March 2024 - sps-list

by Prentiss, Mara

Dear All, The Physics 15c poster session is starting at 4:30 today in Science Center 306. Everyone is cordially invited. Food will be served. I hope to see you there. Mara -- Professor of Physics Harvard University 17 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA 02138

3 weeks, 1 day

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Harvard Physics Colloquium - March 18th, 4:30 PM - Prof. Surya Ganguli, Stanford University

by Vieira, Sylvia

Harvard Physics Colloquium Monday, March 18, 2024 Lecture in Jefferson 250 @ 4:30 PM Tea served in Jefferson 450 @ 3:30 PM **************** Surya Ganguli, Stanford University Neurophysics: revealing the emergence of cognition from the collective dynamics of interacting neurons Remarkable advances in experimental neuroscience now enable us to simultaneously observe and perturb the activity of many neurons, thereby providing an opportunity for theory and computation to reveal how the moment-by-moment collective dynamics of the brain instantiates cognition. We will review some of our recent work in this area focusing on examples in which statistical physics, nonlinear dynamics, and pattern formation theory elucidate fundamental principles governing relations between cognition and behavior, ranging from fundamental limits on perception to neural representations underlying navigation. Surya Ganguli triple majored in physics, mathematics, and EECS at MIT, completed a PhD in string theory at Berkeley, and a postdoc in theoretical neuroscience at UCSF. He is now an associate professor of Applied physics at Stanford where he leads the Neural Dynamics and Computation Lab. He has also been a visiting researcher at both Google and Meta AI and is currently a Venture Partner at a16z. His research spans the fields of neuroscience, machine learning and physics, focusing on understanding and improving how both biological and artificial neural networks learn striking emergent computations. He has been awarded a Swartz-Fellowship in computational neuroscience, a Burroughs-Wellcome Career Award, a Terman Award, two NeurIPS Outstanding Paper Awards, a Sloan fellowship, a James S. McDonnell Foundation scholar award in human cognition, a McKnight Scholar award in Neuroscience, a Simons Investigator Award in the mathematical modeling of living systems, an NSF career award, and a Schmidt Science Polymath Award. Zoom Details Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/97336664192?pwd=djdScXMzL2JYMTFZUlU4VHcwWHZNQT09<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.google.com_url-3Fq…> Passcode: 506586 Or One tap mobile : +16469313860,,97336664192# US +19294362866,,97336664192# US (New York) Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): +1 646 931 3860 US +1 929 436 2866 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 305 224 1968 US +1 309 205 3325 US +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 360 209 5623 US +1 386 347 5053 US +1 507 473 4847 US +1 564 217 2000 US +1 669 444 9171 US +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 689 278 1000 US +1 719 359 4580 US +1 253 205 0468 US +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Webinar ID: 973 3666 4192 International numbers available: https://harvard.zoom.us/u/acIM8HffP2<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.google.com_url-3Fq…> Or an H.323/SIP room system: H.323: 162.255.37.11 (US West) 162.255.36.11 (US East) 115.114.131.7 (India Mumbai) 115.114.115.7 (India Hyderabad) 213.19.144.110 (Amsterdam Netherlands) 213.244.140.110 (Germany) 103.122.166.55 (Australia Sydney) 103.122.167.55 (Australia Melbourne) 149.137.40.110 (Singapore) 64.211.144.160 (Brazil) 69.174.57.160 (Canada Toronto) 65.39.152.160 (Canada Vancouver) 207.226.132.110 (Japan Tokyo) 149.137.24.110 (Japan Osaka) Meeting ID: 973 3666 4192 Passcode: 506586 SIP: 97336664192(a)zoomcrc.com<mailto:97336664192@zoomcrc.com> Passcode: 506586 Sylvia Vieira Events Coordinator Department of Physics, Harvard University Lyman Lab. Room 236 O: (617) 495-9801

3 weeks, 3 days

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SAVE THE DATE - April 9, 4:30pm, 2024 Lee Historical Lecture in Physics - Frank Wilczek - "My Life With QCD: A Fifty Year Love Affair That’s Still Going Strong"

by Davis, Jolanta M.

