Kirill Bolotin
(Vanderbilt University)
10/20/11, 8:30 AM
Invited
Every atom of graphene, a monolayer of graphite, belongs to the surface. Therefore, the environment of graphene -- the substrate onto which graphene is deposited and the coating on top of graphene -- intimately affects the properties of graphene. In this talk, we demonstrate that both mechanical and electrical properties of graphene can be greatly tuned by varying its environment. First, we...
Eric Sharpe
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 8:30 AM
I will summarize recent work on gauge theories in supergravity, specifically concerning the `Fayet-Iliopoulos' parameter. In rigidly supersymmetric gauge theories, this parameter also appears and can vary continuously. In supergravity old lore held that it should always vanish. I will discuss recent developments showing that in fact it can be nonzero, but is quantized, and will explore...
Thomas Handler
(University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
10/20/11, 8:30 AM
Invited
Since World War II, physicists have been involved in various aspects of national life. The roles played have included: 1) Pure or applied researcher, 2) Advisor to policy makers, and 3) Congressman. Today there are many challenges and questions that the United States faces and scientists, physicists included, are often asked on how these challenges should be addressed. In addressing these...
John Leacock
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 8:54 AM
Contributed
The Qweak collaboration at Jefferson Lab is determining the weak charge of the proton. This is done by measuring the parity-violating asymmetry of polarized electrons scattered elastically from the proton at a low Q^2 of 0.026 (GeV/c)^2. The measured asymmetry is partially diluted by polarized electrons inelastically scattered off the proton. Some Qweak experiment running time was used to...
Vito Scarola
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 9:00 AM
Invited
The electronic band structure of many systems, e.g., carbon-based nanostructures, can exhibit essentially no dispersion. Models of electrons in such flat-band lattices define non-perturbative strongly correlated problems by default. Here strong interactions can give rise to novel quantum phases of matter with intriguing collective excitations. Flat bands therefore allow the possibility of...
S. James Gates
(University of Maryland)
10/20/11, 9:00 AM
This presentation reports on the effort to create a mathematical theory for off-shell supersymmetry that is analogous to the construction or roots and weights for Lie groups. The construction begins with the introduction of Adinkras, diagram analogous to weight space representation for quarks. Recent surprising results are discussed.
Tim Holmstrom
(Longwood University)
10/20/11, 9:06 AM
Contributed
An experiment (E07--013) to measure the target normal single spin asymmetry A^n_N in inclusive deep-inelastic n^{\uparrow}(e,e') reaction with a vertically polarized 3He target has completed data collection during Jefferson Lab's Hall A neutron transversity experiment (E06--010). The expected accuracy of this measurement is delta A^n_N = 3 x 10^{-3}. There are no previous measurements of this...
Joshua Hoskins
(College of William and Mary)
10/20/11, 9:18 AM
Contributed
The Qweak experiment at Jefferson Laboratory will provide a 4% measurement of the proton's weak charge Q_w^p, using parity-violating electron scattering from Hydrogen at low momentum transfer. The experiment will measure a tiny parity-violating asymmetry ~256 parts per billion, which means control and precise measurement of systematic errors is a must. While great care is being taken to...
Joshua Magee
(College of William and Mary)
10/20/11, 9:30 AM
Contributed
The Standard Model of particle physics has been extremely successful in describing particle interactions in a wide-ranging regime of energy scales. Low-energy, parity-violating experiments enable high-precision experimental tests of Standard Model predictions. Currently, Jefferson Lab is performing one such investigation to determine the weak charge of the proton, Qweak, to 4% precision using...
Diana Vaman
(University of Virginia)
10/20/11, 9:30 AM
I will introduce a simple prescription for computing real-time finite temperature n-point functions in AdS/CFT. When used to compute the stopping distance of a highly energetic jet moving through strongly coupled N=4 superYang-Mills plasma, the typical jet stopping distance scales with energy as (EL)^{1/4}, where L is the size of the region where the jet was created.
Jack Wells
(Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
10/20/11, 9:30 AM
Invited
Jean Heremans
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 9:30 AM
Invited
We discuss experiments where the spin degree of freedom leads to quantum interference phenomena in the solid-state. Under spin-orbit interactions (SOI), spin rotation modifies weak-localization to weak anti-localization (WAL). WAL's sensitivity to spin- and phase coherence leads to its use in determining the spin coherence lengths Ls in materials, of importance moreover in spintronics. Using...
Amrendra Narayan
(Mississippi State University)
10/20/11, 9:42 AM
Contributed
The Qweak experiment in Hall C at Jefferson Lab aims to measure the weak charge of the proton with a precision of 4.1% by measuring the parity violating asymmetry in polarized electron-proton elastic scattering. Beam polarimetry is the largest experimental contribution to the error budget. A new Compton polarimeter was installed for a non-invasive and continuous monitoring of the electron beam...
Andriy Badin
(Duke University)
10/20/11, 9:54 AM
Contributed
There is experimental evidence that Dark Matter (DM) makes up about 25% of the Universe's mass and is expected to be nonrelativistic in most models. We explore the possibility of the creation and existence of a bound state of Dark Matter and standard model (SM) particles. Such bound states can potentially be created and detected during direct DM search experiments (DAMA, CDMS, XENON etc.). We...
George Siopsis
(University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
10/20/11, 10:00 AM
Holographic models of superconductivity offer a promising approach to the understanding of strongly coupled superconductors. Their properties are derived from non-linear field equations which are hard to solve, especially at low temperatures. I will discuss analytic tools that generate solutions down to zero temperature. This exploration is important for the understanding of the ground state...
Prof.
Wilfredo Otano
(University of Puerto Rico – Cayey)
10/20/11, 10:00 AM
Invited
Electrospinning and sputtering are well known techniques for the formation of different materials in the shape of fibers and films, respectively. Both techniques offer the advantage of being able to prepare a broad range of materials, from metals to insulators, in a different range of compositions and structures. Their combined used offers then a unique opportunity to explore the fabrication...
Di-Lun Yang
(Duke University)
10/20/11, 10:06 AM
Contributed
Recently, the effect of next leading order correction from intermediate hadronic loops to the charmonium decays has been widely studied. However, the coupling constants of the charmonium multiplets and heavy mesons cannot be directly measured from experiments. In this talk, we will present the investigation of hadronic loop correction to both hadronic decays and radiative decays of the lowest...
Paul Avery
(University of Florida)
10/20/11, 10:45 AM
Invited
Open Science Grid is a consortium of researchers from universities and national laboratories that operates a national computing infrastructure serving large-scale scientific and engineering research. While OSG's scale has been primarily driven by the demands of the LHC experiments, it currently serves particle and nuclear physics, gravitational wave searches, digital astronomy, genomic...
Charles Baker
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 10:45 AM
Contributed (undergraduate)
New research indicates that post-transcriptional regulators, such as small RNAs (sRNAs), are key components of global regulatory networks. In particular, it has been discovered that these networks often comprise multiple sRNAs which control expression of a critical master regulator protein. However, the regulation of a single protein by multiple sRNAs is not currently well understood and the...
Fei Lin
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 10:45 AM
Invited
Fullerenes (C20, C36, C60) are a family of Carbon cage molecules that have exactly twelve pentagons. The most famous Fullerene is C60 ("bucky ball"), which when being doped with three electrons per molecule will exhibit superconductivity. Here we describe electronic structures of these molecules with a tight-binding Hubbard model and solve the model with quantum Monte Carlo simulations and...
Hodjat Pendar
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 10:57 AM
Contributed
The intrinsic stochasticity of gene expression can give rise to phenotypic heterogeneity in a population of genetically identical cells. Correspondingly, there is considerable interest in understanding how different molecular mechanisms impact the 'noise' in gene expression. Of particular interest are post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms involving genes called small RNAs, which control...
Thierry Platini
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 11:09 AM
Contributed
Regulatory genes called small RNAs (sRNAs) are known to play critical roles in cellular responses to changing environments. For several bacterial sRNAs, regulation is effected by coupled stoichiometric degradation with messenger RNAs (mRNAs). The nonlinearity inherent in this regulatory scheme implies that exact analytical solutions for the corresponding stochastic models are intractable....
Ramaswamy Raghavan
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 11:15 AM
Low energy (<1 MeV) solar neutrinos account for 99+% of the emitted flux providing the essential window on energy production in the sun. For many decades of solar neutrino research, these could not be directly measured because of the formidable background barrier below 3 MeV. This constraint was broken by the Borexino experiment which has now measured the flux of 0.862 MeV neutrinos from the...
John Towns
(NCSA)
10/20/11, 11:15 AM
Invited
Since 2001, the TeraGrid has developed into a world-class integrated, national-scale computational science infrastructure with funding from the NSF's Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI). Recently, the TeraGrid project came to an end and has been supplanted by the NSF's eXtreme Digital program, opening a new chapter in cyberinfrastructure by creating the most advanced, powerful, and robust...
Ribhu Kaul
(University of Kentucky)
10/20/11, 11:15 AM
Invited
Co Nb_2 O_6 is a remarkable magnetic material. The interplay between two of the most exciting features of correlated quantum physics, quantum criticality and geometric frustration, results in a rich phase diagram which reflects the fundamental underlying quantum many-body physics in this complex oxide material. Many aspects of the theoretically calculated phase diagram and expectations for...
Kenneth Shiao
10/20/11, 11:21 AM
Contributed
Proteins are a key element of life because they are involved in every metabolic process, yet a majority of proteins remain unannotated. Current chemical and physical annotation methods are inaccurate, inefficient, or expensive. Without proper annotation, understanding of organisms' metabolic pathways is limited. Based on the hypothesis that proteins with similar primary structures have similar...
Charles David
(University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
10/20/11, 11:33 AM
Contributed
A comparative study is made using three computational models that characterize native state dynamics starting from known protein structures taken from four distinct SCOP classifications. A geometrical simulation is performed, and the results are compared to the elastic network model and molecular dynamics. The essential dynamics is quantified by a direct analysis of a mode subspace constructed...
Anne Sallaska
(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
10/20/11, 11:45 AM
Nuclear astrophysics is an inherently interdisciplinary field encompassing observational astronomy, astrophysical modeling, and measurements of thermonuclear reaction rates. In general, a group studies only one of these branches in depth; however, the unique nuclear astrophysics group at University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill and Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) incorporates...
Mark Jack
(Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University)
10/20/11, 11:45 AM
Invited
Central theme of this talk is the theoretical study of toroidal carbon nanostructures as a new form of metamaterial. The interference of ring-generated electromagnetic radiation in a regular array of nanorings driven by an incoming polarized wave front may lead to fascinating new optoelectronics applications. The tight-binding method is used to model charge transport in a carbon nanotorus: All...
Prof.
David Hilton
(University of Alabama at Birmingham)
10/20/11, 11:45 AM
Invited
In correlated electronic systems, observed electronic and structural behavior results from the complex interplay between multiple, sometimes competing degrees-of- freedom. One such material used to study insulator-to-metal transitions is vanadium dioxide, which undergoes a phase transition from a monoclinic-insulating phase to a rutile-metallic phase when the sample is heated to 340 K. The...
