2022
Astro Tuesday: Christine Simpson (UChicago)
12:00–1:00 pm ERC 401
Christine Simpson (UChicago) “How Cosmic Rays Mediate the Evolution of the Interstellar Medium”
A&A Colloquium: Gary Bernstein (University of Pennsylvania)
3:30–4:30 pm ERC 161 - For zoom information please contact Laticia Rebeles - lrebeles@oddjob.uchicago.edu
Off-Label use of the Dark Energy Survey
I will present the methods and results of a search for outer-solar-system bodies in the 6 years of images from the Dark Energy Survey of 1/8 of the sky. Some initial inferences from the >800 trans-Neptunian objects detected in DES search weigh on the possible existence of a distant Neptune-mass “Planet X,” and on the formation of the TNO population. The search also discovered the largest known comet, C/2014 UN 271. This unique find is probably entering the planetary realm from the Oort cloud for the first time in 4 Gyr, and DES and subsequent data reveal the nature of the initial episode of sublimation. Time permitting, I will discuss a proposal to use LSST tracking of minor planets as a precision gravitational test for the existence of Planet X and for modifications of General Relativity, exploiting advances in astrometry made for the DES search.
PhD Thesis Defense: Emily Gilbert
1:00–2:00 pm ERC 401
Emily Gilbert “The Detection and Characterization of Exoplanets Around M Dwarf Stars Using TESS”
KICP seminar: Gautam Venugopalan (Stanford University)
12:00–1:00 pm ERC 401
Gautam Venugopalan (Stanford University) “Suspended animation - optical tweezers as a fundamental physics probe”
KICP seminar: Andrina Nicola (Princeton University)
12:00–1:00 pm ERC 401
Andrina Nicola (Princeton University) “Cosmological probe combination for current and future surveys”
KICP colloquium: Christopher Tully (Princeton University)
3:30–4:30 pm ERC 161
Christopher Tully (Princeton University) “PTOLEMY: Experimental Quest to Detect Relic Neutrinos from the Big Bang”
Astro Tuesday Talks
12:00–1:00 pm Zoom or ERC 401
For Tuesday lunch talks we will hear some information about JWST, and some of the planned science by members of the department.
KICP seminar: Giovanni Cabass (Institute for Advanced Study)
12:00–1:00 pm ERC 401
Giovanni Cabass (Institute for Advanced Study) “Constraints on Single-Field Inflation from the BOSS Galaxy Survey”
A&A Colloquium: Vasily Belokurov (Cambridge)
3:30–4:30 pm ERC 161 - For zoom info please contact Laticia at lrebeles@oddjob.uchicago.edu
Lessons on galaxy transformations from Gaia
With its most recent data releases, European Space Agency’s Gaia mission revealed the fossilised record of a dramatic - and long suspected - accretion event in the distant past of our Galaxy. This head-on collision with a massive dwarf galaxy was a turning point in the evolution of the Milky Way and unleashed a series of transformations that forever changed the Galaxy. This unprecedented metamorphosis is the focus of this talk. I will discuss the time, the geometry and the kinematics of the interaction, and elucidate the response of the Milky Way to the massive intruder.