Computational, Condenses Matter, Acoustics, and more.
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Tue02Apr20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Jason Fry
Department of Physics
University of VirginiaPrecision Fundamental Symmetry Measurements With Cold Neutrons
The neutron can be used as a powerful tool to study a wide range of phenomena through many disciplines of physics. In particular, cold neutrons are utilized in condensed matter, nuclear, and particle physics with deep connections to cosmology. The free neutron has a slightly larger mass than the proton leading to far reaching implications. How long a free neutron lives determines how the light elements formed in the early universe. The kinematics of neutron decay give us insight into how quarks mix in the weak interaction. Additionally, as a neutral particle, neutrons can penetrate deeply into nucleons to further our understanding of how the strong and weak interaction mix at the smallest scales. In this talk, I will discuss the neutron physics experiments carried out and planned on the Fundamental Neutron Physics Beamline (FNPB) at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Lab. The NPDGamma experiment, the first experiment on the FNPB, studied the most fundamental process in the Hadronic Weak Interaction (HWI) and the results set the best constraint for future investigation of the HWI. Currently we are commissioning the Nab experiment on FNPB which will make precise measurements of the electron neutrino correlation parameter "a" and the Fierz interference term "b" in unpolarized neutron beta decay. These results will lead to a new, precise, independent determination of the ratio λ = GA/GV that will sensitively test CKM unitarity.
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Wed03Apr201912:00 pmLewis Hall 104
Anil Panta
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiGrid Computing at Belle II
The Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB accelerator, an asymmetric e+e- collider in Tsukuba, Japan, are major upgrades of the Belle detector and KEKB accelerator. The goal for the SuperKEKB accelerator is to reach an instantaneous luminosity of 8 × 1035 cm−2 s−1 , about 40 times the world-record peak luminosity of KEKB. At its peak, the Belle II detector will see a data rate of about 1.8 GB/s. The ultimate goal of the experiment is to collect a data sample of 50/ab, which corresponds to a data size on the order of a few hundred PB. In order to cope with the ever increasing data sample, Belle II has adopted grid based computing, as opposed to centralized computing at KEK alone for Belle. I will introduce the grid structure with its functionality and the software framework for distributed computing at Belle II.
Huu Do
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiFractional Quantum Hall Effect: is that Electron’s Quark?
This talk, I present a counter-intuitive and bizarre phenomenon: fractional quantum Hall effect. This effect is resulted in the correlation between electrons in the two dimensional (2D) system creating a new quasiparticle with its charge smaller than electron one. First, I will describe the long history of classical Hall effect - integer quantum Hall effect - fractional quantum Hall effect in the phenomenological point of view. I will briefly show the conditions for and how they could measure quantum Hall effects that are recognized as two Nobel prizes by Klaus von Klitzing (1985), and Robert B. Laughlin, Horst L. Stommer, and Daniel C. Tsui (1998). Second, one of the most interesting idea for me is the distinguish properties of quantum 2D electron system (“featureless liquid”) from classical one (“charged electron gas”). Lastly, I will introduce about the concept of composite particles that include electrons and quantum flux particles (generated by the magnetic field in two-dimensional electron system), and the intrinsic transition between fermion-boson-fermion occured in the fractional quantum Hall effect. The contents of my presentation is summarized in the publication at the Review Modern Physics journal: “Nobel Lecture: the fractional quantum Hall effect” by Horst L. Stormer.
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Tue09Apr20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Glenn M. Walker
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of MississippiMicrofluidics: Thinking Small to Improve Biological Research
Microfluidics is the study of fluid behavior at micrometer length scales and the development of devices that leverage microscale fluid phenomena. A major focus of the field has been on solving problems in biology since biological cells typically range in size from 1–20 micrometers and are difficult to manipulate with traditional instruments. Researchers have been able to exploit the manipulation of fluid volumes down to the picoliter to enable biological experiments that were previously impossible. This talk will cover some of the microscale phenomena that become dominant at micrometer lengths and also show examples of enabling biological experiments. Research from our lab on high throughput screening and cancer cell hypoxia will also be presented.
