JILA Auditorium
Megaconstellations of satellites are ruining the night sky for everyone
When
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Abstract: Several companies are now launching megaconstellations of thousands of communication satellites (satcons), which would increase the number of active satellites in Low Earth Orbit at least twenty-fold in the next few years. SpaceX's Starlink satcon is currently largest (over 3,100 satellites) and is adding 60 new satellites every couple of weeks. While these satcons do allow internet access in many underserved rural and remote locations, the costs are prohibitively high for all but the most well-off
Dispatches from the Sun: Physics of our Nearest Star Determined by the Parker Solar Probe Mission
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Abstract:
The Parker Solar Probe spacecraft has traveled closer to the Sun than any other human-made object. It has measured in-situ magnetic fields, electric fields, thermal plasma, high energy particles, and interplanetary dust in the near-Sun solar wind. Most recently, it made the first in-situ measurements of the solar corona, dipping below the Alfven surface.
Research as a tool to improve the teaching and learning of quantum mechanics
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Abstract: It is well established that people learn better when they are actively engaged with the material they are learning. In this talk, I will focus on active learning methods used in the upper division, and the research that goes into their development. In particular, we will discuss the structure of a tutorial to designed to improve student visual understanding of time dependence in quantum mechanics and the assessment of its effectiveness. We will also discuss whether or not the context of a question can impact student performance.
Topological Superconductivity in Superconductor-Semiconductor Hybrids
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Abstract: Topological superconducting nanowires are characterized by Majorana zero modes, which can form the basis of topological qubits. In this talk, I will present some recent theoretical and experimental progress on these systems.
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Coffee, tea and cookies will be available in G1B31 (across from G1B20) from 3:30 - 3:50 p.m.
Physics Colloquia are held Wednesdays at 4:00 p.m. in the JILA Auditorium.
Many-body physics with ultracold gases of atoms and molecules
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Abstract: Understanding emergent behaviors in strongly interacting quantum systems is a frontier area of condensed matter physics. However, simulations of quantum many-body systems on classical computers are not scalable beyond a few dozen particles. This motivates the development of quantum simulators, highly controllable analog quantum computers specifically designed to study certain types of problems in condensed matter physics.
Quantum spacetime and quantum information
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Abstract: How quantum mechanics governs space, time and gravity is a longstanding mystery. Inspired by properties of black holes, recent progress has been made relating quantum spacetime to properties of quantum information and quantum computation such as entanglement entropy, computational complexity and quantum error-correcting codes. I will review some of these developments and discuss some of my own work on geometric realizations of measures of entanglement.
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