Department of Physics and Astronomy

Seminars/Colloquia, Fall 2019

Unless noted otherwise, Tuesday Colloquia are at 4:00 PM
with refreshments served 15 minutes before each colloquium.

Scheduling for additional seminars will vary.

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Date/Place	Speaker	Title (and link to abstract)
Tue, Aug 27 Lewis 101 4:30 PM	Department Faculty Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Mississippi	Ice Cream Social. (PDF)
Tue, Sep 3 Lewis 101	Bhubanjyoti Bhattacharya Department of Natural Sciences Lawrence Technological University	CP Violation in the Precision Era
Tue, Sep 10 Lewis 101	No Colloquium	(Graduate Student Comprehensive Examinations)
Tue, Sep 17 Lewis 101	Keegan Kurpakus, HuuTran Do, Saeed Kamali, Raymond Siedlecki, and John Vincent Waite Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Mississippi	Reports on Summer Research
Tue, Sep 24 Lewis 101	Carl Jensen Transducer Technology Group Bose Corporation	Sound Reproduction and Loudspeaker Structural Modes
Tue, Oct 1 Lewis 101	Michel Villanueva Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Mississippi	Searches of New Physics with the Belle II Experiment
Tue, Oct 8 Lewis 101	Tomas Galvez Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Mississippi	Quantum Cosmology and Sound Waves in the Early Universe
Tue, Oct 15 Lewis 101	Lorena Magaņa Zertuche, Sashwat Tanay, Akshay Vijaykumar Khadse, Sudeep (I) Adhikari, Jonathan Herlan, and Ashoka Karunarathne Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Mississippi	Reports on Summer Research
Tue, Oct 22 Lewis 101	David Craig Department of Chemistry and Physics West Texas A&M University	From Astronomy to Acoustics and Back Again Through Undergraduate Research
Tue, Oct 29 Lewis 101	Xudong Fan, Sudeep (II) Adhikari, Benjamin "B.B." Pilgrim, Kevin Yi-Wei Lin, He Liu, and Khagendra Adhikari Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Mississippi	Reports on Summer Research
Tue, Nov 5 Lewis 101	Logan S. Marcus Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Chemical and Biological Defense ANSER, Inc.	Careers in Science Outside of Academia
Tue, Nov 12 Lewis 101	Annemarie Exarhos Department of Physics Lafayette College
Tue, Nov 19 Lewis 101	Edward Thomas, Jr. College of Sciences and Mathematics Auburn University	Using Magnets and Microgravity to Explore the Physics of Dusty Plasmas
Tue, Nov 26 Lewis 101	Thomas Turkey Department of Nutrition Virginia Tech	Continuing Advantages of a Vegetarian Diet
Tue, Dec 3 Lewis 101	Santanu Banerjee Physics Department Tougaloo College	Environmental and Biomedical Applications of Gold Nanomaterials
Tue, Dec 10 Lewis 101	Final Exam Week
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Abstracts of Talks

Bhubanjyoti Bhattacharya Department of Natural Sciences Lawrence Technological University CP Violation in the Precision Era Anomalies in recent data present strong hints of physics beyond the Standard Model. Several new physics models, among them vector bosons and leptoquarks, have proven to be viable candidates in light of the data. Intensity frontier experiments will soon test many of these models through precision measurements of low-energy observables. In this talk I will present a subset of recent measurements that come with a hint of new physics. I will present proposals for testing and distinguishing between some of the popular new physics models, by using CP violating observables.

Carl Jensen Transducer Technology Group Bose Corporation Sound Reproduction and Loudspeaker Structural Modes Many familiar sources of sound involve vibrating structures like a piano sound board, an acoustic guitar's body, drums, and all kinds of vibrating machinery. Similarly, almost all technologies for mechanically producing sound also work by exciting some kind of vibrating structure as well, but, in sound reproduction, the goal is to recreate the original recording as accurately as possible. So the fact that all vibrating structures exhibit modal behavior can be good or bad: the diversity and excitation of modes in musical instruments lends them their unique sonic qualities and richness, but these same characteristics are very much unwanted in a loudspeaker meant for accurate reproduction. In this presentation, I'll discuss some of the principles of sound reproduction and perception as well as laying out how we can use computer simulations to untangle the complex acoustic behavior of these modes to understand their behavior and make better sounding loudspeakers.

