BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//RLASKEY//CALENDEROUS//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120111T140000Z DTEND:20120111T180000Z UID:event521@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/521 SUMMARY:Comprehensive Exams - Part I DESCRIPTION:\nPart of the Comprehensive Exams.\n\nWednesday\, January 11\, 2012 - Part I - 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Friday\, January 13- Part II - 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon Both exams in SCI 115\nBest wishes for those students taking the exams.  LOCATION:SCI 115\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120113T140000Z DTEND:20120113T170000Z UID:event523@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/523 SUMMARY:Comprehensive Exams - Part II DESCRIPTION:\nPart of the Comprehensive Exams.\n\nWednesday\, January 11\, 2012 - Part I - 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Friday\, January 13- Part II - 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon Both exams in SCI 115\nBest wishes to those students t aking the exams!! LOCATION:SCI 115\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120117T143000Z DTEND:20120117T153000Z UID:event534@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/534 SUMMARY:The CMS High Level Trigger and W' Searches at 7 TeV DESCRIPTION:Featuring David Sperka\n\nPart of the Preliminary Oral Exam.\n\ nExamining Committee: Tulika Bose\, John Butler\, Kenneth Lane\, Anatoli Po lkovnikov\nAbstract:\nIn this talk I will discuss several topics related to the operation and physics results of the CMS experiment at the LHC during the first two years of proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. I will focus on the performance of the High Level Trigger (HLT)\, in particular th e muon HLT and the CPU performance of the HLT menu. I will then describe th e search for a W' boson decaying to a muon and neutrino\, which depends on the muon HLT. Many new physics models predict the existence of a W' particl e to help resolve the hierarchy problem of the standard model and explain e lectroweak symmetry breaking. Finally I will describe a complementary W' se arch where the W' decays to a top and bottom quark.\n  LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120123T173000Z DTEND:20120123T183000Z UID:event589@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/589 SUMMARY:Colloquium Lunch DESCRIPTION:\nPart of the Graduate Student Council Events.\n\nGraduate stud ent lunch with the colloquium speaker. Always leads to interesting discussi ons! Make sure to check your email and RSVP so we have an appropriate count for food. LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120131T213000Z DTEND:20120131T223000Z UID:event854@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/854 SUMMARY:Phase Transition Kinetics and Critical Phenomena in the Site Dilute d Ising Model DESCRIPTION:Featuring Kang Liu\n\nPart of the Preliminary Oral Exam.\n\nExa mining Committee:  William Klein\, Karl Ludwig\, Anatoli Polkovnikov\, Martin Schmaltz\n\nIn this talk\, I will present our study on the effect o f quenched site dilution on the phase transition kinetics and critical phen omena of the 2D Ising model. First\, I will discuss the effect of the dilut ion on the classical nucleation theory by showing some simulation data for the 2D dilute Ising model with nearest neighbor interactions. Then I will m ove on to systems with long range interactions\, generalize the Harris crit erion to mean-field and near mean-field systems and show that the critical exponents of both the critical point and spinodal do not change regardless of the dimensionality. This is supported by measurements of the isothermal susceptibility near the spinodal line from Monte-Carlo simulations. Then I will introduce a coarse-grained field theory for a specific dilution realiz ation using the Hubbard-Stratanovich transformation\, and discuss some appl ications of this field theory. Finally\, I will generalize the Coniglio-Kle in method by mapping the diluted Ising critical point onto an equivalent si te-bond percolation problem. \n\n \n  LOCATION:SCI 328\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120201T140000Z DTEND:20120201T150000Z UID:event865@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/865 SUMMARY:Examining the Interaction Between Phonons and Dirac Fermion Quasipa rticles on the Surface of the Topological Insulator Bi2Se3 via Helium Atom Scattering DESCRIPTION:Featuring Colin Howard\n\nPart of the Preliminary Oral Exam.\n\ nExamining Committee: Michael El-Batanouny\, Claudio Chamon\, William Skocp ol\, Robert Carey\nAbstract:\nIn physics we commonly understand ordered pha ses of matter using Landau’s approach in which we identify the symmet ries that a particular phase breaks.  