Pranav Maddi
(North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics)
10/20/11, 11:45 AM
Contributed (undergraduate)
Fibrin is the main structural protein involved in blood clotting, and exhibits high strength and elasticity. Fibrin study traditionally focuses on fully formed clots, whereas we employ new AFM nanoManipulation techniques to study single fibrin fiber mechanics. We used 4 and 10 residue peptides to interfere with the knob-hole and alpha-C interactions involved in fibrin polymerization to...
Yasser Aboelkassem
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 11:57 AM
Contributed
Biomimetics is an increasingly important field in applied science that seeks to imitate systems and processes in nature to design improved engineering devices. In this study, we are inspired by insect respiratory systems, and model, analytically and numerically, the air transport within a single model insect tracheal tube. The tube wall undergoes localized, non- propagative rhythmic...
Mr
Eun-Jik Park
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 12:09 PM
Contributed
Ciliary organisms like Paramecium Multimicronucleatum locomote by synchronized beating of cilia that produce metachronal waves over their body. In their natural environments they navigate through a variety of environments especially surfaces with different topology. We study the effects of wavy surfaces patterned on the PDMS channels on the locomotive abilities of Paramecium by characterizing...
Art Champagne
(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
10/20/11, 12:15 PM
Measuring nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest at {\em stellar} energies is usually a daunting task because the cross sections are very small and background rates can be comparatively large. Often, cosmic-ray interactions set the limit on experimental sensitivity, but can be reduced to an insignificant level by placing an accelerator underground -- as has been demonstrated by the LUNA...
Feng Ding
(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
10/20/11, 12:15 PM
Invited
Discrete molecular dynamics (DMD) simulation of hard spheres was the first implementation of molecular dynamics (MD) in history. DMD simulations are computationally more efficient than continuous MD simulations due to simplified interaction potentials. However, also due to these simplified potentials, DMD has often been associated with coarse-grained modeling, and hence continuous MD has...
Enrico Rossi
(College of William and Mary)
10/20/11, 12:15 PM
Invited
An exciton is a quasiparticle state formed by an electron bound to a "hole." Many years ago it was proposed theoretically that a population of excitons can condense into a spontaneously broken symmetry ground state characterized by excitonic superfluidity. The quest for the experimental realization of the exciton condensate has lasted decades. Recently bilayer systems have emerged as some of...
John Hardin
(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
10/20/11, 1:30 PM
Contributed
The research performed revolves around creating tracking algorithms for the proposed ten-year upgrade to the tracker for CMS, one of two main detectors for the LHC at CERN. The proposed upgrade to the tracker for CMS will use fast hardware to trace particle trajectories so that they can be used immediately in a trigger system. The additional information will be combined with other...
David Zumbrunnen
(Clemson University)
10/20/11, 1:30 PM
Invited
Several forces arise when different liquids are placed into contact. The relative importance of these forces depends on the sizes and shapes of liquid domains and also on molecular characteristics of the liquids. When the liquids are agitated and in the absence of interdiffusion, a composite structure results that is defined by the spatial extent and size of each liquid domain in the presence...
John Yukich
(Davidson College)
10/20/11, 1:30 PM
Contributed
Numerous experiments have investigated the properties and dynamics of single-atom negative ions. Similar experiments can be conducted with molecular negative ions. Laser photodetachment spectroscopy of such ions is more complicated due to rotational and vibrational structure, and often yields spectroscopic benchmarks such as rotational constants. We have conducted low-resolution...
Rene Lopez
(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
10/20/11, 1:30 PM
Invited
The major challenge in solar cell technology dwells in achieving an efficient absorption of photons with an effective carrier extraction. In all cases, light absorption considerations call for thicker modules while carrier transport would benefit from thinner ones. This dichotomy is the fundamental problem limiting the efficiencies of photovoltaics, especially promising low-cost polymer solar...
Alexander Woods
(University of Tennessee Space Institute)
10/20/11, 1:42 PM
Contributed
Molecular recombination and excitation of atoms following laser-induced optical breakdown provide means for simultaneous detection of atomic and molecular species. Atomic emission spectra may be analyzed to infer electron number and temperature. Careful analysis of select atomic spectra may reveal superposed diatomic molecular spectra. Nonlinear fitting of synthetic molecular spectra,...
Hao Liu
(University of Virginia)
10/20/11, 1:42 PM
Contributed
At CDF, we search for the associated production of a Higgs boson and a W boson, where the Higgs boson decays into a b + anti-b quark pair and the W boson decays into a lepton and the corresponding neutrino. Events are selected with a signature of a lepton, large missing transvers energy, and two or three jets. At CDF, events are selected by a variety of triggers, and those triggers are divided...
Brian Canfield
(University of Tennessee Space Institute)
10/20/11, 1:54 PM
Contributed
We are developing an ultrasensitive, fluorescence-based detection system in highly parallel microchannels. Multichannel microfluidic devices have been fabricated by direct femtosecond laser machining of fused silica substrates. We approach single-molecule detection sensitivity by introducing dilute aqueous solutions (~ pM) of fluorescently labeled molecules into the microchannels. In a...
David Abbott
(University of Virginia)
10/20/11, 1:54 PM
Contributed (undergraduate)
The Mu2e experiment at Fermilab plans to use a two-out-of-three coincident requirement in a plastic scintillator based detector to veto cosmic ray events. This veto system must operate efficiently in a high-radiation environment. In this investigation, three plastic scintillator bars containing wavelength-shifting fibers represent the veto system. These bars were placed together, in series, in...
J. Randall Heflin
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 2:00 PM
Invited
Polymer solar cells are of high interest due to their potential as efficient, lightweight, large area, flexible renewable energy sources. The basic mechanism for the photovoltaic effect in polymers consists of transfer of a photoexcited electron from the polymer donor to a fullerene electron acceptor followed by transport of the electron and hole through the acceptor and donor,, respectively,...
Sunghwan Jung
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 2:00 PM
Invited
Fluids are essential for most living organisms to maintain a healthy body and also serve as a medium in which they locomote. The fluid bulk or interfaces actively interact with biological structures, which produces highly nonlinear, interesting, and complicated dynamical problems. We studied the lapping of cats and the swimming of Paramecia in various fluidic environments. The problem of the...
Ken Strickland
10/20/11, 2:06 PM
Contributed
The Standard Model (SM) is the triumph of our age. As experimentation at the LHC tracks particles for the Higgs phenomena, theoreticians and experimentalist struggle to close in on a cohesive theory. Both suffer greatly as expectation waivers those who seek to move beyond the SM and those who cannot do without. When it seems like there are no more good ideas enter Rate Change Graph Technology...
Paul Helminger
(University of South Alabama)
10/20/11, 2:06 PM
Contributed
Our studies of the terahertz rotational spectrum of nitric acid now include the ground state and the four lowest excited states. We report good progress in the assignment and analysis of the next higher energy states, the v5/2v9 interacting states. This very complex spectrum includes torsional splitting of both states and Fermi and Coriolis type interactions between them. The current analysis...
Chaolun Wu
(University of Virginia)
10/20/11, 2:18 PM
Contributed
We built up a complete real-time prescription for calculating n- point correlators of finite-temperature conformal field theory operators using holography. We found it amounts to integrating only the right quadrant of the black hole, and then adapting the finite temperature analog of Veltman's circling rules to gravity tree-level diagrams to calculate correlators. We constructed a complete...
Jason King
(University of Tennessee Space Institute)
10/20/11, 2:18 PM
Contributed
The ability to manipulate and trap single molecules in solution through the application of actively controlled electric fields is a valuable tool for a number of bio-molecular studies of proteins and nucleic acids. Here we report the development of a microfluidic device consisting of four electrodes sputtered onto two glass coverslips and fixed in a tetrahedral arrangement. This geometrical...
David Camp
(Georgia State University)
10/20/11, 2:30 PM
Contributed
The evolution of the Earth's climate is of growing concern. There is evidence of a causal relationship between cosmic ray muon flux and cloud cover and it is expected that long term variations in cosmic ray flux may influence Earth's temperature changes [1]. It has been observed that a muon telescope with a variable angular acceptance at Earth's surface can be used to study correlations...
Justin Yonker
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 2:30 PM
Contributed
In spite of its status as a minor species, NO plays key roles in many upper atmospheric processes. As the only heteronuclear molecule, its fundamental, Delta v=1 emission cools the thermosphere (z>100 km). Its low ionization potential ensures that NO^+ is the end product of the ion-neutral chemistry in the ionospheric E-region. And in the presence of excess atomic oxygen, NO will catalytically...
Dr
Brian Utter
(James Madison University)
10/20/11, 2:30 PM
Invited
Granular materials exist all around us, from avalanches in nature to the mixing of pharmaceuticals, yet the behavior of these "fluids" is poorly understood. While the interaction of individual particles is simply through friction and inelastic collisions, the non-linear forces and large number of particles leads to an unpredictable, complex system. Flow can be characterized by the continuous...
Mark Pierson
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 2:30 PM
Invited
There are many myths regarding nuclear energy. Nuclear energy provides many advantages but like all other power generation methods it has some drawbacks. There have been some serious accidents involving nuclear power generation with the most recent occurring at Fukushima Daiichi. What role will nuclear energy play in the future? What are the challenges of the nuclear landscape as we move...
Mathes Dayananda
(Georgia State University)
10/20/11, 2:42 PM
Contributed
There is at present a great debate about the causes of the changing climate of the Earth. In recent years, there has been a growing interest of understanding the effects of cosmic ray radiation on the increase in average global temperature. The studies by Svensmark, show that there is a strong link between cosmic rays and low cloud coverage [1]. Very recently, Lu reported that there is a...
Curt Moyer
(University of North Carolina at Wilmington)
10/20/11, 2:42 PM
Contributed
We have developed a formalism that describes both quasibound and resonant states within the same theoretical framework, and that admits a clean and unambiguous distinction between these states and the states of the embedding continuum. The approach described here builds on our earlier work by clarifying several crucial points and extending the theory to encompass a variety of continuous...
Brandon White
(University of Tennessee)
10/20/11, 2:54 PM
Contributed
Double Chooz is a reactor antineutrino experiment probing the non-vanishing value of the neutrino mixing angle theta_13. The experiment is searching for antineutrino disappearance from nuclear reactors located in northeastern France. The Double Chooz concept is to deploy two identical detectors. One detector near to the reactor cores to measure the flux of electron antineutrinos and one...
James Germann
(University of Tennessee Space Institute)
10/20/11, 2:54 PM
Contributed
The measurement of a one-dimensional flow using a confocal fluorescence microscope with two excitation volumes has been well documented. This technique can be extended to measure flow in all three dimensions simultaneously through a four-focus, two-photon microscope. To this end, an apparatus has been constructed in which the beam from a modelocked Ti-Sapphire laser is passed through a double...
Lloyd Davis
(University of Tennessee Space Institute)
10/20/11, 3:06 PM
Contributed
We have recently reported the use of tight line-focusing of an amplified femtosecond laser beam to fabricate very long, sub-micron wide features in glass with just a single laser pulse [Davis et al., IQEC/CLEO Pacific Rim, August 2011]. The optical configuration used in these experiments presents distinct advantages and can be expected to have numerous applications, including the rapid...
