Department of Physics // Department of Physics

Notre Dame student discovers rare star

2012-05-02T09:00:00-04:00

Many students work the night shift to get through law school, but Colin Littlefield’s late-night job at the Notre Dame Observatory has led to a one-in-a-billion discovery of a rare type of star, a Wolf-Rayet. Littlefield discovered the exceptional star, named WR 142b, this past summer, and he and his colleagues announced the discovery in a paper accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal.

Co-authors of the paper include Peter Garnavich, Terry Rettig and Colin McClelland of the University of Notre Dame Department of Physics; Howie Marion of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Jozsef Vinko of the University of Szeged in Hungary; and J. Craig Wheeler of the University of Texas at Austin.

There are only a few hundred known Wolf-Rayet stars in our Milky Way galaxy, which contains an estimated 400 billion stars. A Wolf-Rayet star is like a ticking time bomb that will explode as a brilliant supernova or a gamma-ray burst at the end of its short, violent life. Among the most massive, luminous stars known to exist, Wolf-Rayet stars are in their final death throes and hemorrhage prodigious amounts of mass into space, often at a rate of several Earth masses per year.

The first three of these unusual stars were noticed by the French astronomers Charles Wolf and Georges Rayet in the 19th century. Wolf-Rayet stars begin their lives with 20 to 100 times the mass of our sun, quickly exhaust their reserves of nuclear fuel, and finally blow themselves apart with tremendous energy leaving a black hole or a neutron star.

Littlefield has had a fascination with astronomy since grade school and has worked at the Observatory helping students with their astronomy class projects since 2008. After the other students head back to their dorms, Littlefield stays at the observatory to do his own research. While monitoring the outburst of one star this past July, Littlefield noticed an unexpected brightness variation in a nearby star and followed up by analyzing the starlight using a spectrograph. Although this star appeared as just one inconspicuous dot in a field of many such specks of light, the star’s spectrum, which showed strong emission lines from highly ionized helium and nitrogen, told a far more interesting story. Littlefield said, “The spectrum showed unmistakable signs of the high temperatures and strange chemical composition unique to Wolf-Rayet stars, enough evidence to get professional astronomers with big telescopes excited.”

More data on the star was obtained with the 9-meter-aperture Hobby-Eberly Telescope and the 8.4-meter-aperture Large Binocular Telescope, two of the largest telescopes in the world. In addition to confirming that Littlefield’s star was indeed a newfound Wolf-Rayet, the data from these telescopes revealed that if it were not for clouds of interstellar dust obscuring WR 142b, the star would appear so bright from Earth that it could be visible to the naked eye at night. “Although a telescope is currently necessary to view WR 142b,” says Littlefield, “it will temporarily shine as one of the brightest stars in the night sky when it finally explodes as a supernova at some point in the future.”

Littlefield earned a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in peace studies in 2011 from Notre Dame. He is currently enrolled in the Notre Dame Law School.

By Marissa Gebhard

Local news feature on this article:
http://www.abc57.com/photo-gallery/Notre-Dame-student-discovers-new-star-149913605.html

2012 undergraduate award winners announced

2012-04-30T15:00:00-04:00

Each year the Department of Physics recognizes undergraduate students with a variety of awards. This year’s winners are Julie Cass, Thomas Catanach, Michelle Consiglio, and Nancy Paul.

Julie Cass has been selected to receive the Outstanding Physics Major Award. This award is given to a physics graduate selected by a number of criteria including academic performance, contributions to the major, and potential for future success. It is the highest honor the Department of Physics can award to one of its graduates.

Thomas Catanach will receive the Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award. This award is based on a student’s contributions to the research within the department, and their potential for future success. It is the highest research honor the Department of Physics can award to one of its graduates.

Michelle Consiglio will receive the Paul Chagnon Award for Service. This award is given for demonstrated character and leadership, and for service to the University, the Department of Physics, and to his or her fellow physics majors.

Nancy Paul has been selected to receive the inaugural Dean's Research Award for outstanding research in the College of Science.

The awards will be presented to the graduating seniors at the Dean's Luncheon on Friday, May 18

Nancy Paul choosen to present at final colloquium of Glynn Honors program

2012-04-27T09:00:00-04:00

Graduating physics major Nancy Paul was selected to present at the Final Colloquium of the Glynn Family Honors Program on Thursday, April 26. Her talk was titled Nuclear Masses, Neff and Nucleosynthesis. She is advised by Prof. Ani Aprahamian.