For example\, crystals break con tinuous translational symmetry as well as certain types of rotational symme try in real space. Similarly\, the field produced by a ferromagnet further reduces crystal symmetry and also breaks time reversal invariance. However\ , beginning in the early 1980s with the discovery of the integer quantum Ha ll effect\, a new type of order rooted in topology rather than symmetry beg an to emerge. Continuing on this fruitful path\, within the past five years physicists have demonstrated that insulators with time reversal invariant (TRI) Hamiltonians can be classified into two distinct topological groups a ccording to their topological quantum number\, Z2. Those with even Z2 are t rivial insulators while those with odd Z2 are said to be topological.  Unlike the trivial case\, topological insulators have robust\, gapless\, he lical surface states protected from backscattering by time reversal invaria nce. As such\, there is excitement about their potential applicability in t he fields of spintronics and quantum computing. In this talk I will provide a brief introduction to the concept of topological order and explain how w e use helium atom surface scattering to explore the interaction between the se exotic electronic states and phonons on the surface of the topological i nsulator bismuth selenide. LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120202T213000Z DTEND:20120202T223000Z UID:event544@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/544 SUMMARY:Ice Cream Social DESCRIPTION:\nPart of the Graduate Student Council Events.\n\nDon't miss th is opportunity for free food and the chance to catch up with all your physi cs friends! LOCATION:SCI Basement\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120207T173000Z DTEND:20120207T183000Z UID:event627@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/627 SUMMARY:Colloquium Lunch DESCRIPTION:\nPart of the Graduate Student Council Events.\n\nGraduate stud ent lunch with the colloquium speaker. Always leads to interesting discussi ons! Make sure to check your email and RSVP so we have an appropriate count for food. LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120214T173000Z DTEND:20120214T183000Z UID:event642@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/642 SUMMARY:Colloquium Lunch DESCRIPTION:\nPart of the Graduate Student Council Events.\n\nGraduate stud ent lunch with the colloquium speaker. Always leads to interesting discussi ons! Make sure to check your email and RSVP so we have an appropriate count for food. LOCATION:SCI 350\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120306T173000Z DTEND:20120306T183000Z UID:event647@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/647 SUMMARY:Colloquium Lunch DESCRIPTION:\nPart of the Graduate Student Council Events.\n\nGraduate stud ent lunch with the colloquium speaker. Always leads to interesting discussi ons! Make sure to check your email and RSVP so we have an appropriate count for food. LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120308T213000Z DTEND:20120308T223000Z UID:event546@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/546 SUMMARY:Ice Cream Social DESCRIPTION:\nPart of the Graduate Student Council Events.\n\nDon't miss th is opportunity for free food and the chance to catch up with all your physi cs friends!\nNote that this is on the second Thursday due to March APS. LOCATION:SCI Basement\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120313T193000Z DTEND:20120313T203000Z UID:event886@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/886 SUMMARY:Water: The Most Complex Fluid DESCRIPTION:Featuring Marcia Barbosa\, University of Rio Grande do Sul\, Po rto Alegre\, Brazil\nHosted by: H. Eugene Stanley\n\n LOCATION:SCI 109\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120319T140000Z DTEND:20120319T150000Z UID:event883@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/883 SUMMARY:Cascading Failures in Interdependent Lattice Networks: The Critical Role of the Length of Dependency Links DESCRIPTION:Featuring Wei Li\n\nPart of the Preliminary Oral Exam.\n\nExami ning Committee: Gene Stanley\, William Skocpol\, Karl Ludwig\, Robert Carey \nAbstract: We study the cascading failures in a system composed of two int erdependent square lattice networks A and B placed on the same Cartesian pl ane\, where each node in network A depends on a node in network B randomly chosen within a certain distance r from the corresponding node in network A and vice versa. Our results suggest that percolation for small r below rma x = 8 (lattice units) is a second-order transition\, and for larger r is a first-order transition. For r < rmax\, the critical threshold increases lin early with r from 0.593 at r = 0 and reaches a maximum\, 0.738 for r = rmax and then gradually decreases to 0.683 for r to infinity. Our analytic cons iderations are in good agreement with simulations. Our study suggests that interdependent infrastructures embedded in Euclidean space become most vuln erable when the distance between interdependent nodes is in the intermediat e range\, which is much smaller than the size of the system.