UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Brooke Simmons, University of California, San Diego "Illuminating the Growth of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes" Galaxy growth and evolution may be broadly categorized as either driven by galaxy-galaxy collisions/mergers, or merger-free. Merger-free processes are … Read more

UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Daniel Scolnic, University of Chicago "Measuring Dark Energy with Supernovae and Kilonovae" The next decade will be the golden age of cosmology with transients. In this talk, I will present new analyses of Type Ia … Read more

UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Matt Bayliss, Massachusetts Institute of Technology "Gravitational Lensing In the Era of Survey Science" Since the advent of large-area, high-quality astronomical surveys strong gravitational lensing has transitioned from a small-N to a large-N discipline. Galaxy … Read more

UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Brad Barlow, High Point University "Exploring Peculiar Events in Stellar Evolution Using the Enigmatic Hot Subdwarf Stars" The lesser-known hot subdwarf stars represent one of the least-understood stages of stellar evolution. Theory shows these core … Read more

UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Andrew Mann, Columbia University "Tracing Planetary Evolution from Infancy to Maturity" Planets are not born in their final state; before reaching a more mature and stable phase, young planets are significantly altered and reshaped by … Read more

UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Eduard Chekmenev, Vanderbilt University "Hyperpolarized NMR Contrast Agents for Molecular Imaging" The significant (usually orders-of-magnitude) increase in nuclear spin polarization above the thermal-equilibrium level is called hyperpolarization. Because the NMR signal is directly proportional to … Read more

UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Alfred Shapere, University of Kentucky "The Many Facets of Time Crystals" Time crystals are systems that exhibit spontaneous breaking of time translation symmetry, analogously to ordinary crystals, which break space translation symmetry. Unlike space crystals, … Read more

UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Jennifer Blue, Miami University "Studying Gender in Physics Education Research: Beyond the Binary" Much work in physics education research, including much of my own, has examined differences in preparation, persistence, and performance between male and … Read more

UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Graciela Gelmini, University of California, Los Angeles "Status and Outlook of Direct Dark Matter Detection" What the dark matter, the dominant form of matter in the Universe, consists of is one of the major fundamental open … Read more

UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium John Thompson, University of Maine "Investigating student understanding at the physics-mathematics interface" Because learning physics concepts often requires the ability to construct, interpret, and manipulate mathematical representations and formalism (e.g., equations, graphs, and diagrams), researchers … Read more