Bulletin of the American Physical Society
17th Annual Meeting of the APS Northwest Section
Volume 61, Number 7
Thursday–Saturday, May 12–14, 2016; Penticton, British Columbia, Canada
Session E1: Plenary Session II |
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Chair: Anna Goussiou, University of Washington Room: PC 113 |
Saturday, May 14, 2016 9:00AM - 9:15AM |
E1.00001: Announcements |
Saturday, May 14, 2016 9:15AM - 9:50AM |
E1.00002: Nuclear physics from lattice QCD Invited Speaker: Silas Beane Over the last several decades, theoretical nuclear physics has been evolving from a very-successful phenomenology of the properties of nuclei, to a first-principles derivation of the properties of visible matter in the Universe from the known underlying theories of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and Electrodynamics. Many developments are being achieved using lattice QCD, a method for treating QCD numerically with large computers. After a brief motivational introduction, I will present some calculations of the properties of the simplest nuclear and hypernuclear systems using lattice QCD. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 14, 2016 9:50AM - 10:25AM |
E1.00003: Mimicking spin-orbit coupling in ultracold gases Invited Speaker: Lindsay LeBlanc Ultracold quantum gases offer wonderful opportunities for exploring the behaviour of many-body systems using precise control over the atoms’ temperature, interactions, potential energy landscapes, and internal quantum degrees of freedom. In quantum simulation experiments, we use ultracold atomic gases of neutral atoms to study analogies to other physical systems, often with condensed matter phenomena in mind. As one of the tools in our arsenal, we use laser light to mimic “spin-orbit coupling” and create a well-defined relationship between the particles internal (“spin”) and motional ("orbit”) degrees of freedom. For a first set of experiments in our lab we propose to use spatially dependent spin-orbit coupling to mimic a spin-dependent magnetic field, and to study the formation of vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates exposed to this. To build on this, we will combine this with techniques that tune the interparticle interactions, where it is predicted that competition between magnetic-like and superfluid-like many-body order should exist. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 14, 2016 10:25AM - 11:00AM |
E1.00004: Radio Astronomy 101 -- The Canadian Edition Invited Speaker: Jo-Anne Brown Radio Astronomy is a relatively young branch of astronomy that takes advantage of radio-frequency emission, instead of the more familiar optical emission. Radio telescopes can ``see'' through dust and gas in a way that allows us to probe farther into space, and thus further back in time than optical telescopes can. The Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO), nestled in the hills of the Okanagan Valley, has been, and continues to be, a world leader in radio astronomy, both in terms of observations and engineering. In this atypical Canadian talk (sorry), I will brag about major advancements and initiatives undertaken at DRAO, and how DRAO has changed radio astronomy around the world. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 14, 2016 11:00AM - 11:30AM |
E1.00005: COFFEE BREAK |
Saturday, May 14, 2016 11:30AM - 12:05PM |
E1.00006: Promoting Student Engagement in the High School Physics Classroom and Beyond Invited Speaker: Bruce Gowe As educators we not only strive to have students interested in taking physics courses at both the high school and the university level but also to consider entering into careers in science and engineering. More importantly than just piquing a student’s interest, one also desires to see students at all levels of physics develop accurate factual, conceptual, and procedural knowledge of the world of physics. The challenge before us is to find ways to actively engage students in their own learning in the sometimes counterintuitive world of physics. In this talk I will describe unique opportunities and activities used to engage the students at Penticton Secondary School such as the school's observatory and a variation of the classic 'clicker' question. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, May 14, 2016 12:05PM - 12:40PM |
E1.00007: The Dawn of Gravitational Wave Astronomy Invited Speaker: Neil Cornish Early in the morning of September 14th, 2015, a gravitational wave signal passed through the Earth and was detected by the Advanced LIGO instruments. The detection occurred 100 years after Einstein first predicted their existence using his newly formulated general theory of relativity, and 60 years after Joe Weber initiated the search for these elusive signals. The first direct detection of gravitational waves marks the end of the a decades long effort to measure a basic property of the Universe, and the beginning of a new branch of astronomy. I will describe what we have learned from the first detection of a black hole merger, and what the future may hold for gravitational wave astronomy of the next years and decades, on ground and in space. [Preview Abstract] |
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