Joint IAS Princeton University Astrophysics Colloquium

Jan
25
2022

Institute for Advanced Study / Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

New Frontiers of Short Wavelength Exploration: From Astromineralogy to Exoplanet
Lía Corrales (virtual)
11:00am|Virtual and PU, Peyton Hall Auditorium

Uncovering the physics of galaxy evolution has been a longstanding problem for astronomers. Physical galaxy properties like the star formation rate, stellar mass, and metallicity can tell us not only how these properties change over generations of...

Nov
30
2021

Institute for Advanced Study / Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Mars: History of a Habitable World and Lessons for Terrestrial Planet Evolution
Bethany Ehlmann
11:00am|IAS, Wolfensohn Hall and via Zoom

What governs whether large-scale planetary habitability is sustained through time? Lakes, valley networks, groundwaters, hydrothermal systems, and chemically open-system weathering once existed on Mars. The suite of aqueous environments preserved in...

Nov
23
2021

Institute for Advanced Study / Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Cosmology from weak lensing - is lensing low?
Alexandra Amon
11:00am|IAS, Wolfensohn Hall and via Zoom

I will present the cosmological weak lensing results from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) using its first three years of data, taken on the 4m Blanco telescope at CTIO. This analysis spans the full DES footprint, more than 4000 sq. deg. of sky, with...

Nov
09
2021

Institute for Advanced Study / Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Numerical modeling of gravitational wave sources in multimessenger astronomy era
Kenta Kiuchi
11:00am|IAS, Wolfensohn Hall and via Zoom

GW170817 heralded the opening of multimessenger astronomy. To predict or interpret gravitational wave sources, numerical modeling, in particular, numerical relativity is a unique and viable tool. In this talk, I will present the current status of...

Nov
02
2021

Institute for Advanced Study / Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Magnetism in planet-forming disks and the solar nebula
Xuening Bai
11:00am|IAS, Wolfensohn Hall and via Zoom

Magnetism has been in the forefront in our understandings of protoplanetary disks (PPD) and planet formation. With the prevalence of disk substructures, a major observational revolution over the past few years, PPDs are now considered as “planet...

Oct
26
2021

Institute for Advanced Study / Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Implications, Tests, and Unsolved Problems in Cosmic Ray Feedback
Ellen Zweibel
11:00am|IAS, Bloomberg Lecture Hall and via Zoom

Cosmic rays, the relativistic component of diffuse astrophysical plasma, exchange energy and momentum with the thermal gas collisionlessly, mediated by the ambient magnetic field. Some but not all models of this interaction show that cosmic rays can...

Oct
12
2021

Institute for Advanced Study / Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Gemini Observatory in the 2020's
Jennifer Lotz
11:00am|IAS, Wolfensohn Lecture Hall and via Zoom

For two decades, the international Gemini Observatory has powered astronomical discovery for the entire U.S. community and the international Gemini partnership. Gemini’s twin 8.1m optical/infrared telescopes provide nightly access to both...

Oct
05
2021

Institute for Advanced Study / Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

The PAH Revolution: Cold, Dark Carbon at the Earliest Stages of Star Formation
Brett McGuire
11:00am|IAS, Wolfensohn Hall and via Zoom

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been implicated as a large reservoir of reactive carbon in the interstellar medium since the 1980s. PAHs have been widely attributed as the carriers of the unidentified infrared bands where their...

Sep
28
2021

Institute for Advanced Study / Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

All you need is a Normalizing Flow
Uros Seljak
11:00am|IAS, Wolfensohn Hall, Lecture Hall and via Zoom

Normalizing Flows (NF) are bijective maps from the data to a Gaussian (normal) distribution or viceversa. In contrast to other generative models they are lossless and provide data likelihood via the Jacobian of the transformation. I will first...