CASS Astrophysics
Seminar
The Astrophysics Seminar
takes place on WED.
280 SERF from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Fall 2008
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Date |
Speaker |
Title |
Abstract |
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24 Sept. |
Jens Niemeyer, University of Wuerzburg, Germany (visiting scholar at UC-Berkeley) |
"The FEARLESS project: modeling unresolved turbulence in cosmological simulations" |
Simulations of structure formation that inclued the cooling, collapse, and feedback of gas have reached a level of sophistication where a more accuate treatment of numerically unresolved turbulence becomes relevant. Apart from its direct backreaction on the resolved velocity field, the kinetic energy of small-scale turbulence is an important parameter for subgrid models of unresolved non-equilibrium physics such as star formation and magnetic field amplicication. The FEARLESS project (Fluid mEchanics with Adaptively Refined Large Eddy SimulationsS) is our attempt to combine adaptive mesh refinement (AMR), as implemented in the Enzo code,with subgrid-scale modeling of turbulence. The method and first results of a galaxy cluster simulation will be presented in the talk. |
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01 Oct |
Alexander Dolgov |
Cosmic Antimatter |
Mechanisms of abundant creation of cosmological antimatter and observational manifestation of the latter are discussed |
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08
Oct. |
Richard Boyd
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) |
“Creating a Star in the Laboratory: The National Ignition Facility” |
The
National Ignition Facility, when completed in 2009, will be the world’s
largest laser. As such it is expected to compress a pellet of 2H
and 3H to a temperature and density that will produce ignition and
energy gain. The temperature and density that NIF is expected to achieve are
in excess of 100x106 K and 1000 g cm-3, both seven
times their values at the core of the Sun. NIF also plans to encourage
programs in basic research, with nuclear astrophysics being part of that
program. This talk will describe the basic operation of NIF, then will
discuss the motivation and some details of several nuclear astrophysics
experiments that might be conducted at NIF. Finally I will discuss a potential
application of NIF to the world’s energy future. |
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15
Oct. |
Geoffrey
Burbidge, UCSD Physics Professor-Emeritus |
"More
on the QSO's, Their Distances, and the Microwave Background" |
TBA |
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19
Nov. |
Carl
Melis/UCLA Division of Astronomy & Astrophysics |
"The
Phoenix Giant Phenomenon: Active Accretion of Gas and Dust, Substantial Dusty
Disks, and Planet Formation around Giant Stars" |
We
have recently discovered a new class of first ascent giants orbited by
substantial gaseous and dusty disks that are sometimes accreting onto the
giant stars. These old stars, who are nearing the end of their lives, are
experiencing a rebirth into the characteristics typically associated with
newborn stars. It is possible that a new generation of planet formation is
occurring around these gas- and dust-enshrouded giant stars. |
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Winter 2009
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Spring 2009
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web page maintained by Pete James