The Glynn Family Honors Program at the University of Notre Dame brings talented undergraduates into sustained and life-changing contact with distinguished scholars who inspire and prepare them for premier graduate and doctoral programs, for successful careers, and for lives of service.

2012 graduate student teaching award winners announced

2012-04-25T16:00:00-04:00

The Kaneb Center Graduate Student Program is pleased to announce the annual awards for outstanding graduate student teachers and teaching assistants. This program recognizes graduate students who have demonstrated excellence in the classroom, laboratory, or in another significant instructional capacity.

The winners in 2012 from the Department of Physics are Brendan Benapfl, Danielle McDermott, and Bryan Ostdiek.

GPS conference deemed a success

2012-04-24T11:00:00-04:00

The recently-organized Graduate Physics Students (GPS) group held its first Spring Conference on April 19 in Nieuwland Hall. The meeting included eight oral presentations – two each from astrophysics, condensed matter physics, high energy physics, and nuclear physics – and two poster sessions.

Ayan Paul, a member of the GPS Conference Committee that included Alexander Long, Colin McClelland, Pokie Olson, Catherine Ratovski and Ali Snedden, said the group organized to foster understanding and potential collaboration as well as social interaction among different groups in physics.

For astrophysics, Olson presented an overview while Matt Meixner presented his research, “The Late Time Evolution of Supernovae and the Supernova Equation of State.” For condensed matter physics, Colin Lines presented an overview while Joseph Hagmann presented his research on topological insulators. For high energy physics, Bryan Ostdiek presented an overview while Nil Valls described research connected to the Compact Muon Solenoid/Large Hadron Collider at CERN. For nuclear physics, Brian Bucher presented an overview while Stephanie Lyons presented an update on the Nuclear Science Laboratory’s new accelerator and the St. George Recoils Mass Separator.

Rashi Talwar won first place in the poster competition; Pinaki Das won second. Darshana Patel and Karl Smith received honorable mention in the competition. The judges were Jorge de Blas Mateo, Dipanjan Ray, Katherine Rueff, and Amy Roberts. Faculty members attended the second poster session, and the entire department was invited to a closing social hour.

Paul said the GPS hopes to sponsor the conference every semester or every year and potentially expand it to include faculty members, graduate students from other disciplines and other universities, and keynote speakers. “Collaborations can start,” he said. “This is a major motivation for it. Everyone’s busy with their own work. The guy in the next lab may have started on something connected, but you’d never know.”

Eskildsen research group reports results

2012-04-20T08:00:00-04:00

Metastable phases of matter are well-known, with famous examples including supercooling and superheating of liquids and diamond which is one of the many allotropes of carbon. Metastability is almost exclusively observed in connection with first-order transitions, and is often found in frustrated systems where the energy difference between the states is small.

In a paper published in Physical Review Letters, Notre Dame graduate students Pinaki Das and Cathy Rastovski and former undergraduates Tommy O’Brien and Kim Schlesinger, together with Associate Professor Morten Ring Eskildsen, report their discovery of metastable vortex lattice phases in superconducting MgB₂. Surprisingly, the metastable phases are associated with a second-order phase transition and cannot be understood based on the vortex-vortex interaction. Instead it is speculated that the metastable phases are due to jamming, similar to what is found in connection with granular materials.

The results were obtained by small-angle neutron scattering experiments carried out at Institut Laue-Langevin, France, and in the US at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and at the National Institute for Science and Technology. The work is supported by the US DOE Office of Basic Energy Science Grant DE-FG02-10ER46783.

Find the full PRL here.

Nancy Paul receives a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

2012-04-18T15:40:00-04:00

Senior Nancy Paul has been selected to receive a 2012 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) Fellowship. Paul, who is also a member of the Glynn Family Honors Program for the Arts and Sciences, will earn her Bachelor of Science in Physics with a concentration in Advanced Physics in May. She has taken advantage of numerous research opportunities throughout her undergraduate career and currently serves at the Editor-in-Chief of Scientia, Notre Dame’s undergraduate journal of scientific research.