\n  LOCATION:PRB 595\, 3 Cummington Street\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120320T140000Z DTEND:20120320T150000Z UID:event892@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/892 SUMMARY:Resonance Raman Spectroscopy of Archaerhodopsin 3 with Applications to Optogenetics DESCRIPTION:Featuring Erica Saint Clair\n\nPart of the Departmental Seminar s.\n\n LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120321T163000Z DTEND:20120321T173000Z UID:event648@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/648 SUMMARY:Colloquium Lunch DESCRIPTION:\nPart of the Graduate Student Council Events.\n\nGraduate stud ent lunch with the colloquium speaker. Always leads to interesting discussi ons! Make sure to check your email and RSVP so we have an appropriate count for food. LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120323T170000Z DTEND:20120323T180000Z UID:event887@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/887 SUMMARY:MuSun: Measuring the Rate of Muon Capture in Deuterium DESCRIPTION:Featuring Justin Phillips\n\nPart of the Departmental Seminars. \n\n \nDissertation Committee:  Robert Carey\, Edward Kearns\, So -Young Pi\, Karl Ludwig\, James Miller LOCATION:PRB 365\, 3 Cummington Street\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120329T163000Z DTEND:20120329T173000Z UID:event888@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/888 SUMMARY:Colloquium Lunch DESCRIPTION:\nPart of the Graduate Student Council Events.\n\nNOTE: SPECIAL DATE AND LOCATION\nGraduate student lunch with the colloquium speaker. Alw ays leads to interesting discussions! Make sure to check your email and RSV P so we have an appropriate count for food. LOCATION:PRB 595\, 3 Cummington Street\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120404T150000Z DTEND:20120404T160000Z UID:event903@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/903 SUMMARY:Unimodular Conformal and Projective Relativity DESCRIPTION:Featuring Kaca Bradonjic\n\nPart of the PhD Final Oral Exams.\n \nExamining Committee:\nJohn J. Stachel\, Gregg Jaeger\, Karl F. Ludwig\, J r.\, Robert Carey\, Kenneth D. Lane LOCATION:PRB 365\, 3 Cummington Street\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120405T203000Z DTEND:20120405T213000Z UID:event566@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/566 SUMMARY:Ice Cream Social DESCRIPTION:\nPart of the Graduate Student Council Events.\n\nDon't miss th is opportunity for free food and the chance to catch up with all your physi cs friends LOCATION:SCI Basement\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120406T140000Z DTEND:20120406T150000Z UID:event910@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/910 SUMMARY:The Effect of Solvent Swelling on the Properties of Polystyrene Thi n Films DESCRIPTION:Featuring Andrew Clough\n\nPart of the Preliminary Oral Exam.\n \nExamining Committee:  Ophelia Tsui\, Rama Bansil\, Edward Kearns\, A natoli Polkovnikov\nAbstract:\nSeveral properties of polymer thin films\, i ncluding viscosity and glass transition temperature\, exhibit deviations fr om the bulk.  While the thin film behavior is likely due to the increa sing importance of both surface effects and confinement of the polymer chai ns as the film thickness decreases\, there is currently no consensus on exa ctly what is responsible for many experimental observations.  In addit ion\, it has been observed that sample preparation and history can influenc e certain properties of polymer thin films.  In particular\, by spin-c oating from solutions of different solvent qualities the resulting films wi ll have different initial chain conformations.  We surmise that upon f ormation by spin-coating\, the chain conformation of a film is still adjust able by means of solvent swelling\, resulting in modifications to the amoun t of entanglement and free volume.  Initial measurements of thermal ex pansion upon heating after swelling suggest that there is a difference betw een polystyrene films swelled with a good solvent and a near-theta solvent.   A more detailed investigation studying the effect of swelling on the dewetting behavior of the film indicates that the quality of the solvent a ffects the characteristic aging time associated with the growth rate of dew etting holes. LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120406T170000Z DTEND:20120406T180000Z UID:event880@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/880 SUMMARY:Raw Data Analysis of ATLAS Backgrounds DESCRIPTION:Featuring Michael Kruskal\n\nPart of the Preliminary Oral Exam. \n\nExamining Committee:  Steve Ahlen\, John Butler\, Ken Lane\, and R ichard Averitt\nAbstract:Decisions about the Phase I upgrade of the LHC pla nned for 2018 are being made now.  