Upcoming JBCA and Schuster Colloquia
JBCA Colloquia begin at 3.00pm every Wednesday in the Sir Bernard
Lovell Seminar Room (3.225) in the Alan Turing Building, unless otherwise
stated. Tea, coffee and biscuits are served from 2.45pm.
Schuster Colloquia normally start at 2.30pm and take place in the Rutherford Lecture Theatre in the Schuster Building.
To view a talk abstract, click on the talk title. Click again on the talk title to hide the abstract.
Want to suggest a speaker? Get in touch with the Astrophysics Colloquium organisers: Clive Dickinson, Rob Beswick and Mike Peel.
| Date | Speaker | Topic |
|---|
| January 25th |
Michael Brown
(Manchester) |
Probing fundamental physics with multi-wavelength cosmology |
| The concordance "Lambda-CDM" cosmological model is a remarkable fit to astronomical observations but also raises profound questions: we do not know how the initial conditions were imprinted in the early Universe, nor do we know the nature of the dark energy. Two emerging fields of observational cosmology which are uniquely suited to investigating these mysteries are the polarisation of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and weak gravitational lensing. The former is the most powerful way to probe the early Universe while the latter is potentially the most sensitive probe of dark energy. I will summarise my work in both of these fields. In CMB polarisation studies, I will present results from the recent ground-based QUaD experiment and will look forward to what we might see with Planck and future ground-based experiments. In the field of weak lensing, I have recently been considering the prospects for lensing afforded by a new generation of radio instruments. In particular, the polarization information coming from these instruments could play a crucial role in reducing noise and rejecting contamination from the intrinsic alignment of galaxies. I will describe these new ideas, and an e-MERLIN survey being devised to test them, all leading up to definitive radio lensing surveys with the Square Kilometre Array in the next decade. |
| February 1st |
Tom Shanks
(Durham) |
Cosmology and WMAP |
| No abstract available! |
| February 8th |
Ross McLure
(Edinburgh) |
Galaxy evolution at redshifts 6 < z < 9 |
| The search for ultra high-redshift galaxies is motivated by the desire
to constrain the earliest phases of galaxy evolution, and to uncover
the nature of the sources responsible for cosmic reionization. In
recent years this subject has been revolutionised by a combination of
wide-area, multi-wavelength survey campaigns and ultra-deep,
pencil-beam HST imaging. The main body of the talk will summarise
recent work undertaken at the Institute for Astronomy in Edinburgh to
study the luminosity function, stellar masses and star-formation rates
of the 6 < z < 9 galaxy population, using a combination of the
UKIDSS Ultra-Deep Survey and high-resolution HST imaging.
In addition, I will discuss recent spectroscopic results at z>7 and
outline the opportunities offered by a major new near-IR imaging
programme on HST (CANDELS). With a total allocation of 902 orbits,
CANDELS is the largest ever HST programme, and promises to deliver the
first statistical sample of massive galaxies at z>7. |
| February 15th |
Rolf-Dietmar Herzberg
(Liverpool) |
Schuster Colloquium - Alchemy in the 21st century: The quest for super-heavy elements |
| No abstract available! |
| February 22nd |
TBA |
TBA |
| No abstract available! |
| February 29th |
Rob Fender
(Southampton) |
TBA |
| No abstract available! |
| March 7th |
Danielle George
(Manchester) |
LNA Designs for the SKA: A step change for Astronomers and Engineers |
| No abstract available! |
| March 14th |
Chris Parkes
(Manchester) |
Schuster Colloquium - Schuster's dream: Learning from antimatter |
| No abstract available! |
March 16th
Friday |
Paulo Freire
(MPIfR, Bonn) |
TBA |
| No abstract available! |
| March 21st |
Ian McHardy
(Southampton) |
TBA |
| No abstract available! |
| April 18th |
Alison Laird
(York University) |
TBA |
| No abstract available! |
| April 25th |
Jonathan Oppenheim (Cambridge) |
Schuster Colloquium - The Uncertainty Principle determines the non-locality of Quantum Mechanics |
| No abstract available! |
| May 2nd |
Graham Woan
(Glasgow) |
TBA |
| No abstract available! |
| May 9th |
David Jess
(QUB) |
TBA |
| No abstract available! |
| May 16th |
Haley Gomez
(Cardiff) |
The origin of dust in galaxies in the Herschel era |
| No abstract available! |
| May 23rd |
Cornelis Dullemond
(Heidelberg) |
Planet Factories |
| No abstract available! |
| May 30th |
TBA |
TBA |
| No abstract available! |
| June 6th |
TBA |
TBA |
| No abstract available! |
