Donnerstag, 9. April 2026 17:30 Uhr Centaur Science: Adventures in AI + Physics
Prof. Jesse Thaler, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology / Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interaction
Prof. Jesse Thaler, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology / Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interaction
Prof. Dr. Skyler Degenkolb, Physikalisches Institut Universität Heidelberg Ultracold neutrons and the universe’s missing antimatter Prof. Dr. Skyler Degenkolb Physikalisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg Nearly 60 years ago, two apparently unrelated scientific events took place quite close together: Sakharov’s enumeration (in 1967) of the requirements to generate the matter-antimatter asymmetry observed in the cosmos, and the first experimental observations (in 1969) of ultracold neutrons independently by Steyerl (in Munich), and by Lushchikov, Pokotilovskii, Streklov, and Shapiro (in Dubna). The unique and defining property of ultracold neutrons – that they can be stored and studied for extended periods on the order of their ~15 minute decay lifetime – is responsible for their gradual elevation over time, from an experimental curiosity, to a state-of-the art precision measurement tool. This ultimately shaped the landscape of low-energy experimental searches for new sources of CP-violation, as motivated by Sakharov: the neutron’s permanent electric dipole moment is an extremely strict test of Standard Model CP-violation, and simultaneously an extremely sensitive witness signal for the as-yet unknown interactions that are needed to produce the matter-filled universe we live in. Recent advances in production and handling of ultracold neutrons, at the lowest achievable energies, promise not only to accelerate the search for an explanation of our universe’s composition – but also to deliver new opportunities and applications that have remained out of reach until now.
Anna Gallazzi, INAF/Osservatorio di Arcetri Stellar populations preserve a record of galaxies' integrated baryon and metal cycles, governed by star formation, metal production and interaction with the surrounding medium. By decoding stellar population properties from galaxy spectra—the "archaeological approach"— fundamental scaling relations have been uncovered linking stellar ages and chemical abundances to galaxy mass, structure, and dynamics. These scaling relations are benchmarks for galaxy evolution models and provide statistical “demographic” distributions at a given epoch. Extending the archaeological approach to earlier cosmic epochs is essential to disentangle individual evolutionary paths from population evolution and eventually allow a statistical connection between progenitors and descendants. The intermediate-redshift regime (the last 8 Gyr) is particularly critical: massive early-formed systems coexist with ongoing quenching in lower-mass galaxies, while all galaxies continue evolving dynamically, morphologically, and chemically. Recent deep spectroscopic surveys now enable archaeological studies at these earlier epochs, complementing traditional number density evolution analyses. I will give an overview of our results constraining stellar population properties from low-redshift spectroscopic surveys and their dependence on mass, star formation activity, and environment. I will then discuss how these scaling relations evolve over the last 6 billion years, as revealed by the LEGA-C survey. This type of analysis provides a foundation for interpreting archaeological investigations of galaxies over a continuous span of cosmic time, as will be obtained from WEAVE, 4MOST, MOONS deep spectroscopic surveys, bridging local and higher-redshift studies. To arrange a visit with the speaker during the visit, please contact their host: Anna Pasquali
Dr. Iacopo Carusotto, INO-CNR BEC Center and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento
