THE BOSTON AREA PHYSICS CALENDAR
Week of December 1 - December 7, 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 ENTRIES RECEIVED AFTER THE DEADLINE WILL NOT 
BE PUBLISHED.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, December 2, 1996
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Monday, December 2, 2:00 p.m.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Seminar on Modern Optics and Spectroscopy 
Center for Theoretical Physics Seminar Room
Building 6, Third Floor
``Equation of State & Chiral Phase Transition''
JUERGEN BERGES
University of Heidelberg 


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Monday, December 2, 4:00 p.m.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Seminar 
MIT Room 12-132
``Structural and Optical Properties of Self-Ordered V-Groove Quantum
Wires''
PROFESSOR ELI KAPON
Lausanne 


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Monday, December 2, 4:30 p.m.

Brown University
Condensed Matter Seminar 
Barus & Holley Building, Room 168
``Quantum Dots - Artificial Atoms or Artificial Nuclei?''
PROFESSOR BORIS ALTSHULER
NEC 
Refreshments will be served at 4:00 p.m.


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Monday, December 2, 4:30 p.m.

Harvard University
Colloquium 
Jefferson Building 250
``New Developments In String Theory''
PROFESSOR CUMRUN VAFA
Harvard University 
Tea will be served in Jefferson 461 at 4:00 p.m.


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Monday, December 2, 4:30 p.m.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Colloquium 
Olin Hall, Room 107
``A Non-Random Walk Down Wall Street''
DR. ANDREW LO
Director, Laboratory for Financial Engineering
Sloan School of Management, MIT 
Refreshments will be served in Olin 118 at 4:00 p.m.


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Tuesday, December 3, 1996
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Tuesday, December 3, 12:00 p.m.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Seminar on Modern Optics and Spectroscopy 
The Marlar Lounge
Room 37-252
``Trapped Cluster Ions: Dynamics at Slow Rates''
JOEL PARKS
Rowland Institute for Science 
Refreshments will be served following the seminar.
For map see http://amo.mit.edu/mos.html


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Tuesday, December 3, 2:30 p.m.

Tufts University
Joint Tufts-M.I.T.-CfA
Cosmology Seminar 
Robinson Hall, Room 153
``Supersymmetry and Cold Dark Matter''
DR. V. Berezinsky
Gran Sasso, ITALY 
Refreshments will be served in the Knipp Physics Room
at 2:00 p.m.


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Tuesday, December 3, 4:00 p.m.

Northeastern University
Condensed Matter Seminar 
114 Dana
``Studies of the Flux Line Lattice in ErNi_2B_2C: The Interplay of
Superconductivity and Magnetism''
PETER GAMMEL
Lucent Technologies
Refreshments will be served at 3:45 p.m. 


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Tuesday, December 3, 4:15 p.m.

Boston College
Condensed Matter Seminar 
Higgins Hall, Room 354
``Life at the Edge of Chaos: Analysis and Simulation of 
Kauffman Networks''
PROESSOR SHOUDAN LIANG
Pennsylvania State University 
Tea will be served at 3:30 p.m.


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Tuesday, December 3, 4:15 p.m.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Astrophysics Colloquium 
The Marlar Lounge
Room 37-252
``Signatures of Accretion Events in Our Galactic Halo''
DR. KATHRYN JOHNSTON
Institute for Advanced Study 
Refreshments will be served at 3:45 p.m.


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Wednesday, December 4, 1996
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Wednesday, December 4, 12:00 p.m.

Boston University
Particles and Fields Seminar 
Physics Research Building, Room 593
``The Muon g-2 Experiment at Brookhaven: Read my lips - data in 1997''
DR. ROBERT CAREY
Boston University 


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Wednesday, December 4, 12:15 p.m.

Harvard University
High Energy Physics Seminar 
HEPL Third Floor Conference Room
42 Oxford Street
``Searches for New Physics at LEP 2''
MICHAEL SCHMITT
CERN 


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Wednesday, December 4, 4:00 p.m.

