Astronomy Seminar: Andromeda as a Stepping Stone to the Local Volume: Chemodynamics of Extragalactic Streams and Shells
Massive galaxies like the Milky Way and Andromeda (M31) form in part from the accretion of less massive galaxies. The chemical and dynamical properties of disrupted galaxies, in the form of streams and…
Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: "The synergy of biophysics and active materials"
Arnold Mathijssen (University of Pennsylvania)
Understanding the physics of living systems allows us to design new materials that are active and adaptive, akin to cells and tissues. Conversely, these active matter systems can reveal…
High Energy seminar: "Harnessing S-duality in N=4 SYM and in gravity"
Scott Collier (Princeton University)
I will describe an approach to extracting the physical consequences of S-duality of four-dimensional N = 4 super Yang-Mills (SYM) and its string theory dual based on SL(2,Z) spectral theory. I will…
Condensed and Living Matter Seminar: "How flows shape life"
Karen Alim (Technical University of Munich)
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,…
Astronomy Seminar: "Understanding the Cosmological Evolution of Galaxies with Intensity Mapping"
Jason Sun (Caltech)
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…
HET Seminar: Comments on wormholes and factorization
Justin Kaidi (Stonybrook University)
I will introduce a class of non-invertible topological defects in (3+1)d gauge theories whose fusion rules are the higher-dimensional analogs of those of the Kramers-Wannier defect in the (1+1)d…
Condensed and Living Matter Seminar: "Photo-induced Phase Transitions in Charge Density Waves"
Nuh Gedik (MIT)
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…
HET Seminar: Infrared Finite Scattering Theory in QFT and Quantum Gravity
Gautam Satishchandran (University of Chicago)
A long standing problem in QFT and quantum gravity is the construction of an “IR”-finite S-matrix. In the gravitational case, the existence of these “infrared divergences” is intimately tied to the…
Physics and Astronomy Colloquium: "Lucy - the First to the Trojans"
Harold F. Levison (Southwest Research Institute)
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…