What's New in 2019

2019

December 27–January 2

서울. No laptop, no email!

  • 12/27-28: MUC(16:30)-ICN(10:55)
  • 1/2: ICN(12:30)-MUC(16:00)

December 16–19

International conference on “B-mode from Space” at MPA

December 11–13

All-hands collaboration meeting of LiteBIRD at MPE

December  6

Universität Bonn

  • 12/6: MUC(8:50)-CGN(10:05)
    • Physikalisches Kolloquium on “Cosmic Microwave Background as the Backlight: Mapping Hot Gas in the Universe with the Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect” [15:15, 50+10]
      • Abstract: The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is the light from the fireball Universe with a black-body spectrum. As photons of the CMB travel for 13.8 billion years to reach us, they encounter interesting events in the Universe. One such event is an encounter with hot electrons in cosmic plasma, which Compton up-scatter CMB photons and distort the black-body spectrum. This so-called "Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect" (SZE) has been measured with high precision, yielding a full-sky map of hot gas in the Universe. In this colloquium we describe physics of the SZE as well as new results from the highest resolution imaging of SZE, what we learned from the full-sky map of hot gas and state-of-the-art computer simulations, and a future prospect. 
  • 12/7: CGN(10:45)-MUC(11:55)

November 20–23

TOAST workshop at IFPU, Trieste

  • 11/20: MUC(11:40)-TRS(12:35)
  • 11/23: TRS(13:10)-MUC(14:05)

November 12–14

Fachbeirat, MPA

October 28–November 2

Madrid

  • 10/28: MUC(8:40)-MAD(11:20); Meeting of Senior Committee [14:00-18:00]
  • 10/29-31: Voyage 2050 Workshop at CSIC, Calle Serrano, 117 
    • 10/30: Cosmology session [17:10–18:15]
  • 11/2: MAD(12:05)-MUC(14:40)

October 24,25

Sektionssitzung, Berlin-Dahlem

  • 10/24: MUC(7:00)-TXL(8:05)
  • 10/25: TXL(14:55)-MUC(16:05)

October 9–12

Universität Bonn

October 5–8

New York

  • 10/5-7: PFS Collaboration Meeting at Columbia University
    • 10/5: Cosmology SWG meeting [10:00-]
    • 10/6: All-hands meeting [9:00-17:30] at Physics Theory Center, 8th floor
    • 10/7: All-hands meeting [9:00-12:00] at Physics Theory Center, 8th floor
  • 10/7-8: EWR(20:45)-MUC(10:20)

September 30–October 4

Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Princeton

  • 9/30: MUC(16:05)-EWR(18:55)
  • 10/1: Give an IAS-PU Joint Astrophysics Colloquium on “Finding Gravitational Waves from the Early Universe” at IAS [video]
    • Abstract: The cosmic microwave background (CMB) research told us a remarkable story: the structure we see in our Universe such as galaxies, stars, planets, and eventually ourselves originated from tiny quantum fluctuations generated in the early Universe. With the WMAP we have confirmed many of the key predictions of inflation including flatness and statistical homogeneity of our Universe, Gaussianity and adiabaticity of primordial density fluctuations, and a small but non-zero deviation from the scale-invariant spectrum of density fluctuations. Yet, the extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence. The last prediction of inflation that is yet to be confirmed is the existence of primordial gravitational waves whose wavelength can be as big as billions of light years. To this end we have proposed to JAXA a new satellite mission called LiteBIRD, whose primary scientific goal is to find signatures of gravitational waves in the polarisation of the CMB. In this presentation we describe physics of gravitational waves from inflation including both the vacuum and sourced contributions (i.e., left and right hands of Einstein's equation), the LiteBIRD proposal, as well as a sub-mm telescope in Chile called CCAT-prime that we are currently building.
  • 10/4: Move to NYC

September 23,24

Astrophysics Seminar at Département d’Astrophysique, CEA Saclay

  • 9/23: MUC(17:50)-CDG(19:25)
  • 9/24: Give a talk on “Finding Cosmic Inflation” [10:00-11:00(45+15)]; CDG(17:50)-MUC(19:15)

September 20

Perspektivenkommission, Berlin-Dahlem

  • 9/20: CGN(8:05)-TXL(9:15); TXL(17:00)-MUC(18:05)

