JILA Auditorium
Lunar Polar Ice
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Abstract: Lunar volatiles, especially water, hold the key to sustaining long-term human presence on the Moon and beyond.
APS 3rd-Year Grad Student Research Talks
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March 10th, our colloquium will feature six short research talks by current APS 3rd years. Come help us celebrate ongoing student research in APS!
- Judit Bergfalk, Multi-point measurements of plasma in the Martian magnetosphere
- Anna Zuckerman, Electron Beam Simulations for Substellar Atmospheres
Formed too Fast? Massive Galaxies at Cosmic Dawn
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Abstract: A growing number of surprisingly massive galaxies are now being found in the first ~billion years after the Big Bang that push the limits of theoretical predictions within Lambda-CDM. Unusually bright high-redshift galaxies discovered by JWST challenge our most fundamental models of how fast stars form. Some of them contain overly massive black holes whose formation is uncharted. Massive dusty starbursts found with ALMA are requiring new explanations about early dust production.
Scaling towards AGI
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Abstract: In this talk, I will take you on a tour of large language models, tracing their evolution from Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) to the Transformer architecture. We will explore how Transformers elegantly sidestep the vanishing and exploding gradient issues that plagued RNNs. I will introduce neural scaling laws—empirical relationships reminiscent of scaling behaviors common in physics—that predict how model performance improves with increased computational investment.
Optical Tweezers: Light and Life, Studied One Molecule at a Time
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Abstract: Prominent among biophysical techniques is the optical trap, for which Arthur Ashkin (Bell Labs) received a Nobel Prize in 2018. Among the successes of optical traps have been direct measurements of the steps taken by biological motor proteins, such as kinesin, and by nucleic-acid enzymes, such as RNA polymerase. Optical traps facilitate studies of replication, transcription, and translation at the single-molecule level. They’ve been especially useful in mapping the free-energy landscapes of folding by small, structured RNAs.