The Rutgers Physics & Astronomy Newsletter       Number S12-4  2012-Feb-6
                                                          
             Editor: Piers Coleman        Publisher: Nancy DeHaan
Contributions should be sent to newsletter@physics or placed in mailbox.

SOCIAL EVENTS: 
                              Department Tea 
                      Wednesday: Lecture Hall - 4:30pm



Folks,

    Another amazing week for talks and colloquia at the Rutgers P&A. 
Everything from Animal behavior and neural networks (John Hopfied's 
Colloquium on Weds) to qubits (Garry Goldstein Weds), topological 
insulators (Greg Fiete, Thurs) and the physics of Black Holes and the 
fifth dimension (Chuck Keaton, RAS, Thursday) You can even hear the 
editor on Tuesday.

    Our fantastic series of colloquia continues with John Hopfield's 
colloquium on Wednesday on Animal behavior and neural networks. 
Hopfield more-or-less invented the idea of using neural networks in 
biology.  He's a great speaker and its a honor to be hosting him. 
If come, you will be inspired.

    Ask great and tough questions.   See you at the talks.

    Piers Coleman 


NEWS ITEM:

The Laboratory for Surface Modification (LSM) will host the Twenty-Sixth
Annual LSM Symposium on Thursday, February 16 from 8:30am-5:30pm
in the Fiber Optics Auditorium, Busch Campus.  All are invited.


SEMINARS AND COLLOQUIA:

CMS Tue Feb 7  John Freeland, ANL
1:30 385E       "Harnessing Unique Architectures to Create
                 Novel Materials"

HET Tue Feb 7  Brian Wecht, Harvard University
3:00 385E       TBA

SIP Tue Feb 7  Piers Coleman, Rutgers University
5:00 385E       "Magnetism and Superconductivity: A New Era of
                 Convergence in Condensed Matter Physics"

CMS Wed Feb 8  Garry Goldstein, Harverd University
1:30 385E       "Stability of Qubits Encoded with Majorana Fermions"

COL Wed Feb 8  John Hopfield, Princeton University
4:45 PLH        "Animal 'thinking' and the Emergent Dynamics of
                 Large Neural Networks"

CMS Thur Feb 9 Gregory A. Fiete, University of Texas at Austin
1:30 385E       "Interacting Topological Insulators in Oxides"

MPS Thur Feb 9 Alexander Sodin, IAS, Princeton
2:00 Hill 705   "Wegner Estimate and Localisation for Operators with
                 Sign-Indefinite Potentials"

RAS Thur Feb 9 Chuck Keeton, Rutgers University
8:00 PLH        "Black Holes and the Fifth Dimension"

SSPAR Thur Feb 9 Ryan Thorpe, Rutgers University
6:30 385E         "Using Surface Science Techniques to Measure 
                   Battery Materials" 

CMS Fri Feb 10  Jeroen Danon, Freie University, Berlin
1:30 385E        "Dynamical Nuclear Spin Pumping in Quantum Dots"

*********************Partial List of Next Week's Seminars*******************

NPS Mon Feb 13 Ron Gilman, Rutgers University
3:00 385E       "Studying the Proton Radius Puzzle with mu p 
                 Elastic Scattering"

HET Tue Feb 14 Shlomo Razamat, IAS, Princeton
3:00 385E       TBA

SIP Tue Feb 14 Ron Ransome, Rutgers University
5:00 385E       "The MINERvA Neutrino Scattering Experiment"

COL Wed Feb 15 Bob Kopp, Rutgers University - EPS
4:45 PLH        "The Sea Level Response to Climate Change: What
                 Can the Past Tell Us About the Future"    

RAS Thur Feb 16 Rachel Somerville, Rutgers University
8:00 PLH         "The Formation and Evolution of Galaxies and
                  Their Supermassive Black Holes"

AST Fri Feb 17 Karen Andeen, Rutgers University
3:00 385E       "First Measurements of Cosmic Ray Composition Using
                 the IceCube Neutrino Observatory"


For the calendar of upcoming colloquia and seminars in the department, visit
http://www.physics.rutgers.edu

      MPS=Mathematical Physics Seminar   LSM=Lab for Surface Modification
      NPS=Nuclear Physics Seminar        HEX=High Energy Experimental
      AST=Astrophysics Seminar           SSS=Surface Science Seminar
      INS=Instructional Seminar          CMS=Condensed Matter Seminar
      SIP=Seminar in Physics             SPS=Society of Physics Students
      HET=High Energy Theory             COL=Colloquium
      MSS=Materials Science Seminar      HON=Honors Seminar
      BPS=Biological Physics Seminar     SSPAR=Student Seminars in Physics
      DELTA P=Developing Educators         and Astronomy at Rutgers
        and Leaders Among TAs in Physics
      RAS=Rutgers Astronomical Society