Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2012
Volume 57, Number 3
Saturday–Tuesday, March 31–April 3 2012; Atlanta, Georgia
Session J4: Prize Session: Bouchet Award, Lilienfeld Prize, Nicholson Medal |
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Sponsoring Units: APS Room: International Ballroom North |
Sunday, April 1, 2012 1:30PM - 2:06PM |
J4.00001: Edward A. Bouchet Award Lecture: Saturation of the cross-polar cap potential Invited Speaker: Ramon Lopez As the solar wind flows past the ionosphere, momentum and energy is transferred to the magnetospheric and ionospheric plasma, causing it to circulate. The circulation means that in the Earth's frame of reference there is a potential drop across the ionosphere, which is generally referred to as the Cross-Polar Cap Potential (CPCP). The potential drop is typically proportional to the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF), since merging between the IMF and the geomagnetic field is the major mechanism by which mechanical stress is transmitted to the plasma in the magnetosphere/ionosphere system. However, for very large values of the IMF, the CPCP becomes insensitive to the magnitude of the IMF. This phenomenon is referred to as polar cap potential saturation. We will demonstrate that the saturation phenomenon is a direct consequence of a change in the force balance that determines the flow of the solar wind plasma into the magnetic merging region where the IMF merges with the geomagnetic field. When the IMF is small, the major force on the flow is the plasma pressure gradient. So as the IMF magnitude increases the flow is unaffected. However, when the IMF is large enough, the JxB force becomes the major force on the flow. Under such conditions, increasing the IMF magnitude increases the florae diverting the flow away from the merging region, thus limiting the transfer of momentum and energy from the solar wind to the magnetosphere. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 1, 2012 2:06PM - 2:42PM |
J4.00002: Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize Lecture: The Higgs Boson, String Theory, and the Real World Invited Speaker: Gordon Kane In this talk I'll describe how string theory is exciting because it can address most, perhaps all, of the questions we hope to understand about our world: why quarks and leptons make up our world, what forces form our world, cosmology, parity violation, and much more. I'll explain why string theory is testable in basically the same ways as the rest of physics, and why much of what is written about that is misleading. String theory is already or soon being tested in several ways, including correctly predicting the recently observed Higgs boson properties and mass, and predictions for dark matter, LHC physics, cosmological history, and more, from work in the increasingly active subfield ``string phenomenology.'' [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 1, 2012 2:42PM - 3:18PM |
J4.00003: Nicholson Medal for Human Outreach Lecture: Inceasing Diversity in Physics Invited Speaker: David Ernst Two initiatives designed to increase diversity in physics, astronomy, and related fields will be described. First, the programs of the National Society of Hispanic Physicists (NSHP), including its partnership with the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans (SACNAS) and with the National Society of Black Physicists (NSHP) as well as others will be presented as well as a summary of the outcome of a recent planning meeting supported by the American Physical Society. The basic ingredients of the Fisk/Vanderbilt Master's to PhD Bridge Program will be presented. The program has made Fisk University the number one producer of Master's degrees in physics to African Americans, and Vanderbilt University the number one producer of PhD degrees in physics, astronomy, and materials science to African American students and soon to become the number one producer of PhD degrees in these areas to Hispanic students. Members are being sought for NSHP and partner institutions for the Bridge program. [Preview Abstract] |
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