Cassandra Major
(North Georgia College and State University)
10/20/11, 3:18 PM
Contributed (undergraduate)
X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy is a rapid, noninvasive technique for both detecting and identifying chemical elements within a given sample. At North Georgia College and State University, a sealed tube x-ray source and slightly focusing polycapillary optic are used in nondestructive XRF analysis of oil paint pigments. Oil paints contain both organic and inorganic matter, and the...
Monica Plisch
(American Physical Society)
10/20/11, 3:45 PM
Invited
How do you effectively mentor individuals at different stages of their careers? Are you ready to address the NSF’s new requirement about mentoring post-docs in your next proposal? Can you learn to become a more effective mentor through training? Scientists often are not prepared for their crucial role of mentoring the next generation. Based on a research mentor seminar developed at the...
Mark Pitt
(Virginia Tech)
10/20/11, 3:45 PM
Invited
The Qweak collaboration is currently performing the first precision measurement of the proton's neutral weak charge at Jefferson Lab. The Standard Model gives a firm prediction for the weak charge; any deviation from that can be interpreted as new physics beyond the Standard Model. This precision, low energy measurement is sensitive to new physics signatures at energy scales up to 2 TeV. The...
Volker CREDÉ
(Florida State University)
10/20/11, 4:15 PM
Invited
Hadrons are complex systems of confined quarks and gluons and exhibit the characteristic spectra of excited states. Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is only poorly understood in this non-perturbative regime. It is one of the key issues in hadronic physics to identify the relevant degrees of freedom giving rise to the observed mass spectra and the effective forces between them. Current efforts of...
Liping Gan
(University of North Carolina Wilmington)
10/20/11, 4:45 PM
Invited
As the lightest particle in the hadron spectrum, the pi^0 plays an important role in understanding the fundamental symmetries of QCD. The pi^0 --> gamma gamma decay provides a key process for test of the chiral anomaly, and at the same time a test of the Nambu-Goldstone nature of the pi^0 meson due to spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking. Theoretical activities over the last decade have...
R. Shyam
(Clemson University)
10/21/11, 8:30 AM
Contributed
We have fabricated metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices for a study of implantation rates and damage resulting from low energy ion-solid impacts. Specifically, we seek to capture ion irradiation effects on the oxides. Fabrication of the MOS devices follows a standard procedure where Ohmic contacts are first created on the wafer backside followed by the thermal growth of various thicknesses...
Mr
Brandon Lunk
(North Carolina State University)
10/21/11, 8:30 AM
Computational modeling is a central enterprise in both theoretical and experimental physics but it can also be an excellent means for students in the introductory courses to develop a deeper conceptual understanding of fundamental physics principles. Many instructional benefits are associated with computational modeling, including visualizing 3D phenomena, modeling complex, real-world systems,...
Joseph Hamilton
(Vanderbilt University)
10/21/11, 8:30 AM
On the one hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the nucleus, selected highlights in nuclear research by Vanderbilt scientists and by Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists as well as their joint research are described. These will include the earliest work involving the first confirmation of neutron induced fission and classic papers on the fission process. This was followed by the...
Rolf MÜLLER
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 8:30 AM
Bats have evolved one of the most capable and at the same time parsimonious sensory systems found in nature. Using active and passive biosonar as a major - and often sufficient - far sense, different bat species are able to master a wide variety of sensory tasks under very dissimilar sets of constraints. Given the limited computational resources of the bat's brain, this performance is unlikely...
O. Gafarov
(University of South Alabama)
10/21/11, 8:42 AM
Contributed
Results of measurements on two very clean, single-crystal samples of the A15 superconductor V_3 Si are presented. Magnetization and transport data have confirmed the "clean" quality of both samples, as manifested by: (i) high residual electrical resistivity ratio, (ii) very low critical current densities Jc, and (iii) a "peak" effect in the field dependence of critical current. The (H,T) phase...
Daniel Field
(Clemson University)
10/21/11, 8:54 AM
Contributed
We discuss the use of silicon double-paddle oscillators (DPOs) as a technique for following atomistic changes in mechanical properties under energetic ion irradiation conditions in ultra high vacuum (UHV). For these DPOs, it is well known that at low temperatures (~ 4k) the internal friction or Q^{-1} of the anti-symmetric oscillator eigenmode is lower than 10^{-8} and that it increases to...
Thomas Clegg
(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
10/21/11, 9:00 AM
Nuclear physics research in NC began seriously in 1950 when Henry Newson and his colleagues at Duke attracted support for a 4 MeV Van de Graaff accelerator with which they grew their doctoral training program. The lab's scientific achievements also grew, including the discovery in 1966 of fine structure of nuclear analog states. By then UNC and NC State had attracted Eugen Merzbacher and Worth...
Henry Greenside
(Duke University)
10/21/11, 9:00 AM
Many species of songbirds do not sing instinctively but learn their songs by a process of auditory-guided vocal learning that starts with a kind of babbling that converges over several months and through tens of thousands of iterations to a highly precise adult song. How the neural circuitry of the songbird brain learns, generates, and recognizes temporal sequences related to song are...
Renee Michelle Goertzen
(Florida International University)
10/21/11, 9:00 AM
We describe the ongoing physics transformation underway at Florida International University (FIU), highlighting activities that target institutionalization of innovative physics practices. We report on several coherent efforts to improve the undergraduate physics instruction at FIU. These programs include Modeling Instruction, a studio based, integrated lab-lecture course in which students...
Albert Gapud
(University of South Alabama)
10/21/11, 9:06 AM
Contributed
Cs_4 [Pt (C N)_4](C F_3 S O_3)_2 (TCP) is the newest palatinate, quasi-one-dimensional conductors with parallel "chains" of Pt maintained by peripheral materials and with well known properties, especially in the potassium-containing material, KCP. Unlike KCP, however, we are finding properties unique to TCP. First, we discuss technical difficulties in measuring the DC resistivity of this...
R. I. Leatherbury
(University of South Alabama)
10/21/11, 9:18 AM
Contributed
Cs_4 [Pt (C N)_4](C F_3 S O_3)_2 (TCP) is a new Krogmann's salt, consisting of quasi-one-dimensional conducting chains of Pt with well known properties, especially in the potassium-containing material, KCP. Unlike KCP, however, there are properties unique to TCP, e.g., longer Pt-Pt separation, insulating at room temperature, and non-magnetic. Previous NMR studies on KCP have mainly been on...
Kirby Kemper
(Florida State University)
10/21/11, 9:30 AM
Numerous physicists who have carried part or all of their work in the Southeast have made major contributions to our present understanding of the nucleus, from Robert Van de Graaff whose accelerator became the work horse of experimental nuclear physics to John Wheeler whose early work at North Carolina began a tradition there that continues until today. Many early major results from southern...
Gerald Feldman
(George Washington University)
10/21/11, 9:30 AM
The time-honored conventional lecture ("teaching by telling") has been shown to be an ineffective mode of instruction for science classes. In these cases, where the enhancement of critical thinking skills and the development of problem-solving abilities are emphasized, collaborative group learning environments have proven to be far more effective. In addition, students naturally improve their...
Hassan Masoud
(Georgia Institute of Technology)
10/21/11, 9:30 AM
Contributed
We introduce a mesoscale computational model for responsive gels, i.e. chemically cross-linked polymer networks immersed in Newtonian fluids, and use it to probe the release of nanoparticles from hollow microgel capsules that swell and deswell in response to external stimuli. Our model explicitly describes the transport of nanoparticles in swelling/deswelling polymer networks with complex...
M. Shane Hutson
(Vanderbilt University)
10/21/11, 9:30 AM
The biological tissues of a developing organism are built and reshaped by the mechanical behavior of individual cells. We probe the relevant cellular mechanics \textit{in vivo} using laser-microsurgery -- both qualitatively, to assess whether removal of specific cells alters the dynamics of tissue reshaping, and quantitatively, to measure sub-cellular mechanical properties and stresses. I will...
Mrs
Maryam Raftari
(University of Sheffield)
10/21/11, 9:42 AM
Contributed
We have studied the frictional behaviour of grafted poly[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate] (PDMAEMA) films using friction force microscopy (FFM). The films were prepared on native oxide-terminated silicon substrates using the technique of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). We show that single asperity contact mechanics (Johnson-Kendall-Roberts(JKR) and...
Harry Hicock
(James Madison University)
10/21/11, 9:54 AM
Contributed
Foam is a complex fluid whose relaxation properties are associated with the continuous diffusion of gas from small to large bubbles driven by differences in Laplace pressures. We study the dynamics of bubble rearrangements by tracking droplets of a clear, buoyantly neutral emulsion that coarsens like a foam. The droplets are imaged in three dimensions using confocal microscopy. Analysis of the...
Franz Gross
(Jefferson Lab)
10/21/11, 10:00 AM
This talk will focus on the history of Jefferson Laboratory from its inception as the NEAL proposal by the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) in 1980, to about 1986 -- two years after the arrival of Hermann Grunder and his Berkeley team. Major themes are (i) a national decision to build a high energy, high duty factor electron accelerator for basic nuclear physics research,...
38.
Transforming Introductory Physics for Life Scientists: Researching the consequences for students
Dr
Chandra Turpen
(University of Maryland)
10/21/11, 10:00 AM
In response to policy documents calling for dramatic changes in pre-medical and biology education [1-3], the physics and biology education research groups at the University of Maryland are rethinking how to teach physics to life science majors. As an interdisciplinary team, we are drastically reconsidering the physics topics relevant for these courses. We are designing new in-class tasks to...
Stefan Stoianov
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 10:06 AM
Contributed
Full integration of top-down and bottom-up nanofabrication technologies will require the ability to accurately place nanostructures onto well-defined locations on a surface, where the nanostructures initially only exist suspended in a liquid. As the nanostructures may be quite fragile, perhaps the best way to do this is to pattern the adhesiveness of the surface in order to guide assemblies to...
Ahmed Roman
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 10:45 AM
Contributed (undergraduate)
In the cyclic competition among four species on a two-dimensional lattice, the partner particles, which swap positions on the lattice with some probability, produce clusters with a length that grows algebraically as t^1/z where z is the dynamical exponent. Further investigation of the dynamics at the boundary of the clusters is realized by placing one partner particle pair in the upper half of...
Martin Murphy
(Virginia Commonwealth University)
10/21/11, 10:45 AM
Modern radiation therapy can achieve a very high level of conformality, meaning that the size and shape of nearly any disease site (such as a tumor) can be irradiated to uniform dose while sparing surrounding normal tissue. However, an inherent limitation in many treatment planning and delivery systems is that the body region under treatment is considered to be static and unchanging. This...
Josep Sanjuan
(University of Florida)
10/21/11, 10:45 AM
Contributed
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a space-based gravitational wave (GW) observatory with the primary scientific goal of detecting and observing GW from astronomical sources in the milli-Hertz range. Such observations will provide a new way to explore the Universe and they will bring new rich information about its structure and evolution. However, GWs signals are very weak and...