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Wed10Apr201912:00 pmLewis Hall 104
Dr. Likun Zhang
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiLow-gravity Fluid Dynamics and NASA Mission, and a NASA Fellowship Opportunity for Graduate Students
Opportunities to work in Dr. Zhang's group on research relevant to NASA will be discussed.
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Sun14Apr20198:00 pmKennon Observatory
We are offering astronomy open houses and viewings with our telescopes:
We plan to observe the Moon, nebulae and star clusters though our telescopes. All these events are weather permitting. Admission is free.
Children are welcome!See this page for the full schedule.
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Tue16Apr20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Saeed Kamali
Department of Physics and Astronoimy
University of MississippiNew Physics in Inclusive B → Xc τ ντ Decays in Light of R(D*) Measurements
Kevin Lin
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiDevelopment of Vibrational Metrics for Internal Damage Scenarios of a Scaled Transnuclear-32 Dry Storage Cask for Spent Nuclear Fuel
The assessment of the internal structural integrity of dry storage casks for used high burnup nuclear fuel assemblies is of critical importance before transporting these to permanent repositories. The large size and structural complexity of the Transnuclear-32 (TN-32) cask as well as the inability to access its interior make this a challenging task. To address these difficulties, we use an active acoustics approach to develop metrics that are sensitive to the internal configuration of these casks. A 6:1 scaled model of the TN-32 cask was constructed in order to study internal configuration of the fuel assemblies including various damage scenarios. The vibration modes were verified in Finite Element simulations. Each mock-up fuel assembly consists of bundled steel rods, and their structural failure is mimicked by steel shot of equal weight. This talk will report the amplitude- and phase-based active acoustics metrics we developed to characterize different levels of internal damage. Our studies indicate that vibrometric signatures of various internal conditions can be measured using sources and sensors mounted on the exterior shell. Our current methodology is sensitive enough to detect structural failures at the single fuel assembly level.
Robert Lirette
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiDroplet Extraction and Manipulation at a Fluid Interface Using Fraxicon Modified Ultrasound
Ultrasound focused at a fluid-fluid boundary creates an acoustic radiation pressure on the boundary that is dependent on the incident energy density and the relative density and sound speed of each fluid. For different fluid combinations this radiation pressure can either be positive or negative. For this study ultrasound propagating from water to carbon tetrachloride was used to create a negative radiation pressure at the interface. This fluid combination is impedance matched eliminating reflections and heating effects at the boundary. A fraxicon phase plate lens is a low profile analog of an axicon and generates an approximate Bessel beam in the far field. The near field exhibits a complex diffraction pattern including shadow zones capable of acoustic trapping. Starting with a planar interface, we demonstrate the extraction, capture, and manipulation of a carbon tetrachloride droplet. The negative radiation pressure draws the carbon tetrachloride surface up into the water, eventually breaking a droplet free. The trapped droplet is then transported through the water by moving the transducer.
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Wed17Apr201912:00 pmLewis Hall 104
Dr. Kevin Beach
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiGitHub Workshop - Managing Shared Physics Projects with Git
Originally developed by Linus Torvalds to organize the development of the Linux kernel, git has become a popular tool for version control and collaboration. Unlike comparable tools (e.g., subversion), it doesn't rely on a central repository or require that participants lock files during editing. Instead, the files are distributed, with each editor working from her own copy of the repository and having
responsibility for merging changes when conflicts arise.Even for a single author working alone (no collaboration), git can help by tracking file changes and keeping files up-to-date across multiple computers. This is useful if you want to roll back to earlier versions of a project. And it's very convenient if you split your time between work and home computers.
Git is quite efficient. Changes are stored as diffs (differences between adjacent versions of each file). And it is very flexible. The system is file-type agnostic, and is just as good at tracking a dissertation document as it is tracking source code. In this talk/workshop, I will show how to set up a repository and to carry out basic git operations from the command line. I will give examples of an integrated workflow
(consistent with best practices for data provenance) that keeps source files, data, batch scripts, and manuscripts in one place. -
Wed24Apr20194:15 pmLewis Hall 109
You are invited to attend Robert Lirette's Ph.D. dissertation defense at 4:15 PM on Wednesday, April 24 in 109 Lewis Hall.
