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Archive for the ‘Colloquia/Other Seminars’ Category


P&A Colloquium: Abhay Deshpande (BNL)

April 20th, 2022 by geurts

Date: Wednesday April 20, 2022  at 4pm
Location: 101 Brockman Hall, Rice University

Title:Physics and the Status of the Electron Ion Collider : The next QCD Frontier
Speaker: Abhay Deshpande (BNL)
Abstract: Despite many decades of experimental and theoretical effort and progress, many fundamental and profound questions in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) remain unanswered. All relate to the role gluon plays in QCD. For example, despite 50+ years of studies, we still don’t exactly know how they contribute to the mass and the spin of the proton. In case of nuclei, we still don’t quite understand the exact quark-gluon origin of the nuclear forces. Some of these relate deeply to fragmentation, hadronization, color confinement & such crucial accepted but not fully understood aspects of QCD. QCD as we know it, predicts the existence of a rather exotic gluon dominated matter at extremely high (gluon) density. Whether such gluonic matter exists needs experimental confirmation followed by a detailed study. I will review such topics at a high level and present an overview of recent progress in accelerator and detector development in the EIC Project.

P&A Colloquium: Or Hen (MIT)

November 2nd, 2021 by geurts

Date: Wednesday November 3, 2021  at 4pm
Location: 101 Brockman Hall, Rice University

Title: FROM QUARKS TO NUCLEI: Unveiling Universalities in Strongly Interacting Many-body Systems
Speaker: Or Hen (MIT)
Abstract: From superconductors to atomic nuclei strongly-interacting many-body systems are ubiquitous in nature. Understanding the relation between the macroscopic properties of such systems and the microscopic particle interactions driving them is an outstanding challenge with wide ranging implications. In this talk I will present results from new studies of correlations between nucleons in atomic nuclei that lead to an emergent universality of strongly interacting systems from dilute atomic gases to neutron stars spanning over 23 orders of magnitude in density and interaction scales. I will discuss the impact of these discoveries on our understanding of the properties of neutron rich nuclei and neutron stars the core of the strong nuclear interaction and the quark-gluon structure of bound nucleons and symmetry breaking mechanisms in QCD.

P&A Colloquium: Peter Onyisi (UT Austin)

October 15th, 2021 by geurts

Date: Wednesday October 6, 2021  at 4pm
Location: 101 Brockman Hall, Rice University

Title: Understanding the Higgs Boson and Top Quark at the LHC
Speaker:Peter Onyisi (UT Austin)
Abstract: The two heaviest known fundamental particles are the Higgs boson and the top quark, and their behaviour and properties are intimately intertwined – the Higgs boson gives the top quark its mass, and the top quark determines the potential energy of the Higgs field that fills space. Understanding the relationship of the two is critical for understanding fundamental particle physics both now and right after the Big Bang. The Large Hadron Collider is the first accelerator that produces both particles in sufficiently copious quantities for us to study their interactions directly in a lab setting, and we now have a sufficiently large dataset to begin study. I will outline the latest results from the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC exploring this sector of fundamental physics.

NPP Seminar by Zhen Liu (Univ. of Maryland)

December 2nd, 2019 by geurts

Date: Thursday December 5, 2019 at 4pm
Location: 223 Herman Brown Hall, Rice University

Title: LHC Opportunities in Long-Lived Signatures from Hidden Sectors
Speaker: Zhen Liu (Univ. of Maryland)

Abstract

The LHC bear great potential in seeking for hidden sector particles, such as a high-quality QCD axion, glueballs, and heavy neutrinos. In this talk, I will present my recent studies on how to probe these hidden sector particles through the novel but challenging long-lived particle searches.

P&A Colloquium: Dmitri Kharzeev (BNL, Stony Brook University)

October 9th, 2017 by geurts

Date: Wednesday October 11, 2017  at 4pm
Location: 101 Brockman Hall, Rice University

Title:CHIRALITY: From Particles and Nuclei to Quantum Materials
Speaker:Dmitri Kharzeev (BNL, Stony Brook University)
Abstract: Chirality is an ubiquitous concept in modern science, from particle physics to biology. In quantum physics, chirality is linked to the topology of gauge fields due to the quantum chiral anomaly.  While the quantum anomaly is usually associated with the short-distance behavior, recently it has been realized that it affects also the macroscopic behavior of fluids with chiral fermions. In particular, the local imbalance between left- and right-handed  fermions in the presence of magnetic field induces the non-dissipative transport of electric charge (“the Chiral Magnetic Effect”). In heavy ion collisions, there is an ongoing search for this effect at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the Large Hadron Collider. Very recently, the Chiral Magnetic Effect has been discovered in ZrTe5 and other materials possessing chiral quasi-particles. These observations open a path towards applications.

