William I. Fine
ABSTRACTS
Theoretical Physics Institute
8
th annual
THE IRVING AND EDYTHE
Why is Warm Glass Stickier Than
Cold Glass?
MISEL family
LECTURE
Irving and Edythe Misel and Family
The William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute at the University
of Minnesota is proud to host the Misel Lecture Series.
Mr. Fine’s bold vision and generous gift to the University, inspired
by his genuine interest in physics, were instrumental in the
establishment of the Institute and its successful development
over the past two decades.
4th
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How Symmetric is the Electron?
Looking for Out-of-Roundness of
10 -15 Femtometers
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Oak St.
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Speaker:
ERIC CORNELL
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT BOULDER
Physics & Astronomy Colloquium
Exit #235B
Huron Blvd
Ontario St.
Oak
Street
Ramp
200 Oak St. SE, Minneapolis 55455
Mississippi
River
Photograph © [February 25, 2011] Photo by Glenn Asakawa/University of Colorado.
September 24, 2013
7:00 p.m.
Memorial Hall,
McNamara
Alumni Center
North
Av
e.
th
.
16
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Un it #
ive 18
rs
ity
Av
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Union St.
The electron’s electric dipole moment
(eEDM) will be sensitive
to particle physics beyond the standard
model. We make use of the extreme
electric fields found within a molecular
bond to pursue an experiment to
set a new limit on eEDM at a level that
should severely constrain
supersymmetric models.
Public Lecture
Why is Warm Glass Stickier
Than Cold Glass?
The Misel Lecture Series is endowed by a generous gift from
Irving and Edythe Misel to the William I. & Bianca M. Fine
Charitable Trust. The Series honors the life-long friendship
between William & Bianca Fine and Irving & Edythe Misel.
17
What we think of as “empty” space is
really filled with fluctuating
electric fields. These tiny electric fields
are spooky-seeming but
entirely real. They give rise to the
stickiness of a perfectly clean glass
surface. I’ll talk about a set of
experiments we did on this so-called
Casimir-Polder force; time permitting
I’ll explore connections to
eschatology as well.
http://www.mac-events.org/directions/index.html
How Symmetric is the Electron?
Looking for Out-of-Roundness of 10 -15
Femtometers
September 25, 2013
www.ftpi.umn.edu/misel/
8th annual
THE IRVING AND EDYTHE
MISEL family
LECTURE
PROGRAM
wHY IS wARM gLASS sTICKIER THAN
COLD GLASS?
September 24, 2013 at 7:00p.m.
Memorial Hall, McNamara Alumni Center
Welcome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steven L. Crouch
Dean, College of Science and Engineering
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Keith Olive
Director, William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute
Speaker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eric Cornell
University of Colorado at Boulder
Refreshments to follow in McNamara Atrium
Physics and Astronomy
Colloquium
How Symmetric is the Electron?
Looking for Out-of-Roundness of
10 -15 Femtometers
September 25, 2013 at 3:35p.m.
131 Tate Laboratory of Physics
The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
ERic
Allin Cornell is a pioneer
and a leader in the field of cold atomic gases. In
June of 1995 he and his former post-doctoral adviser
Carl Wieman were the first to achieve Bose-Einstein
condensation in dilute clouds of Rubidium atoms cooled
down to only a few micro-Kelvin above absolute zero.
By achieving this breakthrough Cornell and Wieman
essentially revolutionized the experimental techniques
of modern atomic physics. They were the first to use
cheap and simple semiconductor lasers for the laser
cooling of atoms. They pioneered the use of alkali atoms
such as Cesium and Rubidium for these purposes, and
invented ingenious magneto-optical traps and time
orbiting potential traps for capturing and keeping the
atomic clouds together for macroscopically long times.
In addition, Cornell and Wieman invented a release-andexpand technique of monitoring the state of the atomic
cloud. These ideas and methods are now bread-andbutter techniques in hundreds of laboratories all over
the world.
Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) is a state of
matter first predicted by Satyendra Nath Bose and
Albert Einstein in 1924–25. It is characterized by a
macroscopically large number of particles occupying
one and the same quantum state and thus maintaining
quantum coherence over the entire sample. It was later
realized by F. London, L. Tisza, and L. Landau that the
superfluidity of liquid Helium-4 discovered earlier by
P. Kapitsa, is a realization of the Bose condensation
phenomenon. Later, J. Bardeen, L. Cooper, and J.
Schriffer explained the superconductivity of metals at
low temperatures as BEC of pairs of coupled electrons
– so called Cooper pairs. However, it was not until
the Cornell and Wieman discovery, that the BEC was
demonstrated in the pure and original form anticipated
in 1924.
Beyond the fundamental significance of proving the old
theory to be exactly true, the experimental realization
of BEC revolutionized the practice of atomic physics
experiments. It allows one to measure atomic data with
a precision unthinkable only 15 years ago. It also allows
one to improve the accuracy of measuring fundamental
constants such as electron dipole moment – the task
to which Eric Cornell has recently devoted much of his
energy. It also gives a novel way to investigate effects
traditionally studied in the solid-state setup within much
cleaner and more controllable atomic realizations. It
is not an
overstatement
to say that the
achievement
of BEC in the
late 20th
century is one
of the defining
moments of
21st century
physics as we
know it today.
Indeed, as
Cornell put
it himself:
“With every
passing year,
BEC proves
that it still has
surprises left
for us,”
Eric Cornell in his lab at University of Colorado, Boulder
A California
native, Eric Cornell received his undergraduate degree
from Stanford in 1985 and his Ph.D. from MIT in 1990.
After obtaining his doctorate, he joined Carl Wieman at
the University of Colorado at Boulder as a postdoctoral
researcher on a small laser cooling experiment. During
his two years as a postdoc he came up with a plan to
combine laser cooling and evaporative cooling in a
magnetic trap to create a Bose–Einstein condensate
(BEC). Based on his proposal he was offered a permanent
position at JILA/NIST in Boulder. For synthesizing
the first Bose–Einstein condensate in 1995, Cornell,
Wieman, and Wolfgang Ketterle shared the Nobel Prize
in Physics in 2001. He is currently a professor at the
University of Colorado and a physicist at the United
States Department of Commerce National Institute of
Standards and Technology. His lab is located at JILA. He
was awarded the Lorentz Medal in 1998 and is a Member
of National Academy of Science and a Fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
We at the William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute
are delighted to welcome Professor Cornell as a
distinguished speaker.
To request disability accomodations, please contact Meghan J. Murray at [email protected], 612-624-7366. This paper contains 10% post-consumer waste.