Center for Relativistic Astrophysics

CRA Seminar: Angela Collier
2021-09-23 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | GA
Title: Halo-Bar Coupling: How Dark Matter Defines Galaxies
Abstract: The coupling of a host dark matter halo to a stellar bar can have huge effects on galaxy dynamics and evolution. In this talk, I will review halo-bar coupling and demonstrate the extensive effects on galaxy morphology such as stellar bar destruction, formation of bar-driven dark matter substructure, and leading spiral arms.

Cosmic Coffee
2021-09-22 15:00 - 16:00, 2021-09-15 15:00 - 16:00, 2021-04-21 15:00 - 16:00, 2021-04-14 15:00 - 16:00, 2021-03-31 15:00 - 16:00, 2021-03-10 15:00 - 16:00, 2021-03-03 15:00 - 16:00, 2021-02-24 15:00 - 16:00 and 11 more dates

Welcome to the CRA
2021-09-08 15:00 - 16:00
Please join us on Wednesday, September 8th, 2021 at 3:00PM for this year’s introductory event for the Center for Relativistic Astrophysics. Meet the people who make up the CRA, and learn about the science & organization for this new year.

Cosmic Coffee (@ 2:00PM)
2021-04-07 14:00 - 15:00

CRA Seminar: Prof. Smadar Naoz
2021-03-18 15:00 - 16:00
Title: Gravitational Wave Sources at the Hearts of Galaxies
Abstract: The recent gravitational-wave detections by LIGO/Virgo revolutionized the way we sense our Universe. However, it remains challenging to explain the formation channels of these sources. Motivated by these challenges, recent studies have emphasized the significant contribution of dynamical formation channels in dense stellar environments to the overall gravitational-wave signals. Focusing on the dense stellar clusters surrounding supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies, I will outline stellar binaries’ evolution from birth up to possible gravitational-wave mergers. The supermassive black hole can induce collisions between binary members, while the frequent interactions with the neighbors in this dense environment can sometimes tend to unbind the binary. I will highlight some exotic outcomes, including gravitational-wave emission, for this dynamical evolution channel. I will show how this channel can leave a clear signature on the gravitational-wave signals, allowing differentiation between different merger mechanisms. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) can potentially be used to distinguish between channels.

Georgia Tech Archives Rare Book Spotlight: Newton's Principia & Opticks
2021-02-02 12:00 - 13:00
Link to register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/136831174727
We would like to invite you to an upcoming Georgia Tech event that we think may be of interest to you. The Georgia Tech Library is hosting Georgia Tech Astronomer Jim Sowell and Research Services and Instruction Archivist Alison Reynolds for an exploration of and conversation about Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia and Opticks.
You’ll get a virtual look at the Georgia Tech Archives copies of Newton’s Principia, which established the modern science of dynamics and serves as the basis for the modern study of physics, and Opticks, which provided our modern understanding of light and color. Participants will discuss intersections between rare books and science and why these works are pivotal to our current understanding of physics and astronomy.

Understanding the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics: From the pioneering theoretical work on black holes, to observing the galactic center of our Milky Way
2020-11-11 19:00 - 20:00
Join us virtually on BlueJeans as Georgia Tech School of Physics professor and Glen P. Robinson Chair in Nonlinear Sciences Chair Predrag Cvitanović and Emory University Senior Lecturer and Director of the Planetarium Erin Wells Bonning explain the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Date & Time: Wednesday November 11th from 7pm – 8pm
Virtually attend: https://primetime.bluejeans.com/a2m/live-event/bpahkcyb
After the presentation, the speakers will answer questions from the audience, so come curious! This talk is open to the public and all are welcome to join.
About the Prize
Half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Roger Penrose for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity.
In 1957 Penrose, then a graduate student, met Georgia Tech’s late David Ritz Finkelstein in a fateful meeting that changed both men’s lives forever after. It was Finkelstein’s extension of the Schwarzschild metric which provided Penrose with an opening into general relativity and set him on the path to his 1965 discovery celebrated by this year’s prize.
The other half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for the discovery of — in Ghez’s words — “The Monster at the heart of the Milky Way,” a black hole whose existence had been hypothesized since the early 1970s.
In order to visually observe an object that famously does not emit any light, precise measurements of stars moving in the black hole’s gravitational field had to be carried out. The independent work of Genzel and Ghez mapping the positions of these stars over many years has led to the clearest evidence yet that the center of our Milky Way galaxy contains “The Monster”, that possibly every galaxy contains a black hole, and that the environment near it looks nothing like what was expected.

CRA Seminar by Dr. Miguel Holgado (Carnegie Mellon)
2020-11-05 15:00 - 16:00

CRA Seminar: Kavitha Arur
2020-10-01 15:00 - 16:00

School of Physics Colloquium: Aomawa L. Shields
2020-09-21 15:00 - 16:00
The discovery of numerous small exoplanets has brought the search for life beyond the Solar System into sharp focus on many potentially habitable worlds where life may exist. However, many factors and processes can affect planetary climate and habitability, most of which are currently unconstrained by observations, and their effects must be understood to accurately determine a planet’s habitability potential and prioritize planets for observational follow-up. Professor Shields will describe the methods used by her research group to quantify the effects on planetary climate of a range of factors important for planetary habitability, and share recent results from this work, which demonstrates how the unique interactions between a star and a planet’s atmosphere and surface can produce either a recipe of successful ingredients for habitable surface conditions, or one that reveals less favorable planetary prospects for life.

CRA Seminar: Dr. Evgeni Grishin
2020-09-10 11:00 - 12:00

CRA Seminar by Prof. Katherine Rawlins (U. Alaska)
2020-02-13 15:00 - 16:00
web: https://www.uaa.alaska.edu/academics/college-of-arts-and-sciences/departments/physics-and-astronomy/faculty/rawlins.cshtml
Title: “Cosmic Rays: are they light or heavy?”
Abstract:
With energies greater than a PeV, cosmic rays from galactic (and extra-galactic) sources are too rare to detect directly. Instead, large ground-based detector arrays catch the secondary particles from the extensive air showers that cosmic rays produce in the atmosphere, and attempt to determine indirectly the underlying spectrum and mass composition. The IceCube Observatory has a surface detector called IceTop, which can help to answer these questions… questions which are linked to the mystery of these particles’ origin.
