Astrophysics Seminars

Mar
13
2008

Institute for Advanced Study Informal Astrophysics Seminar

New Forms of Convection in Magnetized Plasmas
11:30am|Bloomberg Hall Astrophysics Library
In dilute plasmas, the electron mean free path is significantly larger than the electron Larmor radius. As a result, heat is transported primarily along (not across) magnetic field lines. The physics of buoyancy instabilities ("convection") is...
Mar
06
2008

Institute for Advanced Study Informal Astrophysics Seminar

Galaxy Cluster Mergers
11:30am|Bloomberg Hall Astrophysics Library
Galaxy cluster merger statistics are an important component in understanding the formation of large-scale structure. Recent studies suggest a merger bias, that mergers are more highly clustered than other objects of their mass. Cluster mergers are...
Feb
28
2008

Institute for Advanced Study Informal Astrophysics Seminar

Understanding Titan from the Perspective of Earth's Climate
11:30am|Bloomberg Hall Astrophysics Library
I will summarize our understanding of the climate of Titan based on observations, theory, and modeling. The nature of observed phenomena, such as summer-hemisphere methane clouds, the vertical profile of methane in the lower atmosphere, high...
Feb
26
2008

Institute for Advanced Study Astrophysics Seminar

First Results from OWLS: the OverWhelmingly Large Simulations Project.
11:00am|Bloomberg Hall Astrophysics Library
The OWLS project aims to study the formation of galaxies and the evolution of the intergalactic medium using a large suite of cosmological gas-dynamical simulations. The simulations are repeated many times using different physical and numerical...