Lunchbox Seminars 2013-2014


Every colloquium speaker meets with physics undergraduates in PAB B135 on Mondays at 12:30pm. Pizza will be served for $1.50 per slab, and soda for $0.50. This is a great way to network with faculty from other universities in case you decide to apply there.

2013 October 14
Nobel Mini-symposium 2013: The Higgs Boson
by Professors Henry Lubatti and Anne Neslon of University of Washington

In 1964, physicists theorized a field, permeating all space, that could explain why W and Z bosons could be very massive despite their governing symmetry. Today, we know this field as the Higgs field, named for one of 6 scientists who authored the papers predicting its existence. Local experts discuss the pursuit of this new particle and its recent discovery.
Then if you want to know more come to the Colloquium in PAA-102 at 4:00pm.

Colloquium Abstract:The Nobel Prize in Physics 2013 was awarded jointly to Francois Englert and Peter W. Higgs "for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider". Local experts will discuss the theory and experiments

Past Lunchbox Seminars

Past events are displayed here for reference.

2013 September
Blackholes and Firewalls:
Can We Take Nothing For Granted
by Professor Raphael Bousso of UC Berkeley

You jump in a black hole. What happens? Get crushed? Sure, if you believe what you see on TV . . . and currently held theories on Black Holes, I guess. OR do you get ripped apart by an energy field just past the event horizon . . . a “firewall” . . . Not sure? You’re not alone. This argument has been raging across the physics world for the last year and could lead to some dramatic restructuring of some of our most basic principles about quantum mechanics or gravity. More importantly, Einstein might be wrong. Crazysauce. Curious? Why not stop in for some pizza and a chat with professor Bousso.

Colloquium Abstract: f the formation and evaporation of a black hole preserves quantum information, then the horizon is a special place, unlike empty space everywhere else. This conclusion is dramatic, as it appears to contradict the equivalence principle. I will discuss proposals for how to avoid a "firewall" at the horizon, and why they fall short. The equivalence principle may nevertheless be upheld, if firewalls can be understood as a failure of the vacuum state to emerge dynamically.


2013 September
21 cm Cosmology
by Miguel Morales of University of Washington

Come chat with professor Morales about reading the history of the universe in the phases of hydrogen, his work with the Murchison Widefield Array (in the remote wilderness of Australia), and the exciting new field of 21 cm cosmology. Not sure what any of this is? Then stop in for lunch . . . with a side order of ASTROPHYSICS!!!

Measuring the spatial distribution of neutral hydrogen via the redshifted 21 cm radio line promises to transform our knowledge of the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) as the first stars and galaxies light up and burn through the primeval fog of neutral hydrogen. In my talk I will give an accessible introduction to the new field of 21 cm cosmology, discuss the discovery of the EoR window and how we can observe the faint 21 cm fluctuations in the face of strong foregrounds, and show early results from the Murchison Widefield Array.