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PRODID:-//Virginia Tech//VT Calendar//EN
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20230430T170000Z
UID:1681398609667@events.msu.edu
CATEGORIES:Conferences / Seminars / Lectures
DTSTART:20230430T170000Z
DTEND:20230501T035900Z
SUMMARY:BRIAN METZGER - GRAVITATIONAL WAVES AND THE ORIGIN OF GOLD
DESCRIPTION:
 Talk abstract\n
 From the speaker:\n
 "Einstein's 
 theory of General Relativity predicts that 
 orbiting bodies generate "ripples in 
 spacetime" known as gravitational waves. 
 On 17 August 2017, scientists detected for the 
 first time gravitational waves from two merging 
 neutron stars from deep space (neutron 
 stars are the dense cores left over when the 
 outer layers of massive stars explode at the 
 end of their lives). This discovery initiated 
 a world-wide search for an electromagnetic "afterglow" 
 of the merger event, using 
 dozens of the largest telescopes on the ground 
 and in space. Within hours, fading blue 
 light, unlike that which had ever been seen before, 
 was discovered from a galaxy 100 million 
 light years from Earth. For me personally, 
 the most exciting aspect of this discovery was 
 that it "made sense": the observations 
 agreed with theoretical predictions myself 
 and colleagues had made a decade ago. We 
 were witnessing, for the first time in the debris 
 of the merger, the direct creation in nature 
 of the heaviest elements in the universe, 
 including the precious metals such as gold, 
 silver, and platinum. In this talk, I will 
 recount the amazing discovery of gravitational 
 waves, merging neutron stars, and the next 
 steps of our path towards identifying the origin 
 of gold."\n
 \n
 Presenter\n
 Brian Metzger\n
 \n
 Brian 
 Metzger was born and raised in Burlington, 
 Iowa.  He received his bachelor's degrees 
 at the University of Iowa and his PhD in 
 physics at the University of California Berkeley 
 in 2009. He held a NASA Einstein Postdoctoral 
 Fellowship at Princeton University, before 
 joining the Columbia University department 
 of physics in 2013, where he is currently 
 a full professor. He is also a senior research 
 scientist in the Center for Computational Astrophysics 
 of the Flatiron Institute. Metzger's 
 recognitions include the Sloan Fellowship; 
 New Horizons Breakthrough Prize in Physics; 
 the Bruno Rossi Prize of the American Astronomical 
 Society; and the 2020 Laureate of the 
 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists. He is 
 supported as a Simons Investigator by the Simons 
 Foundation.\n\n
 Price: free\n
 Sponsor: public\n
 Contact name: Bob Patterer\n
 Contact email: events@msu.edu\n
 for more info visit the web at:\n 
 https://msu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9BIiFXi3ShCwFmy1e3W7Nw\n
LOCATION:VIRTUAL
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