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Journal Club Seminars From 2012 - 2013

Contents


Fall 2012


October 5, 2012

Evan's Title: "Simple Sugars in Stellar Neighborhoods"
Evan Grohs

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS



October 12, 2012

 CASS-wide Meeting
CASS-wide meeting to introduce new people (and re-introduce old ones!). Same time/same place as regular Journal Club. And pizza & soda will be served!



October 19, 2012

Darcy's Title: "A lower limit of delta z > 0.06 for the duration of the reionization epoch"
Darcy Barron

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS



October 26, 2012

Paul's Title: "Non-empirical continuum models for neutron star spectra"
Miriam's Title: "WISE/2MASS-SDSS brown dwarfs candidates using Virtual
Observatory tools"
Paul Hemphill (12:00-12:30)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS


Miriam Aberasturi (12:30-1:00)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS



November 2, 2012

Marcel's Title: "Large Scale Cross-Correlation of Damped Lyman Alpha Systems with the Lyman Alpha Forest"
Marcel Neeleman

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS



November 9, 2012

Dr. Nicholls's Title: "A summary of and some thoughts on the paper 'The Mass-loss return from evolved stars to the Large Magellanic Cloud VI: luminosities and mass-loss rates on population scales' by Riebel et al. 2012"
Christine Nicholls

Postdoctoral Scholar
UCSD-CASS -- NOTE: Will be held in SERF 280 (not SERF 329)



November 16, 2012

NOTE: Will be held in SERF 329 (not SERF 280)
Prof. Hass's Title: "Astrophysical reactions with stable and radioactive beams"
Michael Hass

Professor, Department of Particle Physics & Astrophysics
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

Prof. Hass's Abstract: Abstract: The study of nuclear reactions that are relevant to astrophysical issues plays a central role in the basic understanding of astrophysical phenomena and of the origin of the elements. One can discern two categories in this field:
-- The high-precision study of solar fusion reactions at low energy, using stable nuclear beams, in order to shed light on energy generation in the Sun, the solar neutrino issue and Big-Bang Nucleo-synthesis. There has been significant progress in this field, resulting in a very good understanding of the relevant reactions, but yet more information is needed and is being produced in order to serve the need of modern neutrino experiments and “precision” neutrino physics.
-- Explosive nucleo-synthesis is one of the fore-front topics in nuclear astrophysics research. The study of the underlying nuclear reactions that govern astrophysical phenomena such as x-ray bursts and super-novae is essential for illuminating the nature and mechanism that trigger and power such objects. For example, reactions such as 14O(α,p)17F and 15O(α,γ)19Ne may relate to the breakout from the “hot-CNO cycle” into the “rp” (rapid proton capture) process with the production of medium mass proton-rich nuclei. Such studies require beams of short-lived radioactive isotopes at unprecedented intensities, and are hence closely linked to present and future large-scale “rare-isotopes” facilities.
This talk will present a status report and future prospects of these separate, but closely related activities.



November 30, 2012

Prof. Murphy's Title: "Surveying Physicists' Attitudes toward Sci-Fi Concepts"
Tom Murphy

Associate Physics Professor
UCSD-CASS



December 7, 2012

Dr. Kang's Title: "Semi-analytical model for galaxy formation"
Xi Kang

Purple Mountain Observatory, China

Dr. Kang's Abstract: Abstract: The semi-analytical model is an useful tool to explore the formation of galaxy population in a cold dark matter dominated universe. I will give a brief introduction to the model ingredients, and its predictions at both low and high redshift. I will also highlight the discrepancies between the model prediction and the data, and discuss possible solutions to the problems.


Winter 2013


January 11, 2013

Prof. Huffenberger's Title: "Planck Satellite: Early results and more to come"
Abby's Title: "Measuring the Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization
with SPTpol"
Kevin Huffenberger (12:00-12:30)

Assistant Professor, Department of Physics
University of Miami

Prof. Huffenberger's Abstract: Abstract: Planck is the third generation satellite to measure the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), following in the footsteps of COBE and WMAP. Since its launch in 2009, Planck has been surveying the sky in temperature and polarization at frequencies from 30-900 GHz, building a data set rich in cosmological and astrophysical information. I will describe the instrument and it's mission, review some of the early results (on compact sources, galaxy clusters, and the cosmic infrared background), and look ahead in anticipation of the first cosmology results, which are slated for release later this year.

Abigail "Abby" Crites (12:30-1:00)

Graduate Student, KITP, Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics
University of Chicago

Prof. Huffenberger's Abstract: Abstract: A new polarization-sensitive camera, SPTpol, designed to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), was deployed on the 10 meter South Pole Telescope in January 2012. The goal of the project is to exploit the high resolution of the telescope (1 arcminute beam) and the high sensitivity afforded by the 1536 detector camera to characterize the B-mode polarization induced by the gravitational lensing of the primordial E-mode CMB polarization, as well as to detect or set an upper limit on the level of the B-mode polarization from inflationary gravitational waves. The lensing B-modes will be used to constrain the sum of the neutrino masses by measuring large scale structure, while the inflationary B-modes are sensitive to the energy scale of inflation. I will discuss the development of the SPTpol camera including the cryogenic design and the transition edge sensor (TES) detectors developed at NIST and Argonne National Labs, as well as the science goals and status of the ongoing of the SPTpol program.



