2025
Time and location (unless otherwise noted):
1st or 2nd Tuesday each month (not conflicting with NSD Staff Meeting)
Building 50 Auditorium (50-4-Auditorium) - unless otherwise noted
11:00 am: Coffee, tea and cookies
11:30 am: Colloquium
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Upcoming Colloquium
Upcoming Colloquium
Tues. 3 June, 2025, Abhishek Tripathi, Space Sciences Lab
Tues. 3 June, 2025, Abhishek Tripathi, Space Sciences Lab
Colloquium 12:30
Coffee/Tea/Snacks: 12:00
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
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Title: Cost Effective Strategies and Tools for Interplanetary Multi-Mission Operations
Abstract:
In a time of shrinking budgets for NASA Science Missions, and faced with competition from commercial space companies, it has become ever more important for academic and government institutions and labs to innovate as a means to remain competitive. The UC Berkeley Space Sciences Lab has had a Mission Operations Center for conducting NASA space science missions since 1999. Due to the demonstrated success since our creation, over the last 5 years we have been awarded a slew of new missions, based largely on our ability to offer cost-competitive mission operations. We utilize new technology, regularly onboard fresh talent, and actively attempt to reduce bureaucratic friction while providing individuals a great deal of autonomy. Our practices and lessons learned may have relevance to similar technological and scientific endeavors across government and academia.
Schedule
Schedule
Tues. postponed, Annika Lennarz, TRIUMF
Tues. postponed, Annika Lennarz, TRIUMF
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
Tues. 9 September, 2025, TBD
Tues. 9 September, 2025, TBD
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
Tues. 7 October, 2025, TBD
Tues. 7 October, 2025, TBD
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
Tues. 4 November, 2025, TBD
Tues. 4 November, 2025, TBD
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
Tues. 2 December, 2025, Laura Fabbietti, TUM
Tues. 2 December, 2025, Laura Fabbietti, TUM
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Title: TBD
Abstract: TBD
Previous Colloquium
Previous Colloquium
Tues. 11 February, 2025, Chuck Melcher, U. Tennessee Knoxville
Tues. 11 February, 2025, Chuck Melcher, U. Tennessee Knoxville
Chuck Melcher earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Rice University and a Ph.D. in physics from Washington University in St. Louis. He was a post-doc at Caltech for three years working in heavy ion sputtering before joining Schlumberger-Doll Research. While at Schlumberger he developed scintillation and semi-conductor detectors for geophysical exploration. As Senior Scientist at Schlumberger, he invented the LSO:Ce scintillator. In 1996 he joined CTI Molecular Imaging to further develop LSO:Ce for positron emission tomography (PET). In 2005 he joined the research faculty at the University of Tennessee and soon thereafter founded the Scintillation Materials Research Center where he currently serves as Director. Melcher has authored or co-authored over 250 peer-reviewed journal articles with more than 10,000 citations. He has also written three book chapters and several invited review articles. He holds 31 U.S. patents and 35 foreign patents on various scintillation materials. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and a Life Fellow of the IEEE. He received the IEEE Merit Award in 2004 and the Marie Skłodowska Curie Award in 2025.
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Title: New Ultra-Fast Scintillators
Abstract:
Sub-nanosecond scintillation emission has been known for 40+ years in compounds such as BaF2 and CsF and yet there are relatively few applications. More recently our group at the University of Tennessee has demonstrated that the compositional landscape is broader than we previously realized. For example, Cs2ZnCl4 and Cs3ZnCl5 are relatively new scintillator materials that appear to be promising for use in fast-timing radiation detection applications owing to their 1 to 2 nanosecond decay times. Moreover, they offer several advantages over BaF2 which has been the gold standard ultrafast inorganic scintillator since the 1980’s. We have found that advances in crystal growth can lead to significant improvements in scintillation performance that exceed previously accepted theoretical limits. In this presentation we will explore the current state of the art of ultra-fast scintillators and the prospects for further advances. In addition, we will describe early results with some novel materials that display cross valence luminescence and may hold important potential for the future.
Tues. 11 March, 2025, Paulo Bedaque, U. Maryland
Tues. 11 March, 2025, Paulo Bedaque, U. Maryland
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Professional Home Page
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
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Professional Home Page
Title: A Complex Path Around the Sign Problem
Abstract: The sign problem remains the primary obstacle to lattice QCD calculations of the QCD phase diagram. In this talk, we review recent approaches that leverage complex geometry to address this challenge. We discuss the theoretical foundations, algorithmic developments, and key results from low-dimensional field theories. Additionally, we explore the potential role of machine learning in advancing these methods and overcoming computational bottlenecks.
Tues. 8 April, 2025, Callum Wilkinson, LBNL
Tues. 8 April, 2025, Callum Wilkinson, LBNL
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Title: (Nuclear) Barriers to precision neutrino oscillation measurements
Abstract: Current and future few-GeV accelerator neutrino oscillation experiments promise to answer important questions: do neutrinos violate charge-parity symmetry; what is the neutrino mass ordering; and, is the three-flavor mixing model sufficient to describe the neutrino sector? Precise measurements of the neutrino oscillation parameters would also turn neutrino oscillations into a potent tool for further discovery.
However, these experiments require a precise understanding of neutrino-nucleus interactions to fulfill their potential. Current uncertainties on the relevant processes are large, and are dominated by subtle details of the pertinent nuclear physics, which are difficult to control.
Tues. 6 May, 2025, Augusto Macchiavelli, Physics Division, ORNL
Tues. 6 May, 2025, Augusto Macchiavelli, Physics Division, ORNL
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Zoom: https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99958746422?pwd=Ek8PgCXQ3pXkfZ40RwUxbzuS3kUlsb.1
(ID: 999 5874 6422, Passcode: 494515)
Title: Some aspects of weak binding phenomena in atomic nuclei
Abstract: The structure of nuclei far from the stability line is a central theme of research in Nuclear Physics. Key to this program has been the worldwide development of radioactive beam facilities and novel detector systems, which provide the
tools needed to produce and study these exotic nuclei.
A topic of much interest today is the evolution of shell structure and collective motion with isospin. One of the important questions being addressed concerns the effects of weak binding and coupling to continuum states in atomic nuclei, seen as complex open quantum many-body systems.
In this talk I will present and discuss recent results on the low-lying excitations of 40Mg [1,2], the Kerman problem [3] in the continuum, and Super-radiance [4] in (t,p) transfer reactions. These selected examples capture the underlying physics behind these intriguing phenomena of nuclear structure.
[1] H.L. Crawford, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 052501 (2019).
[2] A.O. Macchiavelli, et al., Eur. Phys. J. A 58:66 (2022).
[3] A.K. Kerman, Dan. Mat. Fys. Medd. 30, No. 15. (1956).
[4] R.J. Dicke, Phys. Rev. 93, 99 (1954).
*This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. DOE, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725.
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