Dr. Zheng Gai
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge, TN
Research Profile

Abstract:
Heterogeneity exists in any materials such as surfaces, edges, interfaces, structural defects, impurities, and disorder. The electronic and magnetic structures of these heterogeneities often define and affect the quantum phenomena such as coherence, interaction, entanglement, and topological effects in a host system. To endow materials with quantum functionality for quantum technology, a critical need is to understand the roles of heterogeneities. This new frontier in quantum materials research requires an integrated approach. Use of advanced microscopy and spectroscopic probes, especially scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and electron microscopy, is mandatory to build a comprehensive understanding of matter. In this presentation, I will first introduce the state-of-the-art STM technique, then give a couple o f examples to illustrate how heterogeneities impact the quantum behavior of materials at the atomic level.

Dr. Wolfgang Lorenzon
School of Physics and Astronomy
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
Research Profile

Abstract:
Overwhelming evidence from astrophysical observations indicates that about 80% of the matter in the universe consists of some form of matter called “dark matter”, but direct detection of this dark matter has proven to be very difficult to achieve. The LZ experiment, operated at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota, presents an unprecedented sensitivity for discovering WIMP-nucleon interactions by employing a 7-tonne liquid xenon time-projection chamber deep underground. In this talk, I will discuss the challenges and opportunities in direct detection dark matter experiments, the present status of the LZ experiment and its search for WIMP dark matter and other new physics phenomena.

Dr. Tim Mousseau
Department of Biological Sciences
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC
Research Profile

Abstract:
Tim Mousseau has explored the radioactive landscapes of Chernobyl since 1999 and Fukushima since 2011. He has also visited other areas of high natural and unnatural radioactivity including the Marshall Islands, the Polygon region of Kazakhstan, and regions of Brazil, Italy and France where natural sources are significantly elevated. In this talk, he will touch upon several of the key findings from this research including impact to genomes, development and reproduction in affected populations of microbes, plants and animals.

Dr.  Michael Kohl
Department of Physics
Hampton University
Hampton, VA
Research Profile

Abstract:
Anomalies in precise measurements of the nucleon elastic form factors, the proton charge radius, the muon magnetic moment, and of dilepton production have given rise to speculations about missing elements of old or new physics, such as two-photon exchange, lepton non-universality or the postulation of new particles still to be discovered, which could also be linked to dark matter. A framework of new experiments aims to resolve these puzzles by stringently testing the offered hypotheses. I will discuss aspects of my recent research program with the OLYMPUS, SBS, MUSE, TREK, and DarkLight experiments, and show how they are intertwined.

Dr. Sebastian König
Department of Physics
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC
Research Profile

Abstract:
Nuclear physics is connected to many different areas of physics, spanning arcs from particle physics all the way to astronomy.  A solid understanding of nuclear systems from first principles, that is, based on Quantum Chromodynamics as the fundamental theory of the strong interaction, is therefore of great importance.  In this talk, I will present an overview of how to address this challenge using simulations of nuclear systems in finite volume.  This approach, which is in fact not limited to nuclear physics, is based on the observation that the real-world properties of quantum systems are encoded in how their discrete energy levels change when the size of the simulation volume is varied, thus providing a powerful theoretical tool.

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Dr. Qui Wang
Department of Mathematics
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC
Research Profile

Abstract:
Professor Lars Onsager was awarded 1968's Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the discovery of reciprocal relations, named after him, and basic to irreversible thermodynamics.  In this talk, I will define and discuss the generalized Onsager principle (GOP) as a fundamental modeling tool for nonequilibrium thermodynamical systems and use simple examples to show how one can use GOP to develop mathematical models for nonequilibrium systems in, for example, materials sciences and life science.  Then, I will present a systematic way to design structure-preserving numerical algorithms for thermodynamically consistent nonequilibrium systems guided by GOP.

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Dr. Maxim Tsoi
Department of Physics
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX
Research Profile

Abstract:
Spintronics is built on a complementary set of phenomena in which the magnetic configuration of a system influences its transport properties and vice versa.  In ferromagnetic systems, these interconnections are exemplified by Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) – where the system’s resistance depends on the relative orientation of magnetic moments in constituent ferromagnetic parts, and Spin Transfer Torque (STT) – in which an electrical current can perturb the system’s magnetic state.  Such transport phenomena provide a means to read and write information in magnetic memory devices like STTRAM.

Similar interconnections between magnetism and transport were proposed to occur in systems where ferromagnetic components are replaced with antiferromagnets (AFMs), thus leading to a new field of research – antiferromagnetic spintronics, which exploits unique properties of AFMs to create new and improved functionalities in spintronic devices [1].  For instance, AFMs can be used in magnetic memories to achieve higher speeds and increased stability thanks to their high natural frequencies and zero net magnetization.  Initial experiments with metallic AFMs (FeMn, IrMn) were promising in demonstrating the AFM analogue of STT [2].  However, the limited choice of metallic AFMs calls to explore insulating/semiconducting materials with abundant AFM presence.

In our research we focus on AFM transition metal oxides (TMO).  TMOs are known to exhibit an extremely wide range of magnetic and transport properties.  Most importantly, their properties can be tuned using various external stimuli like applied magnetic and electric fields.  For instance, the magnetic field was found to produce a very large anisotropic magnetoresistance in AFM iridates [3] while the electrical bias can drive a significant continuous reduction in TMO’s resistivity followed by an abrupt resistive switching (Sr₂IrO₄, Sr₃Ir₂O₇, La₂NiO₄, Ca₂RuO₄).  The observed resistivity variations were attributed to electric-field-driven structural distortions [4-6].  Now we use an ultra-sensitive capacitive displacement meter to monitor the field-induced lattice distortions in situ.  We observe that the crystal contraction/expansion is strongly correlated with the resistive switching [7].  Our results provide unequivocal evidence that the resistive switching is related to structural distortions and support the idea of voltage controlled TMOs in nonvolatile memory and logic.

[1] V. Baltz et al. Rev. Mod. Phys. 90, 015005 (2018); [2] Z. Wei et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 116603 (2007); [3] C. Wang et al. Phys. Rev. X 4, 041034 (2014); [4] C. Wang et al. Phys. Rev. B 92, 115136 (2015); [5] H. Seinige et al. Phys. Rev. 94, 214434 (2016); [6] S. Shen et al. J. Appl. Phys. 122, 245108 (2017); [7] S. Shen et al. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 53, 075302 (2020). 

