The Society of Physics Students at UC Santa Cruz

The Society of Physics Students at UCSC PRESENTS:

A General Meeting: “A Sharper Image: Adaptive Optics and Laser Guide Stars for Astronomy and Human Vision Applications“

Date: Thursday, October 29, 2009

Time: 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Place: ISB 231

SPS is pleased to present professor Claire E. Max of the the Astronomy and Astrophysics Dept. http://www.ucolick.org/~max/max-web/Max.v2.html

This week she will talk about Adaptive Optics and Laser Guide Stars for Astronomy and Human Vision Applications, in her own words:

WEIRD DAY: WEDNESDAY, January 30, 2008
WEIRD TIME: 4:30 PM
WEIRD ROOM: ISB 102

This weeks meeting will feature a Giant Tesla coil demonstration courtesy of the SCIPP outreach program.

If you have never seen this before you do NOT want to miss it!

And if you have, then you already know why you’re going to be there.

Remember this is a different day and time and room than usual, due to space needs.

Not unusually, however, are the presence of snacks, coffee and tea.

Hope to see you there.

– Karl

That’s right a game night.

Bring your favorite PHYSICS AND SCIENCE RELATED games over to ISB and play them with your fellow physicists. (Strategy games like connect 4 okay too, the point is that we are scientists and thinking is fun.)

To make sure there are enough games for everyone to play please bring what you’ve got, we promise they won’t be mistreated.

There will be snacks, coffee and tea as usual.

… And to see some sweet gravitational lensing check out

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/13682267.html

Hope to see you there.

– Karl

Hey party (people)!

where (people) = physicists

Was your mind boggled by Anthony Aguirre?

Are you already stressed about classes?

Do you have an irrational fear that robots may come to Earth and say we should all live respectfully together or be destroyed???

Then you should come to SPS movie night this Saturday, where you can kick back, relax and watch one of the greatest Sci-Fi movies of all time: The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Bring some food (for everyone if you can).

When: Saturday Jan. 19 (This weekend)
Time: 8:00 PM
Where: Thinman 01 (The smaller of the two)
Movie: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Note: If you are interested in helping organize and plan the Zone Meeting in the Spring please send and email to Brenna at bduncan@ucsc.edu

– Karl

WARNING: Watching a movie with physicist is very dangerous. Those suffering from “I Believe Everything I See on a TV” may be disturbed by the occasional “That’s impossible because…” Attend at your own risk.

Yes, we’re watching a movie. But it’s not just any movie. For the first SPS Movie Night of the school year, we’ll be watching

“Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace”…

BUT! It will feature audio commentary by Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy, two of the guys from Mystery Science Theater 3000. It’s called RiffTrax, and more info is here:

http://shop.rifftrax.com/rifftrax/star-wars-episode-i-phantom-menace

And if you’re not familiar with Mystery Science Theater 3000, I am both deeply saddened for you and also generous enough to suggest a quick web search.

WHEN: Saturday, 11/17/07, 7 PM
WHERE: Thimann 1

Your presence is demanded. As always, bring food and stuff but don’t bring alcohol. University rules, not ours.

And any and all friends are welcome, too.

– James

Welcome back from the summer! The Society of Physics Students at UCSC missed you, wherever you were and whoever you are. You might be a junior or sophomore recovering from summer school. You might be a returning senior who did summer research, either here or abroad. You might be an incoming first-year physics major or a new transfer student. *Whatever* your situation, the SPS@UCSC welcomes you back.

And we hope you haven’t forgotten what angular momentum is.

But if you *have* forgotten, you need to get back into the harmonic oscillator swing of things, quickly! To that end, you are cordially invited to the FIRST SPS MEETING OF THE YEAR! It will be held this Thursday, October 4th, at 6 PM, in ISB 231.

And there will be pizza.

Our regular weekly meeting time this quarter is going to be Thursday at 6, and most of the meetings will feature a faculty member or another speaker talking about his or her research at an undergraduate level.

