September 8, 2026 Tuesday 11:00 AM
+
726
Broadway, 1067, CQP Seminar
Center for Quantum Phenomena Seminars
(
cqp)
Timothy Reeder
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Expanding Magnetic Neutron Scattering into the Time Dimension
When scientists employ the 2nd law of thermodynamics, that all systems flow towards a global thermodynamic equilibrium, they do not concern themselves with the various physical processes involved in getting there, or the potential bottlenecks and intermediate states seen along the way. Answering these questions is a central part of the rapidly growing field of nonequilibrium condensed matter physics, and has great practical potential given that solid state components are typically operated out of equilibrium. Our understanding of materials, however, is overwhelmingly limited to their linear response and equilibrium properties. Additionally, interest in interacting, many body systems out of equilibrium has skyrocketed in recent years due to the ability for quasiparticle interactions to drive strong non-linearities that could result in novel macroscopic properties. This provides ample opportunity for experimentalists to develop pump-probe techniques to drive systems out of equilibrium while measuring their physical properties as a function of time. This talk describes a new Time-Resolved Inelastic Neutron Scattering (TRINS) technique and its first use exploring transient and steady-state nonequilibrium dynamics in a resonantly driven magnetic molecule with a singlet ground state.
September 8, 2026 Tuesday 2:00 PM
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726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
Astrophysics and Relativity Seminars
(
astro)
Richard Chatterjee
University of Leeds
A Second Wind for the Theory of Atmospheric Escape in the JWST Era
The first major result from James Webb Space Telescope surveys of rocky exoplanets is that many appear to have lost their atmospheres completely, even across a wide range of planetary masses and temperatures. Escape is fuelled by ionising radiation from the host star, but its efficiency depends on cooling lines from the hot soup of atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, demanding more sophisticated non-LTE energy balance models. Equally pressing is the need to fill the gap between the traditional models of escape. In the Jeans limit the atmosphere stays hydrostatic up to the exobase, where energetic particles can escape directly to space, while in the limit analogous to Parker's solar wind the atmosphere accelerates through the sound speed in the strongly collisional region below. But an atmosphere on the edge of survival escapes at a rate between these limits, where the outflow is weakly collisional and the radial and transverse temperatures can diverge. I'll present a first-principles solution built on a neat closure of the Boltzmann equation: a drifting bi-thermal Maxwellian, yielding a ballistic escape rate that varies with the bulk motion and non-equilibrium thermal structure, and so spans the escape regimes continuously. Remarkably, a unique Parker-style transonic solution survives even as the fluid assumption breaks down, under new critical conditions set by the departure from equilibrium, before then giving way to subsonic evaporation. I'll close with what this new theory means for the prevalence of exo-Earths and exo-Venuses in the galaxy.
September 9, 2026 Wednesday 2:00 PM
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726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Ian Moult
Yale
Non-Relativistic Conformal Collider Physics: Explosions of Mini-Neutron Bombs
In the context of relativistic QFT, the "conformal collider" paradigm has led to tremendous progress in both formal theory and phenomenology. In this talk, I will generalize this setup to the context of non-relativistic conformal field theories. I will show how relativistic detector operators have an exact, but simpler, analogue in non-relativistic theories, providing an interesting playground for exploring these observables. I will present calculations of one-point functions of detector observables in a variety of states, including free bosons and fermions, as well as few and many body states in the theory of fermions at unitarity. In three-body states, they exhibit a remarkably rich behavior reflective of the Efimov three-body wavefunction, and also exhibit a generalized Hofman-Maldacena collider bound. I will then discuss how such observables can be measured in a variety of experimental platforms from cold atoms, to slow neutron experiments.
