Tag Archives: Katie Mack

Dark Matter Night, hybrid event, on Oct. 26, 2022 at 7:30 pm ET

Leave a reply

Free tickets to the event are available as of 9 am ET, today (October 17, 2022). And, if you need more information before you commit, there’s this from the Perimeter Institute’s October 14, 2022 announcement (received via email; Note: I appreciate the wordplay in the title),

An Enlightening Evening of Dark Matter
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26 at 7:30 pm ET
Katie Mack and Ken Clark

Dark Matter Night is a live webcast brought to you by Perimeter Institute and the McDonald Institute. Starting at 7:30 pm ET, Katie Mack will discuss the theoretical and observational foundations of dark matter at Perimeter Institute, where she holds the Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication. Next, Ken Clark, an associate professor at the Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute, will share experimental approaches that could help solve the riddle of dark matter. We’ll also get a guided video tour of SNOLAB, the state-of-the-art underground laboratory two kilometres beneath Sudbury.

Don’t miss out! Free tickets to attend this event in person will become available on Monday, October 17 [2022] at 9 am ET – at either Perimeter Institute or the McDonald Institute. 

Each speaker’s presentation will be simulcast to the live audience at the other institute, and the whole event will be available via free webcast.

Dark Matter Night is one of many ways you can explore the topic – find lots more at darkmatterday.com.

Details of the evening:

6:45 pm: Dark matter demos in Perimeter’s Atrium
7:30 pm: Public lecture/webcast starts

…

I have details about the speakers, from ‘An Enlightening Evening of Dark Matter’ event page on the Inside the Perimeter website,

Katie Mack is a theoretical astrophysicist exploring a range of questions in cosmology, the study of the universe from beginning to end. She currently holds the position of Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, where she carries out research on dark matter and the early universe and works to make physics more accessible to the general public. She is the author of the book The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) and has written for a number of popular publications, such as Scientific American, Slate, Sky & Telescope, Time, and Cosmos magazine. She can be found on Twitter as @AstroKatie.

Ken Clark is an experimental astroparticle physicist whose research focuses on understanding the universe at the most fundamental level through rare event searches targeting dark matter and neutrinos. He is one of the leads for the Particle Astrophysics group at Queen’s University, a member of the Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Physics Research Institute (McDonald Institute), an affiliated scientist with TRIUMF, and the Canadian spokesperson for the Scintilating Bubble Chamber Collaboration.

Enjoy!

In person at Perimeter: I want to attend this event at Perimeter Institute! Note: It seems the Perimeter event is already full as of 10:15 am PT, October 17, 2022.

In person at McDonald Institute: The McDonald Institute is where I want to be!

It appears the webcast will be available here: https://mcdonaldinstitute.ca/events/an-enlightening-evening-of-dark-matter/

Celebrate World Quantum Day (April 14, 2022) with Conversations at the Perimeter

Leave a reply

Canada’s Perimeter Institute Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI) is launching a podcast, Conversations from the Perimeter, on World Quantum Day (April 14, 2022).

Here are some details from an April 7, 2022 PI news release (a shortened version was received via email),

Get to know some of the brilliant minds trying to solve nature’s deepest mysteries.

In 2020, our long-running public lecture series evolved to deliver the same cutting-edge physics talks in a virtual webcast format. Now, we’re excited to launch the next evolution in the series.

Starting next week, [April 14, 2022] Conversations at the Perimeter will take you into the depths of dark matter, black holes, and beyond as we introduce you to researchers working at the forefront of science.

The series is co-hosted by quantum physicist and lecturer Lauren Hayward and journalist-turned-science communicator Colin Hunter. In each episode, they chat with a guest scientist about their research, their motivations, the challenges they encounter, and the drive that keeps them searching for answers. 

Conversations at the Perimeter is the next evolution in Perimeter Institute’s long-running public lecture series, which changed in 2020 (like so much else) when in-person lectures became impossible. The new format allows Perimeter to showcase brilliant scientists and their ideas in a way that is interactive, lively, and safe. 

As always, the talks will be freely available on Perimeter’s YouTube channel – and, for the first time, they’ll be available via podcast, on all the major podcast channels. 

The first season will consist of 10 episodes, released every Thursday beginning on April 14 [2022] (World Quantum Day). Season one guests include loop quantum gravity founder Carlo Rovelli, theoretical cosmologist (and social media star) Katie Mack, quantum information scientist Raymond Laflamme, and more!

Happy world Quantum Day!

A mathematical sculptor, a live webcast (May 6, 2020) with theoretical cosmologist and author Katie Mack, & uniting quantum theory with Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity in a drawing

Leave a reply

I’ve bookended information about the talk with physicist Katie Mack at Canada’s Perimeter Institute on May 6, 2020 with two items on visual art and mathematics and the sciences.

