Kiosk 2

• Workshop 1: Wednesday, October 22 AND Thursday, October 23, 2-4pm 
• Workshop 2: Wednesday, October 29 AND Thursday, October 30, 10am-12pm 

• Workshop 1: Wednesday, October 22 AND Thursday, October 23, 2-4pm 
• Workshop 2: Wednesday, October 29 AND Thursday, October 30, 10am-12pm 

Abstract: Magnetism is a striking example of how quantum mechanics and interactions among electrons combine to generate entirely new forms of collective behavior—phenomena that deepen our understanding of matter, as well as power modern technologies. Over the past decades, discoveries in magnetism have often heralded new paradigms in condensed matter physics, exemplified by antiferromagnetism and Mott insulators, and quantum spin liquids with their fractionalized excitations. In real materials, however, spins are inseparable from the crystalline lattices that host them. While coupling between the spins and the lattice profoundly shapes the behavior of magnetic systems, it is often overlooked or oversimplified. In this talk, I will discuss hybrid quasiparticles that arise from the entanglement of spin and lattice vibrations, and that govern macroscopic physical properties like thermal transport under magnetic field. Such hybrid excitations are expected to occur widely and, in turn, provide a powerful means not only to probe novel phenomena based on spin-phonon coupling but also to experimentally detect truly unconventional excitations from exotic spin ground states by tracking the field-tunable nature of the hybridization.

The Moon offers multiple types of resources. It is a scientific resource, an exploration resource, and also a commercial resource. The Moon is a cornerstone for multiple science disciplines, not just lunar; it can help us learn how to effectively explore further into the Solar System with humans and robots, and it can enable commercial activities that support science and exploration. Intuitive Machines has conducted two lunar surface missions, including the first commercial landing in February 2024. In this talk, I will discuss the value of the Moon as well as present details on past and future IM missions, as well as other upcoming activities

Abstract: Engineered quantum systems, encompassing artificial mesoscopic structures governed by the principles of quantum mechanics, represent a cornerstone of modern quantum science. Notable examples include superconducting circuits, ultracold trapped atoms and ions, as well as electro and optomechanical systems. These systems are not only fascinating from a fundamental physics perspective but also serve as essential building blocks for technological applications. Such quantum technologies hinge on two critical aspects: first, the design of quantum architectures capable of performing specific tasks, such as computation, sensing, or communication; and second, the ability to control, read out, and interconnect these architectures. Achieving this requires processing devices that operate efficiently at the quantum level. However, these devices, much like the quantum architectures they support, must contend with fundamental challenges—namely, nonlinearities and noise. In this talk, we explore an unconventional perspective, demonstrating how these apparent limitations can be transformed into powerful assets, paving the way for innovative advancements in quantum technology.

Control of spin and valley polarizations opens opportunities for spintronic and quantum information applications. Monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) offer an appealing platform to harness such polarizations. TMDs host excitons in valley-shaped regions of their band structure, featuring well-defined carrier spins and obeying chiral optical selection rules. However, the technological potential of excitons in TMDs is impeded by rapid spin–valley relaxation.

I will present our theoretical/computational efforts to address and enhance spin–valley polarizations in TMDs through strong coupling to photons. Recognizing that chiral light is a manifestation of photonic spin, I will show such strong coupling to allow for efficient spin transduction through the formation of "chiral polaritons". I will furthermore show how a breaking of chiral symmetry in optical cavities allows valley–spin relaxation to be suppressed in embedded TMDs.

I will also discuss our efforts to unravel how spin–valley relaxation in TMDs is driven by lattice phonons. Towards this goal, my group has advanced nonadiabatic methodologies that allow delocalized phonon modes and topological effects to be incorporated within a mixed quantum–classical framework. Results for TMDs indicate this approach to enable the modeling of solid-state phonon-driven processes at realistic dimensionalities.

