Physics Christmas lunch – Thursday 22nd December

The Physics Christmas lunch will take place at 1230hrs on Thursday 22nd December in the function room (upstairs) of The Borough, Dalton Square, Lancaster. Please see page 2 of this link for details of the menu:
http://www.theboroughlancaster.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/xmas-menu-2016-Borough-final.pdf

The venue can take up to 60 people. To secure your place please pay me by COP Friday 9th December and I’ll take your menu choices at the same time. The cost is £15 for two courses for £18 for three courses.

Grainne Wilkinson

Observational Astrophysics Seminar – 22nd November (3pm)

Title: Galactic and Exoplanet Archeology with White Dwarfs Speaker: Pier-Emmanuel Tremblay (Warwick) Time: 3pm on 22nd November 2016 Venue: Physics C36 Abstract: The vast majority of stars will become white dwarfs at the end of the stellar life cycle. These remnants are precise cosmic clocks owing to their well constrained cooling rates. By employing spectroscopically derived atmospheric parameters combined with Gaia parallaxes, white dwarfs can constrain the stellar formation history in the early developing phases of the Milky Way, the initial mass function in the 1.5-8 solar mass range, and the mass loss during the post main-sequence evolution. Furthermore, at least 30% of white dwarfs are hosts to evolved planetary systems, and the metal abundances in their otherwise pure-H/He atmospheres provide a window on the chemical composition of rocky exoplanets. Statistics on the properties of these evolved planetary systems as a function of age could provide insight into the evolution of rocky planet formation in our Galaxy.

Grainne Wilkinson