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Dr. David Tanner
Department of Physics,
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL
Research Profile

Abstract:
The Any Light Particle Search II (ALPS II) is an experiment currently being commissioned at DESY in Hamburg, Germany. ALPS II uses a light-shining-through-a-wall approach to search for axion-like particles. Laser light (a photon beam) passing through a strong magnetic field will in part be converted to a beam of axions. A material wall will block the laser light, but the weakly interacting axions pass through unhindered. There, they enter a second strong magnet where they will in part be converted back to photons. When the photon light is detected, it appears that it shined through the wall. ALPS II represents a significant step forward for these types of experiments as it will use 24 superconducting dipole magnets, along with dual high-finesse, 122 m long optical cavities. The experiment will be the first implementation of the idea, proposed many years ago, to use optical cavities before and after the wall to increase the power of the regenerated photon signal. This concept will allow the experiment to achieve a sensitivity in terms of the coupling between axion-like particles and photons down to g_aγγ = 2 × 10⁻¹¹ GeV⁻¹ for masses below 0.1 meV, more than three orders of magnitude beyond the sensitivity of previous, purely laboratory-based, axion search experiments.

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Dr. Kai Schweda, GSI
Darmstadt and CERN
Heidelberg, Germany
Research Profile

Abstract:
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is the most powerful particle accelerator in the world.  ALICE is one of the four large-scale experiments at LHC with about 1000 scientists from 40 different nations.  In ultrarelativistic collisions of nuclei as heavy as lead, an extraordinary state of matter at temperatures of more than 2 trillion Kelvin arises, which is similar to the early universe a few microseconds after the big bang.  This presentation provides an insight into the cutting-edge technology ALICE uses in order to detect and identify subatomic particles created in these collisions.  The resulting huge amounts of data require innovative solutions with the most modern computers and algorithms.  Some selected physics highlights are presented.  An outlook for ALICE into the 2030es is given.

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Dr. John Singleton, Staff Member and LANL Fellow
National High Magnetic Field Lab
Tallahassee, FL
Research Profile

Abstract:
From an early age, we are taught that metals are good conductors of electricity and heat but that insulators are not. At high school, we learn the reason; metals contain vast numbers of charged electrons that are free to move and carry heat and current, whereas insulators do not. At college, we find out that electrons are fermions, and perhaps comprehend Fermi-Dirac statistics, leading to the well-known definition that “a metal is a solid with a Fermi surface”. The Fermi surface is the constant-energy surface which at zero temperature separates the occupied electron states from the empty in momentum space; if we know the size and shape of a metal’s Fermi surface, we understand how its free electrons behave and hence can account for almost all of its electrical, thermal and magnetic properties.

Over the past five years, this comforting picture has been upset by experiments on the compounds YbB₁₂ and SmB₆ at high magnetic fields and low temperatures. Though these materials are electrical insulators, they exhibit an oscillatory effect in magnetic field that is smoking-gun evidence for a Fermi surface, i.e., it is usually seen only in metals. Equally striking is the low-temperature thermal conductivity of YbB₁₂, which looks as though it comes from a large concentration of free electrons. Somehow, mobile fermions are present and able to carry heat almost as well as in a conventional metal but are unable to conduct electricity!

In this talk, I will describe our recent data from YbB₁₂ in magnetic fields of up to 75 T. These and earlier results suggest a new state of matter that includes mobile, electrically neutral fermions. The latter may be Majorana fermions, particles that are their own antiparticle hypothesized by Ettore Majorana in 1937; they remain a controversial and active topic in particle physics (e.g., is the neutrino a Dirac or Majorana fermion?). In condensed-matter physics, interactions may cause electrons to masquerade as Majorana fermions. If this is true, it would be another instance of the fruitful cross-fertilization between condensed-matter physics and particle physics that has enhanced our knowledge of magnetic monopoles, Dirac and Weyl fermions and Higgs bosons.

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Dr. George Androulakis, Professor
Department of Mathematics
University of South Carolina
Research Profile

Abstract:
In this talk, I plan to give an introduction to Quantum Information by presenting parts from one of my latest research works. Quantum Information is a branch of science which examines quantum phenomena but often draws inspiration from classical information theory. I will use one of my latest research projects to illustrate these parallel fields. I will try to make my talk accessible to the graduate students who may choose to work on this exciting and fast-growing research field.

Dr. Christopher Jarzynski, Distinguished University Professor
Department of Physics and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of Maryland
Research Profile

Abstract:
Every major galaxy seems to contain a supermassive black hole at its center.  About 1% of these supermassive black holes are actively accreting gas from surrounding material and are Thermodynamics provides a robust conceptual framework and set of laws that govern the exchange of energy and matter. Although these laws were originally articulated for macroscopic objects, nanoscale systems also exhibit “thermodynamic­-like” behavior – for instance, biomolecular motors convert chemical fuel into mechanical work, and single molecules exhibit hysteresis when manipulated using optical tweezers. To what extent can the laws of thermodynamics be scaled down to apply to individual microscopic systems, and what new features emerge at the nanoscale? I will describe some of the challenges and recent progress – both theoretical and experimental – associated with addressing these questions. Along the way, my talk will touch on non-equilibrium fluctuations, “violations” of the second law, the thermodynamic arrow of time, nanoscale feedback control, strong system-environment coupling, and quantum thermodynamics.

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Dr. Ed Cackett, Professor and Interim Chair
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Wayne State University
Research Profile

Abstract:
Every major galaxy seems to contain a supermassive black hole at its center.  About 1% of these supermassive black holes are actively accreting gas from surrounding material and are referred to as Active Galactic Nuclei (or AGNs).  The gravitational potential energy liberated as this gas sinks towards the black hole (‘accretes’) makes AGNs some of the most luminous objects in the Universe.  Accretion is an important process since the energy that feeds back into the host galaxy has an important influence on its evolution.  Accretion is thought to take place via an optically thick, geometrically thin ‘accretion disk’.  However, the angular size of these disks is (generally) too small to be resolved with current technology.  I will describe how we use a technique called reverberation mapping, that swaps spatial resolution for time resolution, to infer the size of these accretion disks and better understand what happens in the region closest to the supermassive black hole in AGNs.