September 15, 2026 Tuesday 11:00 AM
+
726
Broadway, 1067, CQP Seminar
Center for Quantum Phenomena Seminars
(
cqp)
Yayoi Takamura
University of California, Davis
Tailoring Magnetic Spin Textures in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3-Based Micromagnets
The development of next-generation computing devices based on spintronics and magnonics requires an understanding of how magnetic spin textures can be tailored in patterned magnetic materials. Within the wide range of magnetic materials available, complex oxides such as ferromagnetic (FM) La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) provide an ideal platform for tailoring magnetic spin textures when lithographically patterned as nano/micromagnets. This unique tunability arises due to the strong interactions among charge, spin, lattice, and orbital degrees of freedom. In this talk I demonstrate how an intricate interplay exists between shape, magnetocrystalline anisotropy, domain wall, and magnetoelastic energies due to the unique combination of magnetic parameters associated with LSMO. Using x-ray photoemission electron microscopy, I will show that the resulting FM spin textures can be controlled using parameters such as micromagnet shape (circles, squares, triangles, and hexagons with their edges oriented along different low-index crystallographic directions, with and without their core regions removed (aka “donut structures”)) and temperature [1]. LSMO nanomagnets are also patterned into artificial spin-ice (ASI) structures [2]-[4], where large arrays of nanomagnets are arranged in geometries where all the magnetic interactions cannot be satisfied simultaneously. While one might expect shape anisotropy to dictate Ising states in the nanomagnets, we observed the formation of both Ising and complex spin textures (CSTs) which consist of single- and double-vortex structures depending on the nano-island width and center-to-center spacing. These CSTs alter the nature of dipolar coupling among nanomagnets, giving rise to exotic physics in the ASI lattices. These studies demonstrate that complex oxides provide a unique platform for engineering FM spin textures for next-generation spin-based devices.
[1] M. S. Lee et al., “Tailoring Spin Textures in Complex Oxide Micromagnets,” ACS Nano, 10, 8545 (2016).
[2] R. V. Chopdekar et al., “Nanostructured Complex Oxides as a Route Towards Thermal Behavior in Artificial Spin Ice Systems,” Phys. Rev. Mater., 1, 024401 (2017).
[3] D. Sasaki et al., “Formation of Complex Spin Textures in Thermally Demagnetized La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 Artificial-Spin-Ice Structures,” Phys. Rev. Appl., 17, 064057 (2022).
[4] D. Sasaki et al., “Energetics of Ising-vortex interactions in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 brickwork artificial spin ices”, Phys. Rev. B., 113, 064416 (2026)
September 15, 2026 Tuesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
Astrophysics and Relativity Seminars
(
astro)
Rosalba Perna
Stony Brook University
Stars and Compact Objects in AGN Disks: From Stellar Evolution to Transients
The disks of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) have emerged as intriguing environments for the evolution of stars and the compact objects they leave behind. The extreme densities of these disks, combined with gravitational and hydrodynamic torques exerted by the gas, can drive evolutionary pathways for main-sequence stars and compact objects that differ substantially from those in typical galactic environments. Well-known transient phenomena, such as long and short gamma-ray bursts, may acquire distinctive properties when they occur within AGN disks, while new channels for transient and compact-object formation may also emerge. In particular, processes such as the accretion-induced collapse of neutron stars into black holes may occur frequently in these environments. I will discuss how the unique physical conditions of AGN disks can reshape stellar evolution and compact object demographics, and explore their implications for the transient and gravitational wave universe.
September 15, 2026 Tuesday 8:00 PM
+
197 E 3rd St (East Village)
Other Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics Events
(
ccpp)
Cosmic Happy Hour
Anna Suliga
Astrophysical Neutrinos!
Our first Cosmic Happy Hour talk for the new academic year will be given by postdoc Anna Suliga, who will present on astrophysical neutrinos!
It will take place at Book Club Bar in the East Village (not the one in Bushwick). It's $15 for a ticket to attend, which includes $8 towards any drink at the bar. The details:
Date: Tuesday, September 15
Time: Intro & Talk - 8-9pm; Social - 9-9:30pm
Address: 197 E 3rd St (East Village)
Cost: $15 (incl. $8 towards a drink)
If you are a grad student or postdoc in CCPP or EPP and would be willing to meet with the attendees, please let me know and I will get you a free ticket. This is only for the first 5 people who respond, so please respond quickly! Those who volunteer will stay for at least 20 min post-talk and introduce themselves to 1-2 guests and see if they have any questions. This can be done solo or in pairs. Let me know if you have any questions.