Patrick Huber
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 10:45 AM
Invited
I will briefly review the current status of neutrino oscillation and highlight the open issues. The current generation of neutrino experiments Double Chooz, Daya Bay, T2K and NOvA have started to probe theta_13 and soon will deliver a first measurement. However, they can not test the mass hierarchy or study leptonic CP violation, therefore even larger facilities are needed. I will present the...
Eric Deleeuw
(University of Florida)
10/21/11, 10:57 AM
Contributed
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) is currently being upgraded to Advanced LIGO. One of the main changes is the increase in input laser power from 30W to 165W. In Advanced LIGO up to 600kW laser power will circulate inside the interferometer. Some of the power will be absorbed by the LIGO test masses, creating a thermal gradient that will deform them changing the...
Sara Case
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 10:57 AM
Contributed (undergraduate)
We study a stochastic system with N individuals, consisting of four species competing cyclically: A+B --> A+A, ..., D+A --> D+D. Randomly choosing a pair and letting them react, N is conserved but the fractions of each species evolve non-trivially. At late times, the system ends in a static, absorbing state -- typically, coexisting species AC or BD. The master equation is shown and solved...
Darsa Donelan
(University of Florida)
10/21/11, 11:09 AM
Contributed
Laser ranging and interferometry are essential technologies allowing for many astounding new space-based missions such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) to measure gravitational radiation emitted from distant super massive black hole mergers or distributed aperture telescopes with unprecedented angular resolution in the NIR or visible regime. The requirements on laser frequency...
David Konrad
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 11:09 AM
Contributed (undergraduate)
The dynamics of a one-dimensional lattice composed of four species cyclically dominating each other is very much dependent on the rates of mobility in the system. We realize mobility as the exchange of two particles located at two nearest neighbor sites with some species dependent rate s. Allowing for only one particle per site, the different species interact cyclically, with species dependent...
Jessica Ramella-Roman
(Catholic University of America)
10/21/11, 11:15 AM
Thermal and electrical injuries are devastating and hard-to-treat clinical lesions. The pathophysiology of these injuries is not fully understood to this day. Further elucidating the natural history of this form of tissue injury could be helpful in offering stage-appropriate therapy. Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging (SFDI) is a novel non-invasive technique that can be used to determine optical...
Joshua Albert
(Duke University)
10/21/11, 11:15 AM
Invited
The T2K experiment is designed to study neutrino oscillation. In particular, it is designed to measure the final, previously unmeasured oscillation mixing angle, known as theta_13. This mixing angle is responsible for allowing muon neutrinos to oscillate to electron neutrinos. T2K features a nearly pure beam of muon neutrinos, produced at the J-PARC accelerator complex in Tokai, on the East...
Mr
Daniel Amariutei
(University of Florida)
10/21/11, 11:21 AM
Contributed
Laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors are by far the most sensitive interferometer in the world. They require exquisite control over all degrees of freedom of the optical components comprising the main detector but also over all degrees of freedom of the used laser beam. One of the most critical degrees of freedom is the propagation direction and beam location of the input beam...
Qian He
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 11:21 AM
Contributed
We employ individual-based Monte Carlo simulations to study the effects of quenched spatial disorder in the reaction rates on the co-evolutionary dynamics of cyclic three- species predator-prey models with conserved total particle density. To this end, we numerically explore the oscillatory dynamics of two different variants: (1) the model with symmetric interaction rates near the center of...
Shivakumar Jolad
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 11:33 AM
Contributed
We report our study of SIS epidemic spreading model on networks where individuals have a fluctuating number of connections around some preferred degree. By making our preferred degree depend on the level of infection, we model the response of individuals to the prevailing epidemic. This helps us to explore the feedback mechanisms between the dynamics on the network and dynamic of the network....
Joseph Rudmin
(James Madison University)
10/21/11, 11:33 AM
Contributed
Scaling of physical quantities shows the symmetries of an isotropic metric. For example, invariance of Planck's constant under gravitational scaling provides consistency of general relativity with quantum mechanics. Invariance of charge and electric field strength provide consistency with electromagnetism. Transitivity of scaling eliminates the traditional need for a globally preferred...
Hyunhang Park
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 11:45 AM
Contributed
Using Monte Carlo simulations we investigate aging behavior during phase ordering in two-dimensional Ising models with disorder and in three-dimensional Ising spin glasses. The time-dependent dynamical correlation length L(t) is determined numerically and the scaling behavior of various two-time quantities as a function of L(t)/L(s) is discussed. For disordered Ising models deviations of L(t)...
Kenneth Wong
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 11:45 AM
Sleep is essential for the health of the nervous system. Lack of sleep has a profound negative effect on cognitive ability and task performance. During sustained military operations, soldiers often suffer from decreased quality and quantity of sleep, increasing their susceptibility to neurological problems and limiting their ability to perform the challenging mental tasks that their missions...
Danila Korytov
(University of Florida)
10/21/11, 11:45 AM
Contributed
Space-based interferometric gravitational wave observatories will measure changes in the distance between free falling proof masses inside widely separated spacecraft with pm sensitivity. These observatories~will use fast telescopes to exchange laser beams. These telescopes are part of the probed optical distances and any length change in the gravitational wave band between secondary and...
Patricia Vahle
(College of William and Mary)
10/21/11, 11:45 AM
Invited
Massive neutrinos provide the first hints at physics beyond the standard model. Current and future neutrino experiments aim to further refine our understanding of neutrino mixing, one of the implications of neutrino mass. Two of these experiments, MINOS and NOvA, are long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments in the Fermilab NuMI neutrino beam line. Both the currently running MINOS...
Nasrin Afzal
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 11:57 AM
Contributed
Motivated by a series of experiments that study the response of the cytoskeleton in living cells to time-dependent mechanical forces, we investigate, through Monte Carlo simulations, a three-dimensional network subjected to perturbations. After having prepared the system in a relaxed state, shear is applied and the relaxation processes are monitored. We measure two time quantities and discuss...
Brian Chang
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 12:09 PM
Contributed
Drop formation from a nozzle is a common occurrence in our daily lives. It is essential in ink-jet printers and spray cooling technology. However, most research has already been done on the pinch-off mechanism from a non-wettable nozzle. In this study, we focus on the formation of a drop from a wettable nozzle. Initially, a drop will climb the outer walls of the wettable nozzle because of...
Jonathan Link
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 12:15 PM
Invited
The last unknown neutrino mixing matrix element, theta_13, holds the key to lepton based CP violation and to determining the ordering of the neutrino mass states. The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment, which has just started to take data will have the best reach in theta_13 sensitivity for the next decade. The experiment will be discussed, including current status and future prospects.
Dr
J. Daniel Bourland
(Wake Forest School of Medicine)
10/21/11, 12:15 PM
Medical physics, an applied field of physics, is the applications of physics in medicine. Medical physicists are essential professionals in contemporary healthcare, contributing primarily to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases through numerous inventions, advances, and improvements in medical imaging and cancer treatment. Clinical service, research, and teaching by medical physicists...
155.
LENS -- A Novel Technology to Measure the Low Energy Solar Neutrino Spectrum (pp, 7Be, and CNO)
Derek Rountree
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 1:30 PM
Contributed
LENS is a low energy solar neutrino spectrometer that will measure the solar neutrino spectrum above 115 keV, >95% of the solar neutrino flux, in real time. The fundamental neutrino reaction in LENS is charged-current based capture on 115In detected in a liquid scintillator medium. The reaction yields the prompt emission of an electron and the delayed emission of 2 gamma rays that serve as a...
Brayton Doll
(NBPHS, Vanderbilt University)
10/21/11, 1:30 PM
Contributed
We've measured prompt gamma rays from the fission fragments of the spontaneous fission of 252Cf in Gammasphere. The data from the experiment have high statistics with 5.7 * 10^{11} triple and higher gamma coincidences. We examined levels in 162Gd in this data set which shows very consistent I(I+1) level spacing in the yrast band. This demonstrates consistency with a rotational nucleus that has...
Xiaochun He
(Georgia State University)
10/21/11, 1:30 PM
Studying the property of quark-gluon plasma and its implication to the Big Bang model of cosmology has been the focal point of research in the field of relativistic heavy ion collisions over the past three decades. The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory started taking data in 2000. The PHENIX Collaboration at RHIC has carried out a comprehensive study...
Per Arne Rikvold
(Florida State University)
10/21/11, 1:30 PM
The role of space in determining species coexistence and community structure is well established. However, previous studies mainly focus on simple competition and predation systems, and the role of mutualistic interspecies interactions is not well understood. Here we use a spatially explicit metacommunity model, in which new species enter by a mutation process, to study the effect of...
Tristan Wright
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 1:42 PM
Contributed
The LENS collaboration's goal is the construction of a low energy neutrino spectrometer (LENS) that will measure the entire solar neutrino spectrum above 115keV. In an effort to reach this goal we have developed a two phase prototype program. The first of these is microLENS, a small prototype to study the light transmission in the as built LENS scintillation lattice---a novel detector method...
N. T. Brewer
(Vanderbilt University)
10/21/11, 1:42 PM
Contributed
Gamma-rays from the Spontaneous Fission of 252Cf were measured with Gammasphere and have given great insight into the structure of neutron rich nuclei. We have examined high-spin states and the gamma-transitions associated with octupole correlations in {143-146{Ba and 148Ce. Coexisting quadrupole/octupole deformation is characterized by two Delta I = 1 rotational bands with opposite parities....
Szymon Manecki
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 1:54 PM
Contributed
Borexino, a real-time calorimetric detector for low energy neutrino spectroscopy, is located in the underground laboratories of Gran Sasso, Italy (LNGS). The experiment's main focus is the direct measurement of the 7Be solar neutrino flux of all flavors via neutrino-electron scattering in an ultra-pure scintillation liquid. After years of construction, the first data was collected in May 2007,...
W. Clarke Smith
(George Washington University)
10/21/11, 1:54 PM
Contributed (undergraduate)
Azimuthal asymmetries in neutron yields produced by bombarding targets with linearly polarized photons via (gamma,n), (gamma,2n), and (gamma,f) reactions are being investigated as a possible means of identifying various nuclear isotopes. The High Intensity gamma-ray Source (HIgS) at Duke University provides nearly monochromatic, circularly or linearly polarized gamma rays with high intensity...
Michel Pleimling
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 2:00 PM
Generalizing the cyclically competing three-species model (often referred to as the rock-paper-scissors game), we consider a simple system of population dynamics that involves four species. We discuss both well-mixed systems, i.e. without spatial structure, and spatial systems on one- and two-dimensional regular lattices. Unlike the three-species model, the four species form alliance pairs...
Christine Nattrass
(University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
10/21/11, 2:00 PM
The ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is optimized to study the properties of the hot, dense matter created in high energy nuclear collisions in order to improve our understanding of the properties of nuclear matter under extreme conditions. In 2009 the first proton beams were collided at the Large Hadron collider and since then data from proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s)...
