Faculty Research Seminars: 2012

January 9, 2012 | 11:30, TAAC 41 | Speaker: Scott Dodelson
Beyond the Standard Model Cosmology

January 23, 2012 | 12:00, TAAC 41 | Speaker: Dan Hooper
Hunting for dark matter's particle identity

January 30, 2012 | 12:00, TAAC 41 | Speaker: Richard G. Kron
Scientific Prospects for the Giant Magellan Telescope

February 13, 2012 | 12:00, TAAC 41 | Speaker: Michael Gladders
TBA

February 20, 2012 | 12:00, TAAC 41 | Speaker: Alexei Khokhlov
Phyiscs of thermonuclear super nova

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

October 15, 2012 | 12:00, TAAC 41 | Speaker: Daniel Fabrycky
Planetary System Architectures from Kepler
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.

October 22, 2012 | 12:00, TAAC 41 | Speaker: Michael Gladders
TBA

October 29, 2012 | 12:00, TAAC 41 | Speaker: Scott Dodelson
Fundamental Physics and Cosmology

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

November 12, 2012 | 12:00, TAAC 41 | Speaker: Andrey V. Kravtsov
Modelling formation of galaxies within cosmic web

November 19, 2012 | 12:00, TAAC 41 | Speaker: Arieh Konigl
Protostars and Planets

November 26, 2012 | 12:00, TAAC 41 | Speaker: Donald G. York
Why do we not see galaxies for all QSO absorption lines?

December 3, 2012 | 12:00, TAAC 41 | Speaker: Randall H. Landsberg
Astronomy Outreach Opportunities