Paul will remain at the University of Notre Dame for her graduate studies. Her area of research will focus on low-energy nuclear structure and its impact on astrophysical processes, such as heavy-element nucleosynthesis. The origin of the heavy elements has been cited by the National Research Council as one of the greatest unanswered questions in physics, and her group will seek to untangle the nuclear physics behind the r-process that is thought to be responsible for approximately 50% of the elements in the universe heavier than iron.

The NSF GRFP was created to enhance the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. The fellowship provides three years of support for the graduate education of students who have demonstrated the potential for significant achievements in science and engineering research. Past NSF Fellows include individuals who have made significant breakthroughs in science and engineering research, as well as some who have been honored as Nobel Laureates.

Sigma Pi Sigma induction

2012-04-17T09:00:00-04:00

The Department of Physics at the University of Notre Dame inducted 10 undergraduate physics majors and 4 physics professors into Sigma Pi Sigma on Friday, April 13. Professor Peter Garnavich, faculty advisor of the Society of Physics Students, and Professor Mitchell Wayne, Department Chair, presented the inductees with their honor cords.

Sigma Pi Sigma is the official honor society of the physics profession. Through election to Sigma Pi Sigma, distinctive achievement and high scholarship in physics is recognized and celebrated.

Students inducted were: Adam Alongi, Matthew Anthony, Christopher Bell, Jeffery Berryman, Julie Cass, Thomas Catanach, Santina Consiglio, Alex Kocurek, Guiseppe Passucci, and Nancy Paul. Professors inducted were Ani Aprahamian, Morten Eskildsen, Christopher Howk, and Christopher Kolda.

More on Sigma Pi Sigma

Sigma Pi Sigma exists to honor outstanding scholarship in physics; to encourage interest in physics among students at all levels; to promote an attitude of service of its members towards their fellow students, colleagues, and the public; to provide a fellowship of persons who have excelled in physics. Sigma Pi Sigma’s mission is not completed in the induction ceremony with the recognition of academic accomplishment. In the four dimensions of Honor, Encouragement, Service, and Fellowship, the mission of Sigma Pi Sigma takes a longer view.

Founded in 1921, Sigma Pi Sigma is a member honor society of the Association of College Honor Societies. Our society has some 75,000 historical members. Election to Sigma Pi Sigma is a lifetime membership.

The Society of Physics Students (SPS) was formed in 1968 with the union of Sigma Pi Sigma and the AIP Student Sections. Today Sigma Pi Sigma is housed within the SPS.

GPS to host Spring Conference 2012

2012-04-12T14:50:00-04:00

The Graduate Physics Students (GPS) will be hosting the Spring Conference 2012 on Thursday, April 19. The conference will showcase the research being done in the Department of Physics by the graduate students. There will be eight speakers and two poster sessions. Events will take place in Nieuwland Science Hall. A conference social will conclude the day's events.

The conference is being generously sponsored by Notre Dame's Graduate Student Union, the University of Notre Dame Graduate School, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA), and the Department of Physics.

Conference organizers are graduate students Alex Long, Colin McClelland, Ayan Paul, Pokie Olson, Cathy Rastovski, and Ali Snedden.

More information, including a full list of the speakers, can be found on the Spring Conference 2012 web site.

Gangopadhyay invited to MSRI summer graduate school

2012-04-11T13:00:00-04:00

Physics graudate student Mayukh Gangopadhyay has been invited to the Mathematical Science Research Institute (MSRI) summer graduate school, Mathematical General Relativity. The event will take place in July at MSRI in Berkley, California.

Gangopadhyay's invitation to the summer school is noteworthy. It is highly competitive, and priority is given to graduate students in mathematics.

"Mathematical general relativity is the study of mathematical problems related to Einstein's theory of gravitation. There are interesting connections between the physics theory and problems in differential geometry and partial differential equations. The purpose of the workshop is to introduce graduate students to some fundamental aspects of mathematical general relativity, with particular emphasis on the geometry of the Einstein constraint equations and the Positive Mass Theorem." --excerpted from the MSRI invitation letter

Meyer receives 2012 CRC Award

2012-04-05T14:55:00-04:00

Chad Meyer, a graduate student in the Department of Physics, has received the 2012 Center for Research Computing Award for Computational Sciences and Visualization.

This award recognizes outstanding contributions in the areas of computational sciences and visualization. Such contributions may include, but are not limited to: 1) applications of high performance computation and/or visualization technology; 2) development of algorithms, codes, software environments or other tools for better using high performance computing and/or visualization.

