UC Davis Physics & Astronomy

Wondering what to see at Picnic Day? Look no further! The famous Physics Show features Schroedinger’s Cat in the Hat! Running every hour but noon, 11-3! The Department of Physics and Astronomy is hosting short 20- minute lectures on hot topics on the half hour!

Details: No tickets for lectures, Roessler 55. Physics Show requires (free) tickets, go and pick up starting at 10am (or sign up for 11 am show in advance at tinyurl.com/CatAt11 ) at Roessler 66!

Happening today! With free catered reception starting at 6pm. It's not too late to RSVP. Tell your friends too! RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-surprising-history-of-the-expansion-of-the-universe-tickets-1770389375279

Nobel Laureate Adam Riess to Speak at UC Davis on Universe Expansion On Tuesday, Nov. 4, Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist Adam Riess will give a free public lecture titled “The Surprising Expansion History of the Universe.” The lecture will start at 7 p.m. with a reception before the lecture at 6 p.m. The event is being hosted by the College of Letters and Scie...

The Department of Physics and Astronomy, together with the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis, will be hosting a free reception and public lecture on Tuesday, November 4th from 6pm - 8:30 pm. Professor Adam Riess of Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute will describe his team's measurements that reveal how the expansion of space has unfolded over time, and explain why they are surprising. This work was recognized with the 2011 Nobel prize in physics and more recently has led to yet another surprising result. Both of these findings remain major drivers of the cosmology community's attempts to understand the cosmos and the fundamental laws of nature.

To secure your spot at this event at the UC Davis Conference Center visit https://shorturl.at/ril9t

Adam Riess is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, the Thomas J. Barber Professor in Space Studies at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, a distinguished astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992 and his PhD from Harvard University in 1996. His research involves measurements of the cosmological framework with supernovae (exploding stars) and Cepheids (pulsating stars).

Currently, he leads the SHOES Team in efforts to improve the measurement of the Hubble Constant and the HIgher-z Team to find and measure the most distant type Ia supernovae known, in order to probe the origin of cosmic acceleration.

In 2011, he was named a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics and was awarded the Albert Einstein Medal for his leadership in the High-z Supernova Search Team’s discovery that the expansion rate of the universe is accelerating, a phenomenon widely attributed to a mysterious, unexplained "dark energy" filling the universe. The discovery was named by Science magazine in 1998 as "the Breakthrough Discovery of the Year."

His accomplishments have been recognized with a number of other awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship in 2008, the Gruber Foundation Cosmology Prize in 2007 (shared), and the Shaw Prize in Astronomy in 2006.

Due to unforeseen circumstances we need to cancel the Riess event on Tuesday March 4th. I'm very sorry for any inconvenience. This is very disappointing for me, for sure, but we have no choice. We will reschedule soon and hope to generate as much interest once again. We had, as of yesterday, 275 people registered for the event.

A feature story on next Tuesday evening's (March 4th at 6pm) reception and public lecture by Nobel laureate Adam Riess is now in the Davis Enterprise:
https://www.davisenterprise.com/news/ucd-event-looks-at-cosmos-dark-energy/article_4d2676ac-f3ac-11ef-ba11-63c60d67f241.html

If you're coming, please RSVP here: https://shorturl.at/Cbgpx.

UCD event looks at cosmos, dark energy

Nobel Laureate to Present "The Surprising History of the Expansion of the Universe"

The Department of Physics and Astronomy, together with the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis, will be hosting a free reception and public lecture on Tuesday, March 4th from 6pm - 8:30 pm. Professor Adam Riess of Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute will describe his team's measurements that reveal how the expansion of space has unfolded over time, and explain why they are surprising. This work was recognized with the 2011 Nobel prize in physics and more recently has led to yet another surprising result. Both of these findings remain major drivers of the cosmology community's attempts to understand the cosmos and the fundamental laws of nature.

To secure your spot at this event at the UC Davis Conference Center visit https://shorturl.at/Cbgpx.

Adam Riess is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, the Thomas J. Barber Professor in Space Studies at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, a distinguished astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992 and his PhD from Harvard University in 1996. His research involves measurements of the cosmological framework with supernovae (exploding stars) and Cepheids (pulsating stars).

Currently, he leads the SHOES Team in efforts to improve the measurement of the Hubble Constant and the HIgher-z Team to find and measure the most distant type Ia supernovae known, in order to probe the origin of cosmic acceleration.

In 2011, he was named a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics and was awarded the Albert Einstein Medal for his leadership in the High-z Supernova Search Team’s discovery that the expansion rate of the universe is accelerating, a phenomenon widely attributed to a mysterious, unexplained "dark energy" filling the universe. The discovery was named by Science magazine in 1998 as "the Breakthrough Discovery of the Year."

His accomplishments have been recognized with a number of other awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship in 2008, the Gruber Foundation Cosmology Prize in 2007 (shared), and the Shaw Prize in Astronomy in 2006.

Congratulations to Zachary Sweger, PhD student with the Nuclear Physics Group, who was awarded “Best Poster” at the annual Users’ Meeting of the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) and gave a flash talk on the last day of the meeting. Zach presented about how researchers can identify and eliminate new novel backgrounds in the search for a critical point in the phase diagram of quantum chromodynamic matter.
The photo shows Zach receiving the Award from RHIC & AGS Users’ Executive Committee Chair Marzia Rosatti.

Full article about the RHIC & AGS meeting:
https://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=221986&btw=1

New Video game made by a fellow collaborator on the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider… explore particle physics in a fun way!

CMS in a video game? | The Cylindrical Onion On Monday, February the 26th, a videogame named Exographer was announced on the Steam platform: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2834320/Exographer/

Picnic Day is Saturday! Come see the Physics Club show!

Date/Time: Saturday Apr 20, 2024 10:00am-2:00pm
Location: Roessler 66 near Physics
Description:
The Physics Club will be presenting “Wizard of Ohms”: A physics parody of Wizard of Oz featuring exciting demos and comedy for all ages.
Showtimes will be at 10:00am, 11:00am, 1:00pm, and 2:00pm

(Go early to get (free) tickets.)