Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2014
Volume 59, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 3–7, 2014; Denver, Colorado
Session M14: Invited Session: Physics for Everyone |
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Sponsoring Units: DMP Chair: John Mitchell, Argonne National Laboratory Room: 301-303 |
Wednesday, March 5, 2014 11:15AM - 11:51AM |
M14.00001: The Universe: Beginnings, Ending and Our Miserable Future Invited Speaker: Lawrence Krauss Beginnings and endings are not only tied together in literature, but in the real world as well. Our Universe is a good example. While storing energy in empty space was probably responsible, early on, due to inflation, for the existence of the large spatial volume in which we live, the current inflationary phase in which we live will make the universe ultimately unlivable, as arguments about energy, information, and quantum mechanics show. I shall also describe how, before the demise of life, future astronomers will come to completely incorrect conclusions about the universe in which they live. [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, March 5, 2014 11:51AM - 12:27PM |
M14.00002: Attosecond Physics - Probing and Controlling Matter on Its Natural Time Scale Invited Speaker: Anthony F. Starace The goal of attosecond physics is to probe and control matter on its natural time scale, which for electronic motion in atoms, molecules, and solids is measured in attoseconds ($=$ 10$^{-18}$ sec). Both single attosecond pulses and attosecond pulse trains can be produced.~ Such pulses have opened new avenues for time-domain studies of multi-electron dynamics in atoms, molecules, and solids on their natural time scale and at dimensions shorter than molecular and even atomic dimensions. They promise a revolution in our microscopic knowledge and understanding of matter. At present the intensities of isolated attosecond pulses are very weak, so that perturbation theory is sufficient to describe the interaction of attosecond pulses with matter. Consequently, they can only be used either to initiate (``pump'') a physical process or to probe a process already under way by other means. Experimental efforts currently aim to increase the intensities of isolated attosecond pulses by orders of magnitude. Intense attosecond pulses will open the regime of nonlinear attosecond physics, in which pump/probe processes with isolated attosecond pulses will become possible and in which the broad bandwidth of isolated few-cycle attosecond pulses will enable significant control over electron motion. [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, March 5, 2014 12:27PM - 1:03PM |
M14.00003: Quantum Matter Meets Living Matter Invited Speaker: Ronald Walsworth Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful tool for biology and medicine, but has limited spatial resolution (about 0.1 millimeters in living creatures) and thus cannot visualize individual living cells or subcellular structures, let alone the constituent molecules and atoms. However, recent developments in quantum science have rapidly and radically changed this story, enabling a new form of optical MRI with nanoscale spatial resolution and applicable to living biological cells. I will describe how special quantum defects in room temperature diamond crystals, known as nitrogen vacancy (NV) color centers, provide a practical means for extending the reach of MRI to the nanoscale and even Angstrom scale, with wide-ranging applications in biology, medicine, and materials science. [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, March 5, 2014 1:03PM - 1:39PM |
M14.00004: Journey to the Center of the Earth Invited Speaker: David Stevenson The center of Earth is at about the temperature of the surface of the Sun (about 6000K) but frozen because of the extreme pressure. I will place the Earth in a more general context of planets (including exoplanets) and explain how it is that the materials deep in Earth can behave differently from the same composition at low pressure.I will describe the sequence of layers and materials and conditions as one travels in a hypothetical probe from the surface to the center, emphasizing the things we do not understand well. I will talk about he extent to which Earth's mantle is imperfectly mixed and may have a bottom layer above the core that is different in composition. I will discuss the Urey number puzzle (what explains Earth's heat flow?). I will focus on the puzzle that Earth's magnetic field presents: How is it generated and how has this worked for billions of years? It seems that we need another energy source. I will talk about how Earth has a memory of how it formed, in particulate the high temperatures resulting from events such as the giant impact that led to our Moon. I will end with a discussion of what to do about the remaining puzzles, in particular the possible value of the geoneutrino experiment and attempts to directly probe the interior. [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, March 5, 2014 1:39PM - 2:15PM |
M14.00005: Higgs and Beyond Invited Speaker: James Proudfoot On July 4th 2012, the ATLAS and CMS experiments announced the discovery of a new boson. Following analysis of the full dataset from LHC Run 1, the properties of this particle have been determined to be in agreement with those expected for the long-sought after Higgs boson, completing the particle family in the Standard Model. However, we know from fundamental arguments that a considerable degree of fine tuning is needed to make the particle masses fit what we observe. This talk will address the observation of the Higgs boson, what we have learned since this discovery, why we should consider physics beyond the Standard Model, and what physics may remain to be discovered such as a composite Higgs or Supersymmetry. To perform these searches the detector must deal with extreme conditions and this talk will address some of the experimental challenges to be faced and their possible solutions. [Preview Abstract] |
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