John Wilson
(Western Kentucky University)
10/21/11, 2:06 PM
Contributed (undergraduate)
To extract the nuclear size information, the experimentally measured interaction cross-section is compared to cross-sections calculated in the framework of Glauber theory or in its various approximations. These calculations are usually performed using a Monte Carlo technique. In the presented paper, we discuss the sensitivity of the reaction and interaction cross sections' calculation to the...
Jacob Moldenhauer
(Francis Marion University)
10/21/11, 2:06 PM
Contributed
Recently, some f(G) higher order gravity models have been shown to exhibit some interesting phenomenology including a late time cosmic acceleration following a matter-dominated deceleration period with no separatrix singularities in between the two phases. In this work, we compare the models to the solar system limits from the gravitational frequency redshift, the deflection of light, the...
Wei-Chia Chen
(Florida State University)
10/21/11, 2:18 PM
Contributed
We will discuss attempts to build a relativistic density functional using constraints from both finite nuclei and neutron stars. The calibration of the model will proceed through a standard minimization of a quality chi-square measure. Moreover, by studying the model-parameter landscape around the minimum we will be able to provide meaningful theoretical error bars as well as to uncover...
Nathan DiDomenico
(James Madison University)
10/21/11, 2:18 PM
Contributed (undergraduate)
Megamaser disk systems allow for accurate measurements of the masses of galactic supermassive black holes and precise distance determinations of extragalactic systems, but the detection rate of maser systems remains low. We investigate the optical spectral properties of a large, statistically significant sample of galaxies that host water masers in order to identify the host properties that...
Antonio Colella
(IBM)
10/21/11, 2:30 PM
Contributed
The TOE unites all known physical phenomena from the Planck cube to the Super Universe. Each matter and force particle exists within a Planck cube and any universe object is representable by a volume of contiguous Planck cubes. The TOE unifies 16 SM, 16 Supersymmetric, 32 anti, 64 Higgs, and the super force for 129 particles. At t = 0, our universe's energy/mass consisted of super force. By t...
David Ernst
(Vanderbilt University and Fisk University)
10/21/11, 2:30 PM
Contributed
Assuming three neutrinos, the neutrino oscillation mixing parameters are extracted from a global analysis of the Super-K atmospheric, MINOS disappearance and appearance neutrino, CHOOZ, T2K, KamLAND, and all solar data. MINOS anti-neutrino data is not included. The full oscillation probabilities are used so that we can address the question of the sign of theta_13. How to extract the allowed...
Charles Maguire
(Vanderbilt University)
10/21/11, 2:30 PM
We will survey the results obtained from the analyses of PbPb collisions taken by the CMS detector during the first heavy ion run at the LHC. The physics topics will include quarkonium suppression studies, the non-suppression of the electro-weak Z and photon gauge bosons, the new insights into jet suppression dynamics afforded by di-jet energy asymmetry measurements, and the extensive...
Uwe TÄUBER
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 2:30 PM
It is well-established that including spatial structure and stochastic noise in models for predator-prey interactions invalidates the classical deterministic Lotka-Volterra picture of neutral population cycles. In contrast, stochastic models yield long-lived, but ultimately decaying erratic population oscillations, which can be understood through a resonant amplification mechanism for density...
Nathan DeLauder
(University of Tennessee)
10/21/11, 2:42 PM
Contributed
Understanding the effects of high-energy neutron interactions with certain materials is of considerable interest to the field of space radiation protection. Due to the expected radiation environment, neutron production and interactions with spacecraft materials will result in neutrons that can cause significant biological risk to crewmembers. For investigating incident particle interactions...
Santosh Bhatt
(University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
10/21/11, 2:54 PM
Contributed
The analytical abrasion-ablation model has been used for the quantitative predictions of the neutron and light ion spectra from nucleus-nucleus and nucleon-nucleus collisions. The abrasion stage of the current model is based on the Glauber's multiple scattering theory and applies the small angle approximation which assumes the longitudinal momentum transfer for the scattering amplitude to be...
Jakub Otwinowski
(Emory University)
10/21/11, 3:00 PM
When beneficial mutations are relatively common, competition between multiple unfixed mutations can reduce the rate of fixation in well-mixed asexual populations. We introduce a one-dimensional model with a steady accumulation of beneficial mutations. We find a transition between periodic selection and multiple-mutation regimes. In the multiple-mutation regime, the increase of fitness along...
Steffen Bass
(Duke University)
10/21/11, 3:00 PM
The success of viscous Relativistic Fluid Dynamics (RFD) in describing hadron spectra and elliptic flow at RHIC has led to a strong interest in the transport coefficients of QCD, in particular the shear- and bulk-viscosity as well as the shear-viscosity over entropy-density ratio eta/s. In my talk I will review our current state of knowledge on the shear viscosity of QCD matter at RHIC. In...
Adriana Moreo
(University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
10/21/11, 3:45 PM
An overview of the historic and current developments in superconductivity will be be presented. The phenomenon of superconductivity was discovered almost 100 hundred years ago and it is still one of the hottest research topics providing fascinating puzzles and challenges to both theoreticians and experimentalists. There was a lag of almost 50 years between the experimental discovery of (low...
Roxanne Springer
(Duke University)
10/21/11, 3:45 PM
Submit your question/comment in the box at the registration desk or at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9SGRXS9.
Dr
David Christen
(Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
10/21/11, 4:15 PM
In this talk, I will provide a perspective on the fundamental properties of the cuprate high-temperature superconductors (HTS), and how early and ongoing fundamental research has identified the strengths and weaknesses, and has ultimately led to the development of superconducting wires for power applications--the so-called "coated conductors." Early work on the properties of various classes of...
Alexander Gurevich
(Old Dominion University)
10/21/11, 4:45 PM
Since its discovery 100 years ago, superconductivity has captured the imagination of many as a fascinating physical phenomenon which would enable the drastic reduction of energy waste in the electric power grid, high field magnets and large accelerators. Understanding the physics of superconductivity has been advancing along with the discovery of many superconducting materials and tuning their...
Pencheng Dai
(University of Tennessee at Knoxville / ORNL)
10/21/11, 5:15 PM
In this Talk, I describe the most recent progress in the field of iron-based superconductors. Using neutron scattering as a probe, we study the spin wave excitations in BaFe2As2 and RbFe1.6Se2, and its electron/hole doping evolution of the spin excitations. We find that the effective next nearest neighbor (NNN) exchange interactions for different families of materials are rather similar, thus...
Mahmoud PourArsalan
(University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
In an abrasion-ablation model of high energy heavy ion collisions as the extremely hot and dense participating region expands, and cools off, light high energy particles are emitted in the sphere regions where the relative momentum of the nucleons is less than the coalescence radius in momentum space. The probability of the light particle emission and the source radius of the region emitting...
Michael Staib
(Florida Institute of Technology)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Muon tomography for homeland security aims at detecting well-shielded nuclear contraband in cargo and imaging it in 3D. The technique exploits multiple scattering of atmospheric cosmic ray muons, which is stronger in dense, high-Z nuclear materials, e.g. enriched uranium, than in low-Z and medium-Z shielding materials. We have constructed and operated a compact Muon Tomography Station (MTS)...
Sean Cutchin
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Astrophysical phenomena such as exploding primordial black holes (PBHs), gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), compact object mergers, and supernovae are expected to produce a single pulse of electromagnetic radiation detectable in the low-frequency end of the radio spectrum. Detection of any of these pulses would be significant for the study of the objects themselves, their host environments, and the...
Thomas Redpath
(James Madison University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster (undergraduate)
Water megamasers provide crucial tools for accurate determinations of masses of black holes lurking in galaxy centers, and of extragalactic distances without the need for indirect cosmological assumptions. Current searches have detected masers in only 3 -- 4% of the galaxies surveyed and require refinement of their survey criteria. Motivated by current models linking galaxy environment and...
Jason Lambert
(University of Tennessee)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
The intrinsic optical rotatory dispersion (IORD) and circular dichroism (CD) of the conformationally flexible carvone molecule has been investigated in 17 solvents and compared with results from calculations for the "free" (gas phase) molecule. The G3 method was used to determine the relative energies of the six conformers. The ORD of (R)-(-)-carvone at 589 nm was calculated using coupled...
Eli Owens
(North Carolina State University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Measurements of the vibrational density of states (DOS) in glasses reveal that an excess number of low-frequency modes, as compared to the Debye scaling seen in crystalline materials, is associated with a loss of mechanical rigidity. An excess number of modes have also been observed experimentally in colloids and in simulations of idealized granular materials near the jamming point. However,...
Nishkala Shivakumar
(North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics and North Carolina A&T State University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster (undergraduate)
Smart foam is an emerging active-passive noise control technology with many applications. Smart foam consists of passive foam with an embedded curved piezoelectric (PZT) film. We experimented with three geometries of varying film curvatures and a constant cross-sectional area of 58 cm^2, constructed using melamine foam covered with 28 um thick polyvinylidene fluoride (piezoelectric) films with...
Apurva Oza
(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster (undergraduate)
We focus on continuing the modeling of GRB (Gamma-ray Burst) 091018. Our data is mostly collected across 4 bands (BVRI) from PROMPT (Panchromatic Robotic Optical Monitoring and Polarimetry Telescopes) approximately 4.1 hours after the trigger. We have added NIR, UVOT, X-ray, and more optical points to our datasets. After rejecting the orginal assertion of dust evolution by linking extinction...
Andy Borum
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster (undergraduate)
When carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoribbons become long, they may self-fold and form tennis racket-like shapes. This phenomenon is analyzed in two ways by treating a nanotube or nanoribbon as an elastica. First, an approach from adhesion science is used, in which the two sides of the racket handle are assumed to be straight and bonded together with constant or no separation. New analytical...
Jesse Labello
(University of Tennessee Space Institute)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
This article presents an application of the angular coefficient method for diffuse reflection to calculate stationary molecular flux distributions in general three dimensional environments. The method of angular coefficients is reviewed and the integration of the method into Blender, a free, open-source, 3D modeling software package, is described. Some example calculations are compared to...
William Love
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster (undergraduate)
The Princeton MRI Experiment is a modified Taylor-Couette device that uses GaInSn as its working fluid. An Ultrasonic Doppler Velocimetry (UDV) system allows the measurement of internal fluid velocities. Starting from both hydrodynamically stable and unstable background flow states, prior work has demonstrated the existence of large-scale, large-amplitude, coherent, nonaxisymmetric velocity...
Jianing Han
(Hollins University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Bose Einstein Condensates (BECs) confined in a trap allow us to study the excitation between eigenfunctions of a given trap potential, which can be directly calculated from quantum mechanics. Here we study the spinor collective excitations, in other words, the collective excitations of different spin components. Specifically, the spinor collective modes in a 3D harmonic trap will be presented....
Erin Chambers
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster (undergraduate)
Analysis of top events at the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment is tested by subjecting a single dataset to both the simple counting method and the newer Simultaneous Heavy Flavor and Top (SHyFT) cross section measurement. Respective statistical and systematic errors associated with the data are then compared. The results of the SHyFT analysis have much smaller overall uncertainties.
