Past Colloquia
The Origin and Demographics of Long-Period Giant Planets
Cody Hall, AB 107
Brendan Bowler (University of Texas at Austin)
April 10, 2019
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Observations of exoplanets over the past quarter century have shown that the demographics and architectures of planetary systems exhibit a remarkable diversity spanning over five orders of magnitude in mass, separation, and age. Direct imaging has opened up much of this landscape, enabling a powerful…
A look into the birth cradles of planets with ALMA: signatures of planet formation in protoplanetary disks
Cody Hall, AB 107
Nienke van der Marel, Herzberg Institute for Astrophysics in Victoria, BC
April 03, 2019
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
In the last two decades thousands of exoplanets have been discovered, showing that planets are ubiquitous throughout the Milky Way. However, the formation of planets itself remains a mystery. Protoplanetary disks of gas and dust around young stars are the birth cradles of planets, and…
The Past, Present, and Future of 21cm Cosmology
Cody Hall, AB 107
Adrian C. Liu (McGill University)
March 27, 2019
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Despite tremendous recent progress, gaps remain in our knowledge of our cosmic history. For example, we have yet to make direct observations of Cosmic Dawn or the subsequent Epoch of Reionization. Together, these represent the important period when the first stars and galaxies were formed,…
Dark Matter, First Light
Cody Hall, AB 107
Katie Mack (NC State University)
March 20, 2019
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Dark matter forms the foundation for all cosmic structure, and its fundamental nature is one of science’s most pressing enigmas. As we search for the most distant galaxies in the universe with radio and infrared observations, we are in a position to explore the particle…
Making Sense of Stellar Rotation Observed with Kepler: Gyrochronology, Magnetism, and a Sun in Transition
Cody Hall, AB 107
Jennifer van Saders (University of Hawaii)
March 13, 2019
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Stellar rotation carries a wealth of information about stellar populations. In particular, the technique of gyrochronology was developed to utilize the spin-down of stars as a function of time as an indicator of stellar age. Gyrochronology has the potential to yield precise ages for large samples of stars, providing…
Neutron Star Mergers Across Cosmic Time
Cody Hall, AB 107
Wen-fai Fong (Northwestern University)
March 06, 2019
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Multi-messenger astronomy coupling gravitational waves and light was born with the detection of the first neutron star merger, GW170817. This discovery signaled a wealth of firsts in physics and astronomy and represents only the tip of the iceberg of the discovery potential we can achieve…
Feb 27 – Colloquium Cancelled
Cody Hall, AB 107
Sarah Burke-Spolaor (West Virginia University)
February 27, 2019
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Unfortunately this event has been cancelled. Our apologies for any inconvenience. Original Posting: “Binary supermassive black holes: the hunt is on” We are seeking both light and gravitational waves from binary supermassive black holes, the biggest, meanest discrete binary systems in the Universe. When two…
Colloquium with Rebecca Jensen-Clem
Cody Hall, AB 107, University of Toronto
Rebecca Jensen-Clem
February 13, 2019
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
In the last thirty years, over 3000 planets have been discovered orbiting nearby stars. This flood of new worlds includes planets unlike any found in our own Solar System, from Jupiter-mass planets with years as short as our day to exotic rocky worlds twice as…
Colloquium with Adam Anderson
MP 202, University of Toronto
Adam Anderson
February 11, 2019
11:00am - 12:00pm
Rapid advances in superconducting detector technology and readout electronics are enabling a new generation of significantly more sensitive measurements of the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. These measurements will provide constraints on inflation, the nature of neutrinos, and a broad range of astrophysical topics….
Measuring CMB Polarization with SPIDER, Taurus, and CMB-S4
Cody Hall, AB 107, University of Toronto
Johanna Nagy, Dunlap Institute
February 06, 2019
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
The polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is a powerful probe of the composition and evolution of the Universe. Recent advances in instrumentation are enabling measurements with unprecedented precision and exquisite control of systematic errors. In this talk, I will discuss what we can…