2020
Space Week 2020: Kerri Cahoy (MIT)
12:00–1:00 pm Webinar
Kerri Cahoy, MIT, “Frontiers in CubeSat Sensing, Communications, and Astronomy”
Tuesday Lunch Seminar: Yuaguang Chen (Caltech) & Carl Fields (Michigan State University)
12:00–1:00 pm Zoom
Yuaguang Chen (Caltech): Characterizing H I in CGM from Both Emission and Absorption
and
Carl Fields (Michigan State University): Multidimensional Progenitor Models For Core-collapse Supernovae
Space Week 2020: Tony Ricco (NASA/Ames)
12:00–1:00 pm Webinar
Tony Ricco, NASA/Ames, “Life in Space: Microfluidic Systems Enable the Study of Terrestrial Microbes in Space and the Search for Life on the Solar System’s Icy Worlds”
Space Week 2020: Paulo Lozano (MIT)
12:00–1:00 pm Webinar
Paulo Lozano, MIT, “Fundamentals and Applications of Spacecraft Propulsion Based on Electrospray Ion Beam Sources”
College Reading Period
Through December 7, 2020
Open Group Seminar: Digvijay (Jay) Wadekar (New York University)
1:30–2:30 pm Zoom room
Digvijay (Jay) Wadekar, New York University, “Analytic calculation of the power spectrum covariance: speedup by four orders of magnitude”
KICP Seminar: Weishuang Linda Xu (Harvard)
12:00–1:00 pm Zoom Room
Weishuang Linda Xu, Harvard, “Thermal Dark Sectors in the Early and Late Universe”
A&A Colloquium: Eric Agol (University of Washington)
3:30–4:30 pm Zoom - for link, please contact, Laticia Rebeles, lrebeles@oddjob.uchicago.edu
“Quantifying the nature of the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system”
Seven Earth-sized planets have been found to transit the
Jupiter-sized star TRAPPIST-1, located forty light years from
our Solar System. The planets appear to form a chain of orbital
resonances, attributed to orbital migration. Dynamical interactions
amongst the planets lead to transit-timing variations which we
measured with high precision using the Spitzer, Kepler, Hubble,
and ground-based telescopes over four years. Analysis of these
data yield a comprehensive picture of the architecture of the orbits
and interiors of these planets. The planets’ orbits are nearly circular
and coplanar, as expected from disk migration models. Their densities
show a pattern consistent with a single interior composition,
which is offset from the rocky planets in our Solar System.
I will present these and other results based on our transit-timing
and photodynamic analysis of this benchmark planetary system,
and discuss prospects for study of this system with the James
Webb Space Telescope.
A&A Colloquium: Gordan Krnjaic (Fermilab)
3:30–4:30 pm Zoom
From ALPs to WIMPZILLAS: Discovering Dark Matter In Novel Laboratories
Although the astrophysical evidence for the existence of dark matter is overwhelming, its microscopic properties remain elusive, despite decades of dedicated searches for the dominant weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP) paradigm. In light of this experimental situation, there has recently been a surge of activity to broaden the search program by utilizing previously overlooked strategies, which leverage novel terrestrial and cosmic laboratories to probe dark matter beyond the WIMP framework. I will survey some of these ideas and present a road map towards greatly expanding our converge of well-motivated dark matter models that sample the full range of viable candidate masses.
Study Week/Thanksgiving Break
Through November 27, 2020