Mathematical sculpting

Robert Fathauer’s Three-Fold Hyperbolic Form exhibits negative curvature, a concept in geometry and topology that describes a surface curving in two directions at every point. Hemp crochet by Marla Peterson. Image courtesy of Robert Fathauer. [downloaded from https://www.pnas.org/content/114/26/6643.full]

You’ll find this image and a few more in a fascinating 2017 paper (see link and citation below) about mathematical sculpture,

…

Ferguson [Helaman Ferguson], who holds a doctorate in mathematics, never chose between art and science: now nearly 77 years old, he’s a mathematical sculptor. Working in stone and bronze, Ferguson creates sculptures, often placed on college campuses, that turn deep mathematical ideas into solid objects that anyone—seasoned professors, curious children, wayward mathophobes—can experience for themselves.

Mathematics has an intrinsic aesthetic—proofs are often described as “beautiful” or “elegant”—that can be difficult for mathematicians to communicate to outsiders, says Ferguson. “It isn’t something you can tell somebody about on the street,” he says. “But if I hand them a sculpture, they’re immediately relating to it.” Sculpture, he says, can tell a story about math in an accessible language.

…

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Science and Culture: Armed with a knack for patterns and symmetry, mathematical sculptors create compelling forms by Stephen Ornes. PNAS [Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences] June 27, 2017 114 (26) 6643-6645; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1706987114

This paper appears to be open access.

Live webcast: theoretical cosmologist & science communicator Katie Mack

The live webcast will take place at 4 pm PT (1600 hours) on Wednesday, May 6, 2020. Here’s more about Katie Mack and the webcast from the event webpage (click through to the event page to get to the webcast) on the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics (PI) website,

In a special live webcast on May 6 [2020] at 7 pm ET [4 pm PT], theoretical cosmologist and science communicator Katie Mack — known to her many Twitter followers as @astrokatie — will answer questions about her favourite subject: the end of the universe.

Mack, who holds a Simons Emmy Noether Visiting Fellowship at Perimeter, will give viewers a sneak peek at her upcoming book, The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking). She will then participate in a live “ask me anything” session, answering questions submitted via social media using the hashtag #piLIVE.

Mack is an Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University whose research investigates dark matter, vacuum decay, and the epoch of reionization. Mack is a popular science communicator on social media, and has contributed to Scientific American, Slate, Sky & Telescope, Time, and Cosmos.

PI is located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Uniting quantum theory with Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity with a drawing about light

The article by Stephon Alexander was originally published March 16, 2017 for Nautilus. My excerpts are from a getpocket.com selection,

LIGHT IN THE GARDEN: This drawing by the Oakes brothers, Irwin Gardens at the Getty in Winter, inspired the author to think anew about quantum mechanics and general relativity. The meticulous drawing, done on curved paper, allows viewers to reflect on the act of perception. Credit: Ryan and Trevor Oakes [downloaded from http://nautil.us/issue/46/balance/what-this-drawing-taught-me-about-four_dimensional-spacetime]

My aim as a theoretical physicist is to unite quantum theory with Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. While there are a few proposals for this unification, such as string theory and loop quantum gravity, many roadblocks to a complete unification remain.

Einstein’s theory tells us the gravitational force is a direct manifestation of space and time bending. The sun bends the fabric of space, much like a sleeping person bends a mattress. Planetary orbits, including Earth’s, are motion along the contours of the bent space created by the sun. This theory provides some critical insights into the nature of light.

…

… one summer, I had the most unexpected breakthrough. Beth Jacobs, a member of the New York Academy of Sciences’ Board of Governors, invited me and some friends to her New York City apartment to meet the Oakes twins, artists who have gained attention in recent years for their drawings as well as the innovative technique and inventions they deploy to create them. An Oakes work, Irwin Gardens at the Getty in Winter (2011), an intricate drawing of the famous gardens designed by Robert Irwin at The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, was displayed on the balcony of Jacobs’ apartment overlooking Central Park, with the backdrop of the New York City skyline lit with a warm orange sky moments before sunset.

…

As I gazed at the drawing, I could feel the artists challenging me to reconsider the nature of light. I began to realize I should consider not only the physics of light, but also how light information is perceived by observers, when theorizing and conceiving new principles to unify quantum mechanics and general relativity. …

Ryan and Trevor Oakes, 35, have been exploring the impact and intersection of visual perception and the physics of light since they were kids. After attending The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City, and years of experimentation and inventing new techniques, the twins exploited the notion that light information is better described when originating from a spherical surface.

…

Fascinating stuff. BTW, you can find the original article here on Nautilus.