The dissertation title is: "Acoustic Radiation Force on a Fluid to Fluid Boundary by Phase Plate Focused Ultrasound". -
Thu25Apr201910:00 amLewis Hall 204
You are invited to attend Shrobana Ghosh's Ph.D. dissertation defense at 10:00 AM on Thursday, April 25 in 204 Lewis Hall.
The dissertation title is: "Gravitational Radiation from Superradiant Instabilities of Rotating Black Holes." -
Thu25Apr20192:30 pmLewis Hall 228
You are invited to attend Sampath Bandara's Ph.D. dissertation defense at 2:30 PM on Thursday, April 25 in 228 Lewis Hall.
The dissertation title is: “Investigation Of Narrow Bipolar Events In Mississippi Thunderstorms." -
Tue30Apr20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Roger Waxler
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiInfrasound Generation and Propagation in the Earth's Atmosphere
The term infrasound is applied to low frequency sound in the atmosphere, generally below the limit of human hearing. The frequencies of interest in our research range from 10 Hz down to as low as 0.001 Hz, corresponding to periods of 0.1 to 1000 seconds. Such signals tend to be geophysical in nature, propagating globally and generated by large, violent events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and large detonations. Their propagation depends critically on large scale temperature and wind velocity gradients. These produce a variety of acoustic ducts in the atmosphere. These are asymmetric with respect to azimuth and interact with each other. They are also spatially and temporally varying, with small scale fluctuations on top of diurnal and seasonal cycles. An overview of sources, generation and propagation of infrasound in the atmosphere will be presented.
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Fri10May20193:00 pmLewis Hall 109
The 2019 induction ceremony for the National Physics Honors Society, ΣΠΣ will take place on May 10 at 3:00 PM in room 109 in Lewis Hall.
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Sat11May201911:30 amLewis Hall, Room 104
You are invited to a buffet luncheon Honoring our 2019 Physics Graduates. It will take place in room 104 Lewis Hall from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM.
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Sun12May20198:00 pmKennon Observatory
We are offering astronomy open houses and viewings with our telescopes:
We plan to observe the Moon, nebulae and star clusters though our telescopes. All these events are weather permitting. Admission is free.
Children are welcome!See this page for the full schedule.
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Sun09Jun20198:30 pmKennon Observatory
We are offering astronomy open houses and viewings with our telescopes:
We plan to observe the Moon, double stars, and Jupiter just before closing though our telescopes. All these events are weather permitting. Admission is free.
Children are welcome!See this page for the full schedule.
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Sun07Jul20198:30 pmKennon Observatory
We are offering astronomy open houses and viewings with our telescopes:
We plan to observe the Moon, double stars, Jupiter, and Saturn though our telescopes. All these events are weather permitting. Admission is free.
Children are welcome!See this page for the full schedule.
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Sun11Aug20198:00 pmKennon Observatory
We are offering astronomy open houses and viewings with our telescopes:
We plan to observe the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, nebulae and star clusters though our telescopes. All these events are weather permitting. Admission is free.
Children are welcome!See this page for the full schedule.
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Sun11Aug20198:00 pmKennon Observatory
We are offering astronomy open houses and viewings with our telescopes:
We plan to observe the Moon, double stars, Jupiter, and Saturn though our telescopes. All these events are weather permitting. Admission is free.
Children are welcome!See this page for the full schedule.
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Tue03Sep20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Bhubanjyoti Bhattacharya
Department of Natural Sciences
Lawrence Technological UniversityCP Violation in the Precision Era
Anomalies in recent data present strong hints of physics beyond the Standard Model. Several new physics models, among them vector bosons and leptoquarks, have proven to be viable candidates in light of the data. Intensity frontier experiments will soon test many of these models through precision measurements of low-energy observables. In this talk I will present a subset of recent measurements that come with a hint of new physics. I will present proposals for testing and distinguishing between some of the popular new physics models, by using CP violating observables.
