Past Events

2022

Lecture Exhibition: Planetary Imagery and Theodora Allen’s Cosmic Garden I

6:00–7:00 pm Driehaus Museum

In this conversation, Adler Planetarium Curator and Director of Collections Pedro Raposo and University of Chicago Professor Emeritus of Astronomy & Astrophysics Richard Kron will explore the imagery of the cosmos as a source of fascination, influence, and exploration across art and science during a time of rapid expansion in scientific knowledge, where the representation of astronomical themes signaled ideas about modernity, progress, and the promise of the future.

May 19

LSS open group seminar: David Sanchez (Ciemat, Spain) and John Hood (Vanderbilt / UChicago)

1:00–2:00 pm ERC 419

David Sanchez (Ciemat, Spain) “Constraining cosmological models with galaxy clustering and weak lensing data” and John Hood (Vanderbilt / UChicago) “MM-wave AGN Monitoring with SPTPol 500^2 degree survey”

May 19

KICP seminar: Dongzi Li (Caltech)

12:00–1:00 pm ERC 401

Dongzi Li (Caltech) “The mystery of fast radio burst, the potential and the limit”

May 19

A&A Colloquium: Carlos Frenk (University of Durham)

3:30–4:30 pm ERC 161

  A conclusive test of the cold dark matter model

The “Lambda cold dark matter” (LCDM) cosmological model is one of the great achievements in Physics of the past thirty years. Theoretical predictions formulated in the 1980s turned out to agree remarkably well with measurements, performed decades later, of the galaxy distribution and the temperature structure of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Yet, these successes do not inform us directly about the nature of the dark matter.  This manifests itself most clearly on subgalactic scales, including the dwarf satellite galaxies of the Milky Way and especially less massive dark matter halos, too small to have made a galaxy.  Apparent contradictions between the predictions from cosmological simulations and observations have led to the perception of a “small-scale crisis” for LCDM. I will argue that this perception stems from an innapropriate application of the simulations and that, in fact, the theory is entirely consistent with available data. I will contrast the predictions of LCDM with those of the interesting alternative of warm dark matter and show how forthcoming gravitational lensing and gamma-ray data can conclusively distinguish between the two.

May 18

Brinson Lecture 2021-2022: Carlos Frenk (University of Durham)

6:00–7:00 pm ERC 161, 5640 S. Ellis Ave

Carlos Frenk, University of Durham, “How our universe was made: all from nothing”

May 17

Astro Tuesday: Sanjana Curtis and Priscilla Frisch

12:00–1:00 pm ERC 401

Sanjana Curtis “Heavy element nucleosynthesis and kilonovae from compact object mergers” and Priscilla Frisch “Whence the Interstellar Magnetic Field Shaping the Heliosphere”

May 17

KICP/FNAL/UIUC mini-symposium

10:30 am–6:30 pm ERC 401

We have a great collection of student talks planned, and should have ample time to socialize and build some collaborations.

May 13

KICP seminar: Tom Callister (Flatiron Institute)

12:00–1:00 pm ERC 401

Tom Callister (Flatiron Institute) “A Gravitational-Wave Tour of the Compact Binary Population”

May 12

KICP colloquium: Laura Newburgh (Yale University)

3:30–4:30 pm ERC 161

Laura Newburgh (Yale University) “Detection of 21cm emission from Large Scale Structure with CHIME”

May 11

Astro Tuesday: Alex Ji and Sam McDermott

12:00–1:00 pm ERC 401

Alex Ji “Dwarf Galaxy Archaeology in the Gaia Era” and Sam McDermott “Degenerate Fermions… In Space!”

May 10