Physics Colloquium

A new year, a new chance to get involved in the Physics Department. Join us as we gather for the first Friday of the new school year to meet and share what's going on in physics!

Catch up with old friends and meet new ones as we say hello to all our fellow physics faculty and students. We will also share information about what is happening in the department. Join us to learn about student work opportunities, research opportunities, joining the Society of Physics Students, and our colloquium series.

Pizza and drinks will be available in Hayes Hall 215 on Friday, Aug. 28, from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Grab a slice and head to Hayes 211/213 for the presentation. We hope to see you there!

"As a graduate of a small liberal arts college myself, I could not be more excited to continue my physics career at Kenyon. To get to know me a bit better during this colloquium, I will begin by sharing my journey through physics as well as some of my non-physics passions that I have picked up along the way. Then, I will highlight some of my research that has really excited me over the past couple of years.

"My field of research is known as numerical relativity, or, in other words, I solve the nonlinear Einstein equations on a computer. Traditionally, numerical relativity has proven to be an invaluable tool in gravitational physics but more recently, the community (including right here at Kenyon!) has begun to think about ways in which numerical relativity can be applied to cosmological simulations as well. This budding area of research joining numerical relativity and cosmology has really inspired my physics research.

"In this talk, I will present two numerical relativity projects that span from black hole evolution to simulations of the early universe. The first project studies black holes evolving in the presence of two kinetically coupled scalar fields. The motivation for this work is twofold as we consider whether the kinetic coupling between the fields is sufficient to  “wake” the otherwise dormant field and if so, study the impact on the black hole spacetime. The second project considers a first order phase transition described by a scalar bubble expanding through a fluid. Through these simulations, we aim to characterize the resulting gravitational-wave power spectrum and gain insight into the evolution of the early universe."

Join us on Friday, Sept. 4, for this exciting presentation from Chloe Richards, Kenyon's Teacher-Scholar Postdoctoral Science Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics. Lunch will be available in Hayes 216 from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., and the presentation will begin in Hayes 211/213 at 12:10 p.m. We hope to see you there!

"Every physics and math major has fit a line to data. Fewer realize that the basic idea, choose parameters of a function, is essentially the foundation of modern machine learning, including neural networks. In this talk, I'll start with that familiar problem: fitting a line, then a curve, and eventually a function with thousands of parameters and no straightforward geometric picture at all. Along the way, we'll see why smoothness and the chain rule suddenly become important, and how we can quietly replace "fit a function to data" with 'fit a function to a differential equation.' That simple shift is the idea behind physics-informed neural networks (PINNs).

"I'll then show what happens when you try to use a PINN on a real, unsolved problem in gravitational physics. The basic idea is surprisingly simple; making it actually work is considerably less so. We'll look at some of the practical challenges and the trial and error involved in overcoming them, and I'll close with a broader question: how much theoretical elegance do we need when solving real problems? In physics we care deeply about getting the theory right. In industry, we also need approaches that actually get us answers."

Join us on Friday, Sept. 11, for this exciting presentation from Joseph Simonis, distinguished data scientist at Edward Jones. Lunch will be available in Hayes 216 from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., and the presentation will begin in Hayes 211/213 at 12:10 p.m. We hope to see you there!

A quantum computer stores and processes information in the states of quantum systems, exploiting superposition and entanglement. This enables it to tackle problems, from simulating molecules to breaking modern encryption, that are typically intractable for a classical computer. As of now, the hardware that will make this possible is still being invented, and a clear winner is yet to be decided. Among the leading candidates are two very different platforms: the magnetic orientation of a single electron trapped in a semiconductor, and the oscillating current in a superconducting circuit. This talk gives a high-level introduction to quantum computing and its experimental realization in these two platforms.

Join us on Friday, Sept. 18, for this exciting presentation from Haifeng Qiao '16, a quantum research scientist at Amazon Web Services. Lunch will be available in Hayes 216 from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., and the presentation will begin in Hayes 211/213 at 12:10 p.m. We hope to see you there!

"Physicists accept that fundamental constants, such as the value of the electron’s charge or the mass of a quark, are necessary assumptions in the standard model of particle physics. These constants cannot be explained (at least not yet) in terms of a more fundamental theory, such as string theory. In this talk we explore how the existence of our universe is sensitive to the values of some of these fundamental constants. For example, what would the universe look like if the proton were slightly heavier than the neutron (the reverse of what we measure)? Exploring questions like this provide observations that some constants appear to be “finely tuned” so that life on Earth can exist. If you change one of these fundamental constants just slightly, then the universe would be very different. Hence, our physical laws provide a delicate balance to our universe such that human life can exist. This talk summarizes my book, 'Nature’s Balancing Act' (2025, Oxford University Press)."

Join us on Friday, Sept. 25, for this exciting presentation from Kenneth Hicks, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at Ohio University. Lunch will be available in Hayes 216 from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., and the presentation will begin in Hayes 211/213 at 12:10 p.m. We hope to see you there!

"The pyramids of ancient Egypt and of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica have fascinated people since the cultures that built them vanished into the annals of history. How were they built? What were they used for? Are there unknown internal substructures, perhaps hidden chambers that have yet to be discovered? Using the detector technology we developed for a particle physics experiment at Fermilab, we intend to perform non-invasive searches for hidden structures at the Great Pyramid of Khufu, in Egypt, and at the Temple of Kukulkán at Chichén Itzá. The apparatus detects cosmic-ray muons produced high in the atmosphere that course through the pyramids to produce a tomographic image of their interiors. I will describe in detail the technique we are using, present simulation results, detector prototype results, and the status of both experiments."

Join us on Friday, Oct. 2, for this exciting presentation from E. Craig Dukes, professor of physics at the University of Virginia. Lunch will be available in Hayes 216 from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., and the presentation will begin in Hayes 211/213 at 12:10 p.m. We hope to see you there!