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Dr. Joseph E. Johnson, Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of South Carolina
Research Profile

Abstract:

Dr. Ignatios Antoniadis
Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Hautes Énergies
Sorbonne Université
Paris, France
Research Profile

Abstract:

Dr. Mariama Rebello de Sousa Dias, Assistant Professor
Department of Physics
University of Richmond
Richmond, VA
Research Profile

Abstract:
Using nanostructures with different chemical compositions and geometry is a promising way to improve the performance of optical sensors, energy harvesting devices, and photocatalysts. However, photonic materials for high-temperature applications must withstand their temperature operation while keeping their function.

In the first part of this talk, I will highlight recent progress in using alloys with different chemical compositions as a pathway to control and tune their optical response. In order to determine the ideal composition for a particular application, we use a combination of traditional methods of material synthesis and characterization and simulation and modeling methods. In particular, Au-Al shows to be promising for sensor applications operating at high temperatures. Here, we designed an artificial neural network trained to predict an Al-Au system's dielectric response. To confirm our prediction, we fabricated bimetallic films with different compositions and measured their optical response at different temperatures. We find that the accuracy of the ML is very high, and the time response is relatively short. Moreover, we show that all alloys outperform their pure counterparts in sensitivity, with Au_0.85Al_0.15­ being the best candidate for replacing pure gold in sensors based on the surface plasmon resonance effect. This approach can expand optical properties databases of known and hypothetical systems.

In the second part, I will report the recent advancements in emitter design for thermophotovoltaics (TPVs). In thermophotovoltaics, heat from a thermal emitter is directly converted to electricity via a photovoltaic (PV) cell. One route to decrease losses in the system is to tailor the emitted spectrum to a specific PV cell. In this work, we propose to use a thin film configuration for the emitter. We define a figure of merit (FOM) as the ratio of the power generated by the photovoltaic cell () and the power emitted by the emitter (). We analyze the optimal configuration of >2000 emitters that can operate at temperatures above 2000 ºC. The methods implemented here apply to any PV cell. Thus, we evaluate the best emitter candidates for Si, Ge, GaSb, InGaAs, and InGaAsSb cells. Due to the ultra-high temperature operation of the thermophotovoltaic, the thermal stability and the mismatch in the thermal expansion coefficient of each material combination are discussed. Our results show that FOMs above 50% are achievable under ideal conditions. This work can shed light on high-temperature photonics, where a simple emitter design can result in higher efficient photoelectronic devices.

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Paul Reimer, Research Scientist
Argonne National Laboratory
Lemont, IL
Research Profile

Abstract:

Dr. Michael Dickson, Professor
Department of Philosophy
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC
Research Profile

Abstract:
Since at least the 1950s, arguments based on various 'anthropic principles', and related arguments based on the apparently narrow range of physical parameters that allow for intelligent life, have persistently appeared and re-appeared in various sciences, especially cosmology.   The arguments have proven very seductive, but they are based on two mistakes about the nature of scientific explanation, especially as regards modal propositions (propositions regarding possibility and necessity) and propositions about (allegedly) low-probably events.

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Dr. Alexander Yankovsky, Professor
School of the Earth, Ocean, and Environment
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC
Research Profile

Abstract:
River discharge running off into a coastal ocean with saltier (and hence denser) water produces buoyancy currents.  Under the influence of the Earth’s rotation, buoyancy currents propagate along the coast.  However, light wind can deflect the buoyancy current offshore as an elongated tongue of a relatively light water sometimes reaching the deep ocean 100-150 km away.  In this situation, coastal buoyancy currents can act as important pathways for pollutants, nutrients and sediments originating inland.  Surprisingly, these buoyancy currents don’t expand laterally in the manner of a smoke trail coming from a chimney, which makes them efficient contributors to the transport processes across submerged continental margins.  Recent shipboard observations supplemented by idealized numerical modeling reveal complex dynamics governing the spreading of the buoyancy water offshore.

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Dr. Alexey Petrov, Professor and Endowed Chair
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of South Carolina
Research Profile

Abstract:
One of the conditions for creating a matter-dominated Universe is the presence of interactions that differentiate between matter and anti-matter.  The properties of such interactions can be probed at particle accelerators by studying the decay patterns of produced particles.  In recent years LHCb, one of the CERN's major experiments, announced the observation of CP-violation in the decays of particles containing charm quark.  I discuss the theoretical implications of this important discovery and why it took experimentalists such a long time to make this observation.  I will also discuss why it would take even longer for theorists to discern it.

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Dr. Garrett Darl Lewis, Senior Physicist and Wargaming Principal Investigator
Directed Energy Directorate
Air Force Research Laboratory
Kirtland Air Force Base
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Research Profile

Dr. Varsha Kulkarni, Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of South Carolina
Research Profile

Dr. Revaz Ramazashvili, Research Scientist
Laboratoire de Physique Théorique
Université Paul Sabatier
Toulouse, France
Research Profile

Dr. Ramazashvili is also a visiting professor at the University of South Carolina during the Spring 2022 term as part of the McCausland Visiting Scholars Program (College of Arts and Sciences).

Dr. Céline Péroux, ANDES Project Scientist (Involvement at Extremely Large Telescope)
European Southern Observatory
München, Germany
Research Profile

Dr. Alexey Petrov, Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Wayne State University
Detroit, Michigan
Research Profile

Abstract:
Indirect searches for New Physics are the searches for quantum effects of new particles that can be discovered by observing tiny deviations between theoretical predictions and experimental observations.

I will discuss how physicists have been using bound muons to probe New Physics that is not reachable by direct searches at the Large Hadron Collider.

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Dr. Mu Wang, Editor of Physical Review Materials
The Editorial Office
American Physical Society
Ridge, New York

National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Physics
Nanjing University
Nanjing, China

Research Profile

Abstract:
Optics on the nanoscale is a fast developing area with many exciting novel concepts, phenomena, and functionalities. Unexpected effects in the early days can be realized now by designing subwavelength structures judiciously.

In this lecture, I will focus on some fundamentals of nanophotonics as well as introduce some new concepts and structures that lead to novel functionalities. I will also discuss designing a single piece of metasurface that simultaneously generates different polarization states for multichannel distribution and transformation of entangled photon states.

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Dr. Qi An, Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering
College of Engineering
University of Nevada, Reno
Reno, Nevada

Abstract:
Overconsumption of fuel oils and the resulting energy crisis have been increasingly causing environmental issues such as global climate change and marine pollution. Solid-state thermoelectric (TE) technology, enabling direct conversion between heat and electricity without moving parts, offers the possibility of relieving the current energy crisis. The widespread application of TE technology requires TE materials with high conversion efficiency and robust mechanical properties. However, it has been challenging to develop highly stable and efficient TE materials in cost and time-consuming experiments. Computer simulations may dramatically accelerate the design of novel TE materials with desirable properties.

