Join the experts from UBC’s Department of Physics and Astronomy to find out fun facts about everything from the Milky Way to radio waves in this new, accessible science series. All are welcome!
January [2026[: Particle Physics
Particle physics is the study of the smallest building blocks of the universe. By colliding protons at energies close to those present after the Big Bang, we are trying to uncover the mysteries of how we came to be. Despite the wealth of data that has confirmed the so-called “Standard Model” of particle physics, we know it cannot be the end of the story. This talk will overview what those fundamental particles are, how they interact, and what is being done to understand them.
Presenter: Alison Lister is a Professor in the department of Physics and Astronomy at UBC [University of British Columbia], where she has been since arriving in Vancouver in 2012 as an assistant professor. Her research is in particle physics, the goal of which is to understand the fundamental particles and their interactions. She is one of the 3000 members of the ATLAS collaboration. She has held a number of leadership roles, the most recent being co-chairing of the Canadian sub-atomic physics long-range plan which should help set the stage for the next decade of research within Canada.
Accessibility Information VPL is committed to making our programs accessible for all. If you have an access need that we have not addressed here, please email us at info@vpl.ca.
• Flexible seating options may be available upon request • The expected noise level is moderate • Participants may leave the room at any time
For more information on physical access, view the Accessibility information on the Central Library page.
For anyone unfamiliar with the ATLAS collaboration mentioned in Alison Lister’s biography, there’s this from its Wikipedia entry,
ATLAS[1][2][3] is the largest general-purpose particle detector experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland.[4] The experiment is designed to take advantage of the unprecedented energy available at the LHC and observe phenomena that involve highly massive particles which were not observable using earlier lower-energy accelerators. ATLAS was one of the two LHC experiments involved in the discovery of the Higgs boson in July 2012.[5][6] It was also designed to search for evidence of theories of particle physics beyond the Standard Model.
The experiment is a collaboration involving 6,003 members, out of which 3,822 are physicists (last update: June 26, 2022) from 243 institutions in 40 countries.[1][7]
I have more about ATLAS and local participation but before moving on to that, here’s more about the series at the VPL from its partner, the University of British Columbia\s (UBC) Physics and Astronomy Department (PHAS), specifically from the PHAS Outreach » VPL Science Discovery Series webpage Note: I’m guessing the ‘How the Universe Works’ is a subseries within the VPL’s more comprehensive ‘Science Discovery Series,’,
VPL Science Discovery Series
Welcome to our Science discovery lecture series page, “How the Universe Works!“
The UBC Department of Physics & Astronomy has partnered with the Vancouver Public Library (VPL) to bring you a fun and accessible science series for adults who are curious about science, cutting-edge research and new discoveries that affect our lives. Presentations are by UBC Faculty of Science researchers and instructors, as well as local guest speakers, who come from a variety of science departments. We hope you enjoy this learning space that brings you into the science conversation.
Please register on the VPL webpage if you want to come!
Go to the VPL webpage here: in the search bar, you can enter “science” to bring up all future science events, or “how the universe works” to bring up this specific event. Registration is free!
We believe science is for everyone and we need everyone in science! Thank you for joining us!
Dr. Douglas Scott speaking on “The Physics of Christmas“, December, 2025
Reviews
Thank you everyone who has shared feedback on this event! Here are some comments collected from VPL re: the How the Universe Works talks:
“An educational and engaging lecture”
“It was stimulating and interactive”
“Great presentation and presenter! Made complex ideas easy for an amateur to understand and created foundation for further learning”
“It was pretty meaningful experience, it inspired me a lot to pursue my goal to be an engineer! Thank you so much to everyone who supported this meaningful session! Cheers!”
“Very valuable community presentation, great!”
A little more about ATLAS and scientists in British Columbia
ATLAS collaboration observes first entanglement of top quarks
Particle physics, the study of the behavior of matter and energy at the subatomic level, offers profound insights into understanding the workings of the universe.
The world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. The facility uses a 27-kilometer ring of magnets to push subatomic particles to near the speed of light, causing them to collide and allowing researchers to observe their behaviours. Simon Fraser University (SFU) has been a part of the ATLAS Collaboration at CERN since 2001.