2024 Lee Historical Lecture in Physics Frank Wilczek Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics Center for Theoretical Physics, MIT Chief Scientist, T. D. Lee Institute and Wilczek Quantum Center Shanghai Jiao Tong University Distinguished Professor Arizona State University Professor of Physics Stockholm University 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics [cid:9999080c-2db4-42db-bd13-4bc1783d6005] "My Life With QCD: A Fifty Year Love Affair That’s Still Going Strong" Tuesday, April 9, 4:30pm Jefferson 250, Harvard University, Physics Department, 17 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA and zoom (please see the link below) (you are welcome to join an afternoon tea and coffee break before the event, at 3:30pm in Jefferson 450) # # # Highlights include the discovery of asymptotic freedom, the formulation of modern QCD, working out decisive tests, quantitative treatment of unified field theories, opening new cosmic horizons (with speculative applications to matter-antimatter asymmetry and eschatology), predicting new phases and the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter at high temperature and density, showing how to produce Higgs particles - and the saga of axions: wayward children of QCD that not improbably make the “dark matter’’ of the universe. I’ll describe my personal role and experiences in advancing all of that, along with relevant context. At the end I’ll briefly describe things I’m working on now: axion searches that bring in new technologies to achieve the needed sensitivity, treeons, and flux channeling. # # # Frank Wilczek is a theoretical physicist, author, and intellectual adventurer. He has received many prizes for his work, including a Nobel Prize in Physics and Templeton Prize. Frank has made seminal contributions to fundamental particle physics, cosmology and the physics of materials. His current theoretical research includes work on Axions, Anyons, and Time Crystals. These are concepts in physics which he named and pioneered. Each has become a major focus of research world-wide. In recent years Frank has become fascinated with prospects for expanding perception (especially color perception) through technology. He is developing hardware and software tools for this. Frank has authored several well-known books and writes a monthly "Wilczek's Universe" feature for the Wall Street Journal. His latest book, Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality, distils the most profound and mind-expanding insights of modern science, and explores their implications for questions that are usually considered philosophical or even theological. Early reviews have been enthusiastic, including this from the New York Times: “Whether or not you’re accustomed reading physics for pleasure, the Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek’s Fundamentals might be the perfect book for the winter of this plague year ... Wilczek writes with breathtaking economy and clarity, and his pleasure in his subject is palpable . . .” Wilczek received a B.S. at the University of Chicago in 1970, and a PhD in physics at Princeton University in 1974. Currently he is the Herman Feshbach professor of physics at the MIT; Chief Scientist of the T. D. Lee Institute and Wilczek Quantum Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Distinguished Professor at Arizona State University; and Professor at Stockholm University. He has been married to Betsy Devine since 1973. They have two daughters. # # # David M. Lee Historical Lectures in Physics are sponsored by the Marvin and Annette Lee Fund # # # Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/91023351930?pwd=VmpDTHh0dVVVdVhMREFDQlJ0ZU1mUT09 Passcode: 535140 Or One tap mobile : +13017158592,,91023351930#,,,,*535140# US (Washington DC) +13052241968,,91023351930#,,,,*535140# US Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 305 224 1968 US +1 309 205 3325 US +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 931 3860 US +1 929 436 2866 US (New York) +1 564 217 2000 US +1 669 444 9171 US +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 689 278 1000 US +1 719 359 4580 US +1 253 205 0468 US +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 360 209 5623 US +1 386 347 5053 US +1 507 473 4847 US Webinar ID: 910 2335 1930 Passcode: 535140 International numbers available: https://harvard.zoom.us/u/abc4TIMPex Or an H.323/SIP room system: H.323: 162.255.37.11 (US West) 162.255.36.11 (US East) 115.114.131.7 (India Mumbai) 115.114.115.7 (India Hyderabad) 213.19.144.110 (Amsterdam Netherlands) 213.244.140.110 (Germany) 103.122.166.55 (Australia Sydney) 103.122.167.55 (Australia Melbourne) 149.137.40.110 (Singapore) 64.211.144.160 (Brazil) 69.174.57.160 (Canada Toronto) 65.39.152.160 (Canada Vancouver) 207.226.132.110 (Japan Tokyo) 149.137.24.110 (Japan Osaka) Meeting ID: 910 2335 1930 Passcode: 535140 SIP: 91023351930(a)zoomcrc.com Passcode: 535140

1 month, 1 week

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Solar Eclipse Outreach Event for Pediatric Patients!!

