Colloquium Series
Colloquia are held on Friday afternoon at 3:15 pm,
in Bennett Hall, Room 140, unless otherwise noted
Refreshments are provided beforehand
Colloquium Schedule, Fall 2023
September 8, 2023
Dr. Christian Boutan
Pacific Northwest National Laboratories
The Hunt for Dark Matter Axions
The discovery of a hypothetical elementary particle called the axion could simultaneously solve deep mysteries in quantum chromodynamics and cosmology. The Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX) is a DoE “Generation 2” direct-detection dark matter project searching for the resonant conversion of axions to photons in a tunable, high-Q microwave cavity surrounded by a strong magnetic field. Over the last decade, ADMX has undergone multiple upgrades and is now operating with unprecedented sensitivity, able to discover or rule out even the most pessimistically coupled DFSZ QCD axions. I will motivate the axion as a dark matter candidate, present an overview of ADMX, discuss recent results, and outline my own plans to combat foreseen challenges on the continued hunt for the elusive axion.
September 29, 2023
Dr. R. Dean Astumian
University of Maine
Biophysics
October 13, 2023
Dr. Manh-Huong Phan
University of South Florida
Bionanomagnetism
December 1, 2023
Dr. Eric Burkholder
Auburn University
Physics education research