Physics And Astronomy Past Colloquium

Classical and Quantum Computations of Atomic Nuclei Featuring: Thomas Papenbrock, University of Tennessee-Knoxville October 7, 2026 Abstract: Computing has reshaped nuclear theory in the past two decades. The ever-increasing power of computers now allows one to model properties of the atomic nucleus with high fidelity, As a consequence,… Read More

The Physics of Biological Active Matter Featuring: Jenny Ross October 21, 2026 Host: TBD Abstract: Biological systems are unique because they are hierarchically assembled from energy-using subunits, from the nanoscale all the way to the macroscale. This gives biological systems novel abilities such as self-organized development, self-healing, and memory… Read More

Stabilized and Multiscale Methods: Unifying CFD for Science and Engineering Featuring: Yuri Bazilevs September 30, 2026 at 1 p.m. in The Commons Rooms 235/237 Host: Kalman Varga Abstract: After several decades of method development, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is now considered to be a mature discipline by many. However,… Read More

The Monsters of the Universe: Exploring Supermassive Black Holes and Quasars with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Featuring: Kate Grier, University of Wisconsin-Madison September 23, 2026 at 4 p.m. in room 235/237 The Commons Host: Jessie Runnoe Abstract: Supermassive black holes are some of the most extreme and fascinating… Read More

Creating Droplets of the Early Universe in the Laboratory with Nuclear Collisions Featuring: Ron Belmont, University of North Carolina-Greensboro September 16, 2026 at 1 p.m. in Commons Center 237 Host: Julia Velkovska Abstract:The universe today is very sparse and very cold. However, as we turn back the clock, things… Read More

Black hole images: What they’ve taught us so far and how we can improve them Featuring: Lia Medeiros, University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee September 9, 2026 at 1 p.m. in Commons Center 237 Host: Steve Taylor Abstract: Horizon-scale observations of accreting supermassive black holes with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT)… Read More

Aklant Bhowmick, University of Virginia Unraveling the Origins of Supermassive Black HOles and their Cosmic Significance usi The past decade has featured major advances in supermassive black hole (SMBH) astrophysics: from the first evidence of the gravitational wave background, to our first glimpses into the seeding epoch, to the first… Read More

Cliff Burgess, McMaster University The gravity of tinkering with einstein We live at a time of contradictory messages about how successfully we understand gravity. General Relativity seems to work well in the Earth’s immediate neighbourhood, but arguements abound that it needs modification at very small and/or very large distances. This… Read More

Zhi-Hao Cui, Columbia University Unraveling the Mysteries of Quantum Materials: Cuprate Superconductivity and Charge Density Waves in CrSBr Strong electron correlations can transform simple chemical building blocks into quantum materials with striking macroscopic signatures, such as high-Tc superconductivity and charge density waves. Yet a central challenge remains: how do we… Read More

Hong-Ye Hu, Harvard University Scalable Quantum Applications: Synergies in Control, Learning, and Co-design The rapid advancement of quantum science and technology has ushered in a new era where analog simulators can now control thousands of qubits and digital processors are approaching break-even points for error correction. However, bridging the gap… Read More

Aklant Bhowmick, University of Virginia Unraveling the Origins of Supermassive Black Holes and their Cosmic Significance using Cosmological simulations Supermassive black holes, typically ranging from a million to a billion solar masses, are now known to inhabit the centers of most massive galaxies. Unraveling their cosmic origins remains a central… Read More

Colin Burke, Yale University Probing the Invisible Universe with Variability The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will imminently transform time-domain astrophysics by enabling precision, long-baseline optical variability measurements for billions of sources. Time-domain variability provides a uniquely powerful window into the otherwise invisible components of the Universe, from the physics of… Read More

Eric Anschuetz, California Institute of Technology When to Go QuantUM Quantum computers use the principles of quantum mechanics to perform computation in a way fundamentally different from traditional (“classical”) methods. This new computing paradigm exhibits great promise in–among other things–revolutionizing our ability to understand and solve complex problems in physics,… Read More

Christopher Tiede, Niels Bohr International Academy How to Feed a Super-Massive Black Hole Binary Following recent evidence for a stochastic background of gravitational waves from pulsar timing experiments, a cornerstone of the upcoming decade in astrophysics will be the detection of low-frequency gravitational waves from individual mergers of the Universe’s… Read More

Rhine Samajdar, Princeton University Architectures, algorithms, and opportunities for quantum computation Quantum computers promise transformative advances in science and technology, yet their practical performance is fundamentally limited by noise, errors, and decoherence. In this talk, I will explore how the co-design of quantum hardware and algorithms can unlock new capabilities… Read More

Thankful Cromartie, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Constraining the Dense Matter Equation of State with Next-Generation Pulsar Timing Arrays Radio-frequency observations of millisecond pulsars play a key role in determining the equation of state (EoS) of supranuclear-density matter in neutron star interiors. High-precision timing of massive pulsars provides direct constraints on… Read More

Angelo Ricarte, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Weaving the Multi-messenger Tapestry of Supermassive Black Hole Evolution — from the Event Horizon to Cosmological Scales The past decade has featured major advances in supermassive black hole (SMBH) astrophysics: from the first evidence of the gravitational wave background, to our first glimpses into the… Read More

Friederike Boch, Oak Ridge National Laboratory A New Era of Electron-Ion Collider Physics- The ePIC detector and its forward hadronic calorimeter This talk introduces the Electron-ion Collider (EIC) project, embodied by the ePIC detector, which will provide unprecedented high-luminosity collisions of polarized electrons with polarized protons/ions to address fundamental questions… Read More

Pedro Ferreira, Oxford University The Perfect theory: A century of Geniuses and the Battle over General Relativity Physicists have been exploring, debating, and questioning the general theory of relativity ever since Albert Einstein first presented it in 1915. Einstein’s theory, which explains the relationships among gravity, space, and time, is possibly… Read More

ALICE CLAIR KIMBLER HANKLA ENDOWED LECTURE Natalie Klco, Duke University Quantum Simulating (with) Nature’s Quantum Correlations: Guidance from Field Vacuum EntaNglement Entanglement is a resource that allows quantum systems to contain exponentially more information than the sum of their parts.  We will discuss and quantify the ability of simple… Read More