Northeastern University
The Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Complex Systems
Colloquium 
114 Dana
``A Computer Model of Learning''
ALAN CROMER
Northeastern University 


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Wednesday, December 4, 4:15 p.m.

Boston College
Colloquium 
Higgins Hall, Room 354
``What Do Dilute Alloys Teach Us About Magnetism''
PROFESSOR BRIAN COLES
Imperial College, London 
Tea will be served at 3:30 p.m.


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Wednesday, December 4, 4:30 p.m.

Boston University
Joint Theory Seminar 
Physics Research Building
(3 Cummington Street) Room 593
``The Chiral Phase Transition with Long Range Forces''
PROFESSOR THOMAS APPELQUIST
Yale University 
Refreshments will be served at 4:00 p.m.

Please call (353-2600) one day in advance for parking.


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Wednesday, December 4, 5:00 p.m.

Harvard University/Center for Astrophysics
Joint Atomic Physics Seminar 
Jefferson Laboratory, Room 356
``Structure and Spectra of Atomic Bose-Einstein Condensates''

Abstract:

About a year after their first production in the laboratory,
Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) of alkali atoms are now being used in
physics experiments: measurements of excitation spectra, temperature
dependence of the condensate fraction, and specific heat have been
reported, and no doubt we shall soon hear reports from the labs of
collisions between condensates, coexistence of several condensate
species, and who knows what else?  A good sense of the current state of
this fast-moving field can be obtained from Mark Edwards' WWW page
http://amo.phy.gasou.edu, particularly the on-line bibliography.  I will
discuss what new physics has been learned from this work, what more basic
physics we hope to learn, and prospects for BEC applications such as the
"atom laser."  The intellectual basis for the perspective I present is
computational atomic/condensed matter physics: solution of the
mean-field, zero-temperature (Hartree/Gross-Pitaevskii/Bogoliubov)
equations formulated for systems of 103-105 interacting bosons confined
in three-dimensional harmonic traps with characteristic frequencies of
10-103 Hz.

*Presenting work of D BEC Collaboration (Robert Dodd, Keith Burnett, Mark
Edwards, Charles Clark)\par

DR. CHARLES CLARK
National Institute of Standards and Technology

Tea will be served at 4:30 p.m. 


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Thursday, December 5, 1996
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Thursday, December 5, 2:30 p.m.

Brown University
Theoretical Seminar 
Barus & Holley Building, Room 555
``Non-Gaussian Spectra in Microwave Background Analysis''
PROFESSOR JOAO MAGUEIJO
University of Cambridge


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Thursday, December 5, 2:30 p.m.

Harvard University
Duality Seminar 
Jefferson 256
``Understanding Gauge Coupling Unification in String Theory: A
Review of Recent Developments''
DR. KEITH DIENES
IAS - Princeton University 


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Thursday, December 5, 4:00 p.m.

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Scientific Colloquium 
60 Garden Street (Phillips Auditorium)
``Multiwavelength Studies of X-ray Binaries''

Abstract:

Accretion onto compact objects is one of the most important energy
release mechanisms in the Universe.  From the X-ray binaries that
are the most luminous sources in our own Galaxy to the active
galactic nuclei and quasars that are the most intrinsically luminous
cosmic sources now known, accretion is the central, unifying theme.
Owing to their proximity and brightness, X-ray binaries lend
themselves especially well to a detailed study of accretion.  The
X-ray flux responds sensitively to geometry, ultraviolet emission
characterizes phenomena in the majority of the accretion disk, and
optical emission identifies the outer disk and the companion star ---
hence simultaneous observations in all wavelength bands are needed
to constrain comprehensive models properly. 