One of the planned upgrades is to r eplace the small wheels of the muon spectrometer endcaps.  Starting fr om raw data collected from the MDT system\, an analysis of the background e nvironment in the small wheel region is presented in this talk.  After being thoroughly verified to be consistent with what is known about ATLAS; the neutron\, proton\, and muon backgrounds are analyzed.  It is show n that the only significant background in the small wheel area is from low energy muons.  In the big wheel there is a significant proton backgrou nd contributing to the current level I trigger crisis\, which is the primar y reason for the small wheel upgrade.  With both of these results\, th e small wheel upgrade is necessary and sufficient to avoid a level I trigge r problem at higher luminosities. LOCATION:PRB 365\, 3 Cummington Street\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120406T200000Z DTEND:20120406T210000Z UID:event907@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/907 SUMMARY:Metamaterial Enhanced Coupling DESCRIPTION:Featuring Andrew Strikwerda\n\nPart of the PhD Final Oral Exams .\n\nExamining Committee:  Richard Averitt\, Robert Carey\, Claudio Ch amon\, Shyamsunder Erramilli\, Xin Zhang LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120409T140000Z DTEND:20120409T150000Z UID:event908@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/908 SUMMARY:Epidemics in Dynamic and Interacting Complex Networks DESCRIPTION:Featuring Mark Dickison\n\nPart of the PhD Final Oral Exams.\n\ n LOCATION:PRB 365\, 3 Cummington Street\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120409T170000Z DTEND:20120409T180000Z UID:event878@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/878 SUMMARY:Variational Methods and their Applications to Frustrated Quantum Sp in Models DESCRIPTION:Featuring Chen Liu\n\nPart of the PhD Final Oral Exams.\n\nExam ining Committee: \nAnders SandvikAnatoli PolkovnikovRobert CareyRichar d AverittPankaj Mehta LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120409T180000Z DTEND:20120409T190000Z UID:event905@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/905 SUMMARY:Design of Single Phase Liquid Argon Detectors for Dark Matter Searc hes DESCRIPTION:Featuring Daniel Gastler\n\nPart of the PhD Final Oral Exams.\n \nExamining Committee: Edward Kearns\, Steve Ahlen\, Andrew Cohen\, Karl Lu dwig\, Lee Roberts LOCATION:PRB 261\, 3 Cummington Street\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120409T183000Z DTEND:20120409T193000Z UID:event891@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/891 SUMMARY:Ultrafast Far-Infrared Studies of Vanadates DESCRIPTION:Featuring Mengkun Liu\n\nPart of the PhD Final Oral Exams.\n\nE xamining Committee: Richard Averitt\, Shyam Erramilli\, Claudio Chamon\, La wrence Zigler\, Xin Zhang\n\nIn my thesis\, I mainly focus on utilizin g ultrafast optical and THz spectroscopy to study phase transition dynamics as well as electron-phonon coupling in high quality V2O3 and VO2 thin films on different substrates. I also discuss the possibility of multiple routes for inducing the insulator to metal transition with ultrafast p ulses at different photon energies. LOCATION:PRB 595\, 3 Cummington Street\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120410T143000Z DTEND:20120410T153000Z UID:event877@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/877 SUMMARY:Applications of Statistical Physics to Technology Price Evolution DESCRIPTION:Featuring James McNerney\n\nPart of the PhD Final Oral Exams.\n \nExamining Committee:\nSidney RednerJ. Doyne Farmer - video conference\n(P roxy:  William Klein)Edward KearnsKarl Ludwig\nJessika Trancik LOCATION:PRB 261\, 3 Cummington Street\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120410T163000Z DTEND:20120410T173000Z UID:event649@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/649 SUMMARY:Colloquium Lunch DESCRIPTION:\nPart of the Graduate Student Council Events.\n\nGraduate stud ent lunch with the colloquium speaker. Always leads to interesting discussi ons! Make sure to check your email and RSVP so we have an appropriate count for food. LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120411T140000Z DTEND:20120411T150000Z UID:event904@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/904 SUMMARY:A Search for New Resonances with the Dijet Angular Ratio Using the Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment DESCRIPTION:Featuring Jason St. John\n\nPart of the PhD Final Oral Exams.