Seminars

Upcoming Seminars



Astronomy Seminar: "Understanding the Cosmological Evolution of Galaxies with Intensity Mapping"

Jason Sun (Caltech)
- See Zoom link below

The intensity mapping (IM) technique has been devised as a powerful tool to investigate the large scale structure and galaxies, alternative and complementary to the more traditional means relying on…



Condensed and Living Matter Seminar: "How flows shape life"

Karen Alim (Technical University of Munich)
- See Zoom link below

Vascular networks constantly reorganize to optimize function. Some veins grow, others shrink and disappear. How can a local adaptation mechanism account for the plethora of vein dynamics observed? Here,…



Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: "TBA"

Arnold Mathijssen (University of Pennsylvania)
- See Zoom link below


Condensed and Living Matter Seminar: "Topological Defects in Smectic Liquid Crystals: Applied Measured Foliations"

Randy Kamien (University of Pennsylvania)
- DRL A4

Smectic liquid crystals are layered systems that abound in nature.  I will introduce these materials and show how the long-lived, topologically protected

…



Primakoff Lecture

Juan Maldacena (Institute for Advanced Study)
- See Zoom link below

Past Seminars



Condensed and Living Matter Seminar: "Photo-induced Phase Transitions in Charge Density Waves"

Nuh Gedik (MIT)
- See Zoom link below

Upon excitation with an intense laser pulse, materials can undergo a non-equilibrium phase transition through pathways different from those in thermal equilibrium. The mechanism underlying these…



Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: "Lucy - the First to the Trojans"

Harold F. Levison (Southwest Research Institute)
- See Zoom link below

I will discuss NASA's Lucy mission.  Lucy, selected as part of NASA's Discovery Program, is the first reconnaissance of the Jupiter Trojans, objects that hold vital clues to…



Rittenhouse Lecture: "Galaxy evolution and cosmology via the 21 cm line of atomic hydrogen"

Martha Haynes (Cornell University)
- See Zoom link below

The 21 cm line of atomic hydrogen (HI) provides a powerful probe of the cool-to-warm interstellar gas in galaxies. Virtually all star-forming galaxies contain a cool neutral component…



Condensed and Living Matter Seminar: "Physical Computation in Insect Swarms"

Orit Peleg, University of Colorado
- See Zoom link below

Our world is full of living creatures that must share information to survive and reproduce. As humans, we easily forget how hard it is to communicate within natural environments. So how do organisms solve…



Condensed and Living Matter Seminar: "Postpandemic Tool for Quantum Materials (and vice-versa)"

Ken Burch, Boston College

Nov 17, 2021 - Nov 21, 2021 at - David Rittenhouse Laboratory, A8

Raman scattering, invented at the end of the last pandemic, can provide a wealth of information on the fractional, magnetic, lattice and charge excitations at the heart of quantum materials and devices.…