Also, if you would like to forward this to your friends, or if you would like to purchase a ticket, here's the link to the event page: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cosmic-happy-hour-tickets-780741407567?aff=oddtdtcreator
September 16, 2026 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Jared Barron
Stony Brook
TBA
September 17, 2026 Thursday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
Other Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics Events
(
ccpp)
Informal Astro Talk
Writasree Maitra
Washington University in St, Louis
TBA
September 17, 2026 Thursday 4:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, Room 940
Physics Colloquia
(
colloquia)
Julian Munoz
The University of Texas at Austin
TBA
September 22, 2026 Tuesday 11:00 AM
+
726
Broadway, 1067, CQP Seminar
Center for Quantum Phenomena Seminars
(
cqp)
Nicolas Regnault
CCQ-Flatiron
TBA
September 22, 2026 Tuesday 2:00 PM
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726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
Astrophysics and Relativity Seminars
(
astro)
Konstantin Leyde
CCA
Gravitational-wave cosmology: challenges and possibilities ahead
The first direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015 and the first joint detection of a gamma-ray burst and gravitational waves in 2017 from a binary neutron star merger have really kickstarted the observational field of merging compact objects for astrophysics and cosmology. Since then, nearly 400 binary mergers have been detected, almost all of which are binary black hole mergers, with no further identified electromagnetic counterpart. Currently, the field shifts from a single-event science (e.g. Is this event compatible with general relativity) to statements at the population-level (e.g. Does our current cosmological model describe the observed catalog of signals). How can these catalogs be used for cosmology? From gravitational waves one can directly obtain the luminosity distance to the source, and from the identified host galaxy one can measure the source redshift. Combining these, one can constrain the expansion history of the Universe. In this talk, I will summarize how simulation-based inference (SBI) can be used to answer such population-level questions, particularly focusing on the mass-spectrum method, which uses binary black hole mergers without any additional electromagnetic information to constrain the Hubble constant. I will highlight that SBI can bypass biases arising from the evaluation of Monte-Carlo integrals that appear in the population-level likelihood, and that worsen with increased catalog size representing a possible future avenue.
September 23, 2026 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Ross Dempsey
MIT
TBA
September 24, 2026 Thursday 11:00 AM
+
726
Broadway, Room 1067
Center for Quantum Information Physics Seminars
(
cqip)
Morteza Kayyalha
Penn State University
TBA
September 24, 2026 Thursday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, Room 1067
Center for Quantum Information Physics Seminars
(
cqip)
Lee Howell
Kurt J Lesker Company
Advanced Thin Film Deposition Platforms for Quantum Device Fabrication: Enabling Next-Generation Research and Manufacturing
The rapid advancement of quantum computing and quantum information science is driving increased demand for high-performance thin film deposition technologies capable of producing superconducting materials, Josephson junctions, and other quantum device architectures with exceptional precision and repeatability. As quantum research transitions from laboratory-scale
investigations toward scalable manufacturing, flexible and highly controlled deposition platforms have become critical enablers of innovation. This presentation explores how advanced vacuum-based deposition and atomic layer
deposition (ALD) technologies can support the development of quantum devices and related advanced materials applications. Particular focus will be placed on the equipment capabilities, process flexibility, and integration strategies required to address emerging challenges in quantum materials research and production.
September 24, 2026 Thursday 4:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
Physics Colloquia
(
colloquia)
Surjeet Rajendran
Johns Hopkins University
TBA
TBA
September 29, 2026 Tuesday 11:00 AM
+
726
Broadway, 1067, CQP Seminar
Center for Quantum Phenomena Seminars
(
cqp)
Lior Klein
Bar-Ilan University
The DMI Mitre Gear
September 30, 2026 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Miguel Escudero
CERN
Asymmetric Dark Matter induced by Baryogenesis
We live in a Universe where structures are made out of baryons but not of antibaryons. Could the dark matter be made of particles and not antiparticles? This is an old question and many asymmetric dark matter scenarios have been proposed to date. Among them, the models where a dark matter asymmetry is induced from the baryon/lepton asymmetries are particularly motivated. In this seminar, I will highlight the motivations for these types of frameworks but also their challenges. I will then present a new, minimal, and predictive scenario that we developed in [2511.10731]. In this model, a dark matter asymmetry is slowly generated from the Standard Model Higgs doublet asymmetry. The scenario features two dark matter states which can lead to signals in the next generation of dark matter experiments, and we predict a new inert Higgs doublet with 46 GeV < mass < 580 GeV which can be discovered at the LHC from searches for long-lived compressed electroweak states.