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Sun08Sep20197:30 pmKennon Observatory
We are offering astronomy open houses and viewings with our telescopes:
We plan to observe the Moon, double stars, Jupiter, and Saturn though our telescopes. All these events are weather permitting. Admission is free.
Children are welcome!See this page for the full schedule.
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Tue17Sep20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Department Students
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiReports on Summer Research
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Tue17Sep20196:00 pmUptown Coffee, 265 North Lamar Blvd, Oxford, Mississippi
Dr. Jake Bennett,
Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of MississippiSearching for New Particles with the Belle II Detector
At its heart, experimental physics is concerned with explaining the world around us through the careful acquisition and study of information. My particular field, experimental elementary particle physics, is focused on understanding the universe at its most basic level by studying the fundamental building blocks of matter. These subatomic particles interact with each other in complex and sometimes very strange ways that make a qualitative description of them rather challenging. Scientific collaborations made up of physicists and engineers from all over the world are dedicated to building massive detectors with which to study subatomic particles and their interactions. One of the most anticipated of these projects is the Belle II experiment, which started taking data last year at the KEK national accelerator facility in Tsukuba, Japan. Belle II is designed to record massive amounts of data to allow physicists to study highly suppressed reactions that may give clues to new particles and interactions beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. I will introduce some of the basic concepts of particle physics, including how we gather information, and discuss a few of its more exotic aspects.
See this page for details.
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Tue24Sep20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Carl Jensen
Transducer Technology Group
Bose CorporationSound Reproduction and Loudspeaker Structural Modes
Many familiar sources of sound involve vibrating structures like a piano sound board, an acoustic guitar's body, drums, and all kinds of vibrating machinery. Similarly, almost all technologies for mechanically producing sound also work by exciting some kind of vibrating structure as well, but, in sound reproduction, the goal is to recreate the original recording as accurately as possible. So the fact that all vibrating structures exhibit modal behavior can be good or bad: the diversity and excitation of modes in musical instruments lends them their unique sonic qualities and richness, but these same characteristics are very much unwanted in a loudspeaker meant for accurate reproduction. In this presentation, I'll discuss some of the principles of sound reproduction and perception as well as laying out how we can use computer simulations to untangle the complex acoustic behavior of these modes to understand their behavior and make better sounding loudspeakers.
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Tue01Oct20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Michel Villanueva
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiSearches of New Physics with the Belle II Experiment
Despite the large success shown by the Standard Model of Elementary Particles describing subatomic processes, there are still many open questions in nature that cannot be explained by the Standard Model. Solving the issues faced by the Standard Model requires the introduction of new particles or interactions, which, if they exist, can be observed as deviations from the predictions of suppressed or forbidden processes. The Belle II experiment will play a critical role in searches for new physics at the "intensity frontier". First collisions took place in 2018 at the new SuperKEKB accelerator, which is expected to operate for the next decade, collecting 50 times more data than the previous generation of experiments of this kind. In this talk, the data production and physics programs of the Belle II experiment are presented, in which the High Energy Physics group of the University of Mississippi contributes to key roles. Of particular interest in my research are decays of the tau lepton, which provide a clean environment to the study of QCD related processes.
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Sun06Oct20197:00 pmKennon Observatory
We are offering astronomy open houses and viewings with our telescopes:
We plan to observe the Moon, double stars, Jupiter, and Saturn though our telescopes. All these events are weather permitting. Admission is free.
Children are welcome!See this page for the full schedule.
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Tue08Oct20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Tomas Galvez
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiQuantum Cosmology and Sound Waves in the Early Universe
In this talk, we will review some of the conundrums of standard big bang cosmology and a few proposals designed to circumvent them. To do so, we study the quantum origin of perturbations in a perfect (or imperfect) fluid and show some useful techniques to calculate their corresponding two-point correlators. Our objective is to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the existing methods to evaluate primordial power spectra of scalar and tensor fluctuations, and therefore provide solid observational constraints. Our approach is to rewrite all the relevant equations of motion in terms of slowly varying quantities, which is important to consider the contribution from high-frequency modes to the spectrum without affecting computational performance. We do not require additional approximations to reproduce all the features in the power spectrum for each specific early universe model.