This week, though, we’re having a Pizza-and-Info meeting, because we have a couple of VERY IMPORTANT THINGS to discuss:

1) New officers! We will be holding elections for new officers in about two weeks, at the October 18th meeting. You can nominate yourself, or you can nominate someone else who’s too shy to self-nominate. An official SPS position is a very nice thing to put on a resume or CV, so if you want to be involved, speak up!
If you *are* interested in an officer position, it is *highly recommended* that you were active in the SPS last year, but it’s not necessary. If you feel you have what it takes to maintain (or exceed!) the level of activity, community and sheer physics brilliance represented on our (soon to be updated) website…
http://physics.ucsc.edu/sps/ (come on, your seeing it right now! –Rion)
…then, by all means, get involved! More on Thursday.

2) Until the new officers are installed, last year’s officers are still in charge and are already planning a bunch of stuff for this year: Extraordinary field trips, Tesla coil demonstrations, special panel discussions, etc. Come to the Pizza-and-Info meeting for more info. And pizza.

As always, pizza or not, we will have coffee, tea, and soda on hand.

And an article about a slight variation on the regnant cold dark matter picture of the early universe — “warm” dark matter — is here:

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/31133

Once again, welcome back from the summer, and I look forward to seeing you on Thursday.

– James

Instead of a speaker, this week we’ll be watching the first half of “Einstein’s Big Idea”, the NOVA special about the events leading to Einstein’s groundbreaking 1905 papers, with an emphasis on the mass-energy relation. The website for the show is here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/

Coffee, tea, soda, and some food are relativistic only in their deliciousness.

–James

It’s true: the SPS is finally going to Lick Observatory! We can’t guarantee that you’ll personally discover direct, observational evidence of dark energy while you’re there, but it should be enjoyable nonetheless. The tour takes place on Saturday, May 26th, and we’ll be carpooling there. The starting time for the tour is yet to be determined, but, at the latest, it would go till 5:00 PM.

More info later.

We have a limited number of spots for the tour, so if you’d like to go, please respond to…

ucscsps@gmail.com

…and tell us the following:

1) That you want to go. 2) If you have a car and would be willing to be a driver in our carpool up to Mt. Hamilton, say so, and note your car’s capacity.

Like I said, more details later.

–James

Richard Feynman’s birthday is this week! This means, of course, that we’re throwing him another birthday party, similar to last year’s:

http://physics.ucsc.edu/sps/oldnews.html (scroll down a couple of entries)

This year, instead of a big sheet cake with the Feynman diagram for the Higgs strahlung process, we’re having a cupcake decorating contest! Deck out your cupcake with a Feynman diagram; or turn it into a sub-atomic particle, combine it with other sub-atomic cupcakes, and analyze the cupcake interactions via Feynman cupcake diagrams; or crush it with a vice and drop it into a glass of ice water to demonstrate to a Congressional committee that cupcakes won’t withstand subzero temperatures, *despite* NASA’s assertions; or just eat it, the Feynman way! (Which, I believe, is just the regular way, too.)

If you want to brush up on your Feynman lore before the party, try these:

http://www.nobel-winners.com/Physics/richard_phillips_feynman.html http://www.feynman.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman

No, you don’t need to have a comprehensive grasp of quantum electrodynamics and you don’t need to know what “sum over paths” means to attend the party. Just come eat the cupcakes and color another Feynman coloring page and watch videos of the man himself.

And if anyone plays the bongos and has a set, bring it along. Feynman would have wanted it that way.

Coffee, tea, soda, and the regular stuff will be around, too, in addition to the cupcakes.

–James

This week’s meeting is extraordinary for many reasons:

1) It’s on a strange day: Friday, May 4th, 2007.
2) It’s at a strange time: 2:00 PM.
3) It’s in a strange room: ISB 102
4) It features Professor Bruce Schumm.

Bruce does experimental particle physics, and will be speaking about the proposed International Linear Collider and the role that the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics is playing in the planning and advocacy of the ILC.

Nothing more need be said. It’s Bruce.

Coffee, tea, soda, eating-type-stuff, etc.

Everyone is welcome, and please feel free to bring friends and associates.

Thank you.

–James

P.S. Also, we’re taking a field trip to Lick Observatory. Yes, we are. More on that later.

This Thursday’s SPS meeting is a special event! It occurs on Thursday, January 25th, at 5:30 PM in ISB 102 (note this strange location), and it will feature physics in one of the most entertaining forms: The Tesla Coil.

