Topic: "Exploring Quantum Phases of Matter with Ultracold Atomic Gases" (Video)
ABSTRACT: Quantum many-body systems frequently exhibit fantastic behavior that is quite different from that of "everyday" forms of matter. Superfluidity, superconductivity, quantum Hall states, and many even more exotic phases of matter are known to occur under the right conditions, but predicting the nature (and even existence) of these states in...
[more]Topic: "Has Voyager 1 Really Crossed the Heliopause?" (Video)
ABSTRACT: On Dec 3, 2013, a remarkable thing happened, marking a significant step forward for heliophysics: Ed Stone appeared on the Colbert Report announcing that Voyager 1 has crossed into interstellar space. The show was fantastic with both Ed Stone and Colbert delivering their respective A-games! But there is a potential problem with the interpretation. The...
[more]The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation today announced the selection of Dartmouth’s black hole researcher Ryan Hickox as a recipient of a 2014 Sloan Research Fellowships. He is one of 126 U.S. and Canadian researchers to receive a fellowship this year. The fellowships are awarded to early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements identify them as rising stars, who are considered the next generation of scientific leaders.
“For more than half a century, the Sloan...
[more]Topic: "Galaxy Collisions in Our Local Neighborhood" (Video)
Abstract: Our understanding of the dynamics of our Local Group of galaxies has changed dramatically over the past few years owing to significant advancements in astrometry and our theoretical understanding of galaxy structure. With the first direct proper motion measurement of M31, its future collision with the Milky Way is the most imminent major cosmic event...
[more]Topic: "Probing the quantum vacuum with high intensity lasers" (Video)
Abstract: A long-standing prediction of relativistic quantum theory is that a potential step greater than twice the particle mass, Delta V>2m, spontaneously emits charged particles. The same is true of gauge potentials, such as the electromagnetic field: When the electric field strength nears a critical magnitude determined by the electron mass, field...
[more]Topic: "Extraordinary Physics in Semiconductor-Metal Hybrid Structures" (Video)
Abstract: “EXX” phenomena in macroscopic, microscopic and nanoscopic metal-semiconductor hybrid structures will be described. Here E = extraordinary and XX = magnetoresistance (EMR), [1,2] piezoconductance (EPC), [3] optoconductance (EOC), [4] and electroconductance (EEC). [5] The underlying phyiscs of EXX phenomena will be elucidated with...
[more]Dartmouth’s alumni claim “the still North in their soul” each time they sing the alma mater—but as any of Dartmouth’s Arctic researchers could tell you, Hanover is fairly far south—if you’re measuring from the North Pole. That’s why it’s noteworthy that the aurora borealis, the northern lights, should be visible from Hanover tonight.
It’s a “fairly reasonable expectation,” says Kristina Lynch, professor of physics and astronomy, who studies the phenomenon. Matter...
[more]Topic: "Gauge Fields With Cold Atoms" (Video)
Abstract: Gauge fields are ubiquitous in Physics. For example, in the context of high energy physics, they are the fundamental carrier of forces; while in condensed matter systems the associated physical fields (electrical and magnetic) are essential in creating and understanding many-body phenomena.
Here I present our experimental work synthesizing static gauge fields for...
[more]Nina Maksimova ’15 comes from a family of physicists, but her studies took a different direction in high school.
“I was interested in physics as a little girl and I knew I wanted to be an astrophysicist before I even started school, but in high school I got a little off track,” she says. “I didn’t like my science classes that much, so I turned to the study of history instead.”
At Dartmouth, academic ambivalence took her back to history, but its romance was gone. Maksimova was...
[more]Topic: "Understanding Macroscopic Quantum Phenomena*" (Video)
Abstract: Macroscopic quantum phenomena refer to quantum features in objects of `large' sizes, systems with many components or degrees of freedom, organized in ways where they can be identified as `macroscopic’ objects. This emerging field is ushered in by several categories of definitive experiments in superconductivity, electromechanical systems, Bose-Einstein...
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