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Tue15Oct20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Department Students
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiReports on Summer Research
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Tue15Oct20196:00 pmUptown Coffee, 265 North Lamar Blvd, Oxford, Mississippi
Dr. James Cizdziel
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry,
University of MississippiMicroplastic Pollution: What’s the BIG deal?
Plastics are everywhere! We are living in an age of plastics, much like the Bronze and Iron Ages. Whereas plastics are cheap and useful, they are also carelessly discarded and mismanaged. Unfortunately, this has resulted in widespread plastic pollution, including the infamous ocean garbage patches. Worse, plastics degrade by UV-radiation, microorganisms, and mechanical action (e.g. waves), yielding smaller and smaller particles called micro- and nano-plastics. These small plastic particles accumulate in the food chain and have even been detected in rain! They also accumulate contaminants, including toxic heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, and pathogens. I will introduce microplastics as an emerging global pollutant, discuss its sources and impacts, and highlight potential solutions and things we all can do to reduce plastic waste.
See this page for details.
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Tue22Oct20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
David Craig
Department of Chemistry and Physics
West Texas A&M UniversityFrom Astronomy to Acoustics and Back Again Through Undergraduate Research
After earning my PhD in physical acoustics at Ole Miss and a number of years at institutions almost exclusively devoted to teaching, I returned to active research by joining a team of astrophysicists working on projects that emphasize undergraduate research in observational cosmology. I will discuss the ways undergraduates have been involved in cutting-edge research via this team approach and overview the science behind the projects.
Our emphasis has been on HI (21 cm) radio surveys of nearby galaxies. These include the completed ALFALFA blind survey of the nearby universe, and the current targeted Arecibo Pisces-Perseus Supercluster Survey (APPSS) which attempts to detect dark matter-driven infall of galaxies onto a nearby supercluster filament. I will include a discussion of the observing strategies and the planned use of the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation to separate the effects of cosmic expansion and local peculiar velocities using Bayesian statistical methods.
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Tue29Oct20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Department Students
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiReports on Summer Research
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Fri01Nov20197:00 pmLewis Hall
Frights, food and fun are the order of the evening when the University of Mississippi Department of Physics and Astronomy presents "Spooky Physics Demonstrations" from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday (Nov. 1) in Lewis Hall.
The program will include a stage show at 8 p.m. Hands-on activities for the public through the evening include freezing objects in liquid nitrogen (at minus 320 degrees), generating sound waves with Bunsen burners and tubes, and levitating magnets with superconductors. Other fun presentations include optical illusions with mirrors, a Van de Graaff generator (a literally “hair-raising” electrical device), a bed of nails and other contraptions.
Physics department personnel also will prepare ice cream with liquid nitrogen and award prizes for the most original, scariest and cutest costumes to kids aged 12 and under.
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Sun03Nov20195:15 pmKennon Observatory
We are offering astronomy open houses and viewings with our telescopes:
We plan to observe the Moon, double stars, and Saturn though our telescopes. All these events are weather permitting. Admission is free.
Children are welcome!See this page for the full schedule.
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Tue05Nov20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Logan S. Marcus
Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Chemical and Biological Defense
ANSER, Inc.Careers in Science Outside of Academia
There is generational change in the way that scientists must approach their careers after graduating. According to Science Magazine, “…for U.S. science and engineering Ph.D.s, private sector employment (42%) is now nearly on par with educational institutions (43%).” Graduating students must be prepared to enter a job market that includes opportunities beyond traditional academic careers. In this presentation, I will discuss some of the many options for careers in science that are outside of the traditional academic path. I will explore example careers, offer advice to students on how to prepare themselves for those careers, and discuss skills that the University can emphasize to equip graduates before they leave Ole Miss.
