Join the CC community on Thursday, Feb. 26 from 5-6 p.m. in Kathryn Mohrman for a presentation by Rithya Kunnawalkam Elayavalli, Assistant Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Vanderbilt University. Come early for the cocktail hour from 4-5 p.m. in Armstrong Great Hall.
The second half of the 20th century saw the advent of large-scale particle accelerator and collider physics experiments. International collaborations involving thousands of scientists at places like CERN in Switzerland, as well as across national laboratories in the U.S., have focused their studies on addressing gaps in our understanding of the fundamental building blocks of nature. We discovered various species of quarks, gluons, and the Higgs particle—which earned Nobel and Breakthrough Prizes for those involved—and also recreated the early universe through the production of quark-gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions. As we have learned more about physics, we have gained massive utility as a byproduct of this research, including advancements in magnet, storage, data-pipeline, and medical physics technologies. Even though we have learned a great deal about quarks and gluons, several key concepts still elude us! In this talk, I will walk us through a brief history of discoveries from particle colliders and highlight many of the unsolved problems—especially in emergent phenomena, where the rules that govern the many differ significantly from the rules that govern the individual. Lastly, we will focus on the pathway toward the projected impact of the upcoming Electron Ion Collider, both in terms of physics and in developing a competent and excited scientific workforce for this discovery machine.
This seminar is generously supported through the Harold D. and Rhoda N. Roberts Memorial Lecture in the Natural Sciences endowment, which supports and enhances science teaching at Colorado College.