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The Hubble Space Telescope story has been a fascinating study in public policy, engineering, ethics, and science. The Hubble is perhaps the most productive scientific instrument ever created by humans. In May 2009, a team of astronauts flew to the Hubble Space Telescope on space shuttle Atlantis. On their 13-day mission and over the course of 5 spacewalks they completed an extreme makeover of the orbiting observatory. They installed the Wide Field Camera-3, the CU/Boulder Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, repaired the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, as well as a number of maintenance activities. These Hubble spacewalks are considered the most challenging and complex efforts ever of people working in space. Now, 16 years later the Hubble is still going strong. Building on the servicing heritage of Hubble the Habitable Worlds Observatory is in the initial planning stages and promises to be a worthy successor to Hubble. As part of the design the Habitable Worlds Observatory will be serviceable, albeit by robotic means. The adventures of Hubble servicing and the future servicing of Habitable Worlds will be presented in this talk.

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• Workshop 1: Wednesday, October 22 AND Thursday, October 23, 2-4pm 
• Workshop 2: Wednesday, October 29 AND Thursday, October 30, 10am-12pm 

• Workshop 1: Wednesday, October 22 AND Thursday, October 23, 2-4pm 
• Workshop 2: Wednesday, October 29 AND Thursday, October 30, 10am-12pm 

Abstract: The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantization in an electric circuit.”  This talk will give a brief history of their work and the remarkable developments that followed from it.
Circuit QED is the quantum electrodynamics of superconducting microwave circuits and is today the leading architecture for development of quantum information processors based on superconducting qubits.  The study of superconducting electrical circuits began in the 1960’s with the observation of the Josephson effect.  Ideas by Anthony Leggett about macroscopic quantum tunneling led to remarkable experiments in the Clarke group at Berkeley in the 1980’s demonstrating that the superconducting order parameter was a quantum mechanical degree of freedom exhibiting energy level quantization, and quantum tunneling.  This in turn led to the invention of numerous species of superconducting qubits which have advanced in the last 25 years by a factor of nearly 106 in coherence time.  These advances have opened up a completely new regime of strong-coupling non-linear optics in the microwave domain whose parameters and capabilities are dramatically different from traditional optical cavity QED.  They have also led to enormous progress in industrial scaling up of the technology and have brought us into the beginnings of the era of quantum error correction.  We may now be standing close to the boundary of the ‘NISQ’ era and the coming era of fault-tolerant quantum machines.

Mid-Infrared (MIR) light can interact with molecules by selectively exciting molecular vibrational modes. In combination with photonic structures, MIR can target specific vibrational states of molecular to influence chemical reactions. In this talk, I will explain how photonic environments can modify molecular dynamics through strong light-matter coupling. This strong coupling leads to the molecular vibrational polaritons – a hybrid quasiparticle between light and matter. Using two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) spectroscopy, we have demonstrated that strong coupling to photonic environments can efficiently promote energy transfer within or between molecules, subsequently slowing down competing reaction pathways. We further explored the criteria to fulfill polariton-enabled energy transfer, by which we discovered and verified a new principle to enable intermolecular energy transfer through polaritons in disorder materials. Lastly, we employed a polariton propagation experiment to determine the number of active polariton states versus the inactive dark states. This research progress provide insights into a rational mechanism and designing photonic structures to modify chemical landscapes and influence reaction pathways.

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The Department of Biochemistry invites professors and scientists from other universities and institutes to present seminars at the University of Colorado Boulder throughout the academic year. These seminars provide an opportunity for faculty and students to learn about exciting current research.

Abstract: The most basic requirement of a scientific theory is that it make predictions. Is the Standard Model a scientific theory? As the well-tested, reigning theory of the elementary particles and fundamental forces, the Standard Model certainly claims to be able to predict the outcomes of a wide range of experiments. Yet from inelastic nuclear scattering, to neutron stars and superconductors, the universe is filled with systems whose behavior should be predicted by the Standard Model, but for which no such predictions are forthcoming!
For these systems, we do not need physics beyond the Standard Model. We need the computational power to determine what the predictions of the Standard Model already are. I will discuss the state-of-the-art in first-principles computations of strongly coupled quantum systems, and whether quantum computers—or anything—can salvage the notion of the Standard Model as our predictive theory of physics below the TeV scale.

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Abstract: This talk will explore how quantum radiation - known as Hawking radiation – emerges when a black hole forms in the gravitational collapse of a star. While it has long been known that black holes emit energy, its precise origin has been debated. Over the decades, some researchers proposed that this energy is released directly from the collapsing star, producing a sudden burst that may potentially disrupt the collapse. Using a somewhat idealized collapse model, we will see instead that the radiation emerges gradually from the region in the vicinity of the forming black hole (and not in a violent flash from the infalling matter).This resolves a long-standing question and corroborates the more conventional picture of Hawking radiation as a gradual, steady process that cannot interfere with black hole formation in gravitational collapse.