In this talk, we illustrate how to improve the mechanical properties and efficiency of TE materials via microstructure engineering and light irradiation via an AI-based theoretical framework including machine learning, quantum mechanics, and atomistic simulations. First, we show that the strength of Bi₂Te₃ can be significantly enhanced due to the nanoscale twins. For Bi₂Te₃, the strengthening mechanism is due to the formation of twin boundaries between the Te atoms of adjacent Te1─Bi─Te2─Bi─Te1 quint substructures. Then we show that sphalerite ZnS transforms from a dislocation dominated deformation mode in the ground state to a twin dominated deformation mode with bandgap electronic excitations, leading to increased strength and brittle failure under light illumination. Next, we show that the lattice thermal conductivity (LTC) of Mg₂Si can be significantly reduced due to the nanoscale twins, which increases the conversion efficiency between heat and electricity. The soft Mg-Mg bond formed along TBs leads to soft acoustic and optical modes, shorter phonon lifetimes, and higher phonon scattering rates. Finally, we report the decreased LTC of high temperature TE material boron subphosphide (B₁₂P₂) by introducing the nanoscale twins. The decrease of vibrational density of states and phonon participation ratio due to TBs' phonon scattering is the main reason for the low LTC in nanotwinned B₁₂P₂. The new knowledge gained in this talk is important for the future design of novel TE materials with designed properties via controlling microstructures and light irradiation.

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Dr. Sai Mu, Postdoctoral Fellow
Materials Department
College of Engineering
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Research Profile

Abstract:
Today, disordered materials are commercially ubiquitous and underpin virtually all advanced technologies – energy, transportation, construction, communication, medicine. The recently discovered transiti­­­on metal high entropy alloys (HEAs), and their cousin's general multicomponent concentrated solid solution alloys (CSAs) exhibit many exceptional and beneficial functionalities, opening a new paradigm for material design using extreme disorder. Given that all functionalities originate from the disorder-controlled fundamental physical properties, understanding how disorder influences the underlying electronic, vibrational and magnetic properties of transition metal compounds is crucial and this is the subject of the talk.

I will discuss two main topics. In the first topic, I will investigate the effect of disorder on energy dissipations in HEAs and CSAs through the electron and phonon degrees of freedom. I delineate different electron scattering mechanisms and identify the dominant electron scattering mechanisms giving rise to a two orders of magnitude resistivity difference observed in alloys containing combinations of closely related elements Ni, Co, Fe, Mn, and Cr. Disorder effect on lattice vibrations is also assessed, and the importance of heretofore overlooked force constant disorder in the phonon scattering is revealed. In the second topic, I will exploit disorder to increase the magnetic coupling and magnetic critical temperature, and also to tune the magnetic anisotropy of transition metal antiferromagnet Cr₂O₃. This leads to improved functionalities for spintronic applications. The disorder physics disclosed here has broad implications for materials design towards targeted properties – such as energy dissipation, magnetic properties – based on the exploitation of disorder.

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Dr. Oliviero Andreussi, Assistant Professor
Department of Physics
University of North Texas
Denton, Texas

Abstract:
Recent advances in computational models of solvent and electrolyte environments have opened the possibility of characterizing heterogeneous catalysis and electrochemistry in a first-principles-based framework, where the multiscale nature of the developed approaches provides a significant reduction of the computational burden while retaining a good accuracy.  Here, the core methodological aspects and features of these recently developed approaches, as implemented in the ENVIRON library (www.quantum-environ.org), will be reviewed. Applications to the screenings of two-dimensional materials as electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and for the oxygen evolution and reduction reactions (OER and ORR) will be presented. The proposed screening workflows allowed us to identify promising materials with low thermodynamic overpotentials and significant stability under electrochemical conditions.

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Dr. Marc Dvorak, Research Fellow
Department of Applied Physics
Aalto University
Espoo, Finland
Research Profile

Abstract:
Electronic structure theory is concerned with predicting the energy levels and spectra of systems from first principles. The major challenge for the field is that electrons interact with each other, giving rise to properties like carrier lifetimes, magnetism, Kondo physics, and Mott insulators. I will introduce three approaches to the correlated electron problem: density functional theory, many-body Green's functions, and many-body wave functions, and draw special attention to the strengths and weaknesses of each. I will survey my own research in these three subjects covering III-V semiconductors, two-dimensional materials, and molecular dimers.

In the second half of the talk, I will focus on my current work developing a quantum embedding theory for strongly-correlated electrons, a regime in which typical electronic structure methods fail. The method keeps an exact many-body description for the wave function in an active space and relies on a quasiparticle renormalization of the Hamiltonian in the remaining portion of the Hilbert space. I will share initial results for dimers and porphyrins which are in good agreement with high quality reference data at lower computational cost. Finally, I will outline my long-term plans to extend the theory to solids in order to develop a robust, universal computational infrastructure for correlated phenomena with special emphasis on an ab-initio description of Kondo physics in designer interfaces.

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Dr.  Matthias Schindler, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of South Carolina
Research Profile

Abstract:
In electromagnetism, there is a single charge that can take positive or negative values. An analogous quantity, called color, exists in the theory of the strong interactions, quantum chromodynamics (QCD). However, unlike the single electric charge, there are three color charges. This is one of the reasons why QCD is fairly intractable when it comes to nuclear physics. Improving our understanding of how this theory governs the interactions among protons and neutrons remains one of the main goals of nuclear physics. We can make progress towards this goal by considering a theory with not three, but a very large number of color charges. While it might seem strange that such a theory can tell us something useful about the world we live in, I will describe which features of the nuclear interactions can be understood from this approach and how it can be used in prioritizing future experiments searching for new physics.

Dr. Jeffrey Hazboun, Postdoctoral Research Associate
NANOGrav Physics Frontiers Center
Physical Sciences Division
University of Washington Bothell
Bothell, Washington
Research Profile

Abstract:
Pulsar timing arrays open a new band of the gravitational wave spectrum by building a galactic-scale GW detector. They will detect a stochastic background of gravitational waves in the next few years. The strongest signal is expected to be the unresolvable background from supermassive black hole binaries at the centers of merged galaxies. While SMBBHs are expected to be the strongest source of GWs, we are sensitive to any GW signal in the nanohertz regime. The North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) is an NSF funded Physics Frontiers Center monitoring over 70 millisecond pulsars for the signature of these gravitational waves. In the NANOGrav 12.5-year dataset, we are seeing significant evidence for a signal in our data that is common among many of the pulsars. We currently find no definitive evidence for the correlated pattern that is indicative of gravitational waves. However, if we are seeing the first signs of the GW background, our models show that continued observations will lead to a detection within the next few years.