\n \nExamining Committee:\nJames Rohlf\, Robert Carey\,  Kenneth Lane\, C laudio Chamon\, Rama Bansil LOCATION:PRB 261\, 3 Cummington Street\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120412T140000Z DTEND:20120412T153000Z UID:event902@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/902 SUMMARY:Effects of Confinement on the Thermodynamics of Supercooled Water DESCRIPTION:Featuring Elena Strekalova\n\nPart of the PhD Final Oral Exams. \n\nExamining Committee:H. E. StanleyKenneth RothschildRobert CareyAnatoli PolkovnikovGiancarlo Franzese (skype)William Skocpol (proxy)Sergey Buldyrev LOCATION:PRB 261\, 3 Cummington Street\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120413T130000Z DTEND:20120413T143000Z UID:event912@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/912 SUMMARY:Strategy of Competition between Two Groups based on an Inflexible C ontrarian Opinion Model DESCRIPTION:Featuring Qian Li\n\nPart of the Preliminary Oral Exam.\n\nExam ining Committee:\nH. E. Stanley\, William Klein\, Kevin Smith\, Robert Care y\nWe introduce an inflexible contrarian opinion (ICO) model in which a fra ction of inflexible contrarians within a group holds a strong opinion oppos ite to the opinion held by the rest of the group. At the initial stage\, st able clusters of two opinions\, and exist. Then we introduce inflexible con trarians which hold a strong opinion into the opinion group. Through their interactions\, the inflexible contrarians are able to decrease the size of the largest opinion cluster\, and even destory it. We see this kind of meth od in operation\, when companies send free new products to potential custom ers in order to convince them to adopt their product and influence others t o buy it. We study the ICO model\, using two different strategies\, on both Erd ̈os-R ́enyi and scale-free networks. In strategy I\, the inflexible contrarians are positioned at random. In strategy II\, the inflexible contr arians are chosen to be the highest degrees nodes. We find that for both st rategies the size of the largest cluster decreases to zero as increases as in a phase transition. At a critical threshold value the system undergoes a second-order phase transition that belongs to the same universality class of mean field percolation. We find that even for an Erd ̈os-R ́enyi type model\, where the degrees of the nodes are not so distinct\, strategy II is significantly more effctive in reducing the size of the largest opinion cl uster and\, at very small values of the largest opinion cluster is destroye d. LOCATION:PRB 365\, 3 Cummington Street\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120413T173000Z DTEND:20120413T183000Z UID:event894@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/894 SUMMARY:Finance\, Words\, and Earthquakes: A Physicist's Perspective DESCRIPTION:Featuring Joel Tenenbaum\n\nPart of the PhD Final Oral Exams.\n \nDissertation Committee: H.E. Stanley\, William Skocpol\, Anders Sandvik\, Richard Averitt\, Sheldon Glashow LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120419T143000Z DTEND:20120419T153000Z UID:event911@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/911 SUMMARY:Modeling Collective Behavior in Dictyostelium Discoideum DESCRIPTION:Featuring Javad Noorbakhsh\n\nPart of the Preliminary Oral Exam .\n\nExamining Committee:\nPankaj Mehta\, Daniel Segre\, Rama Bansil and Ma rtin Schmaltz\nAbstract:\nDictyostelium discoideum are a soil-dwelling amoe bae\, that transition from unicellular to multicellular behavior in respons e to starvation. Once starved\, cells within a population secrete pulses of small signaling molecule cyclic AMP (cAMP) into the extracellular environm ent. The simultaneous secretion and detection of cAMP by individual cells g ives rise to collective synchronous oscillations of cytosolic cAMP across t he population. For large populations\, these oscillations take the form of spatially extended spiral waves. These waves guide the movement of cells to ward a common location\, usually the spiral center\, and allow cells to agg regate into multicellular slugs. Such complex behavior coupled with the eas e of genetic manipulation in  D. discoideum makes it an ideal organism for the study of collective behavior in eukaryotic systems. Furthermore\, recent experimental advances in microfluidic devices and fluorescent taggin g have provided us with an opportunity to study these cells in a quantitati ve fashion.