Meyer studies computational astrophysics, simulating star formation. He models the complex fluid dynamics within molecular clouds, which ultimately lead to the gravitational collapse of the first protostellar cores. To facilitate this, he also works in the area of algorithm development, building new numerical methods to improve the computational efficiency of simulations.

The Center for Research Computing at the University of Notre Dame is an innovative and multidisciplinary research environment that supports collaboration to facilitate discoveries in science and engineering, the arts, humanities and social sciences, through advanced computation, data analysis and other digital research tools. The center enhances the University’s cyber-infrastructure, provides support for interdisciplinary research and education, and conducts computational research.

New finding affects understanding of formation of the solar system

2012-03-29T16:00:00-04:00

A global collaboration including five University of Notre Dame researchers has revised the half-life of samarium-146 (¹⁴⁶Sm), reducing it to 68 million years from 103 million years. Their finding is published in the journal Science today.

The revised half-life, which is 34 percent shorter than the previously adopted value, affects the understanding of processes leading to the formation of the Solar System, and dating of some major geological events in the mantles of Earth and other terrestrial planets in the early Solar System.

Samarium-146 is one of the main tools for establishing the evolution of the Solar System over its first few hundred million years. It is a radioactive atom that is used as a clock for dating the separation of mantles of the terrestrial planets, Earth, Moon, Mars and meteorite parent bodies, to regions with different chemical compositions, including the formation of crust from the mantle, in the early Solar System.

Samarium-146, which is only produced in stars, does not occur naturally on Earth. It decays to neodymium-142 (¹⁴²Nd), so the presence of excess ¹⁴²Nd in the geological record indicates the previous presence of ¹⁴⁶Sm. The researchers produced ¹⁴⁶Sm samples in a reactor and used Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) to separate the isotope from other material with mass 146 (called isobars). Measurements were taken using the high-energy ATLAS accelerator facility at Argonne National Laboratory utilizing the gas-filled magnet technique. This technique was developed by a collaboration between Argonne physicists, Philippe Collon, professor of physics at the University of Notre Dame, and Michael Paul from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

“Samarium-146 has a whole number of different applications that are specific to geological dating of these events. It goes back to the formation of the Solar System and the formation of Earth. That clearly changes some of the models and is an important piece of information. It is going to have implications on some of the models we have and our understanding of the formation of the Solar System and any extraterrestrial planetary system we are looking at,” Collon said.

Philippe Collon along with Xiaodong Tang, a professor of physics, Yoav Kashiv, a visiting scholar who cowrote the paper, and graduate students Dan Robertson and Chris Schmitt were part of the research collaboration that involved groups from Israel, Japan and Argonne National Laboratory.

New issue of Physics Tracks

2012-03-27T08:00:00-04:00

A new issue of Physics Tracks is posted. This issue's stories include:

Three-part lecture series Finding Our Way in the Cosmos
Faculty named AAAS Fellows
Research featured on journal covers
Alumnus launches video series
NDeRC Forum V
and faculty news & notes

Physics graduate student to attend Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting

2012-03-21T11:00:00-04:00

Notre Dame physics graduate student Catherine Rastovski has been selected to attend the 62^nd annual Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, an opportunity for young researchers and Nobel laureates to inform and inspire each other.

The annual meetings are held on the island town of Lindau, on Lake Constance in southeastern Germany. They focus alternately on chemistry, physics, and physiology, and began in 1951 with a meeting of seven laureates and around 400 physicians. This year's weeklong meeting will focus on physics. Its attendees include 550 young researchers and 32 laureates from years ranging from 1973 to 2011. Laureates are invited to lecture and lead discussions on topics of their choosing, with themes ranging from the retrospective to the speculative.

Rastovski is a member of Morten Ring Eskildsen's condensed matter physics group, where her research examines the superconducting state of unconventional superconductors using Small Angle Neutron Scattering. Before joining Notre Dame in 2008, she was the Science Education Coordinator and a lecturer at Purdue University Calumet.

“The best thing about being a grad student is the research,” said Rastovski of the opportunity. “Being the first person on earth to see some new physical phenomenon is a spectacular feeling. At Lindau, I’m going to have the opportunity to meet people who have made the most influential discoveries in physics. It’s pretty humbling—but also very exciting.”

