Special Events

A special Event

The Accelerating Expanding Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and Einstein's Cosmological Constant

Public Lecture by Dr. Bharat Ratra, Distinguished Professor of Physics at Kansas State University.

Dark energy is the leading candidate for the mechanism that is responsible for causing the cosmological expansion to accelerate. Dr. Bharat Ratra will describe the astronomical data which persuade cosmologists that (as yet undetected) dark energy and dark matter are by far the main components of the energy budget of the universe at the present time. He will review how these observations have led to the development of a quantitative "standard" model of cosmology that describes the evolution of the universe from an early epoch of inflation to the complex hierarchy of structure seen today. In this non-technical talk, he will also discuss the basic physics, and the history of ideas, on which this model is based.

Location
HLSB, G-59
Date of Event
Contact info
Dr. Thomas Wong <thomaswong@creighton.edu>

Physics Department Seminar 03-05-2010

 Development of fluorescent nuclear track detector technology for mixed radiation field dosimetry

Jeff Sykora

Landauer Inc.

Oklahoma State University, Department of Physics

Experiences in a Ph.D. program in physics are one of a kind, focused on but not limited to science. I will talk about my recent adventures transitioning from an undergraduate at Creighton to finishing Ph.D. work at Oklahoma State University. I will also discuss my research summarized below.
Location
HL G59
Date of Event
Contact info
Dr. Jack Gabel

Free Public Lecture: Quantum Data Science?

Guest Speaker: Dr. David Meyer, Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, San Diego

Quantum computing offers the possibility of efficient solutions to problems that may be classically intractable. Recently, these problems have included sampling from a probability distribution and inferring a relation from partial information (e.g., a recommender system), both of which fall into the class of data science or machine learning problems. An important characteristic of such problems and their solutions is the model for the data generating process, specifically whether it is classical or quantum. In the second part of the talk, we’ll analyze some data from a simple human behavior, answering survey questions, and discuss whether or not to model it quantum mechanically. I will (re)introduce all the quantum mechanics necessary for our analysis.

Location
HLSB, G-59
Date of Event
Contact info
Dr. Thomas Wong <thomaswong@creighton.edu>

Information and Geometry in the Retina

Guest Speaker: Dr. Alex Kunin, Creighton University Department of Mathematics

The information we gather about the world through our senses is encoded and transmitted through the spiking activity of neurons. Viewed this way, the activity of a large set of neurons can be considered a joint probability distribution over a large number of binary states (namely, the spiking or silence of each neuron). A basic challenge of neuroscience is to find a parsimonious description of this distribution, and information theory offers a way to do so, called the Maximum Entropy Principle. In this talk I will give a light introduction to information theory and (Shannon) entropy, explain the dominance of “low-order” correlations in the information content of the retina (aka why does the Ising model show up?), and offer an explanation by means of high school(ish) geometry. Along the way I will muse about the role of network structure in all of this.

Location
HLSB, G-59
Date of Event
Contact info
Dr. Thomas Wong <thomaswong@creighton.edu>

2024 Phyiscs Field Day

Physics Field Day 2024 is taking place in the HIxson-Lied Science Building at Creighton University on Saturday April 10, 2024 starting at 9:00 a.m. Arrive earlier to get registered and ready for the events!

Open to all Omaha area high school physics classes. Come for a fun day of physics!

Location
Hixson-Lied Science Building G59
Date of Event
Contact info
Nick Tobin <NicholasTobin@creighton.edu>

2023 Physics Field Day!

We're excited to announce the 2023 Physics Field Day at Creighton University.

High School physics classes are invited to enter their team the roughly half-day competition taking place on April 1, 2023 on the Creighton University Campus.

Contact Society of Physics Students President Joe Klomp for more information.

Location
Hixson-Lied Science Building, Creighton University
Date of Event
Contact info
Joe Klomp <joeklomp@creighton.edu>

Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer