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Department of Physics and Astronomy

Nuclear, Astro and Particle Physics Seminars

These lectures feature speakers from around the country and globe. Each seminar lasts about an hour and takes a closer look at more specialized fields in various realms of physics and astronomy.

Many seminars will be held in a hybrid format and a recurring Zoom link is provided to access the virtual format.

The talks will be on Wednesdays at 4PM in the Rogers Room (Jones PSC 409).

Upcoming Seminar (Fall 2024):

The discovery and promise of Fast Radio Bursts

Speaker: Maura McLaughlin
Affiliation: West Virgina University
Date: October 2nd

Abstract: Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are events only a few milliseconds in duration which occur at random locations on the sky at a rate of a few thousand per day. Several thousand FRBs are currently known. While it is now well established that they have a cosmological origin, and about 10% of all currently known sources have been seen to exhibit multiple bursts, the origins of these enigmatic sources are currently poorly understood. I will review the 2007 discovery of FRBs and present some of the highlights from the vast body of work by an international community since that time, and also describe the current best guesses on their origins and discuss cosmological insights that studies of FRBs will enable.

Fall 2024 Calendar:

Date Speaker Title of Seminar
9/4/24 Itay Bloch Snipe Hunt: using the largest cavities on earth to search for DM
9/18/24 Steven Elliott Isomers and Dark Matter: 180mTa and 178mHf
9/24/24 Frank Avignone The Quest Discover Dark Matter and A New Search at USC
10/2/24 Maura McLaughlin The discovery and promise of Fast Radio Bursts
10/30/24 Arnab Pradhan TBA
11/06/24 Scott Watson TBA
11/13/24 Xincheng Lin TBA
11/20/24 Rodolfo Capdevilla TBA
01/22/25 Garrett King TBA

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

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