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Mon11Nov20199:00 amKennon ObservatoryMercury passes in front of the Sun on Nov. 11. The event takes a few hours in the morning. Mercury appears as a small dot ‘inside’ the disk of the Sun, visible through telescopes only. Such transit happens once in decade, on the average; next one is Nov. 13, 2032.We are offering a view with our telescopes in Kennon Observatory. The event is from 9:00 - 12:00 PM. In case the sky is cloudy, no observations can be made and the event will have to be canceled.Admission is free, families and children are welcome.
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Tue12Nov20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Annemarie Exarhos
Department of Physics
Lafayette CollegeA Path Toward Spin-Based Quantum Technologies — Creating, Controlling, and Characterizing Quantum Emission
Optically-active point defects in wide-bandgap semiconductors are the basis for rapidly expanding quantum technologies in nanoscale sensing and quantum information processing. Most research has focused on three-dimensional host materials such as diamond and silicon carbide, where quantum mechanical spin states can be optically addressed. In recent years, the two-dimensional van der Waals material hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has emerged as a robust host for bright, stable, room-temperature quantum emitters (QEs). However, many questions persist regarding the chemical and electronic structure of the defects responsible for emission as well as the potential role of spin-related effects. Significantly complicating the identification of these QEs is the heterogeneity of optical and magnetic characteristics observed.
I will discuss work regarding our studies of the optical and magnetic properties of QEs in hBN films, characterized via confocal fluorescence microscopy. In particular, I will report on our recent observations of magnetic-field dependent emission in some QEs that, if able to be well-isolated and controlled, could enable the realization of spin-based quantum technologies using low-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures.
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Tue19Nov20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Dr. Stuart Loch
College of Sciences and Mathematics
Auburn UniversitySpectroscopy of Laboratory and Astrophysical Plasmas: Applications for Fusion Plasmas, Merging Neutron Stars, and Planetary Nebulae
Plasmas are hot, ionized gases and are often called the fourth state of matter. Plasmas make up most of the observable Universe and laboratory plasmas have a wide range of research applications. Diagnosing the properties of plasmas presents a particular challenge, due to their temperatures and in the case of astrophysical plasmas, the large distances to the objects. Plasma spectroscopy represents a non-invasive method of diagnosing important plasma properties such as temperatures, densities, and elemental compositions. An overview is given of three research projects, involving the use of quantum mechanics calculations for diagnosis of laboratory plasmas. The projects involve measuring wall erosion rates from fusion plasma experiments, investigating the spectral emission from elements made in neutron star mergers, and the confirmation of a new atomic process found in planetary nebulae.
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Tue19Nov20196:00 pmUptown Coffee, 265 North Lamar Blvd, Oxford, Mississippi
Dr. Susan Balenger
Department of Biology,
University of MississippiThe Silence of the Crickets: Rapid, Repeated Loss of Sexual Signals in Hawaii
Charles Darwin was convinced that biological evolution only occurred over long geologic timespans. More recently, though, researchers have been watching and documenting evolutionary changes happening over human timescales. Dr. Susan Balenger studies one particularly dramatic example of rapid evolution amongst wild populations of field crickets on the islands of Hawaii: following the introduction of a parasitic fly, local male crickets lost their ability to chirp. Unfortunately for these males, chirping is how they attract mates. And all of this happened in less than 5 years - the blink of an eye in evolutionary terms. Dr. Balenger will discuss how and why interactions between these species could produce silent crickets, the ways that cricket mating behaviors have subsequently changed, and what it is like to watch evolution in action.
See this page for details.
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Tue03Dec20194:00 pmLewis Hall 101
Jake Bennett, Roger Waxler, and Gavin Davies
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of MississippiDepartmental Research
There will be a brief report on some of the fields of research by our department. It will consist of the following:
Jake Bennet: Belle II
Roger Waxler: Infrasound
Gavin Davies: NOνa/Dune -
Sun08Dec20195:00 pmKennon Observatory
We are offering astronomy open houses and viewings with our telescopes:
We plan to observe the Moon, double stars, and Saturn though our telescopes. All these events are weather permitting. Admission is free.
Children are welcome!See this page for the full schedule.