THE BOSTON AREA PHYSICS CALENDAR
        Week of February 25-March 2, 1996

The Boston Area Physics Calendar is published weekly during 
the academic year by the Department of Physics and Astronomy 
at Tufts University.  You may send your announcements by 
e-mail (bapc@tuhepa.phy.tufts.edu) or FAX:(617-627-3878).  
We cannot accept announcements by telephone.  Entries should 
reach us no later than 11:00am on the Monday preceding the week 
of the event. ENTRIES RECEIVED AFTER THE DEADLINE WILL NOT 
BE PUBLISHED.           
                
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Monday, February 25, 1996
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Monday, February 26, 1996, 2:00 p.m.
 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Monday Research Seminar 
Center for Theoretical Physics Seminar Room
Building 6, Third Floor
``New (and Old) results on spontaneous breaking of 
extended supersymmetry''
PROFESSOR MASSIMO PORRATI
New York University 
_____________________________________________________________
Monday, February 26, 1996, 4:00 p.m.

Boston College
Physics Seminar 
Higgins Hall, Room 354
``A New Approach for the Fabrication of Quantum Wires
in GaAs/GaAlAs Heterostructures: SiO_2 Capping-induced Selective
Interdiffusion''
DR. ANNE PEPIN
Laboratorie de Microstructures et de Microelectroniqe
CNRS and M.I.T. 
Tea will be served in Higgins Hall, Room 354 at 3:30 p.m.
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Monday, February 26, 1996, 4:00 p.m.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Colloquium 
Olin Hall, Room 107
``On Teaching the Theory of Real Lenses''
DR. ADRIAAN WALTHER
Worcester Polytechnic Institute 
Coffee will be served in Olin Hall, Room 118 at 3:45 p.m.
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Monday, February 26, 1996, 4:15 p.m.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Applied Mathematics Colloquium 
Room 2-105
``Propagating Peristalsis''
PROFESSOR P. NELSON
University of Pennsylvania

Abstract:

Bilayer vesicles mimic the behavior and chemistry of real
biomembranes, for example the plasma membranes surrounding cells and
their constituent organelles. Their equilibrium conformations have
been well studied, but our understanding of their dyanmics has
remained comparatively primitive due to the lack of appropriate
experimental techniques. Since real biological processes are usually
far from equilibrium, examples of well-controlled dynamical phenomena
in bilayers are especially interesting.

Recently Bar-Ziv and Moses discovered a dramatic, dynamical shape
transformation induced in cylindrical lipid bilayer vesicles by the
action of laser tweezers.  We develop a hydrodynamic theory of fluid
bilayers in interaction with the surrounding water to explain their
video micrographs. Applying the marginal stability criterion to this
situation gives us predictions for the selected initial wavelength and
the propagation velocity, both in agreement with the experimental
values. In particular we show that the instability initially
propagates as a front at constant velocity, as observed. Finally we
introduce an approximate hydrodynamic model applicable to the fully
nonlinear regime. This model exhibits propagating fronts as well as
fully-developed ``pearled" vesicles similar to those seen in the
experiments. 

Refreshments will be served in Room 2-349 at 3:45 p.m. 
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Monday, February 26, 1996, 4:30 p.m.

Brown University
Colloquium 
Barus & Holley 168
``Measuring the Universe with Supernova''
PROFESSOR R. KIRSHNER
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 
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Monday, February 26, 1996, 4:30 p.m.

Harvard University
Colloquium 
Jefferson Building, Room 250
``Even-odd effects in superconducting grains: where one electron 
in a billion makes a difference''
PROFESSOR MICHAEL TINKHAM
Harvard University 
Tea will be served in Jefferson 461 at 4:00 p.m. 
_____________________________________________________________
Monday, February 26, 1996, 5:00 p.m.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Nuclear Theory Seminar 
Center for Theoretical Physics Seminar Room
Third Floor, Building 6
``Connections between QCD and Relativistic 
Nuclear Phenomenology''
XUEMIN JIN
TRIUMF 

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Tuesday, February 27, 1996
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Tuesday, February 27, 1996, 2:30 p.m.

Brandeis University
Theoretical Seminar 
Physics Building, Room 229
``Topological Models Coupled to Gravity''
DR. AVIJIT MUKHERJEE
Brandeis University 
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Tuesday, February 27, 1996, 2:30 p.m.

