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January 26: Prof. John Hardy
The weak force - dancing to its own tune

Prof. John Hardy Though gravity is the only force most of us experience in our daily life, it is by far the weakest of the four fundamental forces identified in nature. In spite of its name, the "weak force" is actually much stronger than gravity and is the most extraordinary force of them all. It is the only force that does not merely act between a pair of participants; it actually changes the identity of those participants and is thus responsible for the most common types of radioactive decay. It is also the only force that does not form a true image when reflected in a mirror. This is a force that dances to a different tune than all the others. "Just how different is it?" is a question that many physicists are now asking.
[pdf] [print version (pdf)]

Further information online

Contemporary Physics Education Project
The Particle Adventure
Particle Physics - Education and Outreach (Fermilab)
CERN (Education Website)
Wikipedia: The weak force
Wikipedia: Nuclear Physics
Wikipedia: β decay

February 9: Prof. Teruki Kamon
Dark particle Hunters

Prof. Teruki Kamon Various astronomical measurements reveal a very mysterious form in the universe, called dark matter. The word "dark" is because we cannot see it by any telescopes. But its existence can be inferred from gravitational effects. Modern theories of particle physics attempt to describe the universe and predict a new particle for this matter. The dark matter particles (or dark particles in this lecture) have not yet been detected experimentally. In 2008, the world's most powerful proton accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), will operate and provide millions of millions of proton-proton (pp) collisions. So then, such dark particles could be created in the collisions. As one of many dark particle hunters, I will relate phenomena at a gigantic scale in the universe to the pp collisions at a very small scale (much smaller than a hydrogen atom); and explain how possibly one can measure the mass of the dark particle at the LHC. This will be the beginning of a long journey to understand the dark matter.
[print version (pdf)]

February 16: Prof. Kevin Krisciunas
Determining the ultimate fate of the universe using observations of supernovae

Prof. Kevin Krisciunas Double stars are very common in the universe, and a very common end state for a star (such as the Sun) is to become a white dwarf star. If a double star consists of a white dwarf and a nearby star that is much larger, then gas can flow from the larger star onto the white dwarf, eventually causing it to explode with the energy of several billion Suns. These "white dwarf supernovae" are like light bulbs of known brightness, only they are so bright that we can see them halfway across the observeable universe. We can use them to determine distances to the galaxies where they exploded. This has allowed us to discover that the universe is expanding and also accelerating in its expansion. The universe does not have enough gravitational energy to put the brakes on this acceleration, so it looks like the universe will expand forever.
[ppt] [print version (pdf)]

February 23: Dr. Adriana Banu
Alchemy of the universe: Nucleosynthesis of chemical elements

Dr. Adriana Banu Although the world we live in is varied and complex, it is actually made up of only a limited number of chemical elements. We know today that only 90 such elements exist naturally on Earth. The origin of these elements is a longstanding scientific problem that requires close collaboration between nuclear and astro-physicists. In this lecture, we address questions like: Why does gold cost so much more than iron? or, more profoundly: Where do the chemical building blocks of humankind come from? To investigate such questions, two possible scenarios responsible for the origin of the chemical elements (the Big Bang and nucleosynthesis within stars) are discussed. We shall find out that the stars are fascinating "cooking pots" of the Universe, and, concerning our origin, we are made of stardust! The iron in our blood, the calcium in our bones, etc., were all forged in stars.
[ppt] [print version (pdf)]

Further information online

Hyperphysics (Webpage about general physics)
Nobel prize in physics 1967 to Hans Bethe (energy production in stars; you can download his Nobel lecture)
Nobel prize in physics 1983 to Subramanyan Chandrasekhar and William Alfred Fowler for their work on the structure of stars and element synthesis in stars (you can down load their Nobel lectures)

March 01: Prof. Hendrik van Hees
Neutron stars: giant atomic nuclei in the sky

Prof. Hendrik van Hees According to the known laws of physics, Neutron Stars are the densest objects in the universe besides Black Holes. They have a mass of about 1.4 to 2 times the mass of our sun but a radius of only ~10 miles. The corresponding densities are therefore expected to exceed those at the center of heavy atomic nuclei (around 300000000000000000 kg/m^3, that is, almost 15 orders of magnitude larger than water!). In this lecture we discuss the physical models which describe the formation of a neutron star, the exotic forms of matter contained in neutron stars and how we can check these models by astronomical observations.
[pdf] [print version (pdf)]

Further information online

Wikipedia: Neutron Star
Wikipedia: Pulsar
The Astrophysics Spectator Astronomy 161, Prof. Richard Pogge, University of Ohio
Essential Radioastronomy Course, J. J. Condon and S. M. Ransom, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Physics Nobel prize 1993: Russell A. Hulse Joseph, H. Taylor Jr. (You can download the nobel lectures which are a pleasure to read!)
James M. Lattimer and Maddappa Prakash, Neutron Star Observations: Prognosis for Equation of State Constraints (this is a very recent scientific review article)

March 22: Prof. Rainer Fries
Descent into the proton: A journey inside an elementary particle

Prof. Rainer Fries The proton, and its unstable cousin, the neutron, are elementary particles which are of fundamental importance in our universe. They are responsible for the fact that we find 92 different chemical elements in nature, from hydrogen to uranium, and 99.9% of the mass of any object you weigh in your hand comes from the protons and neutrons inside. More than 30 years ago it was discovered that they are not 'elementary' at all, but made from smaller constituents called quarks and gluons. This lecture invites you to come on a journey inside a proton and to look over the shoulder of scientists trying to unravel its structure.
[ppt] [print version (pdf)]

Further information online

Secret Worlds: The Universe Within
ARC Special Research Centre for the Subatomic Structure of Matter (University of Adelaide, Australia) with QCD visualizations.
Physics Nobel prize 1969: Murray Gell-Mann (you can download his Nobel lecture!)
Physics Nobel prize 2004: David J. Gross, H. David Politzer, Frank Wilczek (you can download their Nobel lectures!)

March 22: Prof. Ralf Rapp
Review, Summary and Certificates

Prof. Ralf Rapp In this concluding event, we will give a comprehensive review of the previous six lectures with special attention to the common thread running through the presentations. We will award the final certificates and give an outlook/have a discussion on college/career paths in physics.
[ppt] [print version (pdf)]

Saturday-Morning Physics 2007 Lectures

Last updated: Mar/28/08
Hendrik van Hees