Brian Francis
(University of Virginia)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
The future upgrade in instantaneous luminosity at the Large Hadron Collider, the Super LHC, introduces challenging demands on existing and future instrumentation at the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment. The increased particle and radiative flux, especially in the forward regions, requires extensive study to understand aging effects of the detector and any future materials to be considered....
Byron Smith
(University of Tennessee)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
The interaction of an electron with an anion is characterized by a long-range coulomb repulsion and a short range polarizability attraction giving rise to a coulomb barrier. The permanent addition of an extra electron to a negatively charged anion requires tunneling through the barrier or attachment of the electron over the top of this coulomb barrier followed by disposal of the excess energy....
Cathleen Fry
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster (undergraduate)
Although a few thousand isotopes have been discovered, the limit existence is only known for the lightest elements. Unfortunately, there has not been a comprehensive compilation of all the discoveries. A project has been undertaken to find all of the first discovery papers. Claims of discoveries were investigated and verified, and first publications are listed at...
Patrick Lawson
(University of Georgia)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Recently, the prebiotic molecule and primitive sugar glycolaldehyde and its structural isomers acetic acid and the abundant methyl formate have been detected in the interstellar medium(ISM). Understanding the processes involving these molecules is vital to understand the ISM, where stars are formed. The rate constants, alpha_e, for dissociative electron-ion recombination of protonated...
Michael Harmon
(Erskine College)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Thomson's e/m experiment is widely popular in undergraduate courses to help gain an understanding of the properties of the electron. Our results using a standard apparatus, however, reveal significant systematic errors. We examine possible reasons for the discrepancy with the aim of modeling effects that were not included in the original analysis. We conclude that the energy loss of the...
Matthew Chamberlin
(James Madison University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques offer tremendous possibilities for easy fabrication of nanostructure arrays for use in thin film electronics. In this study we examine inorganic/organic heterojunctions produced by growing conductive Zn and semiconductive ZnO nanowire arrays on organic conductive PEDOT:PSS polymer thin films using simple and cost-effective PVD methods. Understanding...
Tim Younkin
(University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
In order to study plasma-material interfaces under high power and particle flux, large linear machines are being constructed that can effectively simulate conditions that will be found in fusion-grade toroidal devices such as ITER and DEMO. A 15 cm diameter, 1.5 m long linear machine has been built at ORNL using a new helicon antenna designed for input powers up to 100 kW, producing a plasma...
Zukai Wang
(University of Virginia)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
The NOvA collaboration is building a long-baseline neutrino spectrometer optimized to study the appearance of electron neutrinos in a muon neutrino beam. A full-sized prototype of the Near Detector has been fabricated on the surface and is presently taking data with the Fermilab NUMI neutrino beam. A description of the Near Detector will be given and its performance will be shown.
Rich Aquilina
(American Physical Society)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Gravity is by far the weakest of the known four forces. What if that is because it is the oldest of the forces and the most decayed of them? What if that is what caused the Big Bang? The decay of gravity could no longer hold the singularity (or other forces) in check. We know there is decay, it is known as the "Weak" force. The idea of decaying gravity would only serve to unite the "Weak"...
Christopher Frye
(University of Central Florida)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster (undergraduate)
The Forward Hadron Calorimeter (HF) of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) lies in a region not covered by an inner tracking system, and we can rely only on the shapes of showers that hit the HF to determine whether or not they are due to electromagnetic particles. We review the current method of distinguishing shower types in the HF, and we bring attention to a...
Richard Kriske
(University of Minnesota)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
It is well known that it takes no work for water to rise in a Capillary tube. It only takes work for the water to be removed from the top of the tube. It may be possible for this water to be removed using individual photons of the size needed to break the water to water hydrogen bond. This bond is often broken in evaporation of water from surfaces. As this bond is broken at the top of the...
R. Seth Smith
(Francis Marion University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
During the summer of 2011, ALPHA (Advanced Physics Laboratory Association) hosted a series of laboratory immersion experiences in which faculty could spend several days working closely with a mentor on an advanced undergraduate experiment. The goal of this program is to foster wider implementation of these experiments at the undergraduate level. One of these immersions took place at Reed...
John Wood
(University of Virginia)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
The electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) is a crucial sub-detector of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It uses scintillation light fr om approximately 83,000 Lead Tungstate (PbWO_4) crystals to make precision measurements of high energy photons and electrons. In the endcaps of the ECAL this scinti llation light is collected at the rear of the crystal and...
Suvojit Ghosh
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) exhibit superparamagnetism when the energy changes due to thermal fluctuations (~ k_B T) are comparable to or larger than the anisotropy potential barrier KV. Thermal fluctuations produce frequent magnetization reversals in such a situation causing the net MNP magnetization to approach zero. If thermal oscillations are relatively small, the odds of magnetization...
Ei Brown
(Hampton University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is a powerful diagnostic tool for detection of trace elements by monitoring the atomic and ionic emission from laser-induced plasmas. The laser-induced plasma was produced by focusing a 30 mJ pulsed Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm) to dissociate, atomize, and ionize target molecules. In this work, LIBS emissions in the mid-infrared (MIR) region were studied...
Travis Tune
(University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Diamond's properties make it a prime candidate for future use in particle detectors such as at the Compact Muon Solenoid at the LHC. Diamond is radiation hard, has a low thermal conductivity, and has a large bandgap. When a fast moving particle passes through the diamond, ionization occurs, leaving a trail of charge carriers in the diamond. By applying an external electric field, these...
Romney Meek
(Western Kentucky University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
We are developing a high pressure xenon detector for photon measurements. Xenon produces electroluminescence (EL) scintillation emission that we use as the primary signal in our strategy to acquire information. The detector consists of a high pressure chamber, a thin radiation input window with the supporting grid of collimator ribs and electrode grids to create the electric field, and a photo...
Brett Israels
(Florida State University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster (undergraduate)
Power grids are innately susceptible to electrical faults. Here we present various network-theoretical approaches to achieve intentional intelligent islanding of a power grid in order to limit cascading power failures in case such a fault occurs. The methods we use can partition networks into communities with local generating capacity. Here we discuss results of using spectral matrix methods...
R. K. Thrasher
(James Madison University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Data have been collected at the High Intensity gamma-ray Source (HIgS) to investigate neutron emission from a 139La target with linearly polarized gamma rays at E_gamma = 12, 13, 14, and 15 MeV. Liquid scintillator detectors were placed at scattering angles of 55 degrees, 90 degrees and 125 degrees above, below and to the left and right of the target. Six additional detectors were placed at...
J. Hauver
(James Madison University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Carter Chamberlain
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
We present six interactive programs created to aid in the analysis of outflows from Active Galactic Nuclei. 1. An interactive plot showing the ionic fraction versus the ionization parameter, for each ion of several elements and for different SEDs. 2. An interactive plot showing the excitation ratio versus electron number density for several elements. 3. A tool for finding the ionization...
Florentin Smarandache
(University of New Mexico)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Some school scientific problems are posed: 1) Let's consider a tunnel getting from one side to the other of a planet and passing through the planet center. An object is dropped into the tunnel. Is the object oscillating about the center as a pendulum? What happens if the tunnel gets from a side to another side of the planet but doesn't pass through the planet center, would the midpoint of the...
Ashley Taylor
(Winston Salem State University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
The lock and key models using Pac-man particles is an alternative identification mechanism for directing the assembly of combined structures. The system was guided by Fischer's lock-and-key principle which consisted of colloidal spheres as keys and monodisperse colloidal particles with a spherical cavity as locks that bind. What makes this so specific is the fact that the assembly is...
Justin Cutrer
(Xavier University of Louisiana)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Freak waves are waves of great height that appear out of nowhere from otherwise ordinary, if rough, seas. The steepness of these waves can cause an enormous amount of damage to ships and oil platforms. Understanding the cause of freak waves will help us to predict dangerous conditions, and engineer structures better able to withstand such waves. A number of mechanisms have been studied as the...
John Hodge
(Blue Ridge Community College)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
A particle model of light that exhibited wave--like behavior was proposed at SESAPS log. No. SES09-2009-000064. The model combined the Bohm interpretation with the Scalar Potential Model (SPM) of photons. The model simulation is expanded with a slight modification to allow for different color photons through a single slit experiment, Young's experiment, and coherent light from large distances.
Kerry McGill
(North Georgia College and State University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster (undergraduate)
As the source of genetic material, DNA is involved in a variety of biological processes like transcription, cell replication, and more. In these processes, DNA is manipulated into different structures and is subjected to different levels of physical force on a molecular scale. When tension is applied to one hierarchical structure called chromatin, it appears to behave like a Hookian spring....
Brandon Bear
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Neutron star binary systems lose energy through gravitational radiation, and eventually merge. The gravitational radiation from the merger can be detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). It is expected that a transient radio pulse will also be produced during the merger event. Detection of such radio transients would allow for LIGO to search for signals...
Jr-Wei Tsai
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Supernovae events may be accompanied by prompt emission of a low-frequency electromagnetic transient. These transient events are created by the interaction of a shock wave of charged particles created by SN core-collapse with a stars ambient magnetic field. Such events can be detected in low-frequency radio array. Here we discuss an ongoing search for such events using two radio arrays: the...
Thomas Robacker
(University of Tennessee)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster (undergraduate)
Single-crystalline diamond detectors are radiation hard and conduct heat very well which makes them an ideal choice for particle tracking devices close to the LHC beam. As a first application they will be used in a luminosity telescope (PLT) that is scheduled to be inserted into the CMS detector in 2012. This summer, several diamond detectors have been bump-bonded to the readout-chip of the...
Joseph Goodell
(University of Virginia)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) photodetectors are a type of semiconducting photodetector that should be able to withstand much higher levels of radiation than commonly used silicon photomultipliers (SIPMs). At the University of Virginia we are characterizing GaAs devices as compared to SIPMs by studying the I/V curve in breakdown region, the breakdown voltage, dark noise, and response to photons....
David Abbott
(University of Virginia)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster (undergraduate)
The Mu2e experiment at Fermilab plans to use a two-out-of-three coincident requirement in a plastic scintillator based detector to veto cosmic ray events. This veto system must operate efficiently in a high-radiation environment. In this investigation, three plastic scintillator bars containing wavelength-shifting fibers represent the veto system. These bars were placed together, in series, in...
James Veldhorst
(Covenant College)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
We studied various electrical properties of Nb/Mo bilayer films at low temperatures as a function of layer proportions with series varying both Nb and Mo (eg. holding Nb constant at 30nm with Mo ranging from 10 to 40 nm). After growing multiple series of Nb/Mo bilayers on silicon substrates at different configurations through magnetron sputtering, the samples were cooled to ~6K, where we...
Jacob Moldenhauer
(Francis Marion University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
With the plethora of incoming and future cosmological data, the testing of general relativity at cosmological scales has become a possible and timely endeavor. It is not only motivated by the pressing question of cosmic acceleration but also by the proposals of some extensions to general relativity that would manifest themselves at large scales of distance. To test the consistency of current...
