Physics Colloquium
Hydra Morphogenesis – where Biology meets Physics
Oded Agam, Hebrew University
13 May 2025, 12:00 Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science & Technology (51), room 015
Astrophysics and Cosmology Seminar
FRBs and Long-period radio transients
Sergei B. Popov, Moscow State University
14 May 2025, 11:10 Sacta-Rashi Building for Physics (54), room 207
Quantum optics seminar
Levitated diamond particles for spin-levitodynamics experiments
Simon Baier, Innsbruck University
14 May 2025, 16:00 Zoom Only
Astrophysics and Cosmology
Massive galaxy clusters bend light rays from background sources to form magnified, distorted, and multiple arcs. Using this Gravitational Lensing phenomenon, we can map the Dark Matter distribution of the lens, invisible otherwise. Thanks to the magnification power from lensing we can also access increasingly fainter and high-redshift (earlier) galaxies, and study the evolution of the first generation galaxies and the Reionization of the Universe.
Biological and Soft Matter Physics
The impacts of environmental changes on species diversity, and thus on ecosystem function and stability, is a central topic of current ecological research. At the landscape scale, where symmetry breaking vegetation patterns appear, a transition from one pattern state to another may take place (Animation). Using a mathematical modeling approach, we developed a theory of plant communities in water limited system, and are currently using it to highlight mechanisms of species diversity change in response to climate changes and disturbances.
Physics Colloquium
Hydra Morphogenesis – where Biology meets Physics
Oded Agam, Hebrew University
13 May 2025, 12:00 Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science & Technology (51), room 015
Astrophysics and Cosmology Seminar
FRBs and Long-period radio transients
Sergei B. Popov, Moscow State University
14 May 2025, 11:10 Sacta-Rashi Building for Physics (54), room 207
Quantum optics seminar
Levitated diamond particles for spin-levitodynamics experiments
Simon Baier, Innsbruck University
14 May 2025, 16:00 Zoom Only
Condensed Matter Theory
We are interested in properties of topological superconductors, a fascinating state of matter that could be harnessed to create a new type of quantum computer [E. Ginossar and E. Grosfeld, Nature Communications 5, 4772 (2014), Tunability of microwave transitions as a signature of coherent parity mixing effects in the Majorana-transmon qubit.]
Condensed Matter Experimental
The scanning tunneling microscope is a device capable of observing an image with atomic resolution and is capable of observing physical phenomena on the atomic scale. In this study we are interested in the nm scale mechanical properties, normally studied macroscopically, which can vary in different locations on the surface. These properties are the stress and strain tensors, the elastic constants, the surface energy and stress. These values can be measured either using a external perturbation (the STM tip) or internal perturbation (a heteroepitaxial island, chemical reaction).
Physics Colloquium
Hydra Morphogenesis – where Biology meets Physics
Oded Agam, Hebrew University
13 May 2025, 12:00 Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science & Technology (51), room 015
Astrophysics and Cosmology Seminar
FRBs and Long-period radio transients
Sergei B. Popov, Moscow State University
14 May 2025, 11:10 Sacta-Rashi Building for Physics (54), room 207
Quantum optics seminar
Levitated diamond particles for spin-levitodynamics experiments
Simon Baier, Innsbruck University
14 May 2025, 16:00 Zoom Only
High-Energy Physics
Effective theories are simplified physics models which neglect high-energy processes. If those theories include gravitational physics, then the omitted high-energy physics must include that of Quantum Gravity. Not all effective theories can be consistently completed at high energies into Quantum Gravity. Those which can are said to belong to the Landscape of effective theories. While those which cannot are said to belong to the Swampland of inconsistent theories. We study what are the criteria which differentiate an effective theory in the Landscape from one in the Swampland.
Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
We are setting up a brand-new research laboratory of Attosecond Science and Nanophotonics in the Physics Department of the Ben-Gurion University. In our group, we focus on both experimental and theoretical studies at the interface of ultrafast nonlinear optics, attosecond science and nanoscience. More specifically, our work involves generation, measurement and control of the interaction of light and matter in atoms, molecules and nanosystems in space and time at extremely short (attosecond=10^(-18)sec) time scales. Our interests range from fundamental physical phenomena to applications.