by Ashini Modi

Hey everyone! The April 8th solar eclipse is a week away and Harvard Experimentors is looking for volunteers to help out with two eclipse events at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children's Hospital. Seeing your first solar eclipse is a feeling you will never forget, and we want to bring this same feeling of joy and amazement to kids being treated at the MGH pediatric unit and Boston Children's Hospital who otherwise would not be able to enjoy the eclipse. We need volunteers from 2:30-4:00 PM to educate patients and their families about the eclipse, lead eclipse-related arts and crafts activities, distribute solar glasses, and allow kids and their families to look through telescopes. You do not need any solar eclipse/astronomy knowledge---we will have a training meeting to go over all the details! Please fill out this form <https://forms.gle/b1WUvdqF1jRXJ4v37> if you are interested in helping out and feel free to email me ( ashinimodi(a)college.harvard.edu) with any questions! https://forms.gle/b1WUvdqF1jRXJ4v37 Best, Ashini

1 month, 2 weeks

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FW: Herschbach Lecture, April 17

by Werbeloff, Marina D

Dear all, Derek Bok Center has asked us to publicize the 2023/24 Herschbach Teacher/Scientist Lecture<https://bokcenter.harvard.edu/event/dudley-herschbach-teacherscientist-lect…>, on April 17. Tracy Johnson, Professor of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology and Dean of the Life Sciences, UCLA College, will discuss data-driven pedagogical strategies aimed at fostering a culture of scientific excellence and inclusion in STEM courses. For more information, please see the attached flyer. Thanks, Marina Werbeloff

1 month, 2 weeks

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Sign up for SPS subcommittees

by Klales, Anna

It’s time to volunteer for SPS subcommittees! Please sign up here <https://forms.gle/FWzZaQGUXkGFwFqC8> by WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10TH! - Members can be from any class year, and we particularly encourage first-years to get involved. This is your chance to make new traditions and to make a difference within the physics undergrad community. - Anyone who volunteers for a subcommittee is guaranteed a position. No limit on the number of students per subcommittee. - No experience necessary. There are no elections and no comp. If you’re eager and willing to commit, we’d love to have you! - See below for full descriptions of each subcommittee. We also welcome new initiatives and are happy to create more subcommittees to accommodate your ideas! Stay tuned for a later email regarding SPS’s co-president positions. Co-presidents take responsibility for various administrative duties including college student group requirements, end-of-year SPS chapter reports, communication with the national SPS, etc. If you have any questions about the subcommittee positions or roles, please contact Dionne Clarke or Anna Klales! DESCRIPTIONS OF POSITIONS: Polaris Polaris is a large-scale mentorship program for students in the Physics Department, designed to build community and improve equitable access to departmental resources. First and second year students are matched with more experienced undergraduates and grad students as mentors. Events include regular meetings which can be focused on mentorship, research, or socializing. Duties: Recruit mentors and mentees, train mentors, match mentors and mentees, plan whole-program events. Events & Panels SPS hosts a set of classic events, including panels on undergrad research, post-grad careers, grad school etc., Frozen Pumpkin Drop™ on Halloween, social dinners, and liquid nitrogen ice cream socials throughout the year. Duties: Plan events, write pub emails, host events. Directed Reading Program A directed reading program in which grad students are paired with undergrads to learn about a particular topic beyond the typical curriculum. Duties: Recruit grad mentors, pair mentors and students based on interests. Equity & Inclusion SPS believes that it is essential to create an undergraduate physics community where students from all backgrounds are welcome, respected, and afforded equitable benefit from departmental resources. Duties: Organize town halls on equity and inclusion issues, work with department to probe and mitigate barriers to inclusion, organize events on how to increase diversity in physics. Communications Point person for external communications, help create flashy advertisements to pub events. Duties: Maintain SPS website <https://sps.physics.harvard.edu/>, mailing list, email account, & social media. Queer Physics Collective The Queer Physics Collective is a new committee formed by undergraduate, Rain Wang. Their goal is to advocate for and promote community and inclusivity for LGBTQ+-identifying students in physics and related departments. This community is for undergrad or grad students interested in attending community socials, career/opportunity chats and panels, and/or safe spaces to navigate queerness at Harvard. Duties: Plan fireside chats, panels and socials, run QPC mailing list, host events and facilitate and network with other queer communities APS IDEA Representative The Physics Department DEI committee is seeking 1 or 2 students who are interested in becoming APS IDEA representatives. APS IDEA stands for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Alliance, and their goal is to explore foundational ideas in organizational change, including bias, power dynamics, documentation and strategic planning. Student representatives would have the unique opportunity to share their perspectives with the department DEI committee and the time commitment would be minimal. Duties: Attend quarterly APS IDEA Zoom meetings, Share ideas and strategies with the Physics Department DEI committee.