Michel Villanueva Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Mississippi Searches of New Physics with the Belle II Experiment Despite the large success shown by the Standard Model of Elementary Particles describing subatomic processes, there are still many open questions in nature that cannot be explained by the Standard Model. Solving the issues faced by the Standard Model requires the introduction of new particles or interactions, which, if they exist, can be observed as deviations from the predictions of suppressed or forbidden processes. The Belle II experiment will play a critical role in searches for new physics at the "intensity frontier". First collisions took place in 2018 at the new SuperKEKB accelerator, which is expected to operate for the next decade, collecting 50 times more data than the previous generation of experiments of this kind. In this talk, the data production and physics programs of the Belle II experiment are presented, in which the High Energy Physics group of the University of Mississippi contributes to key roles. Of particular interest in my research are decays of the tau lepton, which provide a clean environment to the study of QCD related processes.

Tomas Galvez Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Mississippi Quantum Cosmology and Sound Waves in the Early Universe In this talk, we will review some of the conundrums of standard big bang cosmology and a few proposals designed to circumvent them. To do so, we study the quantum origin of perturbations in a perfect (or imperfect) fluid and show some useful techniques to calculate their corresponding two-point correlators. Our objective is to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the existing methods to evaluate primordial power spectra of scalar and tensor fluctuations, and therefore provide solid observational constraints. Our approach is to rewrite all the relevant equations of motion in terms of slowly varying quantities, which is important to consider the contribution from high-frequency modes to the spectrum without affecting computational performance. We do not require additional approximations to reproduce all the features in the power spectrum for each specific early universe model.

David Craig Department of Chemistry and Physics West Texas A&M University From Astronomy to Acoustics and Back Again Through Undergraduate Research After earning my PhD in physical acoustics at Ole Miss and a number of years at institutions almost exclusively devoted to teaching, I returned to active research by joining a team of astrophysicists working on projects that emphasize undergraduate research in observational cosmology. I will discuss the ways undergraduates have been involved in cutting-edge research via this team approach and overview the science behind the projects. Our emphasis has been on HI (21 cm) radio surveys of nearby galaxies. These include the completed ALFALFA blind survey of the nearby universe, and the current targeted Arecibo Pisces-Perseus Supercluster Survey (APPSS) which attempts to detect dark matter-driven infall of galaxies onto a nearby supercluster filament. I will include a discussion of the observing strategies and the planned use of the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation to separate the effects of cosmic expansion and local peculiar velocities using Bayesian statistical methods.

Edward Thomas, Jr. College of Sciences and Mathematics Auburn University Using Magnets and Microgravity to Explore the Physics of Dusty Plasmas Plasmas (or ionized gases) are often referred to as a “fourth” state of matter — but perhaps, they should be the “first”. This is because the plasmas are the most common state of matter (over 95%) in the visible universe. From technologies such as fluorescent lighting and microelectronics manufacturing to natural systems such as lightning, the aurora, and the solar wind, plasmas are ubiquitous in our lives. Even more remarkably, over the last three decades plasma scientists have learned how to control a certain type of plasma — a “complex” or “dusty” plasma. These are four- component plasma systems that consist of electrons, ions, neutral atoms, and charged, solid, nanometer- to micrometer-sized particles. The presence of these microparticles allow us to “tune” the a plasma to have solid-like, fluid-like, or gas-like properties. This means that dusty plasmas are not just a fourth state of matter — they can take on the properties of all four states of matter. From star-forming regions to planetary rings to fusion experiments, charged microparticles can be found in many naturally occurring and man-made plasma systems. Therefore, understanding the physics of dusty plasmas can provide new insights into a broad range of astrophysical and technological problems. This presentation introduces the physical properties of dusty plasmas — focusing on how the small charge-to-mass ratio of the charged microparticles gives rise to many of the characteristics of the system. Results from our studies of dusty plasmas in high (B ≥ 1 T) magnetic fields using the Magnetized Dusty Plasma Experiment (MDPX) device at Auburn University and in microgravity experiments using the Plasmakristall-4 (PK-4) laboratory on the International Space Station will be discussed.