September 16–19

Köln

September 11–13

ICCUB (Institut de Ciéncies del Cosmos, Universitat de Barcelona), Barcelona

September 7,8

Japanisches Kulturinstitut Köln

September 6

Universität zu Köln for「第4回ドイツ物理学・応用物理学セミナー」

September 2–5

COSMO-19, RWTH Aachen

  • 9/2: MUC(11:20)-CGN(12:25); Köln Hbf-Aachen Hbf
  • 9/5: Give the public lecture on “Our Universe: The beginning, and an end” (video) [20:00-21:00]
    • Abstract: How did the Universe begin? What is the Universe made of? Will the Universe end? If so, how? Remarkably, we can find answers to these questions by scientific means. The Universe was once in a hot and dense state, like a fireball. The light that filled the fireball Universe did not go away - they are still with us. We can collect this light, called the “cosmic microwave background”, to study in detail how the Universe began and evolved. The fate of the Universe is determined by the mysterious “dark energy” that occupies 70% of the energy of the Universe today. Understanding this may tell us that the Universe ends in a catastrophic state. In this lecture, we present the history, the latest results, and the future of the cosmic microwave background research, which will tell us how the Universe began and may end.

July 26–August 29

Urlaub, und Deutsch lernen! Kein laptop, keine E-mail

  • 7/26-8/1: Helsinki
    • 7/26: MUC(11:05)-HEL(14:35)
    • 8/1: HEL(15:20)-MUC(16:50)
  • 8/5-28: Goethe-Institut (Intensiv 4)

July 24

DLR, Bonn

  • 7/24: MUC(11:20)-CGN(12:25); CGN(18:20)-MUC(19:30)

July 23

Perspektivenkommission, München [9:00-17:00]

June 11–July 19

SISSA, Trieste

  • 6/11: MUC(11:30)-TRS(12:25)
  • 6/16,17: Briefly back to Munich...
  • 6/18: IFPU Colloquium at SISSA, “Finding Cosmic Inflation” [14:30]
  • 7/15: Seminar at OATs, “Mapping the large-scale structure of the Universe with emission-line galaxies from z=0.6 to 3.5: HETDEX and PFS” [14:30]
    • Abstract: We describe two unique galaxy redshift surveys to map out the large-scale structure of the Universe from z=0.6 to 3.5. Both will use the prime focus of large-aperture telescopes for wide fields of view. One is HETDEX, the on-going survey on 10-m Hobby-Eberly Telescope in West Texas, and the other is PFS, the planned survey on 8.2-m Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. We use Lyman-alpha emitters (HETDEX) and [OII] emitters (PFS) for z=1.9-3.5 and 0.6-2.4, respectively. The HETDEX is a super unique, non-traditional survey: we use integral field unit spectrographs (IFUs) to do the first blind emission-line surveys in a cosmological volume, without pre-selecting objects by imaging surveys. The PFS will use the highly multiplexed robotic multi-object fibre spectrograph. We describe the motivation for the projects, science goals, survey designs, as well as the current status of the projects. 
  • 7/19: TRS(13:00)-MUC(13:55)

June 6

Voyage 2050 Senior Committee Meeting at the ESA HQ, 24 rue du Général Bertrand, Paris 7 [9:30-15:30]

  • MUC(6:45)-CDG(8:20)
  • CDG(17:50)-MUC(19:15)

June 2–5

Instituto de Física de Cantabria, Santander, Spain

May 26–30

Cambridge

May 23,24

MPIfR

  • 5/23: MUC(14:45)-CGN(15:50)
  • 5/24: Give a colloquium on “Finding Cosmic Inflation” 
    • Abstract: The cosmic microwave background (CMB) research told us a remarkable story: the structure we see in our Universe such as galaxies, stars, planets, and eventually ourselves originated from tiny quantum fluctuations generated in the early Universe. With the WMAP we have confirmed many of the key predictions of inflation including flatness and statistical homogeneity of our Universe, Gaussianity and adiabaticity of primordial density fluctuations, and a small but non-zero deviation from the scale-invariant spectrum of density fluctuations. Yet, the extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence. The last prediction of inflation that is yet to be confirmed is the existence of primordial gravitational waves whose wavelength can be as big as billions of light years. To this end we have proposed to JAXA a new satellite mission called LiteBIRD, whose primary scientific goal is to find signatures of gravitational waves in the polarisation of the CMB. In this presentation we describe the current state of affairs regarding our understanding of the early Universe, physics of polarisation of CMB, the LiteBIRD proposal, as well as a sub-mm telescope in Chile called CCAT-p that we are currently building. 
    • CGN(17:35)-MUC(18:40)

May 21

The LiteBIRD mission has been selected by JAXA as the strategic large mission. See the official announcement. We will go to L2!!

