Radiations

 

March 30 -April 5, 2003

Weekly Calendar

April 3, Astrophysics Talk, Thursday, 5:00-6:00 p.m., Olin 101, "The Origin of Gamma-Ray Bursts: A detective story (in progress)," Dr. Steve Thorsett. Steve will be talking about what GRBs are, how we learned that they are not from neutron stars in our own galaxy, and why we now believe they are a type of stellar death.

April 4, Physics Table, Friday, 12:00-1:00 p.m., LDC 113 (Fireplace Room) Join the Department staff for lunch. We can meet on 3rd Olin at 11:55 for the short walk to the dinning hall or you can join us there. This will be an opportunity to meet Steve Thorsett '87, the P123 Speaker.

April 4, P123 - What Physicists Do, Friday, 1:10-3:10 p.m., Olin 141, "Is the Real World Strange?", Dr. Steve Thorsett. Steve is a Carleton alum from the Class of '87 who is a Professor of Astronomy at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Steve began his career in astrophysics studying pulsars at Princeton and later in a post doc position at Caltech. He is currently studying the physics of gamma ray bursts and other strange matters..

We learn in nuclear physics and stellar astrophysics that iron is the most stable form of cold, low-density matter. It costs energy to fuse iron into heavier atoms, and it costs energy to break it into lighter atoms. But what if iron is only a metastable state? Could normal matter spontaneously decay into an undifferentiated mix of quarks? Are neutrons and protons here to stay? We don't really know whether the so-called Strange Matter Hypothesis is true. He will talk about how studies of neutron stars using basic measurements from classical astronomy (parallaxes, temperatures, binary motions) might tell us about the true "ground state of the Universe."

For pre-class reading, Steve suggests the first chapter of the book "Strange Matters: Undiscovered Ideas at the Frontiers of Space and Time" (2002). This is available as an "Open Book" from the National Academies Press: http://books.nap.edu/books/0309084075/html/index.html . You can check out the web site if you'd like to read more of this interesting book.

April 4, Goodsell Open House, Friday, 8:00-10:00 p.m., Goodsell Observatory. View planets, stars, galaxies, and nebulas through the Observatory telescopes if clear. Dress warmly! The meteorite collection, newly and beautifully documented by Carleton geology majors Amalia Doebbert '03 and Hilary Gittings '02, will also be on display.

Comps Calendar

April 2, Becky Anthony, "Microscopy: The Search to Overcome Resolution Barriers", Wednesday, 3:10-4:20 p.m., Olin 02. Introductory papers of upcoming talks are available in binders in the second and third floor lounges. These will provide you with important background information and a brief outline of the talks to be presented.

2003 REU AND INTERNSHIP INFORMATION

List of REU and internship opportunities are also on the Carleton Physics Web page at http://physics.carleton.edu/Updates/finternships.html