Garnavich participates in ND Thinks Big

2012-03-19T11:00:00-04:00

ND Thinks Big will feature 10 of Notre Dame’s most exciting and engaging professors sharing the impact of their work in action-packed, accessible 10 minute talks. Special guest Mike Collins, the voice of Notre Dame stadium, will be hosting this evening of big ideas.

The event will be at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 22 in the Jordan Auditorium of Mendoza College of Business. The event is sponsored by The Hub and CUSE.

Modeled after the mission of TED talks, “Ideas worth sharing”, ND Thinks Big will be a dynamic and energetic event with talks from faculty in all of Notre Dame’s colleges.

Tickets for ND Thinks Big will be available starting at 9:00 pm on Tuesday, March 20 in the LaFortune Box Office. The event is free but a ticket is required for entry, and seating capacity is limited.

The Speakers
Corey Angst — Information Systems
Aimee Buccellato — Sustainable Architecture
Jessica Hellmann — Biology
Peter Garnavich — Physics
Prashant Kamat — Chemistry
James McKenna — Anthropology
Michael Mogavero — Economics
Lou Nanni — Administrator, University Relations
Sebastian Rosato — International Relations
Aaron Striegel — Computer Science

Solar storm's effects measured

2012-03-14T12:10:00-04:00

An array of detectors at the University of Notre Dame recorded the expected cosmic reaction to the solar storm earlier this week, an event that actually deflects certain outer-space particles from reaching the Earth. John Poirier, a professor emeritus of astrophysics and elementary particle physics, said measurements after the relatively weak solar storm showed a dip in the number of muons, which are produced when protons hit the upper atmosphere "This eruption on the sun releases a charged plasma," Poirier explained. "It travels from the sun to us. It's not anything like the velocity of light. It takes a couple of days to get here," while light takes only about eight minutes.

"This plasma has in it a magnetic field, and the magnetic field, when it gets close to the earth, has a tendency to shield us from the cosmic rays that are coming from outside the solar system. We actually see a drop in intensity."

The decline, called the Forbush decrease for the researcher who observed it about 75 years ago, started about 4 a.m. Thursday and continued until after 11 p.m. Thursday, said Poirier, who measured a decrease of 2.5 percent.

"It was a pretty steep and large drop for us," Poirier says.

Poirier maintains a set of 64 detectors in a field about the size of two side-by-side football fields on the north side of Notre Dame's campus. The detectors, each 39 inches square, are in individual huts 4 feet tall, 8 feet long and 8 feet wide.

Project GRAND -- Gamma Ray Astrophysics at Notre Dame -- started more than a decade ago and soon shifted its focus from gamma rays to background material such as muons.

"The long term hope of people like us around the world is to have stuff that's looking at these effects from the sun and can see them far enough out in space that we could have a network that would alert people as to this thing is coming," Poirier said. "That has yet to be realized."

This week's solar storm came near the beginning of a new 11-year cycle that will produce some 200 storms, a few of which will be significantly more intense. Stronger storms can affect satellites and power grids.

By GENE STOWE South Bend Tribune Correspondent
March 11, 2012
Copyright © 2012, South Bend Tribune

Brian Greene to deliver sold-out lecture on space, time and string theory

2012-03-05T16:00:00-05:00

By Lisa Chin

Award-winning author, string theorist and physics professor Dr. Brian Greene will deliver a sold-out lecture on “The Fabric of the Cosmos” on Tuesday, March 6 at Notre Dame. Greene took a moment to discuss his life, work, and the future of string theory with Notre Dame students.

“My goal is to make science accessible, exciting, and wondrous, because that’s what it is,” said Greene concerning his unique interest in conveying matters of physics to the general public.

“To me it feels like the work that we’re doing is so vital that for it to be hidden behind the doors of the academy is tragic. People need to have an input, as opposed to shy away from joining the conversation because of a fear of science.” Greene has worked diligently to reach the non-physics public through a number of books as well as two NOVA television series.

During the interview, Greene spoke to problems in the long-held notion of three dimensions of space and one of time. “Shockingly we find that if we allow for more dimensions of space, say nine dimensions of space, and one of time, internal inconsistencies cancel out. So it’s a mathematical conclusion that speaks to the nature of reality,” explains Greene. “It tells of a reality very different from what we would have anticipated.” These ideas and theories surrounding alternative dimensions have unbounded potential for future discoveries not only in the field of physics, but in the general laws of the universe.

