Dept. of Physics & Astronomy at San Francisco State University

JUEVES, 17 OCTUBRE, 2024 7:00-9:00pm THORNTON HALL, PISO 4 Noche de Estrellas: Charlas Científicas Espectáculo de Planetario Observando con Telescopios Presentador: Jhonnatan Gama Vazquez "ACELERADORES CóSMICOS DE PARTíCULAS" En esta charla discutiré qué son los rayos cósmicos, cómo los detectamos y cómo creemos que se forman. Introduciré el concepto de choques sin colisión como uno de los posibles candidatos para el origen de los rayos cósmicos y explicaré cómo son algunos de los aceleradores de partículas más potentes del universo. Hablaré brevemente sobre parte de mi trabajo de investigación en el campo, mostrando resultados de simulaciones numéricas. También hablaré sobre las contribuciones de dos astrónomos mexicanos (Manuel Sandoval Vallarta y Guillermo Haro) a este campo, en honor al mes de la herencia hispana. THURSDAY, 17 OCTOBER, 2024 7:00-9:00pm THORNTON HALL, 4TH FLOOR Night of the Stars: Scientific Talks Planetarium Show Observing with Telescopes "COSMIC PARTICLE ACCELERATORS" Speaker: Jhonnatan Gama Vazquez In this talk I will discuss what cosmic rays are, how we detect them, and how we think they are formed. I will introduce the concept of collisionless shocks as one possible candidate for the origin of cosmic rays and explain how they are some of the most powerful particle accelerators in the universe. I will briefly discuss part of my research work on the field showing numerical simulations results. I will also discuss the contributions of two Mexican astronomers (Manuel Sandoval Vallarta and Guillermo Haro) to this field, in honor to the Hispanic heritage month #sfstateastronomy #sfstatephysics

San Francisco State University Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Series Monday, October 14, 2024 SEC 210, 3:30 PM Dr. Brianna Lacy (51 Pegasi b Fellow, U.C. Santa Cruz) "Exploring the Diversity of Cold Worlds" With JWST online, we are entering the era of cold substellar atmosphere characterization that will eventually lead us to true exoJupiter analogues. In this talk, I will present results from a forward-model analysis of a sample of ~30 late T and Y type brown dwarfs, which leverages several state-of-the art model grids and JWST spectra to constrain objects’ bulk properties. I will organize the presentation around three main questions: What do trends in disequilibrium chemistry tell us about the radiative and convective structures of late T and Y dwarf atmospheres?, What physical properties drive the diverse behavior of cold objects on the Spitzer color-magnitude diagram?, and How well do current 1D radiative-convective equilibrium model grids represent observations? I will also discuss my plans for future work investigating the impact of rotation and viewing angle in this 250 - 800 K effective temperature regime. #SFStateAstronomy #SFStatePhysics

San Francisco State University Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Series Monday, October 7, 2024 SEC 210, 3:30 PM "Promoting Student Success in Chemistry" Asst. Prof. Michelle Sinapuelas (SF State) Why do some students struggle while others succeed in chemistry, and how can we help those who are struggling? In this talk I will address these questions through evaluation of how student beliefs, perceptions, and learning approaches influence student success in introductory chemistry. This will include an overview of the Learning Approaches Framework for Chemistry developed from my research. The framework characterizes four levels of learning approaches that were determined based on the activities reported during interviews by students around use of metacognitive skills, reference materials, practice problems, and interactions with others. I will also share how we are working to embed this work as part of our general chemistry redesign at SFSU. #SFStatePhysics #SFStateAstronomy

San Francisco State University Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Series Monday, September 30, 2024 SEC 210, 3:30 PM "From Icy Moons to Giant Planets: Exploring the Deep Structure of Solar System Worlds with Tidal Observations" Dr. Ben Idini (Vera Rubin Postdoctoral Fellow, U.C. Santa Cruz The architecture and diverse environmental conditions of our solar system seem exceptionally rare when compared to other nearby planetary systems in the Milky Way. We lack any version of Super-Earth and Sub-Neptune planets, the most frequently observed exoplanets. Furthermore, we host the only so-far-detected instance of life as we know it. The deep interiors of giant planets and icy moons contain clues to advance our understanding of the features that make our solar system so unique, and simultaneously provide invaluable context to inform the undergoing exploration of planetary systems beyond our own. Gas giant planets hold relics of the processes responsible for the formation of our solar system. Meanwhile, icy satellites contain a great abundance of the basic ingredients required to sustain life and have become a priority target for life detection beyond Earth. In this talk, I will present my recent advances in characterizing the deep interiors of the giant planet Jupiter and the icy satellite Titan using tidal observations from NASA missions Juno and Cassini. I will put particular emphasis in discussing the future of planetary interiors exploration in the context of answering questions related to the origin and habitability of our solar system. #SFStatePhysics #SFStateAstronomy

San Francisco State University Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Series Monday, September 23, 2024 SEC 210, 3:30 PM Dr. Nick Rodd (LBNL) "Echos of the Early Universe in Axion Haloscopes" The coming decade will bring dramatic improvement in the axion dark- matter program as new experimental designs move beyond the proof of principle stage. In this talk I will outline two signals beyond dark matter that these instruments could discover. The first is a population of relativistic axions that were produced in the early universe and persist as a residual Cosmic axion Background (CaB). The second is high-frequency gravitational waves; I will outline how exploiting an analogy between axion and gravitational-wave electrodynamics allows for axion haloscopes to be converted into gravitational-wave telescopes, which could even be used to detect individual gravitons. #SFStatePhysics #SFStateAstronomy

Noche de Estrellas jueves, 26 sept, 2024 7:00 - 9:00 pm Thornton Hall 429 Platicador: León Garcia Estrellas de Neutrones: Los objetos más extra?os del universo Esta charla se trata de las estrellas de neutrones, que son los objetos más extremos del universo. Las estrellas de neutrones son los restos de grandes estrellas que han colapsado, y consisten en los núcleos comprimidos de esas estrellas después de explosiones masivas. Estos objetos son increíblemente densos y contienen una masa solar en un volumen del tama?o de una ciudad. Una cuchara de la materia de su superficie pesaría tanto como una monta?a. Estudiando estrellas de neutrones nos ayuda entender el universo tanto en escalas grandes como peque?as. ? Noche de Estrellas? Thursday, 26 Sept, 2024 7:00 - 9:00pm Thornton Hall 429 Speaker: León Garcia Neutron Stars: The Strangest Object in the Universe Neutron stars are the strangest and most extreme objects in the universe. When large stars collapse on themselves at the end of their lifetimes, they can leave behind a dense core known as a neutron star. These incredibly dense objects contain the mass of the Sun in an area as large as a city, and a teaspoon of their matter would weigh as much as Mount Everest. Studying different types of neutron stars allows us to better understand the universe on both large and small scales. ?

Congratulations to SF State Physics alumna Anna Bezryadina who was promoted to Associate Professor at Cal State Northridge! #SFStatePhysics

Go Tonya! #SFStateAstronomy

Go Donavon! #SFStateAstronomy