Harvard University
CfA-Tufts-MIT Cosmology Seminar 
Pratt Conference Room
``Progress on LIGO - Laser Interferometer 
Gravitational-wave Observatory''
PROFESSOR RAINER WEISS
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

Abstract:

LIGO is a major initiative in physics and astrophysics
sponsored by the National Science Foundation to detect gravitational
waves from astrophysical sources. The talk will describe recent
progress in the laboratory research, the state of the design and
construction of the LIGO facilities, and review current work on
astrophysical sources. 

     **** Note Change in Room for this Semester ****
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Tuesday, February 27, 1996, 3:30 p.m.

Boston University
Colloquium 
Room SCI-107, 590 Commonwealth Avenue
``Visual Neurons, Tight Frames and Non-Orthogonal Functional
Expansions''
PROFESSOR L. ABBOTT
Volen Center and Biology Department
Brandeis University 
Refreshments will be served following the talk.
_____________________________________________________________
Tuesday, February 27, 1996, 4:00 p.m.

Brandeis University
Martin Weiner Lecture Series
Physics Colloquium 
Physics Building, Abelson 131
``Disordered Polymers''
DR. ALEXANDER GROSBERG
Visiting Scientist
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Refreshments will be served in Room 333 at 3:30 p.m. 
_____________________________________________________________
Tuesday, February 27, 1996, 4:00 p.m.

Northeastern University
CIRCS Seminar 
Dana Building, Room 114
``Assembly and Elasticity of Cytoskeletal Networks''
PROFESSOR PAUL JAMNEY
Department of Medicine
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Refreshments will be served at 3:45 p.m. 
_____________________________________________________________
Tuesday, February 27, 1996, 4:15 p.m.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Astrophysics Colloquium 
The Marlar Lounge, Room 37-252
``Galaxies and Clusters at z > 1''
DR. MARK DICKINSON
Space Telescope Science Institute
Refreshments will be served at 3:45 p.m. 
_____________________________________________________________
Tuesday, February 27, 1996, 4:30 p.m.

Harvard University
Harvard-M.I.T. Mathematical Physics Seminar 
The Science Center 507
``Large Radius Limit in Mirror Symmetry''
BONG LIAN
Brandies University

_____________________________________________________________                Wednesday, February 28, 1996
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Wednesday, February 28, 1996, 12:00 noon

Brandeis University
Condensed Matter Seminar 
Physics Building, Room 229
``Winding Angle Distributions for Random Walks and Flux Lines''
BARBARA DROSSEL
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Wednesday, February 28, 1996, 4:00 p.m.

Northeastern University
CIRCS Seminar 
Dana Building, Room 114
``Photo dection in the eye: From light absorption to nerve
excitation''
PROFESSOR PAUL-JOERG BAUER
KFA Julich
Refreshments will be served at 3:45 p.m. 
_____________________________________________________________
Wednesday, February 28, 1996, 4:15 p.m.

Boston College
Colloquium 
Higgins Hall, Room 354
``Local fermi Liquids: Where Have All the Instabilities
Gone? ''
PROFESSOR KEVIN BEDELL
Boston College
Tea will be served in Higgins Hall, Room 354 at 3:30 p.m. 
_____________________________________________________________
Wednesday, February 28, 1996, 4:30 p.m.

Harvard University
Joint Theory Seminar 
Jefferson Laboratory, Room 256
``Large-N_c Equivalence of Effective Lagrangians,
 Chiral Bags, and Skyrmions, Part I''
DR. MICHAEL MATTIS
Los Alamos
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Wednesday, February 28, 1996, 5:00 p.m.

Harvard University/Center for Astrophysics
Joint Atomic Physics Seminar 
Jefferson Laboratory, Room 356
``Radioactive Atoms in a Magneto-Optical Trap''
DR. LUIS OROZCO
SUNY - Stony Brook
Tea will be served at 4:30 p.m. 

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Thursday, February 29, 1996
_____________________________________________________________
Thursday, February 29, 1996, 12:00 noon

Harvard University
Condensed Matter Theory Seminar 
Pierce 100F
``Pinning by Point Disorder: From Flux Lines in Superconductors
to Contact Lines and Crack Fronts''
DENIZ ERTAS
Harvard University 
_____________________________________________________________
Thursday, February 29, 1996, 1:30 p.m.