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Dr. David Ceperley, Founder Professor of Physics
Department of Physics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, Illinois
Research Profile

Abstract:
Dense hydrogen is the most common constituent of the universe forming the majority of the giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, as well as the extra solar planets. Hydrogen, though the simplest atom, becomes complex under extreme conditions of pressure. Hydrogen is an ideal test platform for ab initio simulation techniques. Using these methods, we predicted that hydrogen transforms from a molecular liquid to an atomic liquid via a first order transition. This was later verified in experiment. In 1965, Neil Ashcroft predicted that high pressure metallic hydrogen will be a high superconductor at room temperature. Recently, hydrides such at LaH₁₀ were predicted and then found to be superconducting at elevated temperatures. Machine learning techniques have recently been used to make new predictions about the hydrogen phase diagram.

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Mr. Travis Dore, PhD Student
Department of Physics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, Illinois

Abstract:
Microseconds after the Big Bang, the Universe was filled with strongly interacting matter called the quark gluon plasma. In the lab, we recreate these settings by colliding together heavy nuclei at extremely large energies. This leads to the largest temperatures ever produced in a lab as well as the production of the quark gluon plasma. The subsequent evolution after collision can be modelled hydrodynamically, which has done extremely well at both describing and predicting data.

In this talk, I will go through the history leading up to the first heavy ion collisions and the discovery of the deconfinement transition as well as give an overview of the current state of the field. I will focus specifically on the hydrodynamic evolution and out-of-equilibrium effects on the search for the critical point of the deconfinement transition.

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Dr. Frank T. Avignone, III, Carolina Endowed Professor of Physics and Astronomy
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of South Carolina
Research Profile

Abstract:

Dr. Jerome Goldstein, Professor
Department of Mathematical Sciences
University of Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Research Profile

Abstract:
A. Einstein and (others) in 1905 derived Brownian motion from a random walk and the central limit theorem of statistics, and this derivation led to the first numerical estimate for Avogadro’s number.  In 1920, G. I. Taylor used a different random walk to derive the telegraph equation, a different approach to diffusion, and it was related to the Poisson process. In 1930, L. Ornstein and G. Uhlenbeck (the “inventor” of electron spin) derived a different approach to diffusion, which was rejected by the physicists and embraced by the mathematicians. This led to many subsequent results, still in the process of development. We’ll try to fit this all together.

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Dr. Robert Cava
Russell Wellman Moore Professor of Chemistry
Department of Chemistry
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey
Research Profile

Abstract:
Finding new materials that are of interest in the community of materials physicists is, in my view, best done by using the insights and tools of solid state chemistry to direct exploratory synthesis towards finding materials with potentially new electronic and magnetic properties.  Unfortunately, however, most solid state chemists do not feel comfortable with the language of physics, and further compounding the disconnect between physics and chemistry, materials physicists do not in general understand the complexities of chemistry and its language.  Theoretical physicists, who I personally find to be lots of fun, seem even further in research culture from “bench chemists”, making chemical research even harder to aim towards forefront physics though it is the theorists who most often live in gardens of untested ideas.

In this talk, I plan to describe materials in several different chemical families that we have worked on in recent years - found from a distinctly chemical perspective, I think, with their potential significance to materials physics in mind.   Some of them you may find interesting and others not so interesting.   The main idea is to keep trying, propose and find new materials to see what sticks, welcome collaborations, and never give up.

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Dr. Michael Susner
Research Materials Engineer (DR-02)
Materials and Manufacturing Directorate
RXAPE, Photonics Branch
The Air Force Research Laboratory
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
Research Profile

Abstract:
Correlated two-dimensional (2D) materials offer a new avenue for the development of next-generation electronic devices.  Since the discovery of Dirac physics in graphene, research in 2D materials has grown exponentially with two main aims: 1) the discovery of new 2D materials and 2) developing new and innovative techniques to harness and tune their optical, magnetic, and electronic properties.  This talk will cover 2D materials in general with a focus on Van der Waals bonding, band structure, magnetism, and other correlated electron behavior and the manipulation of these properties via reduced dimensionality.  A few prominent cases will be highlighted.

Though most research on 2D materials has focused on graphene, boron nitride, and transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs),^1,2 new 2D materials classes are coming into the forefront, including metal thiophosphates³ which, in many ways, are the 2D equivalent of complex oxides as changes in composition, stacking, or pressure in turn lead to large changes in bandgap⁴, magnetic ordering temperature and type³, ferroelectric ordering temperature^3,5, possible Kitaev physics⁶ (i.e. quantum spin liquids) and even the appearance of superconductivity.⁷  I shall present the materials characterization of CuInP₂S₆ and related self-assembled CuInP₂S₆/In_4/3P₂S₆ heterostructures as a case study for this materials class in particular and 2D materials in general to show how the underlying physics is affected by chemical and structural modifications.

Dr. James Tour
T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Chemistry
Professor of Materials Science and NanoEngineering
Department of Chemistry
Wiess School of Natural Sciences
Rice University
Houston, Texas
Research Profile

Abstract:
A method will be described for making graphene in 10 milliseconds from any solid carbon source using no solvents, no water, and only $35 per ton in electricity. The sources include coal, petroleum coke, food, and mixed waste plastic.  Application of this method to the formation of metal carbides and other 2D materials will also be shown.

YouTube Recording

Dr. Hariharan Srikanth, Distinguished University Professor
Department of Physics
College of Arts and Sciences
University of South Florida
Tampa, Florida
Research Profile

Abstract:

Dr. Rongying Jin, Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
College of Science
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Abstract:

Dr. Pawel Mazur, Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of South Carolina
Research Profile

Abstract:
The physical nature of super-compact objects discovered in the merging binaries by LIGO/VIRGO gravitational wave detectors will be elaborated on. Some specific predictions have been already proposed for the future falsification by the LIGO-VIRGO-KAGRA gravitational wave detectors in the next few observational runs.I will present the No Hair result for the solution of Einstein equations describing the non-vacuum regular interior and the vacuum exterior of a spinning black hole. There are only two parameters characterizing the vacuum exterior and two parameters for the non-vacuum regular interior of a spinning black hole. These two sets of two parameters are connected by the matching condition for the interior and the exterior solutions on the apparent horizon. The solution depends on two parameters for which one can take the mass M and angular momentum J = Ma characterizing the vacuum exterior Kerr metric. The unique regular source of the Kerr gravitational field rotates rigidly with the angular velocity Ω equal to the angular velocity Ω _H of the Kerr black hole horizon. The exterior vacuum solution is given by the well-known Kerr metric while the interior metric is completely new.My result settles the problem posed by R. P. Kerr in 1963 in the case of slow rotation. This is the No Hair result for the regular spinning black holes such as those indirectly observed in nature and thus it should have a bearing on the description of the final states of mergers of binary black holes detected by LIGO and Virgo (and soon KAGRA) gravitational wave detectors. 