When asked about his research on string theory, Greene expressed how far the field has yet to go in experimentally confirming the theory. Astronomical data, as well as research being done by Notre Dame and others at the world’s largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, could provide invaluable information. However, Greene considers these possibilities a “long shot” as of today.

“There is no fundamental reason string theory can’t be experimentally tested, it’s just difficult. And it’s our job to make it less difficult by understanding the theory better,” says Greene.

Given what is known about string theory, Greene conveys the difficulty in predicting where the field will stand in fifty years, let alone in the next two. Ultimately, Greene hopes to deepen our understanding of space and time through his research and exploration of string theory.

Greene will discuss the essential features of string theory, and offer an assessment from a variety of perspectives on attempts to unify physics, in his public lecture, “The Fabric of the Cosmos” at 7:30pm at Debartolo Performing Arts Center.

Contacts: Chris Kolda, ckolda@nd.edu; Arnel Bulaoro, abulaoro@nd.edu

Eskildsen research group reports results of their latest small-angle neutron scattering studies

2012-03-05T08:00:00-05:00

Among the materials with remarkable electronic and magnetic properties, few are more extraordinary than superconductors. When a superconductor is placed in a magnetic field, it is threaded by swirling whirlpools of electric current known as vortices which can serve as a unique probe into the nature of the superconducting state in the host material. It now appears that some of the most significant advances in superconductivity will be precisely in those materials which are the most complex to understand and control.

In a recent paper published in Physical Review Letters, Notre Dame graduate student Pinaki Das and Associate Professor Morten Ring Eskildsen report results of their latest small-angle neutron scattering studies of the vortex lattice studies in the heavy fermion superconductor CeCoIn₅. In particular they investigated the detailed interplay between superconductivity and magnetism in this material, which show very strong Pauli paramagnetic effects on the vortex cores. Studies of Pauli paramagnetic effects in superconductors were been pioneered by the Eskildsen group. The present results were obtained in collaboration with colleagues at University of Birmingham (UK), the Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland), University of Montreal (Canada), Brookhaven National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The abstract and the link to the full article,"Vortex Lattice Studies in CeCoIn₅ with H⊥c," can be found at http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v108/i8/e087002.

Sapirstein named Outstanding Referee by APS

2012-03-01T15:00:00-05:00

Professor Jonathan Sapirstein has been named as an Outstanding Referee by the American Physical Society for 2012. The American Physical Society initiated the highly selective award program in 2008 to recognize scientists who have been exceptionally helpful in assessing manuscripts for publication in the APS journals. The basis for selection was the quality, number and timeliness of their reports, without regard for membership in the APS, country of origin, or field of research. This year 149 Outstanding Referees received this honor. The 2012 honorees come from 22 different countries, with large contingents from the U.S., Germany, U.K., Canada, and France.

Like Fellowship in the APS and other organizations, this is a lifetime award. In initiating the program, APS expresses appreciation to all referees, whose efforts in peer review not only keep the standards of the journals at a high level, but in many cases also help authors to improve the quality and readability of their articles—even those that are not published by APS.

Additional Department of Physics faculty who have received this honor are Neal Cason, Jacek Furdyna, Walter Johnson, James Kolata, and H. Gordon Berry. The full list of recipients can be found on the APS website (http://publish.aps.org/OutstandingReferees).

Brian Greene to present talks at Notre Dame

2012-02-28T09:00:00-05:00

On Tuesday, March 6, Professor Brian Greene will present two talks at the University of Notre Dame. Greene teaches mathematics and physics at Columbia University, and is the author of The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos.

"The State of String Theory" will be presented at 4:00 p.m. in Room 105 of Jordan Hall of Science. This is a special Department of Physics colloquia and seating is very limited.

"The Fabric of the Cosmos" will be presented at 7:30 p.m. at the Decio Mainstage Theater of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. This lecture is sponsored by the Notre Dame College of Science, Multicultural Students Programs and Services, and the Glynn Family Honors Program. A book signing will follow the lecture.

NOTE: THIS WAS FREE, BUT TICKETED, AND NO MORE TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE. The talk will be simulcast to room 102 DeBartolo Hall, which is open to the public.

Greene's "The Fabric of the Cosmos" was also produced by NOVA as a four-hour television series that first aired in November 2011.