2021
KICP postdocs symposium
3:30–4:30 pm ERC 161
We will have a postdoc jamboree to celebrate KICP and kick off our in person talks. This will consist of four 10+5 minutes talks. Please join us.
Particle Theory Seminar: Austin Joyce (UChicago)
1:30–2:30 pm MCP 201
Particle Theory Seminar: Austin Joyce, UChicago, “Can you stretch a black hole?”
A&A Colloquium: Leslie Rogers (University of Chicago)
3:30–4:30 pm ERC 161
Glimpsing the Compositions of Sub-Neptune-Size Worlds
Sub-Neptune and super-Earth-size planets are a new category of astrophysical objects. Though absent from the Solar System, exoplanet transit, radial velocity, and microlensing surveys have revealed that they are a dominant outcome of planet formation found in abundance around other stars. The nature of these planets is not well understood. In the sub-Neptune size range a large variety of planet bulk compositions are a priori possible, including terrestrial super-Earths, mini-Neptunes with hydrogen-helium envelopes, and water-worlds with several tens of percent water by mass. In this talk, I will present recent results from my group aimed at disentangling the relative contributions from various compositional scenarios to the observed population of planets and understanding the nature and origin of these enigmatic sub-Neptune-size worlds.
Astronomy & Astrophysics 1st Year Orientation
Through September 24, 2021
Open group seminar: Yuankang Liu, ETH Zurich
3:00–4:00 pm Zoom
Yuankang Liu, ETH Zurich, “A Sub-grid Turbulent Dynamo Model for Cosmic Magnetism”
KICP Line Intensity Mapping Workshop
Through July 9, 2021 Zoom
KICP Colloquium: Alexie Leauthaud (University of California, Santa Cruz)
3:30–4:30 pm Zoom
Alexie Leauthaud (University of California, Santa Cruz) “Cosmology, Correlations, and Conundrums”
A&A Colloquium: Keivan Stassun and Marina Kounkel (Vanderbilt University)
3:30–4:30 pm Zoom
Fundamental Stellar Astrophysics in the Gaia Era: A New Understanding of Local Stellar Populations
We begin with an overview of the precision stellar astrophysics enabled by the confluence of Gaia parallaxes with large-scale photometric and spectroscopic surveys. We then give examples of the new understanding of local Galactic structure that this has enabled, including in particular the detailed history of canonical star-forming regions, and the discovery of “stellar strings” reflecting the local conditions of recent star formation.
Physics Career Day 2021
10:30 am–6:00 pm Zoom
Virtual Memorial for Professor Emeritus Roger Hildebrand (1922-2021)
1:00–4:00 pm Zoom