Harvard University
Materials Science Seminars 
David Turnbull Room (402)
Gordon McKay Laboratory
``Growth and Properties of GaN grown by Molecular Epitaxy''
PROFESSOR THEODORE D. MOUSTAKAS
Department of Engineering and Computer Science
Boston University 
_____________________________________________________________
Thursday, February 29, 1996, 4:00 p.m.

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Scientific Colloquium 
60 Garden Street (Phillips Auditorium)
``X-rays and High Redshift Quasars''
DR. MARTIN ELVIS
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 

Abstract:

X-ray astronomy has been limited to low redshifts until recently.
More sensitive telescopes now allow quasars at high redshift to be studied
in X-rays. The results have been surprising. Absorption appears to
be far more widespread than expected and from a wide variety of
causes, from nearby galaxies in front of the quasar, to the host
(proto-?) galaxy surrounding the quasar, to the intimate environment
of the quasar itself. All these will be described and what they tell
us about quasars and galaxies discussed. The future for quasar absorption
studies using AXAF, and other soon to be launched X-ray observatories,
is bright. Some examples will be given of what can soon be done. 

Tea will be served at 3:30 p.m.
_____________________________________________________________
Thursday, February 29, 1996, 4:00 p.m.

Harvard University
Special Joint Theory Seminar 
Jefferson Laboratory, Room 256
``Large-N_c Equivalence of Effective Lagrangians,
 Chiral Bags, and Skyrmions, Part II''
DR. MICHAEL MATTIS
Los Alamos
_____________________________________________________________
Thursday, February 29, 1996, 4:05 p.m.

Northeastern University
Condensed Matter Seminar 
114 Dana
``Exploring the Fermi Surface of Low Dimensional Conductors''
PROFESSOR KEVIN SMITH
Boston University 
Refreshments will be served at 3:50 p.m.
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Thursday, February 29, 1996, 4:15 p.m.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Colloquium 
Room 10-250
``Why Hertz Did Not Discover Electric Waves in 1887''
JED Z. BUCHWALD
M.I.T. Dibner Institute
Refreshments will be served IN ROOM 26-110 at 3:45 p.m.
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Thursday, February 29, 1996, 4:30 p.m.

Brown University
Condensed Matter Seminar
Barus \char38 \enskip Holley, Room 751
``Measurements of the correlation lengths 
in the superconducting flux line lattice''
DR. PETER GAMMEL
AT & T Bell Laboratories

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Friday, March 1, 1996
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Friday, March 1, 1996, 1:00 p.m.

Boston University
Condensed Matter Seminar
Science Building, Room 352 (590 Commonwealth Avenue)
``A Physicist's Spin on Alzheimer's Disease:
Experimental Observation and Theoretical Analysis of Nucleation and
Growth of Beta-Amyloid Fibrils''
GEORGE BENEDEK and ALEKSEY LOMAKIN
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Friday, March 1, 1996, 1:00 p.m.

Tufts University
Lunchtime Cosmology Seminar
Robinson Hall, Room 258
``Spectroscopy of Quantum Black Holes''
DR. V. MUKHANOV
E.T.H., ZURICH
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Friday, March 1, 1996, 4:00 p.m.

Harvard University
Division of Applied Sciences:
Condensed Matter Seminar
Pierce Hall, Room 209
``Local View of Bonding at Metal Surfaces''
PROFESSOR PETER FEIBELMAN
Sandia National Laboratories
Refreshments will be served following the seminar in the Brooks Room.
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Friday, March 1-Saturday, March 3, 1996 

All Day Sessions  

 Boston University

Boston Colloquium for the Philosophy of Science  
A Historical Examination and Philosophical 
Reflections on the Foundations  
of Quantum Field Theory  

Friday, March 1, 1996


Symposium


Conference Auditorium
George Sherman Union
775 Commonwealth Avenue.
 
Afternoon Session (I) 1:00- 2:00 p.m. 
 
``Philosophers' Interests in QFT'' 

CHAIRMAN:
ROBERT S. COHEN
Boston University 

``Why are we philosophers interested in quantum field theory''
TIAN YU CAO
Boston University

``Quantum field theory and the philosopher''
MICHAEL REDHEAD
Cambridge University

Afternoon Session (II)  2:30- 5:30 p.m. 