\nThe intricate behavior of this organism is the result of a com plex biological network that has only been partially elucidated. The goal o f our work is to model the networks that give rise to these collective beha viors. Conventionally\, this is done by modeling biological structures usin g bottom-up approaches where the proteins and biomolecules involved in the network are explicitly incorporated in a large model. However these models often have several deficiencies due to the incomplete knowledge of the full biological network as well as the large number of unknown parameters. This problem is especially acute in eukaryotes\, such as D. Discoideum\, where bottom-up approaches are hard to implement due to complexity of underlying circuit.\n \nIn contrast to this bottom-up approach\, here we present a top-down approach based on the idea of universality from statistical phys ics and dynamical systems. Contrary to usual bottom-up methods\, this appro ach allows us to build a model which produces desired qualitative behavior in a wide range of parameter ranges. Since our model is designed to capture qualitative behavior of the system\, there is no need for parameter tuning as is the case in most model-building procedures. To test the predictions of our model\, we rely on the experimental data of single cells provided by our collaborators in the lab of Thomas Gregor.\n \nBy analyzing the e xperimental data we propose a simple two-variable model for the dynamics of the Dictyostelium communication network. The model is similar to the Fitzh ugh-Nagumo model\, commonly used for modeling excitable media. This model c onsists of a strong positive feedback loop that activates the production of the signaling molecule cAMP and a slower negative feedback that turns off the production. This model makes several predictions that have been verifie d by our collaborators. Furthermore we have extended the model to the the l evel of cellular populations using a mean-field approach. The model explain s several already existing experimental results including the transition to collective oscillations as a function of population density and signal deg radation. As a next step we have incorporated space into our model by assum ing diffusion of cAMP into the extracellular environment. The resulting mod el is capable of producing spiral waves similar to what is observed experim entally.\n \nAs the next step\, using our simulations\, we will study different features of spiral patterns such as the dynamics of spiral center density\, overall chirality\, front width and speed and will compare them with experimental results for wild-type and mutant cells. This will allow u s to determine the kinetic parameter for mutant strains and help elucidate the role of different proteins in the signaling pathway. This work will als o allows us to design future experiments that relate our simple model to th e the genes and proteins in the Dictyostelium signaling pathway. LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120424T163000Z DTEND:20120424T173000Z UID:event652@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/652 SUMMARY:Colloquium Lunch DESCRIPTION:\nPart of the Graduate Student Council Events.\n\nGraduate stud ent lunch with the colloquium speaker. Always leads to interesting discussi ons! Make sure to check your email and RSVP so we have an appropriate count for food. LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120426T140000Z DTEND:20120426T150000Z UID:event915@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/915 SUMMARY:Neurophotonic Rhodopsins: Spectroscopic Characterization of Neurona l Triggers\, Silencers\, and in vivo Voltage Sensors DESCRIPTION:Featuring John Ogren\n\nPart of the Preliminary Oral Exam.\n\nE xamining Committee:\nKenneth Rothschild (Advisor)\nShyamsunder ErramilliXue Han\nRobert Carey\nClaudio Chamon\n \nAbstract:\nArchaerhodopsin-3 (A R3) is a light driven proton pump found in Halorubrum Sodomese.  Recen t studies have shown that AR3 and some of its mutants can be used both as e ffective genetically targetable neuronal silencers and as in vivo fluoresce nt sensors of membrane potential.  AR3 has a 73% sequence similarity w ith the more extensively studied bacteriorhodopsin (BR) proton pump from Ha lobacterium Halobium but unlike BR\, very little is known about the details of AR3’s structure\, photocycle\, and molecular mechanism of proton transport.  My work applies a series of spectroscopic techniques inclu ding time resolved FTIR difference spectroscopy and near-IR resonance Raman spectroscopy with site-directed mutagenesis to compare the role of specifi c amino acid residues and water molecules in the structure and function of BR and AR3.  Recently\, using FTIR difference spectroscopy\, I have fo und important differences between BR and AR3 in the region beyond 3600 cm-1 which reflects structural changes in internal water molecules which are th ought to be essential to the BR proton pumping mechanism.  In addition \, I have also found evidence that the proton uptake and Schiff base reprot onation mechanism which involves specific Asp and Glu residues may differ s ignificantly from BR.  