KICP Seminars & Colloquia, Summer 2011

Seminar schedule for Summer 2011
September 20, 2011
Astronomy Special Seminar		Peter McGregor
Australian National University		The GMT Integral-Field Spectrograph (GMTIFS): What It Can Do for You!   [Abstract]
September 21, 2011
Open Group seminar		Kerstin Kunze
University of Salamanca		Effects of Primordial Magnetic Fields on the CMB   [Abstract]
 
OPEN GROUP SEMINARS
September 21, 2011

  • September 21, 2011 | 12:00 PM | LASR Conference Room | Open Group seminar
    Effects of Primordial Magnetic Fields on the CMB
    Kerstin Kunze, University of Salamanca

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    Magnetic fields are observed on nearly all scales in the universe, from stars and galaxies upto galaxy clusters and even beyond. The origin of cosmic magnetic fields is still an open question, however a large class of models puts its origin in the very early universe. Observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) provide a window to the early universe and might therefore be able to tell us whether cosmic magnetic fields are of primordial, cosmological origin and at the same time constrain its parameters.
    I will concentrate on the effects of a stochastic magnetic field on scalar perturbations and present the resulting angular power spectra of the CMB temperature anisotropies and polarization as well as the linear matter power spectrum. Moreover, magnetic fields have an additional distinct signature as Faraday rotation induces a frequency dependent B-mode of the CMB polarization.

 
ASTRONOMY SPECIAL SEMINARS
September 20, 2011

  • September 20, 2011 | 10:00 AM | AAC 123 | Special Seminar
    The GMT Integral-Field Spectrograph (GMTIFS): What It Can Do for You!
    Peter McGregor, Australian National University

    The GMT Integral-Field Spectrograph (GMTIFS) is one of six potential first-light instruments for the 25m-diameter Giant Magellan Telescope. The Australian National University has completed a Conceptual Design Study for GMTIFS. I will summarize the sciences cases for GMTIFS, and describe the instrument capabilities and design. GMTIFS will be the work-horse adaptive-optics instrument on GMT. It will address a wide range of science from epoch of reionization studies to forming galaxies at high redshifts, to star and planet formation in our Galaxy, and studies of the Solar system. These are largely the science case for Laser-Tomography Adaptive Optics on the telescope. I will describe why you will want to routinely use LTAO with GMTIFS for your science in the 2020s.