Physics professors Matthias Danninger, Bernd Stelzer and Michel Vetterli and their research group SFU High Energy Physics work with data from the ATLAS detector, contribute to the smooth operation of the ATLAS experiment at CERN, host critical computing infrastructure for ATLAS at SFU, and support the development of key detector components.
The trio has recently contributed to major and high-profile papers on the Higgs boson particle, and the search for long lived particles. They were recently awarded the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics along with CERN researchers from around the world.
Working with LHC data often leads to the discovery of new and unforeseen phenomena. Just this month, CERN reported an intriguing feature in top quark data, the heaviest known elementary particle, pointing to the possible observation of toponium, a fleeting bound state of a top quark and its antiparticle. This result challenges long-held assumptions about the formation and detectability of such a state at the LHC.
In a recent article published in Nature, the ATLAS collaboration reported on the Observation of quantum entanglement with top quarks at the highest energy levels ever recorded.
Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon in quantum physics where two or more particles become linked in such a way that the state of one particle is directly connected to the state of the other, no matter how far apart they are in space.
The scientists detected spin entanglement through a specific angular measurement, marking the first observation of entanglement in quarks and setting a new energy benchmark for such phenomena. Entanglement can be inferred by observing the directions of the charged particles emitted from top quarks as they decay.
ATLAS is an acronym for A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS, as the magnetic field is produced by toroidal magnets. It has the dimensions of a cylinder, 46m long, 25m in diameter, and sits in a cavern 100m below ground. It weighs 7,000 tonnes, similar to the weight of the Eiffel Tower. Image credit: CERN
The ATLAS detector. Eight toroid magnets can be seen surrounding the calorimeter that is later moved into the middle of the detector. This calorimeter will measure the energies of particles produced when protons in the LCH collide. Note person at bottom centre for scale. Image credit: CERN
We spoke to professors Danninger and Stelzer about this observation.
What did you learn about quantum entanglement from this observation? Why is the discovery significant?
While particle physics is deeply rooted in quantum physics, this is the first time entanglement has been observed in quarks,and it has several significant implications. It confirms that quantum entanglement persists even at the highest energy scales of LHC particle collisions, a billion times more energetic than table-top entanglement measurements, reinforcing the universality of quantum mechanics.
The discovery provides a new way to test the predictions of the Standard Model of particle physics. Demonstrating entanglement in high-energy systems opens the door to exploring quantum information concepts in particle physics. This could lead to novel methods for studying quantum entanglement in extreme conditions.
How might this observation influence future analyses and experiments? What will you look for next?
This observation opened a window to entanglement measurements at the LHC which offers the opportunity to measure quantum systems with other particles of the Standard Model. For example, the SFU-led Higgs Boson analysis provides a sample of entangled W bosons, which could enable deeper investigations into quantum entanglement in particle physics, possibly including fundamental Bell test measurements. However, such analyses will likely require the full Run-3 dataset from the LHC, which we are still in the process of collecting.
Does this discovery have implications for quantum computing or other quantum technologies?
Measurements like this often inspire cross-pollination between disciplines. It is important to remain open-minded about how this work might inform future advances in quantum information and quantum communication.
What implications does it have for particle physics or our understanding of nature?
This is the first time entanglement has been observed between top quarks, the heaviest known elementary particles. It confirms that quantum entanglement persists even in the ultra-short lifetimes and high-energy environments of top quark production and decay, providing strong evidence that quantum mechanics governs even the most extreme regimes of the Standard Model.
What stands out from your experience working with the team at CERN?
Working with the team at CERN on ATLAS, one of the largest and most complex scientific instruments ever built, has been a profoundly rewarding experience, allowing us to explore the fundamental building blocks of matter under the most extreme conditions ever created in a laboratory, and to collaborate globally on groundbreaking discoveries like the Higgs boson.
Our team at SFU is excited to prepare the ATLAS experiment of the future, designed to harness these unprecedented data of the High-Luminosity LHC era and further push our understanding of the universe’s fundamental building blocks.
Congratulations to scientists Matthias Danninger, Bernd Stelzer, and Michel Vetterli.