October 6, 2026 Tuesday 11:00 AM
+
726
Broadway, 1067, CQP Seminar
Center for Quantum Phenomena Seminars
(
cqp)
Takashi Kurumaji
Caltech
Engineering Unconventional Hall Effects through Crystal Symmetry and Spin Textures
The Hall effect is one of the most fundamental manifestations of time-reversal symmetry
breaking in electrical transport. In magnetic materials, the anomalous Hall effect is
conventionally associated with a ferromagnetic moment perpendicular to the conducting
plane. Recent developments, however, have revealed that Hall responses can arise in
more unconventional settings, where their magnitude and geometry are governed not
simply by the net magnetization, but by crystal symmetry and nontrivial spin textures.
In this talk, I will discuss two examples of unconventional Hall effects in magnetic
materials; (1) in monoclinic chromium tellurides, broken crystal symmetry allows a
transverse response in a geometry with magnetization parallel to the current [1]; (2) in a
europium-based layered semimetal, magnetic frustration drives the formation of a spin
texture with nontrivial topology, giving rise to a pronounced anomalous Hall effect
despite a nearly vanishing out-of-plane magnetization [2].
These results highlight two routes to unconventional Hall phenomena: exploiting
crystal symmetry and engineering topological magnetic textures. I will discuss how the
design of materials can provide a broader platform for developing new quantum
functionalities based on their emergent electromagnetic properties.
[1] G. Zheng, TK et al., arXiv:2606.10063.
[2] TK et al., submitted.
October 6, 2026 Tuesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
Astrophysics and Relativity Seminars
(
astro)
Amy Secunda
CCA
Uncovering the Nature of Active Galactic Nuclei from z=0 to z=9 with Variability
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) accretion disks fuel powerful AGN feedback and are important laboratories for studying accretion physics. Because AGN are generally too distant to resolve spatially, most of what we can learn about their accretion disks comes from studying the variability in AGN light curves. However, many mysteries remain about the source of variability in AGN light curves and what this variability can reveal about the structure, internal physics, and accretion rates of AGN disks. I will show how I use radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations, long baseline AGN light curves, and machine learning tools to improve our understanding of AGN variability and model the structure of AGN disks. These models are crucial for understanding AGN at all redshifts, including the high redshift little red dots recently discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope, which may be super-Eddington AGN.
October 7, 2026 Wednesday 11:00 AM
+
726
Broadway, Room 1067
Center for Quantum Information Physics Seminars
(
cqip)
Tse-Ming Chen
National Cheng Kung University
TBA
October 7, 2026 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Mario Reig
CERN
TBA
October 8, 2026 Thursday 11:00 AM
+
726
Broadway, Room 1067
Center for Quantum Information Physics Seminars
(
cqip)
Paul Simmonds
Tufts University
TBA
October 8, 2026 Thursday 4:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, Room 940
Physics Colloquia
(
colloquia)
Vinod Menon
City College of New York
Hybrid Light–Matter–Spin Excitations in a van der Waals Magnet
Magnetic materials, light, and electronic excitations can interact in ways that give rise to entirely new physical phenomena [1]. In this colloquium, I will explore one such platform: CrSBr, a layered van der Waals magnetic semiconductor in which magnetic and optical excitations are strongly coupled.
I will show that magnetic excitations or magnons, collective waves of spins in the material, leave a direct and coherent imprint on its optical response [2]. More remarkably, magnons can mediate interactions between excitons. This provides a new way to control nonlinear optical phenomena through magnetism, with spin waves acting as a knob for controlling how light interacts with light [3].
I will then turn to the dynamics of these magnetic excitations and present microwave spectroscopy of the spin-wave spectrum of CrSBr. These measurements point toward a pathway for coherent conversion between microwave and optical signals, exploiting the same exciton–magnon interactions that govern the optical response [4]. Such microwave-to-optical transduction could ultimately provide a bridge between superconducting quantum circuits, which operate at microwave frequencies, and optical quantum networks.
