ColloquiaAll colloquia are held in the Cunniff lecture hall, which is room 199 of the Science Center. Friday colloquia begin at 12:45 p.m. (unless otherwise noted). Pizza and drinks are served at 12:20 p.m. just outside the hall. There are also pre-colloquium talks for some of our visitors' colloquia. These are given by faculty members, usually a week before the actual colloquium, and are a good way for students (and others) to get background information to help them better understand the colloquium. For questions regarding the speakers and topics, please contact Prof. Catherine Crouch (ccrouch1 at swarthmore dot edu) at (610) 328-8386. Useful links
Applying Quantum Mechanics to an Entire Electrical Circuit; or, How an Atomic Orbital Can Flow Through a Resistive WireJack Harris, Department of Physics, Yale UniversityFri, Feb. 5, 2010, 12:45 PM One of the most remarkable predictions of the quantum theory of electronic circuits is that a small loop of resistive metal can have a perpetual current flowing in it in the absence of any applied voltage. This "persistent" current is directly analogous to the motion of electrons around the nucleus of an atom (albeit on a much larger scale!), and the prediction that it could be observed generated considerable excitement --- twenty-five years ago. Since then, experiments in this area have produced confusing results at odds with theory and even with other experiments. To address this long-standing controversy we developed a new type of detector for persistent currents which offers greater sensitivity and a less-invasive measurement than was previously possible. Our approach has made possible a painfully detailed comparison with theory. I will describe these results, which seem to give the clearest picture yet of persistent currents in normal metals. More information is available at Prof. Harris's website. Pre-colloquium talk by Frank Moscatelli on Friday, Jan. 29, 2010, 12:45 in Cunniff Better Living Through SupersymmetryBrian Wecht , School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced StudyFri., Feb. 19, 2010, 12:45 PM Despite having no direct experimental evidence in its favor, supersymmetry is still the leading candidate for new physics being sought by the Large Hadron Collider. In this talk, I will review the basics of supersymmetry and discuss why many people take this idea seriously from both theoretical and phenomenological perspectives. In particular, I will focus on the use of supersymmetry as a toolbox for understanding hard problems in quantum field theory and mathematics. No background beyond first-year undergraduate physics is assumed. Title TBAEric Jensen, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Swarthmore CollegeFri., Apr. 23, 2010, 12:45 PM Abstract TBA More information is available at Prof. Jensen's website.
|