Winter 2020

02/08/2020 | The Universe Caught Speeding: Dark Energy, Two Decades After -- Dragan Huterer (U-M Physics)

In the late 1990s cosmologists discovered that the expansion of the universe is speeding up, not slowing down as expected. This discovery, honored with the Physics Nobel Prize in 2011, has generated waves in the field of cosmology and presents us with a grand mystery: what is the origin and nature of dark energy, the stuff that causes the accelerated expansion? Professor Huterer will review the exciting new developments in this field, including hints for new physics lurking in the data, and the upcoming ground and space telescopes dedicated to solve the dark energy mystery.

02/15/2020 | Ocean Modeling: Big Computers, Big Science -- Brian Arbic (U-M Department of Earth and Environmental Studies)

In this talk, Professor Arbic will describe how ocean circulation models work and how they predict physical motions in the ocean, including currents, eddies, and tides. He will discuss the many applications of ocean models, including short-term ocean forecasting, national security applications, longer-term global change predictions, and preparing for satellite ocean monitoring missions. The talk will focus on the work done in our group here at University of Michigan, with a focus on oceanic eddies and tides.

02/22/2020 | The Truth About Entropy -- Sharon Glotzer (U-M Physics)

Crystalline forms of matter, from ice to diamond, are highly ordered with atoms lined up neatly in rows. Do these crystals have low or high entropy? We are taught that entropy implies disorder, so crystals must have low entropy...or do they? In this talk, find out how some ordered crystal phases of matter can have more entropy than their disordered phases, and why this matters.