P&A Colloquium: Wit Busza (MIT)

April 18th, 2017 by geurts

Date: Thursday April 27, 2017  at 4pm
Location: 101 Brockman Hall, Rice University

Title:Why are we boiling the vacuum; a historical perspective
Speaker: Wit Busza (MIT)
Abstract: Today the study of the collision of ultra relativistic protons and nuclei with nuclear targets is a very large and active research field. The evolution of the interest in such studies has a fascinating history. In my talk I will discuss how the reason for such studies or, in other words, how “the question of interest” of the field has changed with time. The focus will be on the interplay of technology, experiment, theory and sociology in the development of the field.

P&A Colloquium: Carl Cagliardi (Texas A&M)

March 29th, 2017 by geurts

Date: Wednesday March 29, 2017  at 4pm
Location: 101 Brockman Hall, Rice University

Title:What makes protons spin?
Speaker: Carl Cagliardi (Texas A&M)
Abstract: For the past 30 years, there has been an intense world-wide effort to understand how the quarks and gluons that make up the proton organize themselves to produce its spin of 1/2 hbar. The primary tool in this quest has been deep-inelastic scattering of polarized electrons and muons off polarized protons. A surprising discovery has been that the spins of the quarks and anti-quarks only contribute ~1/3 of the proton spin. During the past decade, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Lab has enabled a new, complementary probe: high-energy polarized pp collisions. The RHIC spin program has provided several essential new insights regarding the partonic origin of the proton spin, including evidence that the gluons in the proton are polarized and may even contribute a larger fraction of the proton spin than the quarks do. In this talk, I’ll discuss a few of the things we’ve learned from the RHIC spin program, and where we are heading over the next several years.

P&A Colloquium by Sergei Gleyzer (Univ. Florida)

February 15th, 2017 by geurts

Date: Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 4pm
Location: 101 Brockman Hall, Rice University

Title: Unveiling The Mysteries Of The Universe With Big Data From The Large Hadron Collider
Speaker: Sergei V. Gleyzer (University of Florida)
Abstract: The current generation of particle physics experiments, such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), are producing an order of magnitude more data than prior particle physics experiments. This trend is expected to continue with the upcoming upgrade to the LHC, the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-HLC), anticipated to start taking data in 2026. Traditional data processing and reduction methods are not adequate for extremely large volumes of data coming from these new experiments. Further challenges are posed by the rarity of the sought-after Standard Model signals, such as di-Higgs boson production, and the unknown properties of possible new physics processes, such as dark matter. Additional complexity at the HL-LHC arises from a significant increase in pile-up, or additional particle collisions of protons traveling in the same bunch, leading to more complex event signatures. A new approach to data analysis is required to address these challenges posed by the volumes of the data and greater event complexity. I will discuss how to build intelligent systems to extract knowledge from extremely large datasets, such as the one from the LHC. Many of the tools developed for high-energy physics are applicable to other fields. I will discuss the application of state-of-the-art data science methods, such as deep learning, to particle physics and focus on the solutions for the upcoming challenges of the high-luminosity environment of the HL-LHC. I will conclude by presenting new opportunities in the field of particle physics enabled by data science.

P&A Colloquium: Mike Lisa (OSU)

March 7th, 2016 by geurts

Date: Wednesday March 16, 2016  at 4pm
Location: 101 Brockman Hall, Rice University

Title:FROM THE STARS TO STAR: Intensity Interferometry from HBT to Heavy Ions
Speaker: Mike Lisa (OSU)
Abstract: Sixty years ago, two radio engineers emerged from the frenzy of World War II and entered the new field of radio astronomy. Hanbury Brown and Twiss developed an entirely new instrument and technique, based on “correlated noise,” to measure the angular radius of previously un-resolvable stars. Initially greeted with skepticism, their work led directly to the birth of quantum optics. At nearly the same time, Goldhaber et al discovered a tiny unexpected correlation in the first true particle physics experiments; until recently, the “GGLP effect” played a minor role in particle physics. It would take another 15 years until the connection between these apparently disparate phenomena was realized by Shuryak, Gyulassy and others around 1976, just as the new field of heavy ion physics was emerging. Thus did Hanbury Brown’s discovery give birth to femtoscopy, the most direct method to probe the highly non-trivial dynamic space-time structure of a heavy ion collision. I will discuss the structures and insights that femtoscopy has revealed in ultra-relativistic ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC and how it is leading to a fresh look at high-energy proton collisions

UH Colloquium by Krishna Rajagopal (MIT)

January 18th, 2016 by geurts

On January 19 at 2h30pm Krishna Rajagopal (MIT) will give a physics colloquium at UH.

UH Colloquia are scheduled on Tuesdays at 2:30pm in SR1 room 634

More information can be found at the following link: UH Physics Colloquium Spring 2016