UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Virginia Kilborn, Swinburne University “Tracing the gaseous surrounds of galaxies” Observations of the neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) component of galaxies is a powerful mechanism to probe the physical properties of galaxies in the nearby Universe. … Read more
Polanyi Lecture David Albert, Columbia University “The Problem of the Direction of Time” Our everyday experience of being in the world is swarming with vivid and obvious and innumerable distinctions between the past and the future. Paper burns but never … Read more
CoSMS Colloquium Virginia Kilborn, Swinburne University “Unveiling the unseen Universe” Atomic hydrogen gas is one of the main components in a galaxy like our own Milky Way – but we can’t see it when we gaze into the night sky. … Read more
UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium David Albert, Columbia University “How to teach Quantum Mechanics - Part II” I distinguish between two conceptually different kinds of physical space: a space of ordinary material bodies, which is the space of points at … Read more
UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Aaron Titus, High Point University “Iterative Thinking” Numerical techniques for integration are hardly taught in a typical calculus course and are hardly used in a typical physics course. Yet, numerical integration is an essential tool … Read more
UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Carl Bender, Washington University in St Louis “PT Symmetry” By using complex-variable methods one can extend conventional Hermitian quantum theories into the complex domain. The result is a huge and exciting new class of parity-time-symmetric … Read more
UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy PhD Defense Patrick Doyle “Impedance Study of Wet Granular Systems” Granular systems are collections of macroscopic particulate material. A pile of sand at the beach, an hourglass, or Saturn’s rings are common examples that demonstrate the … Read more
UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy PhD Defense Chad Hobson “VIEW-MOD: a versatile illumination engine with a modular optical design for fluorescence microscopy” We developed VIEW-MOD (Versatile Illumination Engine with a Modular Optical Design): a compact, multi-modality microscope, which accommodates multiple illumination … Read more
UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Colloquium Piers Coleman, Rutgers University “Dark Matter Challenges of the Solid State” At the turn of the 20th century, physicists faced an uncanny range of unsolved problems: simple questions, such as why hot objects change color, … Read more
Astronomy on Tap Triangle Gerald Cecil, UNC Chapel Hill “When the Milky Way's Monster Black Hole Awoke” Rongmon Bordoloi “The Milky Way's Missing Baryons” Come check out Astronomy on Tap Triangle, our North Carolina chapter of short and engaging talks … Read more