To illustrate the results that can be obtained from current space- and
ground-based instruments, I will discuss an extensive multiwavelength
campaign on the X-ray pulsar system Her X-1/HZ Her.  The simultaneous
X-ray/UV/Optical data obtained made it possible to show a direct
connection between the mass accretion rates, disk precession, and
spin up/spin down episodes of the system that has impact on theories
of angular momentum transport in accretion disks.  I will also discuss
simultaneous observations with the HST/GHRS and ASCA of several X-ray
binaries that enable us to determine fine details of accretion structure
via accurate measurements of the shapes and kinematic velocities of
lines and their rapid time changes.\par

DR. SAEQA VRTILEK
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 
Tea will be served at 3:30 p.m.


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Thursday, December 5, 4:00 p.m.

Northeastern University
Condensed Matter Seminar 
114 Dana
``Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Tribochemistry''
JUDITH HARRISON
U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis
Refreshments will be served at 3:45 p.m. 


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Thursday, December 5, 4:15 p.m.

Boston College
Special Colloquium 
Higgins Hall, Room 354
``Heavy-Fermions, Kondo Insulators and 'Weak Chemistry' ''
PROFESSOR ZACHARY FISK
Florida State University
The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory 


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Thursday, December 5, 4:15 p.m.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Duality Seminar 
MIT Room 10-250
``Optical Fiber Solitons and Their Applications''
H.A. HAUS
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
Refreshements will be served in Room 26-110 at 3:45 p.m.


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Thursday, December 5, 4:30 p.m.

Brown University
Condensed Matter Seminar 
Barus & Holley Building, Room 751
``Spontaneous or Dering of Steps on a Vicinal Surface: the
Step-Density-Wave Phase''
DR. EUGENE KOLOMEISKY
Cornell University 
Tea will be served at 4:00 p.m.


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Friday, December 6, 1996
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Friday, December 6, 1:00 p.m.

Tufts University
Lunchtime Cosmology Seminar 
Robinson Hall, Room 258
``3D Hydrodynamics of Cosmic String Wakes''
BENJAMIN D. WANDELT
Imperial College, London 


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Friday, December 6, 1:30 p.m.

Boston University
Particles and Fields Seminar 
Physics Research Building, Room 593
``Understanding Gauge Coupling Unification in String Theory:
                         A Review of Recent Developments''

Abstract:

This will be a pedagogical review talk surveying the various approaches
  	towards understanding gauge coupling unification within string theory.
  	As is well known, one of the major problems confronting string
   	phenomenology has been an apparent discrepancy between the scale
   	of gauge coupling unification predicted within string theory, and the
   	unification scale expected within the framework of the
   	Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM).
   	In this talk, I will provide an overview of the different
   	approaches that have been taken in recent years towards reconciling
   	these two scales, and outline some of the major recent developments
   	in each.  These approaches include string GUT models;
   	higher Ka\v{c}-Moody levels and non-standard hypercharge
   	normalizations;  heavy string threshold corrections;
   	light SUSY thresholds;  effects from intermediate-scale gauge and
   	matter structure beyond the MSSM;  strings without supersymmetry;
   	and strings at strong coupling. 

DR. KEITH DIENES
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University 
More BU Particles and Fields Seminar information can be found at: 
http://physics.bu.edu/~schmaltz/seminar.html


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Friday, December 6, 3:00 p.m.

Harvard University
Joint Seminar for the History of 20th Century Science 
Science Center, Room 226
``Poor Taste as a Bright Trait in Character:  Politics
and Mathematics for Emmy Noether''
DR. COLIN MCLURTY
Harvard University 


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Friday, December 6, 4:00 p.m.

Harvard University
Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Condensed Matter Seminar 
Pierce Hall, Room 209
``Multiple Configurations and Transitions in Charged Polymers''
DR. SERGEI OBUKHOV
University of Florida 
Refreshments will be served following the seminar in the Brooks Room.


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A Friendly Reminder: 

The Deadline for the December 8 - December 14, 1996 Issue is:}}

MONDAY, December 2, 1996 at 11:00 a.m. 

End of Document