Together, these results illustrate how the interplay of magnetism, light, and quantum excitations in van der Waals materials can open new possibilities for controlling light with spin.
[1] P. Adak et al. Nature Materials (2026) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02636-0
[2] F. Dirnberger et al. Nature vol. 620, p. 533 (2023).
[3] B. Datta, P. Adak, S. Yu et al., Nature Materials vol. 24, p. 1027 (2025)
[4] P. Adak et al. ArXiv:2604.03441 (2026) (In-Press Nature Materials)
October 13, 2026 Tuesday 11:00 AM
+
726
Broadway, 1067, CQP Seminar
Center for Quantum Phenomena Seminars
(
cqp)
Zijian Song
Stony Brook University
TBA
October 13, 2026 Tuesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Stefania De Curtis
INFN and GGI Florence
TBA
TBA
October 14, 2026 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
Astrophysics and Relativity Seminars
(
astro)
Yan-Fei Jiang
CCA/Princeton University
TBA
October 20, 2026 Tuesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
Astrophysics and Relativity Seminars
(
astro)
Brian Metzger
Columbia University
Forming low-mass neutron stars in collapsar disks
I will discuss a mechanism for forming neutron stars through gravitational instability in accretion disks produced during the collapse of massive, rapidly rotating stars. Because the Chandrasekhar mass is reduced in these neutron-rich disks, the resulting neutron stars can have sub-solar masses. Subsequent mergers between these objects, or between them and the central black hole, could produce distinctive gravitational-wave signals. Unlike conventional compact-object mergers, these events are predicted to occur in coincidence with a supernova counterpart rather than an isolated kilonova.
October 21, 2026 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Alessio Miscioscia
Stony Brook
TBA
October 27, 2026 Tuesday 11:00 AM
+
726
Broadway, 1067, CQP Seminar
Center for Quantum Phenomena Seminars
(
cqp)
Tony Metger
NYU
TBA
October 28, 2026 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Andrea Luzio
EPFL
TBA
November 3, 2026 Tuesday 11:00 AM
+
726
Broadway, 1067, CQP Seminar
Center for Quantum Phenomena Seminars
(
cqp)
Taketo Handa
Columbia University
Observation of Coherent Dipole Waves in vdW Ferroelectrics
In this seminar, I will discuss coherent ferron dynamics and terahertz (THz) photophysics in van
der Waals (vdW) ferroelectrics, with a particular focus on the ferroelectric semiconductors
NbOX2 (X = I, Br, Cl), which exhibit robust in-plane spontaneous polarization at room
temperature.
I will first introduce the fundamental structural, electronic, and optical properties of NbOX2 and
briefly discuss their remarkable nonlinear optical responses in the visible range. I will then
describe highly efficient, broadband THz emission generated through giant optical rectification,
demonstrating the potential of NbOI2 as an ultrathin THz source.
The main focus of the talk will be the emergence of ferron excitations in the thin-film limit. In
addition to broadband THz emission, we observe an extremely narrowband THz response,
which we associate with collective excitations of the ferroelectric polarization, i.e., ferrons.
Femtosecond optical excitation launches coherent ferron wavepackets that propagate over
macroscopic distances while maintaining coherence for more than 200 ps, reminiscent of
coherent magnons. These observations highlight the potential of ferrons as room-temperature
information carriers operating at THz frequencies. Time permitting, I will also discuss our current
experimental and theoretical understanding of these excitations, together with several important
questions that remain unresolved.
November 4, 2026 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Anson Hook
University of Maryland
TBA
November 10, 2026 Tuesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
Astrophysics and Relativity Seminars
(
astro)
Matt Ho
IAS
TBD
TBD
November 11, 2026 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Alexander Penin
University of Alberta
November 17, 2026 Tuesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
Astrophysics and Relativity Seminars
(
astro)
Thomas Pfeil
CCA
How Dust Evolution Shapes Protoplanetary Disks
" Planet formation begins with the coagulation of micrometer-sized dust grains in a protoplanetary disk. This particle growth not only provides the building material for planetesimals but also shapes the environments they form in.
