Physics Friday Bulletin 2017-01-20

February Safety Induction

February’s safety induction will take place on February 2nd in C29 starting at 2pm. If you are a new member of staff or just want a refresher on what you need to know regarding safety please come along.

Shonah Ion

Confidential Waste

If you have any confidential waste please leave it in the post room by COP Tues 240117. The porters will collect it on the Wednesday.  

Gráinne Wilkinson

Physics Refurbishment – Weekly Update

Physics scheduled works:

  • Demolition to level A – toilet block, high noise, medium vibration
  • Protection works – low noise, no vibration
  • Re-roofing works – low noise, no vibration
  • Window installation – medium noise, minimal vibration
  • Scaffolding – minimal noise, minimal vibration
  • New toilet block façade works – medium noise, minimal vibration
  • M&E builders work – high noise, medium vibration
  • M&E 1st fix –  medium noise, medium vibration
  • 1st fix partition works – medium noise, medium vibration
  • Joinery 1st fix –  medium noise, medium vibration
  • Work is complete in A043 NMR (MBE) room

Should you have any queries regarding the project please contact the Senior Project Manager, Helen Wood, via the Facilities Helpdesk on facilities.helpdesk@lancaster.ac.uk or 01524 593333.

Louisa Duff

 

Theoretical Particle Cosmology Group Seminar

Date: Monday, 6 February 2017

Venue: C36

Speaker: Antonio Racioppi
Title: Classical scale invariance and inflation

Abstract:

Classical scale invariance was applied to inflationary model building already from the very first papers. Recently the use of dynamically induced inflaton potentials à la Coleman-Weinberg became again fashionable. In the light of this, we study different applications of classical scale invariance to inflation. Depending on whether classical scale invariance is a property of the full action or just of the scalar potential, we consider three different realizations of Coleman-Weinberg inflation in presence of a non-minimal coupling of the inflaton to gravity. For each realization, we present the most relevant inflationary predictions and distinctive features.

Gráinne Wilkinson

Emergency light testing.

We have been informed by Facilities that the emergency lights in the Physics building will be tested next week. This shouldn’t be disruptive, but be aware some lights may need to be turned off for a few minutes.

Shonah Ion

Safety Induction.

Safety inductions take place on the first working Thursday of the month. The next induction takes place on 2nd February in C29 Physics, starting at 2:30 pm and running for approximately 1 hr. If you are a new member of staff or just want a refresher please come along.

Shonah Ion

Legionella prevention

Water Hygiene and Shower head cleaning in the Physics Building will take place week commencing Monday 30th January from 9am daily.
Two Lancaster University engineers will require access to kitchens and shared bathrooms to test hot water temperatures.  The engineers will not test every kitchen/bathroom just a sample from different locations within the building.  This brief survey will take approximately five minutes, and is to ensure that the hot water is maintained at the correct temperature to prevent any instances of legionella. There will be no shutdown of service.

Shonah Ion

Physically Speaking Talk

The next Physically Speaking talk will be on Wednesday 25th January at 4pm in the Cavendish Colloquium Room (in the Faraday building). Carley Martin and Andy Wharton will talk about Saturn’s Magnetosphere and CP-violation at ATLAS. The talks will be accessible to students from all areas of physics, so if you want to learn more about different areas of physics then come along, and enjoy some discussion with coffee and biscuits afterwards.

Thanks!

James Edholm

Journal Club

 Journal club on experimental condensed matter physics (Monday at 10a.m.)

The next speaker is Ian Wilkes and the title of his presentation is

CVD growth methods and characteristics of 2D materials:  Low nucleation rate methods for large single crystal domains

The next session of the Journal club on experimental condensed matter physics is on Monday 23/01/2017 at 10:00 in C36.
(Tom McGrath will be presenting on 30/01/17).

Dima Zmeev

Astrophysics Seminar

Subject:: Gravitational Wave Sources – 24th Jan


Title: Jets from Compact Binary Mergers: Electromagnetic Counterparts to Gravitational Wave Sources

Speaker: Gavin Lamb (Liverpool John Moores University)

Time: 3pm on 24th January 2016

Venue: Physics C36

Abstract:
Short gamma-ray bursts are believed to be produced by ultra-relativistic jets launched from the merger of neutron stars (NSNS) or a black-hole and a neutron star (BHNS). A short (<2s) flash of gamma-rays, from internal shocks, is followed by a multi-band afterglow from external shocks as the jet decelerates in the ambient medium. Observations of the afterglow are currently triggered by the prompt gamma-rays. For jets with a bulk Lorentz factor <30 the prompt gamma-rays would be suppressed, resulting in an orphan afterglow as the jet decelerates. If low-Lorentz factors dominate the distribution of merger jets, then gravitational wave triggers from NSNS(BHNS) mergers will reveal a hidden population of failed short gamma-ray bursts. The electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave detected NSNS(BHNS) mergers can be used to determine the Lorentz-factor distribution, opening-angle, and structure of such jets.

Gráinne Wilkinson

VC Visit

The VC will visit Physics on Tues 21 February from 1300-1500hrs. The format and venues for the visit are given below and I’d be grateful if you could make a note in your diaries.

Part One (1300 – 1345hrs)               Venue – B10
Head of department and their leadership/management team
The two questions Mark wants to discuss are:
1. Their reflections on the NSS 2016 outcomes, the strengths and weaknesses and work they have done ready for NSS 2017.
2. In the strategy refresh what they as department they would like to see added/updated.

Part Two (1345 – 1500hrs)               Venue – C36
Whole department
Mark will talk for approximately 25 minutes followed by general questions from the department.

Gráinne Wilkinson