Hopefully, this has whetted your appetite for particle physics and Dr. Alison Lister’s January 22, 2026 presentation, Register (See right hand column for button]
Mapping the Galaxy to Remove It – An Introduction to Galactic Radio Astronomy
Thursday, June 19, 2025
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Central Library
[Alice MacKay Room; Note: The last time I was there, late arrivals had to enter the room from the front bypassing the presenter at the podium]
…
Presenter: Dr. Thomas J Rennie
Imagine that you look up on a dark clear night, seeing countless stars scattered across the sky, divided by the hazy band of the Milky Way—our Galaxy. The haziness of the Galactic Plane is caused by vast clouds of dust lining the Galactic disk, which obscure much of the Galaxy from our sight. But what if we could see beyond the dust, revealing the hidden structures and objects that share our cosmic home? This is where Galactic radio astronomy truly shines, allowing us to peer through the darkness and uncover the Milky Way’s secrets.
In this talk, we’ll step beyond the limits of optical astronomy and into the invisible world of radio waves, mapping our Galaxy in a whole new way. From the birth of radio astronomy to the frontiers of modern research, we’ll explore how these maps not only help us understand the Milky Way but also allow us to remove it from our view—clearing the way to see the universe beyond.
Presenter biography:
Dr. Thomas J. Rennie is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia, where he specializes in analyzing and interpreting radio maps of the Milky Way. After obtaining his Ph.D., Dr. Rennie joined UBC to work on the Canadian Galactic Emission Mapper (CGEM) project, which focuses on a new telescope being built at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO) in Penticton, BC. CGEM maps will play a key role in a global effort to further our understanding of our Galaxy and to look deeper and reveal the echo of the Big Bang (the Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB) and probe the very earliest moments in the history of the universe.
“How the Universe Works” is a new public science literacy series, in partnership with the Vancouver Public Library.
Curious about how the universe actually works? Meet the experts from UBC’s Department of Physics & Astronomy (PHAS) to find out fun facts about everything from eclipses to space junk in this new, accessible science series. Monthly talks are hosted in the Vancouver Public Library downtown branch at 350 West Georgia Street. Please RSVP as seating is limited. See here for the Library event page. Use the search box to search for “science” events.
Join in on the conversation: this series is for anyone who is interested in science and what is happening in science in the world: no experience, or science background is necessary to enjoy these public talks!
2025 Series Schedule
Jan 30: The Sky is Falling! All about Space Junk, with Dr. Aaron Boley, PHAS faculty and Co-Director of the Outer Space Institute. RSVP here. Poster download here.
Feb 20: Eclipses – Lunar Eclipse, 2025, with Dr. Thomas Rennie, PHAS Post-doctoral Fellow. RSVP here. Poster download here.
March 20: Exoplanets – the Search for Habitable Planets in Our Solar System, with Dr. Michelle Kunimoto, PHAS faculty. RSVP here. Poster download here.
April 24: “TheMilky Way: Our place in the universe“, with Dr. Allison Man, PHAS faculty. RSVP here. Poster download here.
May 15: “Quantum mechanics: the music of the universe“, with Dr. Mark Van Raamsdonk, PHAS faculty. RSVP here. Poster download here.
June 19: “An introduction to Radio Astronomy“, with Dr. Thomas Rennie, PHAS Post-doctoral Fellow. RSVP here. Poster download here.
*SUMMER BREAK: We will be taking a holiday break for the months of July and August. See you in September!*
September 25: “BeautifulBlack Holes“, with Dr. Jess McIver, PHAS faculty. RSVP here. Poster download here.
October 9: “Putting the ‘super’ inSuperconductivity“, with Dr. Alannah Hallas, PHAS faculty and QMI Hallas Group Research lead. RSVP here. Poster download here.
November [Date :TBD]: “How did the universe begin?“, with Dr. Mark Halpern, PHAS faculty. RSVP here. Poster download here.
December 11: “The Physics of Christmas“, with Dr. Douglas Scott, PHAS faculty. RSVP here. Poster download here.
As you can see from the list, the emphasis is on astronomy.
