Physics Department Summer Lectures 2019

Contribution List

1. Visible and Invisible Clues for New Physics

Hooman Davoudiasl (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

07/06/2019, 12:30

In this presentation, we will briefly describe the main elements of the Standard Model of particle physics. This theory, together with General Relativity, provides a precise description of a vast array of experimental and observational data, from microscopic to astronomical scales. However, solid empirical evidence and conceptual clues lead us to expect that this "standard" picture is...

2. The Anomalous Magnetic Moment of the Muon and the Standard Model of Particle Physics

Bill Morse (BNL)

11/06/2019, 12:30

At the end of this lecture, you will know:
What is anomalous about the magnetic moment of the muon?
What is the magnetic moment of the muon ?
What is the muon ?
Why Bohr said “Anyone who thinks they understand Quantum Mechanics, and is not deeply disturbed by it, doesn’t understand Quantum Mechanics.”
What the Standard Model Theorists have to fear from the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon.

3. The Little Neutral One

Mary Bishai (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

14/06/2019, 00:30

In the past 50 years, the study of neutrinos, the lightest, yet most abundant of the known elementary particles has revealed cracks in the Standard Model of Particle Physics. Could neutrinos explain the matter anti-matter asymmetry in our Universe? To answer these questions we need to better understand the properties of these elusive polymorphs. I will present a brief history of the neutrino,...

10. Basics of Neutrino Interactions in Matter

Milind Diwan (BNL)

18/06/2019, 00:30

I will review the basics of neutrino interactions in matter with
emphasis on  calculations of cross sections and rates.  The lecture will provide introduction to the physics of weak interactions.

4. Search for a new particle in the decay of the Higgs boson

Ketevi Adikle Assamagan (BNL)

21/06/2019, 12:30

In this talk, I will discuss the search strategies that led to the discovery of the Higgs boson. Then, I will focus on the usage of the Higgs boson as a portal to “new physics”. I will conclude with dark sector states as a possibility for physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics.

5. The Really Big Picture: Cosmology in the 21st Century

Paul Stankus (Brookhaven National Lab)

25/06/2019, 12:30

Starting from a very basic level we review how to describe
the standard Big Bang model of an expanding universe.
We discuss the connection between expansion dynamics
and different types of matter and energy densities, and
focus on the evidence for the accelerated expansion of
our Universe driven by dark energy.  Different schools of
observation and measurement will be mentioned and we
conclude...

6. Using Gravitational Lensing to measure Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe

Erin Sheldon (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

28/06/2019, 12:30

Gravitational lensing is the bending of the path of light near massive bodies. Mass produces a curvature of space time, and light follows a curved path that is calculable using the General Theory of Relativity. I will discuss how the
lensing effect is used to measure the amount of Dark Matter in galaxies and in the universe as a whole. I will also discuss how we use lensing to measure the...

7. Astronomical CCDs and light-sensitive sensors for fast imaging

Andrei Nomerotski (BNL)

02/07/2019, 12:30

I will review how the state-of-the-art sensors developed for
astronomical applications can precisely measure the positions and shapes of
billions of galaxies. The talk will focus on the camera and sensors for the
Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and will discuss limitations on the
achievable precision coming from the instrumentation. I will also discuss
light sensitive sensors which can...

8. Silicon Detectors for Particle and Nuclear Physics

Gabriele Giacomini (BNL)

09/07/2019, 12:30

Silicon technology is approximately 70 years old but thousands of years by the multitude of researchers that have
been dedicated to R&D; the well-established microelectronic industry is based on it. Being that the silicon
is sensitive to photons (from infrared to X-rays, passing through visible light and ultraviolet) and to
charged particles, we can leverage the microelectronic technology to...

11. A golden age in physics, an overview of what the... is going on in the RHIC tunnel

rob pisarski (bnl)

12/07/2019, 12:30

I will give a general introduction to the modern theory of "strong" interactions, which involve quarks and gluons.  At about a trillion degrees, these form a Quark-Gluon Plasma, which we believe is created in the collisions of heavy ions at very high energies, such as at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider here at Brookhaven.  I also make extensive comments about the sociology of the field,...

9. Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) as a many-body theory: An existential tale in four acts.

Raju Venugopalan (BNL)

16/07/2019, 12:30

QCD, our nearly perfect  theory of the strong interaction, is also
deeply profound because all phenomena are emergent features of the many-body
dynamics of the 
quark and gluon fields and the vacuum of the theory. This talk on many-body
QCD is organized as a play in four acts:
i) Origins, mysteries, symmetries
ii) The power and the glory of QCD
iii) Surprises from boiling the QCD vacuum in...

12. Introduction to Statistics in High-Energy Physics

Xin Qian (BNL)

19/07/2019, 12:30

In this lecture, I will introduce some basic statistical concepts commonly used in the data analysis of high-energy physics experiments.  I will review the basic procedure in setting confidence intervals. Some advanced topics in data unfolding, selection of test statistics, and usage of linear algebra in reducing computation will be touched upon.

13. Searching for and understanding the quark-gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions

Rongrong Ma (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

23/07/2019, 12:30

Lattice-QCD predicts the occurrence of a phase transition above a critical temperature from ordinary nuclear matter to a new state of matter, usually referred to as the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), in which partons are relevant degrees of freedom. One primary goal of the heavy-ion physics is to create and study the properties of the QGP created in these collisions. The last couple of decades have...

14. From Raw Data to Physics Results

Paul Laycock (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

26/07/2019, 12:30

Modern nuclear and particle physics experiments generate huge amounts of data that need to be calibrated, processed and analysed so that we can extract and publish physics results. In this talk I will describe the journey of data, from the bits that leave the detectors through its transformation into well-understood physics objects that are analysed by physicists all over the world. We will...

15. Celebration

30/07/2019, 11:30

A catered luncheon for lecturers and participants including deserts and soft drinks.