February 19, 2025 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Netta Engelhardt
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Unpredictability in Quantum Gravitational Collapse
TBD
February 26, 2025 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Sanjay Reddy
University of Washington
Quark Mass Dependence of Nuclear Interactions and Axion Condensation in Neutron Stars
I will review our current understanding of matter inside neutron stars and recent insights into nuclear interactions from Effective Field Theory (EFT). In light of the renewed interest in axions, we have explored the quark mass dependence of nuclear interactions within Chiral EFT to assess the potential for axion condensation in neutron stars. I will also discuss some observable consequences of axion condensation in neutron star interiors and the associated constraints on axion parameters.
March 5, 2025 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Giorgio Gratta
Stanford University
nEXO and the quest for neutrino-less double beta decay.
Neutrinos, the only neutral elementary fermions, have provided many surprises. Flavor
oscillations reveal the non-conservation of the lepton flavor number and demonstrate that
neutrino masses are finite; yet they are surprisingly much smaller than those of other fermions
(by at least six orders of magnitude!) It is then natural to ask if the mechanism providing the
mass to neutrinos is the same that gives masses to the other (charged) elementary fermions
and if neutrinos are described by 4-component Dirac wavefunctions or, as is possible for neutral
particles, by 2-component Majorana ones.
The hypothetical phenomenon of neutrino-less double-beta decay can probe the Majorana
nature of neutrinos and the conservation of the total lepton number. It may also help
elucidating the origins of mass in the neutrino sector. This is the Frontier of neutrino physics.
Following the well-known principle that there is no free lunch in life, interesting half-lives for
neutrino-less double-beta decay exceed 10^{25} years (or ~10^{15} times the age of the Universe!)
making experiments rather challenging. I will describe nEXO, a 5-tonne, enriched Xenon
experiment with a sensitivity reaching beyond 10^{28} years, or >100 times the current state of the
art. The nEXO detector derives directly from EXO-200, a very successful, rogue detector built
by a collaboration with a heavy SLAC-Stanford participation.
March 12, 2025 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Junwu Huang
Perimeter Institute
TBA
TBA
March 19, 2025 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Daniel Harlow
MIT
TBA
April 2, 2025 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Csaba Csaki
Cornell University
TBA
April 9, 2025 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Lorenzo Ricci
University of Maryland
TBA
April 16, 2025 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Michael Baker
University of Massachusetts Amherst
TBA
TBA
April 23, 2025 Wednesday 2:00 PM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Giovanni Villadoro
ICTP, Trieste
TBA
April 30, 2025 Wednesday 11:30 AM
+
726
Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar
High Energy Physics Seminars
(
hep)
Dan Green
UC San Diego
TBA
TBA