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The Department of Biochemistry invites professors and scientists from other universities and institutes to present seminars at the University of Colorado Boulder throughout the academic year. These seminars provide an opportunity for faculty and students to learn about exciting current research.

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Abstract: Modeling gas-phase chemical kinetics relevant to combustion and atmospheric chemistry requires a complete description of elementary reactions involving ephemeral species such as hydroperoxyalkyl radicals, Q̇OOH, which undergo competing sets of unimolecular reactions and bimolecular reactions with O2. The balance of flux from the competition affects rates of chain-branching and inherently depends on temperature, pressure, and oxygen concentration. Accordingly, the influence of [O2] on species formed via reactions of O2 with carbon-centered radicals (Ṙ), and the subsequent fate of Q̇OOH and related products, is central to developing accurate chemical kinetics mechanisms. However, reactions consuming intermediates from Ṙ + O2 are often simplified to such a degree that mechanism truncation error (uncertainty derived from incomplete reaction networks) becomes significant and precludes high-fidelity simulations of chemical systems for sustainable transportation energy.

Intermediates produced from Ṙ + O2 reactions of hydrocarbons and biofuels include cyclic ethers and alkene isomers, which are shown to undergo two unique types of reactions that are neglected in current gas-phase combustion models: (1) non-Boltzmann reactions, wherein rovibrationally excited radicals produced during H-abstraction undergo prompt ring-opening prior to collisional stabilization, and (2) stereochemical-dependent reaction pathways originating in closed-shell cyclic ethers that follow from the preceding ring-closing transition state [Q̇OOH]≠ and from subsequent cyclic ether peroxy radicals, both of which can facilitate new reaction channels including chain-branching pathways.

To ameliorate predictive deficiencies, results from a coupled experimental-computational workflow are outlined wherein sub-mechanisms, informed by speciation experiments, are developed and utilized as input into AutoMech, an open-source code for quantum chemical mechanism development. AutoMech is employed to calculate ab initio thermochemical and rate coefficeints for all species and reaction pathways in an initial mechanism. Elementary reactions are translated by AutoMech from 2D descriptions into stereochemically-enumerated representations. Potential energy surfaces are calculated using explicitly-correlated coupled-cluster energies with dispersion-corrected double-hybrid density functional theory geometries and frequencies. Master equation theory is used to calculate pressure- and temperature-dependent rate coefficients and partition functions for each reaction and species including for non-Boltzmann reactions. Results discussed include ongoing projects on species derived from cyclopentyl radicals and alkyl-substituted cyclic ethers produced from pentyl radical isomers. 

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Abstract: The discovery of thousands of planets orbiting stars beyond the solar system has fundamentally shifted our view of Earth’s place in the Universe, has captivated the public imagination, and has transformed research priorities in astrophysics. We are now actively searching for atmospheres on temperate, terrestrial planets, and are developing the technical tools to find and characterize “Earth-2.0”. The goal of understanding the frequency and diversity of habitable (and inhabited) planets requires a `full system approach’ where we bring to bear multiple techniques for exoplanetary observation and a detailed understanding of the evolving stellar environments in which they live.

In this talk, I will present an overview of the multiple paths in our search for inhabited planets, from current efforts to find temperate planets with stable atmospheres around red dwarf stars to future detection of true Earth-Sun analogs with NASA’s upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). I will summarize recent progress and open questions in understanding the key stellar environmental variables that influence exoplanet atmospheres, focusing on observational and experimental work to characterize the high-energy photon and particle radiation that dominates atmospheric escape on rocky planets. I will conclude with a short overview of the upcoming HWO mission, current opportunities for the community to engage with the mission development, and the path to launch in the ~2040 timeframe.

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The Department of Biochemistry invites professors and scientists from other universities and institutes to present seminars at the University of Colorado Boulder throughout the academic year. These seminars provide an opportunity for faculty and students to learn about exciting current research.

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The Department of Biochemistry invites professors and scientists from other universities and institutes to present seminars at the University of Colorado Boulder throughout the academic year. These seminars provide an opportunity for faculty and students to learn about exciting current research.