January 18, 2013

Amol's Title: "Late Phase Transitions in Cosmology"
Amol Patwardhan (12:00-1:00)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS



January 25, 2013

Alex's Title: "The Largest Observed Structure in the Universe"
Bryan's Title: "Precision Measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background
Polarization with the POLARBEAR experiment"
Alex Mendez (12:00-12:30)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS


Bryan Steinbach (12:30-1:00)

Physics Graduate Student
UC Berkeley



February 1, 2013

Geoffrey's Title: "X-ray from Star Forming Galaxies"
Fred's Title: "CMB Telescopes and Optical Systems"
Geoffrey So (12:00-12:30)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS


Fred Matsuda (12:30-1:00)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS



February 8, 2013

Agnieszka's Title: TBA
Joey's Title: "Double N-Flation and Single Field Quintessence Solutions"
Agnieszka Cieplak (12:00-12:30)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS


Joey Fedrow (12:30-1:00)

Astronomy Graduate Student
SDSU



February 15, 2013

NOTE: Will be held in SERF 383 today only (not SERF 329)
Evan's Title: "Sterile Neutrinos in the Early Universe"
Evan Grohs (12:00-1:00)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS



February 22, 2013

NOTE: Starting today, all talks will be held in SERF 383
Kit's Title: "Star Formation in Spiral Galaxies"
Wing Kit Lee (12:00-1:00)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS



March 1, 2013

Casey's Title: "Scale vs. Conformal Invariance"
Dr. Michelsen's Title: "Periodicity and Lomb-Scargle: it's more (and less)
than you think"
Casey Conger (12:00-12:30)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD


Eric Michelsen (12:30-1:00)

Physics Lecturer
UCSD-CASS



March 8, 2013

 Panel: "How to Obtain an Astro Post-Doc"
(12:00-1:00)


 Abstract: In an effort to continue a professional development series, Journal Club will have a panel with four members who will share their advice to graduate students on obtaining a post-doc. The session is aimed at graduate students. However, current post-docs, faculty members, researchers, and friends of CASS are invited to attend and share their experiences.



March 15, 2013

Chang's Title: "Measurements of the far-infrared background power spectrum"
Chang Feng (12:00-1:00)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS


Spring 2013


April 5, 2013

Chris's Title: "The role of zonal flow predator-prey oscillations in triggering the
transition to H-mode confinement in tokamaks"
Gerrit's Title: "Disks around young stars and Brown Dwarfs"
Chris Lee (12:00-12:30)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS


Gerrit van der Plas (12:30-1:00)

Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Chile

Chris's Abstract: Abstract: Circumstellar disks play an important role in stellar formation and provide the birth sites of planets. These disks are found around young stars across the whole mass range. How these disks evolve and eventually dissipate is still a matter of debate, especially for disks around the lower mass objects because those have for long been too faint to study. In this Journal club I will attempt to give a broad summary about disks around young stars. Then I will dig a bit deeper into the state of research on disks around Brown Dwarfs, and close with how ALMA exactly will make our life better (when it comes to disks around Brown Dwarfs at least).



April 12, 2013

 CASS-wide Meeting
CASS-wide meeting to introduce new people (and re-introduce old ones!). Same time/same place as regular Journal Club. And pizza & soda will be served!



April 19, 2013

Scott's Title: "X-ray absorption evolution in gamma-ray bursts"
Alexey's Title: "Supernova neutrinos: from quantum mechanics to
the Boltzmann equation"
Scott Gustafon (12:00-12:30)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS


Alexey Vlasenko (12:30-1:00)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS



April 26, 2013

Daniella's Title: "Searching for the M+T spectral binary needle in the
brown dwarf haystack"
Pengfei's Title: "The biggest explosions in the universe--A simulation of
a supermassive star supernova"
Daniella Bardalez Gagliuffi (12:00-12:30)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS


Pengfei Chen (12:30-1:00)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS



May 3, 2013

Pei-Chun's Title: "Formation of Jets and Potential Vorticity Mixing"
Pei-Chun Hsu (12:00-12:30)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS


(OPEN TIME SLOT 12:30-1:00)



May 10, 2013

Jon's Title: "Studying the Cosmic Microwave Background with the Planck Satellite"
Jon Kaufman (12:00-12:30)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS

Jon's Abstract: Abstract: I will touch on some of the key points in the paper: Planck 2013 results. XV. CMB power spectra and likelihood (arXiv:1303.5075v2).

(OPEN TIME SLOT 12:30-1:00)



May 17, 2013

Dr. Kishimoto's Title: "Big Bang Nucleosynthesis: How can we learn about Nature from primordial abundances?"
Chad Kishimoto (12:00-12:30)

Physics Lecturer
UCSD


(OPEN TIME SLOT 12:30-1:00)



May 24, 2013

Wendell's Title: TBA
Eve's Title: "Photometry of 'ultracompact' cataclysmic variables, with applications
to gravitational wave theory"
Wendell Misch (12:00-12:30)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS


Eve Armstrong (12:30-1:00)

Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS/Columbia University



May 31, 2013

Praween's Title: "Multichroic lenslet array in POLARBEAR II"
Megan's Title: "[Fe II] Emission Tracing Dense Jets from Intermediate-Mass
Protostars in Carina"
Praween Siritanasak (12:00-12:30)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS


Megan Reiter (12:30-1:00)

Graduate Student
University of Arizona



June 7, 2013

Dave's Title: "Planck and Inflation"
Dave Boettger (12:00-12:30)

Physics Graduate Student
UCSD-CASS


(NO SPEAKER 12:30-1:00)