1 month, 2 weeks

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TODAY @6 PM ET on ZOOM: Paul Halpern, in conversation with Jacob Barandes, "The Allure of the Multiverse" | HARVARD SCIENCE Virtual BOOK TALKS

by Werbeloff, Marina D

[https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/template_images/gallery/47662b23-df38-45d4…] HARVARD SCIENCE Virtual BOOK TALK [https://mcusercontent.com/2a42f9e6c5264bb277175db04/images/bb04b1a0-ea6a-01…] PAUL HALPERN The Allure of the Multiverse: Extra Dimensions, Other Worlds, and Parallel Universes in conversation with JACOB BARANDES MARCH 28 6:00PM ET ZOOM Event! REGISTER<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__harvard.us9.list-2Dman…> [https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/template_images/gallery/03c9e5d8-4a2f-471e…] [https://cdn-images.mailchimp.com/template_images/gallery/47662b23-df38-45d4…] ABOUT THE BOOK: Our books, our movies—our imaginations—are obsessed with extra dimensions, alternate timelines, and the sense that all we see might not be all there is. In short, we can’t stop thinking about the multiverse. As it turns out, physicists are similarly captivated. In The Allure of the Multiverse, physicist Paul Halpern tells the epic story of how science became besotted with the multiverse, and the controversies that ensued. The questions that brought scientists to this point are big and deep: Is reality such that anything can happen, must happen? How does quantum mechanics “choose” the outcomes of its apparently random processes? And why is the universe habitable? Each question quickly leads to the multiverse. Drawing on centuries of disputation and deep vision, from luminaries like Nietzsche, Einstein, and the creators of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Halpern reveals the multiplicity of multiverses that scientists have imagined to make sense of our reality. Whether we live in one of many different possible universes, or simply the only one there is, might never be certain. But Halpern shows one thing for sure: how stimulating it can be to try to find out. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS: Paul Halpern is a professor of physics at Saint Joseph’s University and the author of eighteen popular science books, including Flashes of Creation, The Quantum Labyrinth, Einstein's Dice and Schrodinger's Cat, and Synchronicity. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He lives near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jacob Barandes is a theoretical physicist and philosopher of science at Harvard University. He did his undergraduate work at Columbia University in physics and mathematics, and then completed his PhD in theoretical physics at Harvard. Dr. Barandes currently serves as Lecturer and Co-Director of Graduate Studies for the physics PhD program at Harvard. He is also an Associated Faculty member with Harvard's Department of Philosophy, as well as a Faculty Affiliate with the Harvard Black Hole Initiative. Dr. Barandes teaches courses on the fundamentals of theoretical physics, classical electromagnetism, general relativity, and the history and philosophy of quantum mechanics. His research publications focus on the foundations of quantum theory, philosophy of science, and quantum field theory. Dr. Barandes also organizes the annual New England Workshop on the History and Philosophy of Physics, in addition to an international seminar series on physics and philosophy of science. For more information about the series and videos of previous Harvard Science Book Talks, see https://science.fas.harvard.edu/book-talks<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__harvard.us9.list-2Dman…> [YouTube]<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__harvard.us9.list-2Dman…> YouTube<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__harvard.us9.list-2Dman…> [X (formerly Twitter)]<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__harvard.us9.list-2Dman…> X (formerly Twitter)<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__harvard.us9.list-2Dman…> [Website]<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__harvard.us9.list-2Dman…> Website<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__harvard.us9.list-2Dman…> [Email]<mailto:science_lectures@fas.harvard.edu> Email<mailto:science_lectures@fas.harvard.edu>

1 month, 2 weeks

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Sir Andre Geim - Loeb Lectures in Physics - March 25, 26, 27

by Davis, Jolanta M.

