March 28-April 1, 2005 THE BOSTON AREA PHYSICS CALENDAR The Boston Area Physics Calendar is published weekly during the academic year by the Department of Physics at Boston University. You may send your announcement by e-mail (bapc-events@cosmos.phy.tufts.edu ) or FAX (617-353-9393). We cannot accept announcements by telephone. Entries should reach us no later than 12:00 p.m. the Tuesday of the week proceeding the week of the event. ENTRIES RECEIVED AFTER THE DEADLINE WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED. MONDAY, MARCH 28, 2005 Monday, March 28, 2:00PM Massachusetts Institute of Technology Nuclear and Particle Theory Seminar Center for Theoretical Physics, Building 6, Third Floor seminar room ``An obstacle to describing a universe in the laboratory" Raphael Bousso Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Refreshments will be served TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2005 Tuesday, March 29th, 2005, 3:30 PM Boston University Physics Department Colloquium 590 Commonwealth Ave. Metcalf Science Building, Rm SCI 107 "Enlightening Larry and other adventures in diversity " Howard Georgi Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics Harvard University Refreshments served at 3:15 PM in 1st floor lounge Abstract: The issue of women in science has been much in the news recently because of the comments of Harvard President Lawrence Summers. I have been very involved with these issues for over ten years, but never more intensively than since Larry's remarks. I will talk about my experiences as an activist for women in physics. I will argue that there is much that the physics community can and must do to increase participation of women. This will require that more physicists (men and women) understand that the dearth of women in physics results from a complicated cocktail of discrimination and societal pressures. But it is also a symptom of a deeper problem that we must solve if physics is to remain a vital flagship science in a changing world. Tuesday, March 29, 2:00PM Massachusetts Institute of Technology Special Seminar Center for Theoretical Physics, Building 6, Third Floor seminar room ``Lorentz-noninvariant neutrino oscillations: a simple model" Frans Klinkhamer University of Karlsruhe Refreshments will be served at 2PM Tuesday, March 29, 2004, 2:30pm Tufts University Joint Tufts/CFA/MIT Cosmology Seminar Robinson 250 "Conflict between anthropic reasoning and observation" Ken Olum Tufts University Refreshments served at 2:00pm in Knipp Library, Room 251 Tuesday, March 29, 2005, 4:00pm Brandeis University Martin Weiner Lecture Series, Physics Colloquium Physics Building, Abelson 131 "Fundamental Physics through Astrophysics" Professor Christopher Stubbs Harvard University Refreshments in Room 333 at 3:30pm Room is changed from Jefferson 256 to Lyman 425. Tuesday, March 29th Noon to 1:30 Lyman 425 Department of Physics Harvard University Condensed Matter Theory Seminar: Speaker: Sung-Sik Lee, CMT Group, MIT Title: "U(1) Gauge Theory of the Hubbard Model: Spin Liquid States and Possible Application to Organic Compund" Abstract: Spin liquid is a theoretically proposed spin-charge separated state where charges are `frozen' (insulating) while spins are `quantum melted' (disordered). Recent experiments indicate that the spin liquid ground state may be realized in a two-dimensional organic compound which is just on insulating side of the Mott transition. In this talk I will present a U(1) gauge formalism of the Hubbard model, from which it will be argued that the spin liquid phases may be stabilized by charge fluctuations near the Mott transition in the triangular and honeycomb lattices at half filling. Highly unusual experimental consequences of the spin liquid state are predicted for thermal conductivity and Raman scattering. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2005 Wednesday, March 30, 2:00PM Massachusetts Institute of Technology String/Gravity Theory Seminar Center for Theoretical Physics, Building 6, Third Floor seminar room ``Topological string theory on H_3 x S3" Martin Wijnholt Princeton Refreshments will be served Wednesday, 30 March 2005, 2:30 p.m. Brown University Theoretical Seminar Department of Physics - B&H 555* "Reconnection of Cosmic Strings: D Branes Versus Vortices" Prof. Hanany Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Wednesday, March 30, 2005, 4:00 PM University of Massachusetts at Lowell Spring Colloquia 2005 Olney 218 "The Origin of Mass and the Feebleness of Gravity" Professor Frank Wilczek MIT Refreshments served at 3:30 PM Wednesday, March 30, 4:30PM Massachusetts Institute of Technology Joint Theory Seminar Center for Theoretical Physics, Building 6, Third Floor seminar room ``Cold dark matter caustics" Pierre Sikivie University of Florida Refreshments will be served at 4PM Wednesday, March 30, 2005, 7:00 - 9:30 PM MIT Lincoln Laboratory Lectures 3 & 4 of special 10 lecture Workshop on Photonic Crystals Last 2 hours of a 4 hour introductory tutorial on: "Photonic-crystals: Principles, Techniques, and Applications" Professor Steven G. Johnson Mathematics Department, MIT 12pm,Wednesday, March 30th Harvard University Special Condensed Matter Theory Seminar Department of Physics Lyman 425 “Condensation and Lasing of Microcavity Polaritons” Francesca Maria Marchetti Cavendish Laboratory, TCM Group Wednesday, March 30, 2005, 4pm Northeastern University Physics Colloquium Room 114 Dana Research Building "Suppression of Quantum Effects by Metallic Environments" Francisco Guinea Boston University THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2005 Thursday, March 31, 2005, 4pm Northeastern University Physics Colloquium Room 114 Dana Research Building "Simultaneous Coincident Optical Trapping and Single-Molecule Fluorescence" Matt Lang MIT 12pm, Thursday, March 31st (CANCELLED) Harvard University Condensed Matter Theory Seminar Department of Physics Lyman 425 “Competing Orders in Cuprate Superconductors” Prof. Alessandra Lanzara University of California, Berkeley and Materials Science Divisions, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Thursday, March 31, 2005, 12:30 PM Tufts University Lunchtime Cosmology Seminar Robinson Hall, Room 250 "Lorentz-noninvariant neutrino oscillations: a simple model" Frans Klinkhamer University of Karlsruhe Thursday, March 31, 2005, 4:00 pm Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Phillips Auditorium 60 Garden Street, Cambridge "Recent Results from the Spitzer GLIMPSE Legacy Science Program" Edward B. Churchwell The University of Wisconsin * tea and cookies at 3:30 p.m. * Thursday, March 31, 2005, 4:15 p.m. Harvard University Duality Seminar Jefferson 453 "Testing models of the 10^{-35}s Universe with the CMB" Lyman Page Princeton University Refreshments served in the High Energy Theory coffee area, 4th floor Jefferson, at 3:45 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Physics Colloquium Series Thursday, 3/31/2005 Dr. Wendy Freedman Director, The Observatories of the Carnegie Institute of Washington "Measuring Cosmological Parameters" Time: 4:15pm Place: Room 10-250 Refreshments will be served in the Physics Common Room (4-339) at 3:45pm FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2005 Friday, April 1, 2005, 4 PM MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center Seminar Building NW17-218 175 Albany St. "Is There a Better Route to Fusion?" Todd Rider MIT Lincoln Laboratory