2021
KICP Colloquium: Julia Selton (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
3:30–4:30 pm Zoom
Julia Selton (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) “Nonstandard thermal histories and the small-scale matter power spectrum”
KICP Seminar: Josh Speagle (University of Toronto)
12:00–1:00 pm Zoom
Josh Speagle (University of Toronto) “Cosmological Cartography with Photometric Redshifts”
A&A Colloquium: Chung-Pei Ma (University of California, Berkeley)
3:30–4:30 pm Zoom - for link, please contact, Laticia Rebeles, lrebeles@oddjob.uchicago.edu
Supermassive Black Holes in Nearby Galaxies
For over three decades, the giant elliptical galaxy M87 had hosted the most massive known black hole in the local universe. New observational data in the past several years have substantially expanded dynamical measurements of black hole masses at the centers of nearby galaxies.
I will describe recent progress in discovering a new population of ultra-massive black holes in local elliptical galaxies. These black holes are revising our understanding of the symbiotic relationship between black holes and galaxies, and of the gravitational wave signals from merging binaries targeted by ongoing pulsar timing array experiments.
KICP Seminar: Mikhail Ivanov (NYU Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics)
12:00–1:00 pm Zoom
Mikhail Ivanov (NYU Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics), “Fundamental Cosmology from Galaxy Clustering”
KICP Colloquium: Gilbert Holder (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
3:30–4:30 pm Zoom
Gilbert Holder (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)“The time variable mm-wave sky”
A&A Colloquium: Jacob Bean (University of Chicago)
3:30–4:30 pm Zoom - for link, please contact, Laticia Rebeles, lrebeles@oddjob.uchicago.edu
Exoplanet detection and characterization on the cusp of JWST
Exoplanet detection and characterization on the cusp of JWST The James Webb Space Telescope is expected to transform our understanding of planets and the origins of life by revealing the atmospheric compositions, structures, and dynamics of transiting exoplanets in unprecedented detail. I will present work from my group and the broader exoplanet community on three projects that are connected to JWST’s exciting promise in this area. First, I will describe atmospheric characterization efforts that have revealed ultra-hot Jupiters as a population of planets with distinct properties. Second, I will present my group’s new high-precision radial velocity spectrograph MAROON-X and our efforts to identify the best targets for JWST atmospheric characterization. MAROON-X was commissioned on the Gemini North telescope last year and is delivering unprecedented radial velocity precision on M dwarfs. Finally, I will conclude with a discussion of how the transiting exoplanet community has come together to optimize the early science results from JWST, and I will give my personal perspective on how we can build on this success moving forward.
Physics Colloquium: Joel Coley (Howard University)
3:30–4:30 pm Zoom
Joel Coley (Howard University) “A Study of Superorbital Modulation in Wind-fed Supergiant X-ray Binaries”
KICP Seminar: Vincent Vennin (APC, Paris University)
12:00–1:00 pm Zoom
Vincent Vennin (APC, Paris University) “Quantum diffusion during cosmic inflation”
KICP Colloquium: Matthew Becker (ANL)
3:30–4:30 pm Zoom
Matthew Becker (ANL) “Weak Lensing Shear Measurements in DES Y3 and Beyond!”
KICP Seminar: Gregory Mosby (NASA)
12:00–1:00 pm Zoom Room
Gregory Mosby, NASA, “Simplifying the analysis of galaxy star formation histories and near-infrared detectors”