Date: 2026-05-29
Time: 11 am
Venue: Room 1.35, Department of Physics and Astronomy, UWC and Zoom
Format: In-person hybrid (presenter in room)
(While the hybrid option is available, we strongly encourage in-person attendance!)
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Speaker: Prof. Smarajit Triambak
Affiliation: University of the Western Cape, Cape Town.
Title: Searches for new physics with large xenon detectors, related studies in nuclear structure and UWC's not so random walk towards a next-generation "underground" facility
Abstract:
Our current understanding of nature at its most fundamental level is based on the Standard Model of particle physics, which has been remarkably successful in describing a wide range of phenomena. However, several important questions still remain unanswered, motivating worldwide efforts to search for new physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). One powerful approach involves large xenon-based detectors, which serve as highly sensitive tools to probe BSM physics. In this talk I will focus on specific examples from this class of experiments, with particular emphasis on related studies in nuclear structure, which are crucial for interpreting the data acquired with these sophisticated detectors. As a prequel to a follow-up talk by Robbie Lindsay, I will conclude by summarizing how our involvement in such studies contributed to UWC's role in the potential establishment of a next-generation underground research laboratory in South Africa.
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Date: 2026-05-15
Speaker: B.M. Mabakachaba
Affiliations:
[1] Tandetron Laboratory, iThemba LABS-National Research Foundation;
[2] University of the Western Cape, Cape Town.
Title: Isothermal Modelling and Performance Optimization of 1D VO2-Based Gas Sensors
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Date: 2026-05-08
Speaker: Prof. Michelle Lochner
Affiliation: University of the Western Cape, Cape Town.
Title: Scientific Discovery with Foundation Models
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Date: 2026-04-17
Speaker: Junaid Townsend
Affiliation: University of the Western Cape, Cape Town.
Title: Probing Cosmology with the MeerKAT Interferometer
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Date: 2026-03-27
Speaker: Jespere Nzobadila Ondze
Affiliation: University of the Western Cape, Cape Town.
Title: Searching for new physics with 136Xe neutrinoless double beta decay
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Date: 2026-03-20
Speaker: Prof. Malik Maaza
Affiliation: UNISA, Pretoria and iThemba LABS, NRF, South Africa.
Title: Room temperature Quantum mechanics peculiarities in nanoscaled systems
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Date: 2026-02-27
Speaker: Dr. Steven Murray
Affiliation: Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Title: First Results from HERA Phase II
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Date: 2026-02-18
Speaker: Dr. Chenoa Tremblay
Affiliation: The SETI Institute, United States.
Title: Billions of Stars, One Question: Radio Astronomy and the Search for Life.
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Date: 2026-02-06
Speaker: Prof. Patrick Dorey
Affiliation: Department of Mathematical Sciences, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
Title: the ODE/IM correspondence
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Date: 2025-11-21
Speaker: Prof. André Ferrari
Affiliation: Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Nice, France
Title: Detection of Fast Radio Bursts using a hybrid neural architecture
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Date: 2025-11-07
Speaker: Geoff Murphy
Affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape (UWC)
Title: High-dimensional Bayesian modelling approaches for 21cm cosmology
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Date: 2025-10-31
Speaker: Dr Verlon Etsebeth
Affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape (UWC)
Title: Astronomaly: From Large-Scale Anomaly Detection to Targeted Discovery
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Date: 2025-10-17
Speaker: Bhivek Singh
Affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape (UWC)
Title: Unmasking Anomalies: The Puzzle of Second Class Currents in 22Na
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Date: 2025-10-10
Speaker: Prof. D.J. Pisano
Affiliation: Department of Astronomy, University of Cape Town (UCT), Cape Town, South Africa
Title: Probing the Magneto-Ionized Circumgalactic Medium of M31 with HI and Rotation Measures
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Date: 2025-10-03
Speaker: Daniel Johnson
Affiliation: Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier (LUPM), Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
Title: Strong lensing, cosmology, and the line of sight
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Date: 2025-08-29
Speaker: Mohamed Kamil
Affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape (UWC)
Title: From novae to neutrinos: Insights from neutron-removal reactions
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Date: 2025-07-18
Speaker: Dr Julien Larena
Affiliation: Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier (LUPM), Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
Title: Cosmology with Einstein rings; a path to a 6x2pt analysis
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Date: 2025-06-13
Speaker: Dr Aman Chokshi
Affiliation: McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Title: Towards an Epoch of Reionization Detection — Challenges in a Pre-SKA Era
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Date: 2025-06-11
Speaker: Dr Santiago Avila
Affiliation: Centro de Investigaciones Eneréticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Madrid, Spain
Title: Implications of cosmological expansion models from the final Dark Energy Survey BAO and SN data
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Date: 2025-05-30
Speaker: Prof. Andrei Albert Mesinger
Affiliation: Classe di scienze, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy
Title: Status and future of 21-cm cosmology during the first billion years
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Date: 2025-05-23
Speaker: Prof. Roy Maartens
Affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape (UWC)
Title: Covariant Cosmography: a new perspective on H0 and the local Universe
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Date: 2025-04-25
Speaker: Dr Sthabile Kolwa
Affiliation: University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa
Title: A MIGHTEE view of radio emission in faint AGN and star-forming galaxies
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Date: 2025-04-14
Speaker: Dr Chris Gordon
Affiliation: School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Title: How Stars May Shred Axion Minihalos and What That Means for Dark Matter Searches