These results and continued works will help ide ntify conserved elements in BR-like proton pumps as well as help to bioengi neer improved variants of AR3 to optimize neural silencing and voltage sens ing.  LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120427T190000Z DTEND:20120427T203000Z UID:event919@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/919 SUMMARY:MuSun: Muon Capture on Deutron DESCRIPTION:Featuring Xiao Luo\n\nPart of the Preliminary Oral Exam.\n\nExa mining Committee:  Robert Carey\, John Butler\, So-Young Pi\, Shyamsun der Erramilli\n \nAbstract:\nMuSun experiment is a medium energy parti cle physics experiment to measure the interaction rate of muon capture on d euteron to better than 1.5% precision. This measurement will provide a benc hmark result on weak interaction processes in the two-nucleon system. Moreo ver\, it can impact our understanding of fundamental reactions of astrophys ical interest\, like solar pp fusion and the neutrino deuterium reactions o bserved by the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. LOCATION:PRB 595\, 3 Cummington Street\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120502T150000Z DTEND:20120502T160000Z UID:event920@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/920 SUMMARY:Electron Charge Asymmetry in W + Jet Events at CMS DESCRIPTION:Featuring Philip Lawson\n\nPart of the Departmental Seminars.\n \n LOCATION:PRB 261\, 3 Cummington Street\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120503T140000Z DTEND:20120503T150000Z UID:event917@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/917 SUMMARY:Nanoscale Surface Structuring during Ion Bombardment of Elemental S emiconductors DESCRIPTION:Featuring Eitan Anzenberg\n\nPart of the PhD Final Oral Exams.\ n\nExamining Committee:\n Karl Ludwig\nWilliam Klein\nOphelia Tsui\nRi chard Averitt\nRobert Carey LOCATION:SCI 352\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120503T203000Z DTEND:20120503T213000Z UID:event582@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/582 SUMMARY:Ice Cream Social DESCRIPTION:\nPart of the Graduate Student Council Events.\n\nDon't miss th is opportunity for free food and the chance to catch up with all your physi cs friends LOCATION:SCI Basement\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120510T140000Z DTEND:20120510T150000Z UID:event924@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/924 SUMMARY:Universal Néel Temperature in Three-Dimensional Quantum Antiferrom agnets DESCRIPTION:Featuring Songbo Jin\n\nPart of the Departmental Seminars.\n\nD issertation Committee:\n \nRobert Carey\nMichael El-Batanouny\n\nWilli am Klein \n\nAnatoli Polkovnikov\n\nAnders Sandvik (Advisor)\n\n  \nAbstract: \n\nWe study three-dimensional dimerized S=1/2 H eisenberg antiferromagnets\, using quantum Monte Carlo simulations of syste ms with three different dimerization patterns. We propose a way to relate t he Néel temperature TN  to the staggered moment  ms of the ground state. Mean-field arguments suggest TN is p roportional to ms close to a quantum-critical point. We find an a lmost perfect universality (including the prefactor) if TN is nor malized by a proper lattice-scale energy. We show that the temperature  ;T* at which the magnetic susceptibility has a maximum is a good choic e\, i.e.\, TN /T* versus ms is a universal functio n (also beyond the linear regime). These results are useful for analyzing e xperiments on systems where the spin couplings are not known precisely\, e. g.\, TlCuCl3.\n  LOCATION:SCI 328\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20120516T121514Z LAST-MODIFIED:19991130T050000Z DTSTART:20120511T190000Z DTEND:20120511T200000Z UID:event927@buphy.bu.edu URL:http://physics.bu.edu/events/show/927 SUMMARY:Quantum Phase Transitions via Quasi-adiabatic Evolution DESCRIPTION:Featuring Cheng-Wei Liu\n\nPart of the Preliminary Oral Exam.\n \nExamining Committee: Richard Averitt Claudio Rebbi Anatoli Polkovnikov Anders Sandvik (advisor)\n Abstract:: I investigate a new quantum Monte Carlo algorithm for studying thestatics and dynamics of q uantum phase transitions. The method\, calledthe "quasi-adiabatic quantum M onte Carlo method" is based on anon-equilibrium formalism in imaginary time and can be used to studythe Kibble-Zurek mechanism in quantum quenches and other aspects ofscaling out of equilibrium. I compare simulation results f or 1D and 2Dtransverse-field Ising models with the adiabatic perturbation t heoryand more general scaling theory.In the end\, I will also present the e xtension of this idea ofnon-equilibrium evolution to i) a classical quench problem and ii) anexperimental proposal. LOCATION:SCI 328\, 590 Commonwealth Avenue\, 02215 STATUS:CONFIRMED CLASS:PUBLIC END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR