Current Seminars
Institute for Fundamental Science
2025-26 Academic Year
Seminars, Colloquia, and Workshops
Unless otherwise noted, IFS seminars are Mondays at 4:00 p.m. in the IFS Seminar Room, 472 Willamette Hall.
A seminar announcement is distributed via email prior to each one. To add your name to the notification list, please email your request to Claire Staley, cnstaley@uoregon.edu.
To see prior years’ seminars, click here.
Fall Term 2025
Monday, September 29 4:00 – 5:00 pm
Extreme Astrophysics with Relativistic Transients
Speaker: Tanmoy Laskar (University of Utah)
Abstract:As the most energetic explosions in the Universe, relativistic astrophysical transients provide a unique opportunity to explore physics at extreme energy scales that are otherwise impossible to investigate in Earth-bound laboratories. I will demonstrate the power of multi-wavelength observations, combined with theoretical modeling, in teasing apart the physics of relativistic extragalactic transients. Shining a special spotlight on radio wavelengths, I will describe how pushing the boundaries of observational efforts is leading to new insights into these extreme events. Using a series of case studies involving gamma-ray bursts, I will describe the multi-messenger revolution currently underway in extragalactic time-domain astrophysics, concluding with highlights of future prospects in this rapidly evolving, data-driven field.
Host: Yvette Cendes
Monday, October 20 4:00 – 5:00 pm
Salt-finger convection in oceans, and “missing mixing” problems in stars
Speaker: Adrian Fraser (University of Colorado, Boulder)
Abstract: Stars of all sizes and ages are plagued by missing mixing problems—discrepancies between observations and stellar models suggesting some unknown turbulent mixing occurs in their interiors. The precise nature and degree of this anomalous mixing can have major consequences for the fates of these stars and their angular momentum and chemical makeup over time. I will present a particularly ubiquitous mixing problem: the “extra mixing” that red giant branch stars undergo deep beneath their convective envelopes. The leading candidate to explain this mixing is salt-finger (or “thermohaline”) convection, a ubiquitous form of turbulence in tropical oceans. I will demonstrate that properly accounting for stellar magnetic fields addresses long-standing tensions regarding the role of salt-fingers in stars, and show how recent advances in geophysical fluid dynamics finally enable direct numerical simulations of salt-fingers in the extreme regimes of stellar interiors.
Host: Yvette Cendes
Monday, October 27 4:00 – 5:00 pm
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Monday, November 3 4:00 – 5:00 pm
Searching for millicharged particles at the LHC and beyond
Speaker: Matthew Citron (University of California Davis)
Abstract: Arising in hidden sector models of dark matter, millicharged particles could be produced copiously at facilities such as the LHC. However, due to their very small energy depositions, large detectors like CMS or ATLAS are blind to such particles. I will show how sensitivity can instead be achieved through the use of scintillator-based experiments that consist of several layers of long scintillator bars, paired with high-gain, low-noise photomultiplier tubes capable of measuring a single scintillation photon. In this talk I will cover results from two efforts at the LHC: the milliQan experiment, and a prototype for the FORMOSA detector in the forward region. Finally, I will discuss prospects for complementary experiments at high intensity facilities.
Host: Laura Jeanty
Monday, November 10 4:00 – 5:00 pm
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Monday, November 17 4:00 – 5:00 pm
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Monday, November 24 4:00 – 5:00 pm
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Monday, December 1 4:00 – 5:00 pm
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Monday, December 8 4:00 – 5:00 pm
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Monday, December 15 4:00 – 5:00 pm
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