Nothing recruits future physicists like shooting giant electrical arcs at the middle school principals, and Hartmut Sadrozinski, Terry Schalk and their SCIPP colleagues have been doing such things for several years now, as you can see here:

http://scipp.ucsc.edu/outreach/index.html

This Thursday, though, they’ll be combining resources with us in the SPS the put on a special demo of their legendary Tesla Coil for those of us who have *already* decided to pursue physics. So why are they doing this? Three reasons:

1) Tesla Coils are awesome.
2) They want help with making their outreach program more accessible and dynamic to K-12 students, which means that they wan your input! You’ve probably been in high school more recently than the professors have, and they would like some assistance in tuning up the presentation.
3) They want to recruit some undergrads and grad students to join the Tesla coil team. If you like the idea of traveling to nearby and far-away schools to put on an incredible physics display, come to this Thursday’s SPS meeting and join up! Please note the weird location, downstairs in ISB 102, the UCO/Lick conference room.

Coffee, tea, soda and snacks will certainly be there, as usual. There’s not much metal in them, so you should feel totally comfortable touching them around such a large electric field. Trust me.

Everyone is welcome! Seriously, everybody likes to watch indoor lighting, so bring your friends. Image how bad you’ll feel when you tell them about it later and they say, “Why didn’t you take me with you?” We’re in a bigger room this week, so there’s plenty of room for them.

Tesla!

– James

The undergrad lounge has moved! Did you notice? Of course you did!

Yes, the new and improved and ten-googolplexes-times-better Physics and Astrophysics Undergraduate Lounge (PAUL?) is in Thimann 103, just down the hall from the first-year physics labs. Thus, after you’ve become exhausted from attaching weights to springs and calculating, revolutionarily, a value of g = 14.6 m/s^2, you can relax and unwind in the new lounge.

What does this have to do with the SPS? Well, to fully celebrate the new lounge, we’re holding our first meeting of the quarter there! That means that this week’s SPS meeting will take place on Thursday, January 11th, at 5:30 PM in a strange location: The new undergraduate lounge!

And we’ll be having pizza.

Sorry; that should read AND WE’LL BE HAVING PIZZA! But you must RSVP to ucscsps@gmail.com so we know how much to get. Right now! RSVP! To ucscsps@gmail.com and nowhere else!

No, in all seriousness, you shouldn’t even be reading this line. You should be emailing ucscsps@gmail.com to tell us you want pizza. Imagine your embarrassment when you’re the only one licking the bottom of the pizza box. Please, have some dignity: RSVP to ucscsps@gmail.com right now, and then come to the meeting. We’ll eat pizza and discuss the upcoming quarter and generally inaugurate the new room properly.

Also note that this location for our SPS meetings is ONE TIME ONLY. Our regular meetings still take place on Thursdays at 5:30 PM in ISB 231. We have a monumentally good collection of presentations for this quarter, too. Check the Meeting Schedule for more information, and check back here for upcoming events, like the next Movie Night (in a couple weeks, actually).

PIZZA! RSVP! NEW UNDERGRAD LOUNGE! CAPS LOCK!

Done.

–James

Stuff is happening this weekend. Observe:

SATURDAY, May 6th — TOMORROW!
— 7:00 PM — Thimann 1 –
***SPS Movie Night***
This time we’ll be watching “Origins”…

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/

…the PBS miniseries about the universe, the solar system, life on Earth, and the possibility of life on other planets — pretty much everything important (except for an explicit discussion of the spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry by the QCD vacuum, but whatever).

Feel free to bring snacks and stuff. We’ll probably also order pizza after everybody arrives, so if that interests you, show up early, talk to our events coordinator Michael, and bring cash.

---

SUNDAY, May 7th
— 10:30 AM — Baskin Eng 1 –
***The Scavenger Hunt to End All Scavenger Hunts***
On Sunday, May 7th at 11:00 AM, a miraculous thing will happen: SPS members from all different backgrounds and walks of life will gather outside Baskin Engineering 1 and will embark on a quest so daring, few — nay, none — will survive unscathed. Yes, these brave souls’ lives will change forever once they begin the hunt for the mythical Last Remaining Copy of Mathematica, also known as THE SCAVENGER HUNT TO END ALL SCAVENGER HUNTS. Participants will be forced to utilize every bit of their wit, combined with sheer physical ability to guess at clues and hunt for hints to solve the puzzle that will unlock the door to Mathematica Heaven.Breakfast-y snacks will be available at 10:30 AM, and, as mentioned, the official send-off will occur at 11 AM sharp. All pertinent information will be provided at the event. You need only bring your formidable intellectual and physical dexterity.

