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