YouTube Recording

Dr. Rocky Kolb, Arthur Holly Compton Distinguished Service Professor
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Director of the Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics
Co-Winner of the 2010 Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
Research Profile

Abstract:
The big bang is a laboratory to explore the properties of particles that cannot be created in terrestrial laboratories.  In addition to thermal processes, there is another source of cosmological particle production.  In 1939, Erwin Schrödinger pointed out that particle-antiparticle pairs could be created merely by the violent expansion of space.  The spontaneous appearance of particles from the vacuum so disturbed Schrödinger that he referred to it as an "alarming" phenomenon.  The phenomenon is now thought to be the origin of density fluctuations produced in inflation as well as a background of gravitational waves.  Gravitational particle production is a rich phenomenon, which continues to be explored.

YouTube Recording

Dr. Yuriy Pershin, Associate Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of South Carolina
Research Profile

Abstract:
The study of resistive switching memory cells has been attracting a lot of attention due to their possible application as non-volatile memories, in neural networks, and even computing architectures.  In 2008, it was suggested that all resistive-switching memory cells are memristors [Nature, 2008, 453, 80].  The latter are hypothetical, ideal devices whose resistance, as originally formulated, depends only on the net charge that traverses them.  In my talk, I will introduce an unambiguous test we recently developed to determine whether a given physical system is indeed a memristor or not.  The results of the test application to in-house fabricated Cu-SiO₂ and commercially available electrochemical materialization cells indicate that the electrochemical metallization memory cells are not memristors [Adv. Electron. Mater. 2020, 2000010].

Dr. Daniel Scolnic, Assistant Professor
Department of Physics
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina
Research Profile

Abstract:
In this talk, I will present the latest measurements of the expansion rate of the universe as well as its acceleration.  I will focus on the use of Type Ia Supernovae, which continue to be an extremely powerful probe of the local universe.  I will dive into the Hubble Constant Tension, now called a 'Crisis,' and give updates about all of the most recent results as well as what to expect within the next six months.  I will also go over recent claims attempting to disprove confirmation of the accelerating universe.  I will then discuss the next generation of telescopes and the supernova revolution we should be expecting in the next decade.

Dr. Varsha Kulkarni, Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of South Carolina
Research Profile

Abstract:
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded in part to Drs. Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for their discovery of the first extrasolar planet around a normal star.  Extrasolar planets (planets orbiting stars outside our solar system) are extremely challenging to find.  Mayor and Queloz (then a graduate student) accomplished this extraordinary task using high-resolution optical spectroscopy.  Their work showed that other planetary systems can differ starkly from our own solar system and opened the door to an avalanche of discoveries of other extrasolar planets.  We now know of over 4,000 extrasolar planets, including hundreds of multi-planet systems.

I will describe the Nobel-winning discovery and how it was achieved.  I will also summarize other techniques for detecting extrasolar planets and the huge progress made in recent years in not just inferring the existence of extrasolar planets, but also measuring their compositions.  Finally, I will discuss some future directions and the question of why extrasolar planets is important for our civilization.

Dr. J. Michael Shull, Professor
Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences
University of Colorado (Boulder)
University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)
Research Profile

Abstract:
I will review recent observations and theoretical estimates of the spatial extent of galaxies.  Galaxies are defined as systems of stars and gas embedded in extended halos of dark mater and formed by the infall of smaller systems.  Their sizes are determined by gravitational structures, gas dynamics, and chemical enrichment in heavy elements produced by stars and blown into extragalactic space by galactic winds.  The full extent of galaxies remains poorly determined.  The "virial radius" and "gravitational radius" provide estimates of the separation between collapsed structures in dynamical equilibrium and external infalling matter.  Other measurements come from X-ray emission and ultraviolet absorption lines from metal-enriched gas in galactic halos.  Astronomers have now identified large reservoirs of baryonic matter in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) and intergalactic medium (IGM) that contain 50-70% of the cosmological baryons formed in the Big Bang.  The extent of the bound gas and dark matter around galaxies such as our Milky Way is approximately 200 kpc (650,000 light years).  Investigators of physical processes at the "edge of galaxies" are crucial for interpreting new observations of the CGM and IGM, and their role in sustaining the star formation in galaxies.

Dr. Craig Group, Associate Professor
Experimental High Energy Physics Group
Department of Physics
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
Research Profile

Abstract:
In a sense, the muon has become a thorn in the side of particle physicists since its discovery in 1936.  Still, we seek answers related to questions of flavor.  Why three families?  Why are the lepton masses so different?  Who ordered that?

Experiments searching for charged lepton flavor violation seemed to run out of sensitivity gains in the 1990s.  However, a re-birth is ongoing!  A new series of experiments, led by new technologies, are poised to push sensitivities down several orders of magnitude.  Soon, the muon sector may lead to discoveries that will help answer the most fundamental questions of particle physics.

Dr. Peter Mättig, Professor
Experimental Particle Physics Division
Department of Physics
University of Bonn
Bonn, Germany
Research Profile

Abstract:
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Center for Particle Physics (CERN - Geneva, Switzerland) probes matter at the highest accelerator energy ever reached.  In the past ten years of its operation, it has pushed the boundaries of the Standard Model of particle physics to stunning precision, and, by the discovery of the Higgs boson, has found its last building block.  But, despite hopes and expectations, it has, at yet, not found any glimpse of how to move beyond the Standard Model.  The current situation of particle physics at the crossroad raises several questions of philosophical interest that are addressed in a large interdisciplinary research group in Germany.

In this talk, I will provide an overview over experimentation at the LHC, the current status of particle physics, and the challenges that it faces.  I will then highlight a few questions addressed in our philosophy project, especially the role of models and the trend towards model independent experimentation.