May 20

Astro-NFDI discussion, AIP, Potsdam [10:00-17:00]

  • 5/20: MUC(8:00)-TXL(9:05); TXL(18:30)-MUC(19:35)

May 15,16

Editorial Board Meeting of AARv at Springer, Heidelberg

  • 5/15: München Hbf Gl.15(10:28)-Mannheim Hbf-Heidelberg Hbf(13:48)
  • 5/16: Heidelberg Hbf Gl.7(15:14)-Pasing-München Hbf(18:23)

May 14

Perspektivenkommission, Berlin-Dahlem

  • 5/14: MUC(8:00)-TXL(9:05); TXL(18:30)-MUC(19:35)

May 10

“Working Culture and Working Atmosphere in the Max Planck Society” Task Force meeting at Harnack Haus, Berlin-Dahlem [10:00-13:00]

  • 5/10: MUC(8:00)-TXL(9:05); TXL(14:30)-MUC(15:40)

May 8

Kolloquiumsvortrag Physik (12:00-13:00) on “Critical Tests of Theory of the Early Universe using the Cosmic Microwave Background” , Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

  • 5/8: München Hbf Gl.23(8:56)-Erlangen(10:20); Erlangen Gl.4(16:29)-Nürnberg Hbf-München Hbf(18:04)

March 26–April 24

Kavli IPMU, Kashiwa, Japan

March 21,22

LiteBIRD Europe Collaboration Meeting (9:00 March 21 to 17:00 March 22)

March 20

Perspektivenkommission, Berlin-Dahlem

  • 3/20: MUC(8:00)-TXL(9:10); TXL(18:30)-MUC(19:40)

March 1-9

Kyoto

February 21,22

Sektionssitzung, Berlin-Dahlem

  • 2/21: MUC(7:45)-TXL(8:55)
  • 2/22: TXL(14:30)-MUC(15:40)

February 11

ESO Knowledge Exchange on CMB [10:45-11:45]

February 9

ミュンヘン日本語補習校で講演「僕は天文学者」（14:00-15:30）

January 31

Colloquium at Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICG), Univ. of Portsmouth

  • 1/30: MUC(9:40)-LGW(10:45); Gatwick Airport(11:39)-Portsmouth&Southsea(13:01)
  • 1/31: Give a colloquium on “Non-Gaussian gravitational waves from inflation” [14:30-15:30]
    • Abstract: It has been widely assumed that detection of primordial gravitational waves from inflation in, for example, B-mode polarisation of the cosmic microwave background, immediately implies discovery of the quantum nature of spacetime. While this statement is true for the vacuum solution, it does not apply if the gravitational waves originate from the matter fields. How can we distinguish between these two origins? The answer is non-Gaussinaity. We show that the gravitational waves from SU(2) gauge fields coupled to a spectator axion field during inflation are highly non-Gaussian with a characteristic shape, whereas those from the vacuum are only weakly non-Gaussian.
  • 2/1: Portsmouth&Southsea(10:15)-Gatwick Airport(11:38); LGW(13:35)-MUC(16:30)


Canceled due to illness. Not a great start of the new year...

January 25

Physikalisches Kolloquium at Universität Bonn on “Critical Tests of Theory of the Early Universe using the Cosmic Microwave Background”  [15:15-17:00]

  • 1/25: MUC(11:30)-CGN(12:35)
  • 1/26: CGN(10:15)-MUC(11:20)

January 23,24

Perspektivenkommission, Zugspitze 

  • 1/23: München Hbf(9:32)-Garmisch-Partenkirchen(10:54); Zugspitzbahn(11:15)-SonnAlpin(12:28)
  • 1/24: SonnAlpin(15:30)-Zugspitzbahn(16:50); Garmisch-Partenkirchen(17:05)-München Hbf(18:26)

January 21,22

ESTEC, for the kick-off meeting of ESA Cosmic Vision 2050 Senior Committee

  • 1/21: MUC(14:35)-AMS(16:10)
  • 1/22: AMS(19:55)-MUC(21:15)

January 10

Back to normal life…

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