2024 Morris Loeb Lectures in Physics Sir Andre Geim Regius Professor University of Manchester [cid:bfc76f1e-ea59-43b1-92f8-a22c9d8378b2] all lectures will be held in Jefferson 250 Harvard University Physics Department, 17 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA and streamed live through zoom (please see the information below) Monday, March 25, 4:30pm (1st colloquium) "Wonder Materials" Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms, is not only the thinnest but also probably the simplest material one can imagine. Nonetheless, graphene has acquired so many superlatives to its name and revealed such a cornucopia of new phenomena that it is often called a wonder material. Following its advent, many other one-atom or one-molecule thick crystals have been isolated and investigated. These so-called two-dimensional materials have become one of the hottest topics in materials science and condensed matter physics. Aiming at an audience unfamiliar with 2D materials, I will briefly describe the research field trying to explain why graphene and its cousins have attracted so much attention. Tuesday, March 26, 4:30pm (focused lecture) "Exploring 2D Empty Space" It is now possible to create angstrom-scale channels that can be viewed as if one or a few individual atomic planes are pulled out of a bulk crystal leaving behind a 2D space. I shall overview my work on this subject over the last few years, which covers studies of gases, liquids and ions under the extreme angstrom-scale confinement. Wednesday, March 27, 4:30pm (2nd colloquium) "Science of flying frogs" Magnetic response of the very majority of materials is diamagnetic, billion times smaller than that of “real” magnetic materials such as iron or nickel. No wonder then that most things including humans are generally considered to be non-magnetic. However feeble, the ubiquitous diamagnetism is strong enough to support such dramatic phenomena as true levitation. In this talk - intended to be both informative and entertaining - I will show how to use strong magnets to let live frogs fly and, vice versa, how to use your fingertips to levitate magnets in between. # # # Sir Andre Geim is Regius Professor at the University of Manchester. He was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking work on graphene, a one-atom-thick material made of carbon. He also received numerous international awards and distinctions, including medals from the Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences, and holds honorary doctorates and professorships from many countries and universities. Sir Andre is a member of the British, American and Chinese academies of science, among others. Thomson-Reuters repeatedly named Geim among the world’s most active scientists and attributed to him three new research fronts – diamagnetic levitation, gecko tape and graphene. More than forty of his papers were cited >1,000 times with nine of them >10,000 times. Two of the latter are among 100 most cited research papers in human history, according to journal Nature. He was also awarded the 2000 Ig Nobel prize for his work on levitation, becoming the first and only recipient of both Nobel and Ig Nobel Prizes. Sir Andre was knighted by Dutch and British monarchs. # # # The lectures are sponsored by the Morris Loeb Lectureship Fund. # # # Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/96602643318?pwd=bklLNTZDckFlWWZpclN1S3E1U0pqZz09 Passcode: 079110 Or One tap mobile : +13017158592,,96602643318#,,,,*079110# US (Washington DC) +13052241968,,96602643318#,,,,*079110# US Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 305 224 1968 US +1 309 205 3325 US +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 931 3860 US +1 929 436 2866 US (New York) +1 564 217 2000 US +1 669 444 9171 US +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 689 278 1000 US +1 719 359 4580 US +1 253 205 0468 US +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 360 209 5623 US +1 386 347 5053 US +1 507 473 4847 US Webinar ID: 966 0264 3318 Passcode: 079110 International numbers available: https://harvard.zoom.us/u/aegnBvvece Or an H.323/SIP room system: H.323: 162.255.37.11 (US West) 162.255.36.11 (US East) 115.114.131.7 (India Mumbai) 115.114.115.7 (India Hyderabad) 213.19.144.110 (Amsterdam Netherlands) 213.244.140.110 (Germany) 103.122.166.55 (Australia Sydney) 103.122.167.55 (Australia Melbourne) 149.137.40.110 (Singapore) 64.211.144.160 (Brazil) 69.174.57.160 (Canada Toronto) 65.39.152.160 (Canada Vancouver) 207.226.132.110 (Japan Tokyo) 149.137.24.110 (Japan Osaka) Meeting ID: 966 0264 3318 Passcode: 079110 SIP: 96602643318(a)zoomcrc.com Passcode: 079110

1 month, 2 weeks

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WNS

by Isaac Silvera

There was a mixup in the schedule last week and the WNS was given by Norman Yao. This week is the following: This week’s Wednesday Night Seminar: Speaker: Prof. Julia Mundy Title: Epitaxy of thin-film quantum materials Place: Jefferson 453 Time: 7:30-8:00, followed by informal discussions and ice cream

1 month, 3 weeks

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New office hour page

by Morin, David

FYI, Harvard’s OpenScholar website platform is being phased out, so I made a new site with a new office hour link: https://davidmorin.physics.fas.harvard.edu/office-hours/. (The old site should redirect to the home page of the new one.) The Zoom link is the same: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/95258793192?pwd=cEViNis1d1ozNDk3MmdpWjRyOVY1QT09

1 month, 3 weeks

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sps-list March 2024