Dr. Laurie E. McNeil
Bernard Gray Distinguished Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Research Profile

Abstract:
Members of the professoriate have a professional obligation to carry out our educational mission as effectively as possible (given the constraints of our circumstances), to maximize the benefit that students receive from our instruction.  As physicists, this obliges us to make use of research findings from cognitive science and physics education research.

In this presentation, I will describe how I used these findings to transform my own work in the classroom and to lead comprehensive change in teaching and learning in my department.  I will conclude with reflections on the elements that were crucial to the success of this institutional-scale transformation.

Dr. Megan Donahue, Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Michigan State University
President of the American Astronomical Society
Research Profile

Abstract:
Most, if not all, of the galaxies in the universe host a supermassive black hole in the center.  The masses of these black holes are correlated with the masses of the galaxies, or at least with the masses of the "bulge" components of the galaxies.  Simulations of galaxy formation track how dark matter and baryons interact gravitationally, assembling the network of galaxies, clusters of galaxies, voids, and filaments that we observe today.  Using our current understanding of the mean density of baryonic matter and dark matter, and of the effects of the accelerated expansion/dark energy, we now have a pretty good idea about how the largest structures emerged from the nearly uniform sea of tiny fluctuations that we can see in the cosmic microwave background.  However, we demand more from these models.  We would like to be able to explain what we observe, and that means explaining why, for example, the baryons don't make more stars than they do, why galaxies of about the mass of that of the Milky Way are the best at forming stars (yet still under perform based on expectations), and why the mass of a central black hole is affected by the mass of its host galaxy.  The answers are all related.  I will discuss a framework for thinking and talking about these issues, a framework useful for framing useful questions to apply to the simulations and next observations, and plans for the next space observatory.

Dr. Monique Aller, Assistant Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, Georgia
Research Profile

Abstract:
Interstellar dust grains comprise a relatively small percentage of the total galaxy mass, but they significantly impact both the appearance of the galaxy as well as many of the physical processes important for the formation of stars and evolution of the galaxy.  The physical properties of these dust grains, including their composition, size, shape, and spatial distribution may vary both within a galaxy and from galaxy-to-galaxy.  Absorption lines in the spectra of distant quasars whose sightlines pass through foreground galaxies provide a valuable tool to simultaneously probe the dust and gas compositions of the interstellar medium in both local and more distant galaxies.

I will discuss two ongoing collaborative research programs exploiting archival multi-wavelength data to explore the silicate and carbonaceous dust grain properties in galaxies probed by quasar absorption systems.  I will present results from our work using Spitzer Space Telescope infrared spectra to study interstellar silicate dust grain properties in both local and distant quasar absorption systems and discuss our findings that silicate dust grain properties in distant galaxies can differ relative to one another and relative to those in the Milky Way.

Dr. Massimiliano Di Ventra, Professor
Department of Physics
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, California
Research Profile

Abstract:
It is well known that physical phenomena may be of great help in computing some difficult problems efficiently.  A typical example is prime factorization that may be solved in polynomial time by exploiting quantum entanglement on a quantum computer.  There are, however, other types of (non-quantum) physical properties that one may leverage to compute efficiently a wide range of hard problems.  In this talk, I will discuss how to employ one such property, memory (time non-locality), in a novel physics-based approach to computation:  Memcomputing.  As examples, I will show the efficient solution of prime factorization, the search version of the subset-sum problem, approximations to the Max-SAT, and the ground state of Ising spin glasses, using self-organizing logic gates, namely gates that self-organize to satisfy their logical proposition.  I will also show that these machines take advantage of the long-range order that develops during their transient dynamics in order to tackle the above problems and are robust against noise and disorder.  The digital memcomputing machines we propose can be efficiently simulated, are scalable, and can be easily realized with available nanotechnology components.  Work supported in part by MemComputing, Inc. (www.memcpu.com) and CMRR.

Dr. Di Ventra's visit to USC is supported by the Office of the Provost's Visiting Scholars Grant Program.

Dr. Leonid Pryadko, Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, California
Research Profile

Abstract:
I will give an elementary overview of the current state of the art in quantum error correction, one of the key enabling technologies for scalable quantum computation.  How is it possible to protect a superposition state with continuously varying complex coefficients?  How will fault-tolerant quantum error correction work in practice?  What is it that commercial companies are trying to achieve in this field?  And what are the major open questions in theory, experiment, and architecture of quantum computers?

Dr. Oleg Tchernyshyov, Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland
Research Profile

Abstract: 
Magnets host a variety of solitons that are stable for topological reasons:  domain walls, vortices, and skyrmions, to name a few.  Because of their stability, topological solitons can potentially be used for storing and processing information.  This motivates us to build economic, yet realistic models of soliton dynamics in magnets (e.g. a domain wall in a ferromagnetic wire can be pictured as a bead on a string, which can move along the string and rotate about its axis).  Its mechanics is counterintuitive:  it rotates when pushed and moves when twisted.  I will review basic models of magnetic solitons in one and two dimensions, including classic examples as well as new results.

Dr. Ashot Gasparian, Professor
Department of Physics
North Carolina A&T State University
Greensboro, North Carolina
Research Profile

Abstract:
Two new extremely high precision measurements of the proton rms charge radius performed in 2010-2012 with muonic hydrogen atom demonstrated up to six standard deviations smaller values than the accepted average from all previous experiments performed with different methods on regular hydrogen.  This discrepancy triggered the well known "proton radius puzzle" in hadronic physics for the last several years.  To address this puzzle, the PRad collaboration in May-June 2016 performed a novel magnetic-spectrometer-free ep-scattering experiment in Hall B at Jefferson Laboratory accumulating high statistics and a rich experimental data set.  The specifics of the PRad experiment and the preliminary physics results, including the extracted proton radius, will be presented and discussed in this talk.

Dr. Raul Briceno, Assistant Professor
Department of Physics
Old Dominion University
Joint Theory Staff Member at Jefferson Laboratory
Norfolk, Virginia
Research Profile

Abstract:
At the core of everyday matter is a complex inner world of subatomic particles.  In particular, the nuclei of atoms are made of protons and neutrons, which are themselves made of even smaller particles known as quarks and gluons.  Thanks to experiments, like the ones being carried out at Jefferson Lab, we have been able to peer inside and deduce the guiding principles for the behavior of quarks and gluons.  This knowledge has been formalized into a fundamental theory of the strong nuclear force, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD).  However, despite having the theory in place for over 40 years, the connection between QCD and experiment has been historically limited by the fact that the strong nuclear force is "strongly interacting."  In this talk, I will discuss recent theoretical progress that is finally allowing us to directly extract the same observables from QCD that are measured in experiment.

