Future Seminars And Colloquia

Despite its unparalleled successes, the Standard Model (SM) of elementary particles and their interactions is known to be incomplete. Additional particles and phenomena must exist. I will report on a few precision experiments which my group participated in. Their common goal is to search for physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). The Nab experiment just started to take neutron beta decay data, with goals to (a) confirm or refute current evidence for the violation of unitarity of the quark mixing matrix, and (b) to search for scalar and tensor interactions. The whispering gallery experiment is investigating quantum states of neutrons in close vicinity of a curved mirror that are sensitive to new short-range interactions in the range of nanometers which could be mediated by light scalar or pseudoscalar bosons. The MUonE experiment investigates the apparent failure of the SM to correctly predict the magnetic moment of the muon by observing the running of the fine structure constant in muon-electron scattering.

The SpinQuest experiment (Fermilab E1039) is designed to explore one of the fundamental questions in hadronic physics: the contribution of sea quarks to the nucleon’s spin. Utilizing a 120 GeV unpolarized proton beam directed at a polarized proton and deuteron target, SpinQuest aims to measure the Sivers function, which describes the correlation between the momentum direction of the struck quark and the spin of its parent nucleon. By focusing on both Drell-Yan and J/ψ production processes, SpinQuest seeks to provide critical insights into the spin and momentum structure of the nucleon, particularly the contribution of antiquarks to its overall spin. I will present the motivation behind the experiment, including the importance of the Sivers function and how SpinQuest can advance our understanding of spin-dependent phenomena in QCD. I will also discuss the experimental design and progress, highlighting recent milestones such as the successful commissioning of the polarized target system and the initial polarized data collection.  I will review ongoing analysis and the roadmap toward extracting the Sivers asymmetry. Additionally, I will outline the experimental challenges faced, future plans for data collection, and the expected contributions of SpinQuest to the global understanding of nucleon structure.

TBA

TBA

Black holes are utterly simple to describe---regions of space from which nothing can escape---but nevertheless have profound implications across widely disparate fields of physics.  The study of quantum effects near black holes challenges our most basic notions of quantum information, while observational astronomy demands black holes as an energizing power source for a huge variety of spectacular displays.  After reviewing the history of the black hole idea and describing their role in modern astronomy and quantum gravity, I will turn to two recent developments in the two fields.  On the astronomy side, I will discuss black hole imaging and a proposed space mission, the Black Hole Explorer, that will measure light that has orbited the black hole before arriving at the detector.  On the fundamental physics side, I will discuss the recent discovery that black holes decohere all quantum superpositions, even those held far outside the horizon.  These topics are united by the remarkable conceptual depth that emerges from the simple underlying description of a black hole.

TBA

TBA

TBA

TBA

TBA