Add to Calendar 2025-10-16T16:00:00 2025-10-16T17:00:00 Gravitational-wave Astrophysics: 10 Years of Observing the (Mostly) Dark Side of the Universe Event Information: Abstract:  The first direct detection of gravitational waves from a pair of colliding black holes 10 years ago opened a new window to the high energy universe.  Since 2015 the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA international gravitational-wave detector network has observed hundreds of events, mostly pairs of black holes but also binary neutron star mergers as well as neutron star - black hole collisions.  The information revealed in these detections is changing our understanding of the Universe. This talk will cover the fundamentals of gravitational-wave detection, present recent highlights from LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing runs, and discuss what they reveal about the cosmos.  We'll also look at the future generation of gravitational-wave observatories being planned for the next decade that are being designed to probe the entirety of the Universe.   Bio:    David Reitze is the Executive Director of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) Laboratory at Caltech and Research Professor at the California Institute of Technology. Prior to that, he spent almost 20 years on the faculty of the University of Florida in the Physics Department. His research focuses on the development of ultrasensitive gravitational-wave detectors and gravitational-wave astronomy. Reitze was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society, Optica, and the American Association of the Advancement of Science. He currently serves on the National Academies Board on Physics and Astronomy in addition to the AURA Board of Directors. Learn More:  From David's LIGO/CALTECH professional page: David H. Reitze | Director, LIGO Lab About his publications: ‪David Reitze‬ - ‪Google Scholar‬ From Caltech article, "New LIGO executive Director Named": New LIGO Executive Director Named - www.caltech.edu Resources: LIGO Lab: LIGO Lab | Caltech | MIT American Physical Society: American Physical Society Optica: Home | Optica American Association of the Advancement of Science: AAAS Home | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) National Academies Board on Physics & Astronomy: nationalacademies.org/bpa/board-on-physics-and-astronomy AURA: Home - AURA Astronomy   Event Location: HENN 201

Add to Calendar 2025-10-21T14:00:00 2025-10-21T15:00:00 Supernova Dust in the Laboratory Event Information: Abstract:  Primitive extraterrestrial materials like meteorites and cometary dust contain rare and tiny grains of presolar stardust – dust that condensed in the outflows and explosions of previous generations of stars and were part of the original building blocks of our Solar System. A wide variety of phases (for example, silicates, oxides, carbides, nitrides) have been found and they are identified by extremely unusual isotopic signatures reflecting nuclear processes that occurred in their parent stars. This talk will focus on the subset of presolar grains that are inferred to have originated in ancient supernovae (explosions of stars more than about ten times the mass of the Sun). Supernovae are the nucleosynthetic sources for a large fraction of the elements in the periodic table and are believed to have been the most important source of dust in the early Universe. Supernova stardust grains provide an atomic snapshot of their formation conditions that can be decoded in modern microanalytical laboratories and thus provide information unobtainable by other means. I will discuss how we identify supernova grains and give examples of how they can be used to glean new information about the physics and chemistry of these cosmic explosions.  Bio:  Cosmochemist Larry Nittler studies the origin and evolution of stars, the galaxy, and the solar system, both through laboratory analysis of extraterrestrial materials like meteorites and returned comet and asteroid samples and through planetary remote sensing via spacecraft.  He has played leading roles in the analysis of comet and solar wind samples returned by NASA’s Stardust and Genesis missions, respectively, and served as deputy principal investigator on NASA’s MESSENGER mission to Mercury. He is currently a NASA Participating Scientist on the Japanese asteroid sample-return mission, Hayabusa2 and a member of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo Mercury mission team. He received the Alfred O. Nier prize of the Meteoritical Society in 2001 and was named a fellow of the same society in 2010. Asteroid 5992 Nittler is named in his honor. Learn More:  View Larry's ASU faculty webpage: https://search.asu.edu/profile/4084680 Read article, "ASU scientist uses NASA MESSENGER mission data to measure chromium on Mercury": https://news.asu.edu/20230707-scientists-use-nasa-messenger-mission-data-measure-chromium-mercury Watch video,"Larry Nittler, A Trip to the Early Solar System, September 7, 2022": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVg0t-1OVQI Discover more on supernova stardust grains: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017hsn..book.2473H/abstract https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11214-024-01122-w      Event Location: TRIUMF auditorium (4004 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver BC)

Add to Calendar 2025-11-06T16:00:00 2025-11-06T17:00:00 Department Colloquium with Gwen Grinyer Event Information: Abstract:  Short-lived radioactive isotopes of the chemical elements that are not found on Earth are what nuclear scientists call “rare isotopes”. Rare isotopes are produced naturally all throughout the universe in explosive astrophysical events including supernovae, x-ray bursts and neutron-star mergers. By understanding the basic properties of rare isotopes, we hope to answer some of the biggest questions in contemporary subatomic physics. Precision measurements of nuclear beta decay can constrain the weak interaction and provide stringent tests of the Standard Model, delayed particle emission offers insight into unbound states populated in the nuclear reactions of exploding stars, and gamma-ray emission is essential for elucidating the structure of atomic nuclei. My talk will describe the fascinating science of rare isotopes, the variety of experimental methods that we use to produce and study them, and how the fundamental interactions of the tiniest particles have resulted in the large-scale structure of the visible universe.  Bio:  Dr. Gwen Grinyer is a Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Regina whose research spans a wide variety of topics in experimental nuclear physics including the structure of short-lived radioactive nuclei, rare modes of radioactivity, and explosive nuclear astrophysics. In addition to her physics research, she is a prominent advocate for women and LGBTQ+ people in STEM and has done numerous outreach activities all across Canada that have focused on visibility and inclusion of underrepresented identities in physics. She has received several awards for her work, including a Fellow from the Canadian Association of Physicists (2024), the President’s Award for Service Excellence for advancing EDI at the University of Regina (2024), and a Woman of Distinction Award for “Women Breaking Barriers” from YWCA Regina (2025).  Learn More:  About Gwen from her faculty webpage: Gwen Grinyer | University of Regina About particle nuclear physics at PHAS: Particle & Nuclear Physics | UBC Physics & Astronomy About Rare isotopes: Brief History of Rare Isotopes | Facility for Rare Isotope Beams The Advanced Rare Isotope Laboratory (ARIEL) at TRIUMF: ARIEL – TRIUMF Read article from Science News Today: Scientists Witness a Rare Nuclear Phenomenon for the First Time in 30 Years Physicists Discover Brand-New Isotopes of Heavy Rare-Earth Elements : ScienceAlert   Event Location: HENN 201

Add to Calendar 2025-11-20T16:00:00 2025-11-20T17:00:00 Department Colloquium with Vincent Tabard-Cossa Event Information: Abstract: TBD Bio: TBD Learn More: TBD  This page will be updated with biographer and abstract information, shortly! Event Location: HENN 201