Phillip Nelson
(Virginia Tech)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
We used the Virginia Tech Spectral-Line Imaging Camera (SLIC) to image the warm ionized interstellar medium (WIM) toward the Local Perseus Arm. We obtained a series of images, each of which is 10 degree-wide, and has arcminute-resolution. The images show three basic types of structures --- compact clouds with diameters greater than several degrees, those that are 1 degree or less in diameter,...
Brandon Minor
(George Washington University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster (undergraduate)
Many coffee drinkers take cream with their coffee and often wonder whether to add the cream earlier or later. With the objective of keeping their coffee as hot as possible over a moderate time period (10-15 minutes), this is a question that most of them can never answer definitively. We investigated this problem empirically using hot and cold water, with special emphasis on the calorimetry of...
Merek Chertkow
(Oak Ridge National Laboratory / University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
Core-collapse supernovae (CCSN) are multi-dimensional events and the codes we develop to model them must follow suit. Our group at the Oak Ridge National Lab has successfully generated self-consistent explosions in 2D of 12-25 solar mass stars using our code CHIMERA. This code is made up of three essentially independent parts designed to evolve the stellar gas hydrodynamics (VH1/MVH3), the...
David Osborne
(University of Georgia)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
The Kepler Spacecraft successfully identified five new planets within the Habitable zones of stars in our region of the Milky Way. In our own planetary system the Cassini Spacecraft obtained mass spectra of the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. To convert the mass spectra to molecular composition a great deal of kinetic rate data is required. These data are used to explain the processes by...
A. Bluiett
(Elizabeth City State University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
A comparative study of the wavelength dependence of the Er3+ upconversion in low phonon-energy hosts KPb2Cl5 and KPb2 Br5 will be presented. Initial measurements indicate that visible and infrared upconversion was generated under 0.97 um and 1.5 um laser excitation. Using time resolved emission, spectral emission, and spectral absorption data the dominant upconversion mechanisms involving...
Mithi de los Reyes
(North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster (undergraduate)
The method of "capillary origami"---using the surface tension of an evaporating water droplet to fold a flexible membrane into a 3-D polyhedron, as investigated by Py et al.---has shown promise as a way to create fully 3-D microstructures. However, the origami re-opens past a critical evaporation point, and previous attempts to prevent this re-opening have proven to be expensive and...
W. R. Henderson
(James Madison University)
10/21/11, 6:00 PM
Poster
The linearly polarized photon beam at the High Intensity gamma-ray Source (HIgS) was used to study neutron emission from a {nat}Hg target at energies of 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 MeV. Twelve liquid scintillator detectors were placed at polar angles of 55 degrees, 90 degrees and 125 degrees and at azimuthal angles of phi=0 degrees, 90 degrees, 180 degrees, 270 degrees. Six more detectors were...
Peter Shawhan
(University of Maryland)
10/22/11, 8:30 AM
Invited
The LIGO, GEO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors have collected a few years of data with good sensitivity and have carried out searches for several types of gravitational-wave signals. I will highlight a few search results obtained so far which shed light on plausible astrophysical sources. The detectors are currently undergoing major upgrades and will run again as Advanced LIGO and...
Guohua Zhu
(Norfolk State University)
10/22/11, 8:30 AM
Invited
Nanoplasmonics and Metamaterials have become an important research topic because of their interesting physics and exciting potential applications, ranging from sensing and biomedicine to nanoscopic imaging and information technology. However, many applications are hindered by one common cause -- absorption loss in metal. We have shown the loss of surface plasmon can be conquered by modifying...
James Roberto
(Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
10/22/11, 8:30 AM
Over the past decade, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has transformed its research infrastructure, particularly in the areas of neutron scattering, nanoscale science and technology, and high-performance computing. New facilities, including the Spallation Neutron Source, Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, and Leadership Computing Facility, have been constructed that provide...
Charles Jenkins
(University of South Alabama)
10/22/11, 8:30 AM
Contributed
The CMS Experiment at the LHC is currently observing 7 TeV center of mass energy pp collisions. One of the many beyond the standard model searches being conducted by CMS is for evidence of a fourth generation top-like quark (t'). If this object exists, it is expected to decay as: t' -> W b. In pp collisions the top-like quark would be produced with its anti-quark (pp -> t' tbar' -> W+ b W-...
Huong Nguyen
(University of Virginia)
10/22/11, 8:42 AM
Contributed
This talk will discuss several techniques employed to increase sensitivities in searches for the standard model Higgs boson at the D0 Experiment, including kinematic fits, matrix element methods, and kinematically motivated divisions of data. Examples from recent data analysis work will be presented.
Luis Lebolo
(Florida International University)
10/22/11, 8:54 AM
Contributed
The Z0 boson center-of-mass angular distribution is measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt{s} = 7~TeV, at the CERN LHC. The advantage of studying the angular distribution is that the partonic cross section is solely a function of s-hat and cos(theta-hat); it does not depend on the details of the parton distribution functions. The data sample, recorded with the CMS detector, corresponds...
Michael Kavic
(Long Island University)
10/22/11, 9:00 AM
Invited
The sensitivity of gravitational waves searches could be improved by coincident observation of electromagnetic signals from expected gravitational wave sources. One possibility is using low-frequency radio transients to trigger and constrain searches for gravitational wave signals. Both are all-sky observations with a number of common sources, and low frequency observations are able to provide...
Prof.
Gwyn Williams
(Jefferson Lab)
10/22/11, 9:00 AM
The National Academy of Sciences, Department of Energy Office of Science and National Science Foundation have recently defined a set of scientific "Grand Challenges" for the 21st Century. DOE's interest is a secure and sustainable energy future in a clean environment. Addressing many of the challenges will require an X-ray laser - a coherent ultra-bright light source whose wavelength is of...
Thomas Crawford
(University of South Carolina)
10/22/11, 9:00 AM
Invited
We report programmed fluidic assembly of ~12 nm diameter Fe3O4 nanoparticles into hierarchically-patterned architectures using the confined magnetic fields that are emitted from transitions written onto magnetic disk drive media. When combined with a controlled external field, our approach yields both laterally-programmed assemblies of nanoparticles over cm length scales and...
Christopher Frye
(University of Central Florida)
10/22/11, 9:06 AM
Contributed (undergraduate)
The Forward Hadron Calorimeter (HF) of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) lies in a region not covered by an inner tracking system, and we can rely only on the shapes of showers that hit the HF to determine whether or not they are due to electromagnetic particles. We review the current method of distinguishing shower types in the HF, and we bring attention to a...
Christopher Buchanan
(University of South Alabama)
10/22/11, 9:18 AM
Contributed (undergraduate)
We present a precision measurement of the exclusive anti-B0 meson decays to D*+, lepton, and anti-neutrino using 476 million B-meson anti-B-meson pairs. The data sample collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B-Factory at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The anti-B0 mesons are reconstructed using a partial reconstruction in which the D* four-momentum is inferred...
John Simonetti
(Virginia Tech)
10/22/11, 9:30 AM
Invited
Given the difficulties in testing current frontier physics ideas in earth-based experiments, we might profitably look to the cosmos for observational tests. I will discuss observations that could set a limit on the size of a warped extra spatial dimension in the braneworld scenario. The observations would be similar to those that provided evidence of gravitational radiation by the binary...
Romulus Godang
(University of South Alabama)
10/22/11, 9:30 AM
Contributed
We report on the study of the decay B+ to D0(D0bar) K+ where the D0 or D0bar meson decaying to Kpipi and Kpipi0, with the Atwood Dunietz and Soni (ADS) and Gronau, London, and Wyler (GLW) methods. We measure the ratios Rads, R+, and R- since the processes B+ to D0barK+ and B+ to D0K+ are proportional to Vcb and Vub, respectively, are sensitive to rB and to the weak phase angle gamma.
Rene Lopez
(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
10/22/11, 9:30 AM
Invited
Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) differ from conventional semiconductor devices in that they separate the function of light absorption from charge carrier transport. At the heart of a DSSC is a metal oxide nanoparticle film, which provides a large effective surface area for adsorption of light harvesting molecules. The films need to be thick enough to absorb a significant fraction of the...
R. Bruce Vogelaar
(Virginia Tech)
10/22/11, 9:30 AM
A new deep underground research facility is open and operating only 30 minutes from the Virginia Tech campus. It is located in an operating limestone mine, and has drive-in access (eg: roll-back truck, motor coach), over 50 miles of drifts (all 40' x 20' x 100'; the current lab is 35'x100'x22'), and is located where there is a 1700' overburden. The laboratory was built in 2007 and offers fiber...
Rafi Qumsieh
(University of South Alabama)
10/22/11, 9:42 AM
Contributed
We measure a model independent measurement of the branching fraction of Upsilon(4S) to neutral B pairs. We use a sample of 476 million B-meson anti-B-meson pairs collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B-Factory at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The B mesons are reconstructed through the channel of anti-B0 decays to D*+ lepton...
Vanessa Gaultney
(Florida International University)
10/22/11, 9:54 AM
Contributed
The angular distribution of prompt photons in events with at least one jet in the center-of-mass frame for pp collisions at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV is presented. A template method is used to distinguish between signal and the dominant background from jets fragmenting into neutral mesons. Measuring the angular distribution is a direct probe of the partonic cross section for prompt photon production and...
Hans Robinson
(Virginia Tech)
10/22/11, 10:00 AM
Invited
Surface plasmon resonances tend to concentrate the electromagnetic field intensity by several orders of magnitude within nanometer scale hotspots located at sharp corners or inside narrow gaps in the structure. This phenomenon can be used to enhance a number of different effects, such as Raman scattering, fluorescence efficiency and photochemical reactions. This talk will give an overview of...
Nahum Arav
(Virginia Tech)
10/22/11, 10:00 AM
Invited
Sub-relativistic outflows are seen as blueshifted absorption troughs in the spectra of roughly one third of all quasars. I will describe how we determine the mass flux and kinetic luminosity of these outflows and show that the derived values suggest that absorption outflows may be a main agent of AGN feedback scenarios.
Kalyan Kanakamedala
(Louisiana State University)
10/22/11, 10:45 AM
Contributed
Tantamount to the realization of next generation nanoscale devices is the synthesis and characterization of new electronic materials. GUMBOS, or a Group of Uniform Materials Based on Organic Salts, represent a first-time synthesis of nanoscale material composed of ionic liquid species in the frozen (solid) state whose electronic characteristics are indicative of potential future application to...
Tjipto Juwono
(Florida State University)
10/22/11, 10:45 AM
Contributed
We have studied the effect of diffusion during the desorption phase in pulsed electrodeposition in a square lattice-gas model using Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. The effect of diffusion on correlation length and size distribution during the desorption were studied. During the process, the correlation length increased up to a maximum and then decreased. We found that diffusion increase...
Craig Group
(University of Virginia)
10/22/11, 10:45 AM
Invited
The Tevatron's long program of colliding protons and anti-protons at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV will end in September of this year (2011). I will describe the ongoing efforts of the CDF and DO collaborations to conclude their search for the Higgs boson and make predictions on their sensitivity with the complete dataset. The sensitivity of the LHC experiments at CERN is quickly...