Aerodynamic drag forces between gas and dust determine how fast the grains drift and how efficiently they can be trapped in the frequently observed rings and vortices in protoplanetary disks. The size of the particles thus affects the available dust mass and composition throughout the disk. Dust also dominates the opacities and therefore regulates the thermal structure and the onset of hydrodynamic instabilities that depend on thermal relaxation.
In my talk, I will present two recent applications of coupled multifluid simulations and dust coagulation models that capture the interplay of microphysics and large-scale dynamics in protoplanetary disks:
Our simulations of planet-disk systems with dust coagulation quantify the amount of small dust grains that diffuse and drift through planet-induced gaps. These calculations constrain the composition and available mass of solids in the inner disk regions.
We furthermore investigate the effects of dust evolution on protoplanetary disk turbulence, induced by the Vertical Shear Instability. Our simulations show that efficient dust coagulation can suppress turbulence in protoplanetary disks, due to the reduced collisional cooling in the dust-depleted upper layers.
Understanding how dust coagulation influences the dynamics of protoplanetary disks is thus key to understanding the initial conditions for planet formation and to interpreting multi-wavelength observations."
November 24, 2026 Tuesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
Astrophysics and Relativity Seminars
(
astro)
Zoltan Haiman
IST Austria
Gravitational-wave and electromagnetic signatures of binary black holes with circumbinary gas
Binary black holes (BHBs) embedded in dense gas hold the promise of "multi-messenger astrophysics": when they are detected both through gravitational waves (GWs) and electromagnetic (EM) observations, they will enable novel science. This is true both for massive BHBs, whose GWs will be detectable by the future LISA satellite and by on-going pulsar timing arrays (PTAs), as well as for stellar-mass BHBs detected through ground-based GW detectors. In both cases, identifying coalescing binaries through their EM signatures will help clarify their astrophysical origin and yield novel probes of cosmology, fundamental physics, and accretion physics. In this talk, I will describe how circumbinary gas may impact the orbital evolution of binaries, while producing characteristic EM signatures for both massive and stellar-mass BHBs, based on hydrodynamical simulations and analytic models. In both cases, several binary candidates have been identified in optical surveys, and LSST should soon be able to uncover robust binaries based on their high-quality, multi-band light-curves.
December 1, 2026 Tuesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
Astrophysics and Relativity Seminars
(
astro)
Suvi Gezari
University of Maryland
Using Tidal Disruption Events as Probes of Massive Black Hole Formation and Growth Over Cosmic Time
The tidal disruption of a star that wanders too close to a central black hole is a unique probe of quiescent supermassive black holes lurking in the nuclei of galaxies. We have demonstrated the ability to discover and spectroscopically classify large samples of tidal disruption events (TDEs) in the optical from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) Northern Sky Survey, with systematic high-energy follow-up with Swift and XMM-Newton. From these efforts, we now know the spectroscopic signatures, multi-wavelength properties, and host galaxy preferences of TDEs, and can begin to use TDEs as powerful probes of massive black hole demographics in quiescent galaxies. One of the most exciting applications of TDEs is the ability to probe intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) that are expected to reside in dwarf galaxies, with demographics that encode the seeding mechanism of massive black holes in the early Universe. I will outline our strategy in the next decade for searching for TDEs across the black hole mass function, and over cosmic time, by extending our sensitivity to TDEs to lower central black hole masses and higher redshifts, by exploiting the discovery power of the next generation of wide-field time domain surveys, including Rubin, Roman, ULTRASAT, and UVEX.
December 1, 2026 Tuesday 3:30 PM
+
726
Broadway, 1067, CQP Seminar
Center for Quantum Phenomena Seminars
(
cqp)
Victor Galitski
University of Maryland
TBA
December 8, 2026 Tuesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
Astrophysics and Relativity Seminars
(
astro)
Jennifer Sokoloski
Columbia University
TBD
TBD
February 16, 2027 Tuesday 11:00 AM
+
726
Broadway, 1067, CQP Seminar
Center for Quantum Phenomena Seminars
(
cqp)
Zhehao Dai
University of Pittsburgh
TBA
