Colloquia Schedule Spring 2016

"Spirals, Gaps, and Cavities: Signposts of Planets in Protoplanetary Disks?"

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Robin (Ruobing) Dong

LBNL/Berkeley

host: Adam Kraus

"The Key Influence of AGB Stars on the Evolution and Global Properties of Galaxies"

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Martha L. Boyer

NASA Goddard

host: Kristen McQuinn

"CAMPARE and Cal-Bridge: Two Synergistic Programs Forming a Successful New Model for Promoting Participation of Women and Underrepresented Minority Students in Astronomy"

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Alexander L. Rudolph

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

host: William Cochran

"Exoplanet Atmospheres in High Resolution"

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Jayne L. Birkby

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

host: Daniel Jaffe

"The Dynamical Evolution of Young Stellar Complexes in the Milky Way"

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Alison I. Sills

McMaster University, Hamilton, ON

host: Natalie Gosnell

"The Evolution of Galaxy Structural Properties"

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Rachel Somerville

Rutgers University, Downsbrough Chair in Astrophysics

host: Shardha Jogee

"A PHAT New Measurement of the High-Mass Stellar IMF"

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Daniel Weisz

UC Berkeley/University of Washington

host: Michael Boylan-Kolchin

"The Role of Dwarf-Dwarf Galaxy Interactions in Galaxy Assembly"

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Sabrina Stierwalt

NRAO/University of Virginia

host: Kristen McQuinn

No colloquium scheduled. (Spring Break)

"Exploring the z~2.3 Cosmic Web with 3D Lyman-Alpha Forest Tomography"

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Khee-Gan Lee

UC Berkeley/LBNL

host: Caitlin Casey

"Understanding Galaxy Evolution with Massive Starburst Galaxies"

We are constantly intrigued by how dramatically galaxies evolve when we probe closer to the cosmic dawn. Ten billion years ago, galaxies were forming stars ten times more fiercely than they do today. This phenomenon can be understood in the framework of cold dark matter simulations only if star formation is suppressed in massive dark matter halos. However, the physical mechanisms responsible for the suppression are unclear. Starburst galaxies in massive halos offer a unique laboratory to constrain the suppression processes, because, unlike most galaxies, such processes have apparently failed to operate in these starbursts. Thanks to the Herschel Space Telescope and the South Pole Telescope, for the first time we have identified a rare sample of gravitationally lensed or hyperluminous starbursts at the peak epoch of cosmic star formation. I will show how high-resolution multi-phase observations have helped us gain a comprehensive understanding of these unusual galaxies. I will also describe an ongoing project aimed at constraining the halo-scale gas supply of such massive starbursts. By contrasting with normal galaxies, the results of these studies will be fundamental to a physical understanding of galaxy evolution.

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Hai Fu

University of Iowa

host: Caitlin Casey

"Implications from the Detection of the Binary Black Hole Inspiral GW150914"

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Matthew Benacquista

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

host: J. Craig Wheeler

Stellar Seminar talk Date/Time: Wed., 12 Noon: "Title: TBA"

David Yong (Stellar Tinsley Scholar)

Mt. Stromlo Observatory, Australia

host: Fritz Benedict

"The Calm Before the Storm: Exploring the Post Accretionary Doldrums Prior to the Late Heavy Bombardment"

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William F. Bottke (Planetary Tinsley Scholar)

Southwest Research Instutite, Boulder, Colorado

host: Mike Endl/Judit Ries

"Disk Galaxy Assembly Across Cosmic Time: Combining Magnitude-limited Survey with Gravitational Lensing"

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Tiantian Yuan (Exgal Tinsley Scholar)

Australia National University

host: Chao-Ling Hung

"The Discovery and Characterization of the Y Dwarfs"

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Michael Cushing

University of Toledo

host: Brendan Bowler

"What can Binaries tell us about Planet Formation?"

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Kaitlin M. Kratter (ISM Tinsley Scholar)

Steward Observatory, University of Arizona

host: Adam Kraus