The adventure begins May 7th. Prepare yourselves.

(Courtesy of Veronica, Med and Rob, who deserve Extreme Credit and Extravagant Recognition for putting the whole thing together. *thunderous applause*)

Your presence is formally requested at both events, or at least one. Hey, I have homework, too, so that excuse is invalid. I’ll go if you go. Okay, cool; see you there.

–James

I’m sorry to say, but the BBQ for this Friday and Saturday did not work out. So instead we are going to try and swing it for next Friday. So that is Friday, March 3rd probably some time after 4pm. We will work out the rest of the details during the week, so stay tuned.

– Rion

This week is packed:

1) During last week’s meeting we did a lot of yammering and planned some stuff. Check the minutes for a more complete synopsis. Congratulations to Rob and Lori for winning copies of Mathematica for Students. Rob actually did everyone’s homework right there in the meeting, so it was a positive situation for all involved.

2) This week’s meeting, which occurs Thursday, February 16th, 2006, at 5:00 PM in ISB 231/235, features Professor Greg Laughlin talking about extrasolar planets. Prof. Laughlin is affiliated with Lick Observatory, and his presentation should be extra interesting in light of all the new info and conjecture regarding the solar system that’s been happening lately.
We will also be giving away two more copies of Mathematica, and some snacks. The snack distribution won’t be based on a drawing, though. Just help yourself.

3) SPS Movie Night: This Friday, February 19th, at 7:30 PM, in Thimann 1, we’re watching The Elegant Universe, which should fulfill your need for beautiful and sophisticated speculation in theoretical physics. I know it fulfills mine. You should come, and bring friends. It’s a nice big room.

4) The Legendary First Annual SPS BBQ is this Saturday, February 18th at 2 PM at the College Nine/Ten Community Room, which is kind of behind Social Sciences 2, up by the Nine/Ten apartments. It’s a BBQ. There will be food and stuff. You are invited. We’ll probably be around till 4 PM, so you should come whenever. We’ll also be giving away another copy of Mathematica. Why do I enjoy saying that so much? BBQ!

More later? Sure.

–James

Here’s a list of some stuff:

1) Join me in thanking Professor Anthony Aguirre for his sublime talk last week. We’re currently begging and pleading with him to come back and give an expanded Part 2 at the first part of spring quarter. Check this space frequently for details.

2) Mathematica for the SPS masses: In case you missed the news (and you wouldn’t have, because you go to every meeting and listen to every single word I say with the utmost attention, right?), an anonymous donor has blown our minds and has given us ten copies of Mathematica for Students to distribute among our members and affiliates.
Extra.
Super.
Cool.
To do so, we’re going to draw names out of a hat (or a hypercube or a tabletop singularity or something) to give away two copies at each of the next four meetings, and we’ll also give away two copies at the upcoming Legendary First Annual SPS BBQ.
Please join me in wholeheartedly thanking Mr. or Ms. Anonymous for their extraordinary generosity.

3) The upcoming Legendary First Annual SPS BBQ. Stay tuned.

4) This Thursday’s meeting is a Steering and Planning and Information Meeting. It’s still on February 9th at 5 PM in ISB 231/235, and we’ll be discussing everything from the SPS t-shirt to fund-raising ideas to the BBQ to field trips to Lagrange polynomials, but there won’t be a speaker. Unless we can get Jacqui and Veronica to give a quick presentation about electron spin. We’ll see how it goes.
Oh, and, yes, there will be Lagrange polynomials at the BBQ.
So come to this Thursday’s meeting ready to exchange ideas, make things happen, and generally solve all of Science Hill’s problems in a single hour.
And you may possibly win a copy of Mathematica for Students.

5) There was probably a fifth issue, but I’ll just reiterate that SOMEBODY GAVE US TEN COPIES OF MATHEMATICA! And you might get one! That’s so awesome. Sorry, but this sort of thing doesn’t happen every day to the SPS. Thanks again to Mr. or Ms. Anonymous, whoever they are.

More later, of course.

–James

(P.S.- I finally got the quotes page up. Fun times. I should have some more pictures for you guys soon, whenever I get around to formating them properly. –Rion)