Wed, 02/10/10 10:00AM  Vanja Dunjko, University of Massachusetts, Boston
NOTE: 10:00 AM

This event is part of the Condensed Matter Theory Seminar Series. SCI 328

Abstract: In the single-variable case, Gell-Mann—Low renormalization group (GLM RG)
requires no special symmetries and is thus a purely formal method for improving
convergence properties of series expansions. In fact, up to a series reversion,
it is a type of integral Hermite-Pad approximation. It is especially useful
for interpolating between expansions for small values of a variable and a
scaling law of known exponent for large values. As an example, we extract the
scaling-law prefactor for the one-body density matrix of the Lieb-Liniger gas.
Using a new result for the 4th-order term in the short-distance expansion, we
find a remarkable agreement with known ab initio numerical results.

Fri, 02/12/10 12:00PM  Sonia R. Bentes and Rui Menezes, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Hosted by H. Eugene Stanley.
Location: SCI 352
NOTE: Pizza served at 11:45

This event is part of the Biophysics/Condensed Matter Seminar Series.

Tue, 02/16/10 12:30PM  Brock Tweedie, Johns Hopkins University

This event is part of the Particle and Fields Seminar Series. 12:30 PRB 595

Abstract:
While usually not considered, the sneutrino is a viable candidate for the
next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle, NLSP, in supersymmetry spectra
with gravitino LSP. Since the sneutrino decays invisibly, it will appear
to be the true LSP at the LHC. We find that this situation can lead to
very distinctive multi-lepton signals. We study these signals in detail,
and demonstrate our approach on simulations incorporating backgrounds.

Fri, 02/19/10 09:30AM

Title: Conductivity Dynamics in the Correlated Metallic State of V2O3 and VO2

Examining Committee: Rick Averitt, Shyam Erramilli, Lawrence Ziegler (Chemistry), Claudio Chamon

Best wishes to Mengkun!!

Fri, 02/19/10 02:30PM  Tom Paul, Northeastern University

This event is part of the High Energy Experiment Seminar Series. Held in PRB595 at 2:30pm, Friday

Cosmic rays with energies as high as 10^20 eV have been observed, but unveiling their origins and composition is a challenge due to the rarity of events at this extreme end of the energy spectrum. The Pierre Auger Observatory was designed specifically to study such cosmic rays using a giant array of particle detectors and fluorescence light telescopes. I’ll describe how the experiment works and present some of the latest results concerning the energy spectrum, chemical composition, and searches for the cosmic ray sources.

Tue, 02/23/10 03:30PM  Roman Jackiw, MIT
Hosted by William Klein.

This event is part of the Department Colloquia Series. Colloquia are at 3:30 in the Metcalf Science Center (SCI 107). Refreshments will be served at 3:15 in the 1st Floor Lounge

January 25, 2010: At the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, India, the Fourth Ramanujan Lecture of the CAMCS, SINP, will be delivered by Prof. H. Eugene Stanley, Professor of Physics, Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Physiology and Director, Center for Polymer Studies, Boston University, USA on “Economic Fluctuations and Statistical Physics: Quantifying Extremely Rare and Much Less Rare Events “ on 29th January, 2010. For more information, check out the CAMCS events page.

January 22, 2010: Professor Gene Stanley has been recognized by the American Physical Society as one among the 157 Outstanding Referees of the Physical Review and Physical Review Letters journals, as chosen by the journal editors for 2010.

Initiated in 2008, the Outstanding Referee program expresses appreciation for the essential work that anonymous peer reviewers do for their journals. Each year a small percentage of their 42,000 referees are to be selected and honored with the Outstanding Referee designation. Selections are made based on the number, quality, and timeliness of referee reports as collected in a database over the last 20 years. The program will recognize about 150 referees each year, although larger groups were selected in 2008 and 2009. A full listing and further details on the program are available on the APS website.

November 24, 2009: The first proton-proton collisions have been observed in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) located at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. Groups at BU have been deeply involved in the two large LHC experiments ATLAS and CMS since the mid-1990’s.

From today’s CERN press release:

“Geneva, 23 November 2009. Today the LHC circulated two beams simultaneously for the first time, allowing the operators to test the synchronization of the beams and giving the experiments their first chance to look for proton-proton collisions. With just one bunch of particles circulating in each direction, the beams can be made to cross in up to two places in the ring. From early in the afternoon, the beams were made to cross at points 1 and 5, home to the ATLAS and CMS detectors, both of which were on the lookout for collisions. Later, beams crossed at points 2 and 8, ALICE and LHCb.
  
These developments come just three days after the LHC restart, demonstrating the excellent performance of the beam control system. Since the start-up, the operators have been circulating beams around the ring alternately in one direction and then the other at the injection energy of 450 GeV. The beam lifetime has gradually been increased to 10 hours, and today beams have been circulating simultaneously in both directions, still at the injection energy.
 
Next on the schedule is an intense commissioning phase aimed at increasing the beam intensity and accelerating the beams. All being well, by Christmas, the LHC should reach 1.2 TeV per beam, and have provided good quantities of collision data for the experiments’ calibrations.”

For the complete press release, click here. For event displays and movies of the first events observed by ATLAS and CMS, go to:

Follow the LHC on Twitter for the most up-to-date commissioning news.

November 16, 2009: Upon the recommendation of the Division of Materials Physics Professor Kevin Smith has been elected Fellow of the American Physical Society “for pioneering contributions to the study of the electronic structure of solids using angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy, soft x-ray emission spectroscopy and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering.” Election to Fellowship in the APS is limited to no more than one half of one percent of the membership and it is quite a recognition of outstanding contributions to physics.

November 16, 2009: Professor Antonio Castro Neto, who already serves as Divisional Associate Editor for the Physical Review Letters and Colloquium Editor for Reviews of Modern Physics, as of January 1st 2010 will also be Editor for Europhysics Letters.

October 05, 2009: Hi Everybody,

My book “How Many Licks?” is now available for order, at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other vendors.

That’s where you guys come in. I need your help publicizing it. Please email me if you work at, know someone who works at, or even just know the names of any of the following organizations that might be interested in the book:

• newspapers
• magazines
• catalogs
• radio stations
• TV stations
• web programs
• specialty bookstores
• special groups
• professional groups
• blogs
• video blogs
• anything/anyone else who might be willing to review, interview, or advertise

A description of the book is given below. Please spread the word!

Hope you guys are well.

Much love,
—
ATS

Have you ever wondered how many calories are in the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, how many times you would have to wash your favorite t-shirt before it turns entirely to dryer lint, or how many people are simultaneously achieving an orgasm this second? Help is here. /How Many Licks?/ explains how to calculate these and other amusing tidbits quickly and easily using math that anyone can grasp. Whether you’re a budding Einstein, a trivia-loving math hater, or a Sunday paper puzzle lover, /How Many Licks?/ is for you!

January 24, 2006: Please visit our online memorial to Alexander Marin. If you have any materials you would like to share, please send them to Richard Laskey.