``Three Approaches to the Foundations of QFT'' 

CHAIRMAN:
SILVAN S. SCHWEBER
Brandeis University

``The usefulness of a general theory of quantized fields''
ARTHUR WIGHTMAN
Princeton University

``Effective field theory in condensed matter physics''
R. SHANKAR
Yale University

``The truimph and limitations of quantum field theory''
DAVID GROSS
Princeton University

COMMENTATOR\char58 
SAM TREIMAN
Princeton University 

Evening Session (II)  8:00- 10:00 p.m.


CHAIRMAN:
LAWRENCE SULAK
Boston University 

``Does quantum field theory need a foundation\char63 ''
SHELDON GLASHOW
Harvard University & Boston University

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Saturday, March 2, 1996

Department of Physics, Metcall Center
590 Commonwealth Ave., Room 107


Morning Session (I)   9:00- 12:00 p.m. 


``Mathematics, Statistical Mechanics and QFT''


CHAIRMAN:
PETER GALISON
Harvard University


``Renormalization group theory: its basis and formulation in 
statistical physics''
MICHAEL FISHER
University of Maryland

``How quantum field theory fits into the big picture''
ROMAN JACKIW
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

COMMENTATOR:
HOWARD SCHNITZER
Brandeis University

Afternoon Session (I)   1:00- 4:00 p.m.


``QFT and Space-time'' 


CHAIRMAN and COMMENTATOR:
JOHN STACHEL
Boston University


``Quantum field theory and spacetime - formalism and reality''
BRYCE DeWITT
University of Texas

``How much of quantum field theory is compatible with 
what we know about spacetime?''
CARLO ROVELLI
University of Pittsburgh

``Quantum field theory of geometry''
ABHAY ASHTEKAR
The Pennsylvania State University

Afternoon Session (II)     4:30- 6:30 p.m.


CHAIRMAN:
GERALD HOLTON
Harvard University

``What is quantum field theory, and what did we think it was?'' 


STEVEN WEINBERG
University of Texas

COMMENTATORS:
LAURIE BROWN 
Northwestern University 
 
&

FRITZ ROHRLICH
University of Syracuse


Evening Session & Roundtable Discussion:
8:00- 10:00 p.m. 


MODERATORS:
JAMES CUSHING
University of Notre Dame

&

SIDNEY COLEMAN
Harvard University

SHELDON GLASHOW
Harvard & Boston Universities

M. VELTMAN
University of Michigan

STEVEN WEINBERG
University of Texas

ARTHUR WIGHTMAN
Princeton University

_____________________________________________________________
Sunday, March 3, 1996

Department of Physics, Metcall Center
590 Commonwealth Ave., Room 107

Morning Session (I)  9:30-11:30 a.m. 

Renormalization Group 

CHAIRMAN: 
MICHAEL FISHER
University of Maryland

``Universality and renormalization in condensed matter physics''
DAVID NELSON
Harvard University

``Renormalization group: An interesting yet puzzling idea''
TIAN YU CAO
Boston University

Afternoon Session (I)   1:00- 3:30 p.m. 


``Non-abelian Gauge Theory'' 

CHAIRMAN:
ROMAN JACKIW
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

``On the analogy between gauge fields and gravity''
ROBERT WEINGARD
Rutgers University

``Ghost states and interpreting the significance
of gauge invariance in quantum field theories''
RON ANDERSON
Boston College

``Nonlocality and the Aharonov-Bohm effect''
RICHARD HEALEY
University of Arizona

``The Aharonov-Bohm effect, Hodge decomposition and 
non-locality''
J.B. KENNEDY
University of Notre Dame

Afternoon Session (II)  3:45-6:15 p.m. 


``The Ontology of Particles or Fields'' 

CHAIRMAN:
FRITZ ROHRLICH
Syracuse University

``The ineliminable classical face of quantum field theory''
PAUL TELLER
University of California- Davis

``The logic of quanta''
STEVEN FRENCH
Leeds University

``Do Feynman diagrams endorse particle ontology?''
DAVID KAISER
Harvard University

``Pluralism and the ontology of quantum field theory''
FRITZ ROHRLICH
Syracuse University

_____________________________________________________________
A Friendly Reminder: 
The Deadline for the Mar. 3-Mar. 9, 1996 Issue is: 
MONDAY, February 26, 1996 at 11:00 a.m. 
_____________________________________________________________

End of Document.