Dr. Alexander Monin
Maître Assistant at the University of Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland
Research Profile

Abstract:
Despite undoubted success of the Standard Model of particle physics, we are absolutely certain that it cannot be the ultimate theory of nature.  Several experimental puzzles indicate that there should be new particles.  Two scenarios for why new physics does not currently manifest itself at accelerators are either new particles are too heavy or they are light, but very weakly interacting with the Standard Model particles.  The two scenarios lead to deep theoretical questions.

In this talk, I will present what these questions are and will discuss how non-perturbative methods in quantum field theory may help to address them.

Dr. Karen Livesey, Associate Professor
Department of Physics and Energy Science
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Research Profile

Abstract: 
Magnetic nanoparticles are used as drug-delivery systems, to kill cancer tumors by heating, and even to self-assemble optical diffraction gratings.  There are many open questions about how the magnetization of these nanoparticles relaxes, both for individual particles and when they strongly interact with one another.

In the first half of this talk, I will discuss a new analytic method [1] to fit the magnetization versus temperature measurements of non-interacting particles, which leads to a dramatic reinterpretation of some literature results.  In the second half of the talk, I will describe Langevin simulations of strongly interacting magnetic nanoparticles in fluids and show some of the exotic and varied dynamics that can result.  This is important because a small change in the fluid environment can lead to large differences in the nanoparticle efficacy for the biomedical and technological applications that are listed above.

[1] Livesey, KL, Ruta S, Anderson NR, Baldomir D, Chantrell RW, and Serantes D.  "Beyond the blocking model to fit nanoparticle ZFC/FC magnetisation curves."  Scientific reports 8, 11166 (2018).

Bio:  Karen Livesey is the first female Associate Professor of Physics in the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs' 53-year history.  She is an award-winning teacher and theoretical physicist who specializes in studying nano-magnets.  Karen received her Ph.D. in 2009 from the University of Western Australia.  Her research is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.K. Royal Society.  She is a 2018-2019 Emmy Noether Fellow at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada.

Dr. Andrey Katz
Long-Duration Staff at CERN
Professor Titulaire at the University of Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland
Research Profile

All currently observed phenomena are consistently explained by the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics.  However, there are good reasons, both experimental and theoretical, to consider Physics Beyond the SM at the TeV scale.  The SM violates the principle of naturalness, which is a fundamental theoretical problem.  I will explain this problem and discuss experimental strategies for testing some of its possible solutions.

Abstract: 
One is a popular scenario, supersymmetry, which involves a major extension of space-time symmetry and manifests itself in new particles with SM charges at collider.  Another solution that I will discuss is the Twin Higgs, which in general predicts sterile particles at colliders.  Remarkably, I will demonstrate that it also gives rise to observable signals.  Both supersymmetry and the twin Higgs scenario have their own challenges and I will present novel strategies for both of these scenarios.  The SM alone cannot account for observed matter-antimatter symmetry and requires new physics.  I will analyze the possibility of generating the baryon asymmetry during the Electroweak phase transition and show that this idea can be probed at the LHC and future colliders via higgs precision measurement.  I will also present a novel mechanism for generating the baryon asymmetry at temperatures below the electroweak temperature, which can be probed via the gravitational wave signals in future interferometers.

Finally, the SM does not have a dark matter candidate, but it can naturally be accommodated by certain extensions of the SM at the TeV scale.  I will review some of these scenarios and emphasize the experimental signatures with an emphasis on the gravitational lensing.

Dr. Kimberly Boddy, Postdoctoral Fellow
Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland
Research Profile

Abstract: 
There is overwhelming evidence for the existence of dark matter.  It plays a crucial role in the formation of structure in the Universe, yet little is known about its properties beyond gravitational effects.  In this talk, I will discuss the current and future prospects of understanding the fundamental nature of dark matter using observations in cosmology and astrophysics.  These observations offer glimpses into different cosmic eras that may shed light on the mystery of dark matter.

Dr. Igor Altfeder
Department of Physics
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
Research Profile

Abstract: 
Many-body interactions in quantum materials are important not only for condensed matter physics; they are also relevant to the phenomena in high energy physics, cosmology, and biological physics.  Our approach for studies of nanoscale interactions is based on scanning tunneling microscopy (STM).  This presentation will describe the STM experiments with quasi-freestanding layers of two-dimensional semiconductor WSe2.  They revealed the existence of room-temperature optical phonon condensate mediated by phonon scattering and interactions at resonant defects.  The real space Bose-Einstein condensation manifests itself in synchronization of phonon phases and formation of collective condensate phase with unusually large, macroscopic coherence time.  This coherent state of matter plays an important role in biological physics where it is known as Frohlich condensation.

Remarks by Dr. Ralf Gothe, Dr. Frank Avignone, Dr. Richard Creswick, etc.

Abstract: 
This colloquium will be devoted to the memory of Professor Horacio Farach, a long time and distinguished member of our faculty, who passed away on December 29, 2018.  Professor Farach came to USC in 1967 as a Visiting Professor following a brutal military coup in his home country of Argentina.  On July 29, 1966, the "night of the long sticks," hundreds of students and faculty of the University of Buenos Aires were attacked by police wielding batons and arrested.  About 1,400 faculty resigned in protest and 300 went into exile.  Many of these exiled professors found positions in the U.S. and so Horacio came to South Carolina.

Professor Farach was tenured at Associate Professor in 1968 and had a distinguished career at USC, winning the Russell Research Award, the Jesse W. Beams Medal of the APS, and several high-level international honors, including the presidential level Luis Leloir Medal of Argentina (1966) and the "Mayores Notables Argentinos" awarded by the National Assembly of Argentina (similar to the U.S. Medal of Freedom) in 2013.  In addition, he won three teaching awards at USC.  He served as Graduate Director for 18 years and as both Assistant and later Associate Department Chair of our department under Frank Avignone.  There were many interesting turns of events in his life that will make this lecture interesting.  He was a dynamite personality packed tightly into 150 pounds.  He will be missed by his friends, family, and many students.

Dr. Yordanka Ilieva, Associate Professor

Dr. Vincente Guiseppe, Assistant Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy

Dr. Yanwen Wu, Assistant Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy

Dr. Dean Lee, Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy