Faculty Research Seminars: 2012
Beyond the Standard Model Cosmology
January 9, 2012 | TAAC 41 | 11:30 AM | Faculty Research Seminar
Scott Dodelson

Hunting for dark matter's particle identity
January 23, 2012 | TAAC 41 | 12:00 PM | Faculty Research Seminar

Scientific Prospects for the Giant Magellan Telescope
January 30, 2012 | TAAC 41 | 12:00 PM | Faculty Research Seminar

TBA
February 13, 2012 | TAAC 41 | 12:00 PM | Faculty Research Seminar

Phyiscs of thermonuclear super nova
February 20, 2012 | TAAC 41 | 12:00 PM | Faculty Research Seminar
Alexei M. Khokhlov

The Virial Equations as a Tool in Dynamical Astronomy
May 22, 2012 | TAAC 41 | 12:00 PM | Faculty Research Seminar
Peter O. Vandervoort

Planetary System Architectures from Kepler
October 15, 2012 | TAAC 41 | 12:00 PM | Faculty Research Seminar
Daniel Fabrycky

The architecture of the Solar System is characterized by the planets orbiting in the same direction the Sun spins. The interpretation is the whole system arose from a spinning gas cloud, which flattened as it lost energy. Surprisingly, although hundreds of exoplanets had been found, we are only now learning about orbital alignments, via the stringent constraints and large numbers afforded by multiply-transiting systems in NASA's Kepler mission. I will take stock of the ~400 systems with more than one transiting planet found so far. By comparing transit durations of planets in the same system, we can see that inclinations of planets relative to each other are on the order of 2 degrees, just like in the Solar System. In one system of 3 planets, we can see the planets crossing starspots, and the detailed pattern shows that the planetary orbits and stellar spin are oriented in the same direction. Finally, I describe the six known circumbinary transiting planets. The dramatic time variations seen in these systems also encodes their nearly flat architecture, as well as giving crucial constraints for formation theories in a dynamically harsh environment.

TBA
October 22, 2012 | TAAC 41 | 12:00 PM | Faculty Research Seminar

Fundamental Physics and Cosmology
October 29, 2012 | TAAC 41 | 12:00 PM | Faculty Research Seminar
Scott Dodelson

George Ellery Hale and the Forgotten Observatories of the University of Chicago
November 5, 2012 | TAAC 41 | 12:00 PM | Faculty Research Seminar
Peter O. Vandervoort

Modelling formation of galaxies within cosmic web
November 12, 2012 | TAAC 41 | 12:00 PM | Faculty Research Seminar

Protostars and Planets
November 19, 2012 | TAAC 41 | 12:00 PM | Faculty Research Seminar

Why do we not see galaxies for all QSO absorption lines?
November 26, 2012 | TAAC 41 | 12:00 PM | Faculty Research Seminar

Astronomy Outreach Opportunities
December 3, 2012 | TAAC 41 | 12:00 PM | Faculty Research Seminar
Randall H. Landsberg