Naveen Jagadish
(Louisiana State University)
10/22/11, 10:57 AM
Contributed
In our work on hybrid (organic-inorganic) electronic materials (HEMs), we have developed a reasonably facile method for characterizing GUMBOS or a Group of Uniform Materials Based on Organic Salts. In addition to the versatility of traditional ionic liquids (i.e.-solubility, melting point, viscosity), nanoGUMBOS are functionalizable to exhibit properties such as fluorescence, magnetic...
Yoh Yamamoto
(Virginia Tech)
10/22/11, 10:57 AM
Contributed
Recent experiments showed that magnetic nanoparticles have distributions of sizes and shapes, and that the distributions greatly influence static and dynamic properties of the nanoparticles. Therefore, it is critical to understand their properties as functions of the distributions. Previously, we studied an effect of particle size distributions on metastability in magnetization relaxation,...
William Sams
(North Carolina State University)
10/22/11, 10:57 AM
Contributed
In recent years, enrollment in undergraduate physics courses at NC State has grown significantly, especially in introductory physics. Since most of these courses involve a laboratory component, the increased enrollment is leading to a shortage of laboratory space. Starting this spring NC State will implement kit labs in calculus-based mechanics labs. These kits will make it possible for...
195.
Negative coefficient of thermal expansion in (epoxy resin)/(zirconium tungstate) nanocomposites
Erich See
(Virginia Tech)
10/22/11, 11:09 AM
Contributed
The alpha-phase of zirconium tungstate (Zr W_2 O_8) has the remarkable property that its coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) takes on a nearly constant negative value throughout its entire range of thermal stability (0 -- 1050 K). Composites of Zr W_2 O_8 nanoparticles and polymer resins have a reduced CTE compared to the pure polymer, but previous work has been restricted to measurements...
Ms
Linjun Li
(Virginia Tech)
10/22/11, 11:09 AM
Contributed
The equilibrium phase diagram of the two-dimensional Ising model in contact with a single heat bath is well understood. We here study the properties of the two-dimensional Ising model with conserved dynamics where the two halves of the system are in contact with different heat baths. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we identify three different phases for this non-equilibrium system, as a...
Daniel Huggett
(Southeastern Louisiana University)
10/22/11, 11:09 AM
Contributed
In an effort to give high school students experience in real world science applications, we have partnered with Loranger High School in Loranger, LA to mentor 9 senior physics students in radio frequency electromagnetic detection. The effort consists of two projects: Mapping of 60 Hz noise around the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), and the construction of a 20 MHz...
Dick Greenwood
(Louisiana Tech University)
10/22/11, 11:15 AM
Invited
The ATLAS Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) began taking data at a center of mass energy of 7 TeV in spring 2010. What have we learned from ATLAS since SESAPS 2010? In my talk, I present the status of our measurements thus far, relate these results to predictions of the Standard Model and of theories beyond the Standard Model, and conclude with our prospects for making interesting...
Ulrich Dobramysl
(Virginia Tech)
10/22/11, 11:21 AM
Contributed
The characterization of type-II superconducting materials and their technological applications in external magnetic fields require a thorough understanding of the stationary and dynamical properties of vortex matter. The competition of repulsive interactions and attractive material defects renders the physics of externally driven magnetic flux lines very rich. We study the non-equilibrium...
Roman Ciapurin
(University of Florida)
10/22/11, 11:21 AM
Contributed (undergraduate)
The decay of quantum turbulence is not fully understood in superfluid helium at milikelvin temperatures where the viscous normal component is absent. Vibrating grid experiments performed periously produced inhomogeneous turbulence, making the results hard to interpret. We have developed experimental methods to produce homogeneous isotropic turbulence by pulling a grid at a variable constant...
Ronald Mickens
(Clark Atlanta University)
10/22/11, 11:33 AM
Contributed
The Abel equation, in canonical form, is y' = sin t - y^3 (*) and corresponds to the singular (epsilon -> 0) limit of the nonlinear, forced oscillator epsilon y" + y' + y^3 = sin t, epsilon -> 0. (**) Equation (*) has the property that it has a unique periodic solution defined on (-infty, infty). Further, as t increases, all solutions are attracted into the strip |y| < 1 and any two different...
Anita Vincent-Johnson
(James Madison University)
10/22/11, 11:33 AM
Contributed (undergraduate)
Our research focuses on polaritons, or infrared (IR) photon-phonon coupling in ionic materials, as a way to capture IR radiation from the solar spectrum. Radiative polaritons (RP) have the unique property that their phase velocity is faster than the speed of light. We wish to prove that the polaritons present in thin oxide films are RP's with the traits predicted by theory. Therefore, in this...
Dr
'Kale Oyedeji
(Morehouse College)
10/22/11, 11:45 AM
Contributed
The Burger Partial Differential Equation (PDE) provides a nonlinear model that incorporates several of the important properties of fluid behavior. However, no general solution to it is known for given arbitrary initial and/or boundary conditions. We propose a "new" method for determining approximations for the solutions. Our method combines the separation of variables technique, combined with...
Phillip Broussard
(Covenant College)
10/22/11, 11:45 AM
Contributed
We have carried out measurements of inductive critical currents in Nb/Mo bilayers. The films were grown by magnetron sputtering onto silicon substrates from separate sources. Sequences with varying either the molybdenum or niobium layer thickness were grown and studied. Inductive critical currents were measured using a third harmonic technique at 1 kHz. J_c varies as (1-t)^{3/2} as expected...
Will Johns
(Vanderbilt)
10/22/11, 11:45 AM
Invited
The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has been collecting and analyzing proton-proton collisions at 7 TeV. CMS has collected more than 2 fb^-1 of collision data, including smaller samples at lower energies of 0.9 TeV and 2.36 TeV. These samples allow precision measurements of Standard Model processes and probing for new physics. The results presented...
Daniel Linford
(Virginia Tech)
10/22/11, 11:57 AM
Contributed
It is known that in one-dimensional equilibrium systems with short range interactions a phase transition cannot exist at finite, non-zero temperatures. However, far from equilibrium, one-dimensional systems with local interactions can exhibit a phase transition. The ABC model, a three species model defined on a chain characterized by non-symmetric exchanges between particles, is known to...
Ustun Sunay
(University of Alabama at Birmingham)
10/22/11, 11:57 AM
Contributed (undergraduate)
Unintentional doping by hydrogen is a concern for industrial growth of p-type GaN which is important in creating blue LEDs and high frequency devices. Using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) we investigated hydrogen passivation in p-type nitrides. Samples included conventional GaN and Al_x Ga_{1-x} N(x=0.12,0.28) grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with 1-4x10^{19} cm${-3} Mg and GaN...
Hyunju Kim
(Virginia Tech)
10/22/11, 12:09 PM
Contributed
Network representation and modeling has been one of the most comprehensive ways to study many complex systems. However, the network describing the system frequently has to be built from incomplete connectivity data, a typical case being degree-based graph construction, when only the sequence of node degrees is available. In this presentation I will introduce problems and results related to the...
Kyungwha Park
(Virginia Tech)
10/22/11, 12:09 PM
Contributed
Recently, three-dimensional topological insulators (TIs) with time reversal symmetry draw attention due to their unique quantum properties and device applications. Strong spin-orbit coupling in TIs induces metallic surface states within bulk band gaps. It has been known that Bi_2 Te_3, Bi_2 Se_3, and Sb_2 Te_3 are TIs possessing a single Dirac cone in the dispersion of the surface states at a...
Takemichi Okui
(Florida State University)
10/22/11, 12:15 PM
Invited
I will provide a concise, coherent overview of electroweak symmetry breaking from a modern perspective and in light of the latest LHC data, focusing on the mechanisms of electroweak symmetry breaking that are natural, i.e., without significant fine-tuning.
Wenjia Liu
(Virginia Tech)
10/22/11, 12:21 PM
Contributed
The characteristics of single networks, whether physical, biological or social, are well known. However, many of these networks function not only in isolation, but also coupled to each other. So far, little is known about such "interacting networks." Here, we consider two coupled systems, modeling social networks with a preferred number of friends. We first report on the (statistical)...
Eric Martin
(University of Tennessee)
10/22/11, 12:21 PM
Contributed (undergraduate)
Magnesium-doped rhodium oxides with formula unit Cu Rh_{1-x} Mg_x O_2 and delafossite-type structure exhibit a high thermoelectric figure of merit at elevated temperatures. The electronic structure of Cu Rh_{1-x} Mg_x O_2 has been studied with x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES), x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), and photoemission spectroscopy (PES). The data reveal that the states at the...
Kristen Dagenais
(University of Maryland, Baltimore County)
10/22/11, 12:33 PM
Contributed (undergraduate)
A relationship between energy band gap and electronegativity has long been understood to exist. However, defining the relationship between the two for binary oxide systems has proven difficult. Many scientists tried to model the band gap as a function of Pauling electronegativity values, but we show that by using a new concept called ``optical electronegativity'' one can obtain much better...
Wei Song
(University of North Carolina at Charlotte)
10/22/11, 12:33 PM
Contributed
A new image charge solvation model has recently been developed, which consists of a spherical cavity of explicit solvent embedded in a continuum dielectric medium. Inside the cavity, the dielectric constant is 1 and outside the cavity is set to 80. Although the discontinuity from 1 to 80 at the cavity interface creates large artifacts near the boundary, MD simulation using this model yields...
Paolo Vilmercati
(University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
10/22/11, 12:45 PM
Contributed
The newly discovered BaFe2As2 high Tc superconductors have given a huge stimulus in the field of superconductivity after more than two decades of cuprates supremacy. Their relatively simpler crystal structure, the possibility of ambivalent doping (holes and electrons) and their rich phase diagram provide an ideal workbench for a deeper understanding of high Tc superconductivity. Here we...
Yifei Shi
(University of Virginia)
10/22/11, 12:45 PM
Contributed
We study the generalized XY model in two dimension, which has a term proportional to cos(2 theta) in addition to the normal XY Hamiltonian. This corresponds to having half vortices connected by solitons, as well as integer vortices. From both renormalization group analysis and Monte Carlo simulation using the worm algorithm, we find that the phase diagram includes Kosterlitz-Thouless...
Sajjad Tollabimazraehno
(Johannes Kepler University)
10/22/11, 12:57 PM
Contributed
The effect of thermal annealing to get different phases on low carbon steel was investigated. Steel sheets (0.2 wt. % C) of 900 um thickness were heat treated to produce different structures. All the samples have the same starting point, transformation to coarse austenite at 900 degree Celsius. The nano indentation results revealed that samples have different hadness. By making conventional...
Sushovit Adhikari
(Southeastern Louisiana University)
10/22/11, 1:09 PM
Contributed
A Michelson interferometer has been assembled to evaluate the adhesion strength of thin-film coating on silicon wafers. Two gold coated silicon wafer specimens are configured as the two end mirrors of the interferometer. The end mirrors are slightly tilted so that vertical interferometric fringes (dark stripes) are formed behind the beam splitter. An acoustic transducer is attached to the...
Sajjad Tollabimazraehno
(Johannes Kepler University)
