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 Masters Defense John Dupuy "Mass inflow in barred spiral galaxies" We seek to explore the effects of mass inflow on barred spiral galaxies. We use a logarithmically spaced cylindrical grid to simulate gas flow in a barred … 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 Astronomy Journal Club Jeffrey Cummings, John Hopkins University "White Dwarfs in Star Clusters: The Initial-Final Mass Relation for Stars from 0.85 to 8 Solar Masses" The spectroscopic study of white dwarfs provides both their mass, cooling age, and intrinsic … 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
UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy PhD Defense Chris Frazer “Gas Dynamics and Star Formation near Supermassive Black Holes” The existence of young stars in the central parsec of the Milky Way’s Galactic Center (GC) is challenging to explain due to the … Read more
Physics and Astronomy PhD Defense Erik Dennihy "Explorations of the Remnant Exoplanetary Debris Disks Around White Dwarf Stars" Always amenable to modern astrophysical needs, white dwarf stars have recently been pressed into service of exoplanet studies as rocky exoplanetary abundance … Read more
UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Stephon Alexander, Brown University "The Jazz of Physics: The Link Between Music and The Structure of the Universe" In this talk Alexander revisits the ancient interconnection between music and the evolution of astrophysics and the … Read more