Lectures

October 14th @ 13:15-14:00 in R10 (D5-171)

Speaker:  Prof. Alain Gibaud, Univ. Le Mans, France

Title: X-ray nanoscopy of calcium carbonate: a key material in daily life

Host: Dag Breiby, Porous Media Physics Group, IFY

Abstract: Calcium carbonate is one of the most common materials on earth. It is present in many natural species such as shells, corals, snails, … and in many geological concretions. An obvious question that needs to be addressed is how does such material form? In the laboratory, it is very simple to prepare calcium carbonate from solutions containing Ca2+ and CO32- ions by precipitation. However, the precipitation reaction is extremely fast (less than a few seconds) and can give different polymorphs. It is therefore mandatory to use an in situ technique to monitor the precipitation reaction, such as small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) in synchrotron facilities. In this presentation, after un introduction to the world of CaCO3, I will show how we can follow the precipitation kinetics of CaCO3 particles. We use an organic additive (polystyrene sulfonate) which delays precipitation.

Next, I will present the state of the art of 3D coherent X-ray imaging (CXDI) that can be performed on the ID10 beamline and a specific basic fluorescent imaging technique performed on the ID16A beamline. These techniques make it possible to explore in 3D mineral architectures with a voxel size close to 20nm. New information on the morphology of CaCO3 microparticles [1-3] is thus obtained. Recent results we have obtained on the ESRF beamlines ID10A and ID16A on different materials such as PCC (calcium carbonate precipitated in the presence of PSS see Fig. 1) and coccospheres [4]. (consisting of CaCO3 platelets see Fig.2) found in the oceans will be discussed.

References

1. O Cherkas, T Beuvier, F Zontone, Y Chushkin, L Demoulin, A Rousseau and A. Gibaud, Advanced Powder Technology, 2018,  29 (11), 2872-2880
2. O. Cherkas, T. Beuvier, D.W. Breiby, Y. Chushkin, F.  Zontone and A. Gibaud, Crystal Growth and Design, 2017, 17 (8), pp 4183–4188
3. T. Beuvier, Y. Chushkin, F. Zontone, A. Gibaud, O.,Cherkas, J. Da Silva, & I. Snigireva (2022). IUCrJ 9 , https:// doi.org/10.1107/S2052252522006108
4. T. Beuvier, B. Zucheras-Marx, I. Probert,  F. Zontone, Y. Chushkin, L. Beaufort and A. Gibaud Nature Comm.,  2019, 10, 751

Pizza will be served from 13.00 in D5-175

October 28th @ 13:15-14:00 in R10 (D5-171)

Speakers: Professor Sølve Selstø, OsloMet and Professor Berit Bungum, NTNU

Title: When computer science meets quantum physics: What should education in quantum computing contain?

Abstract: The emerging technology of quantum computing is one that has the potential of changing the world. It is pushed forward by large commercial actors such as IBM and Google, not by academia. Correspondingly, there is a growing job market for professionals with familiarity of quantum computing and quantum programming - IT workers who are quantum literate. At OsloMet Master students within computer science are introduced to quantum computing. While they do have a certain background in mathematics, they know next to nothing about quantum physics in particular and very little about physics in general.

A question which emerges is whether these students really need to know anything about the quantum physics, from which the notion of quantum computing emerges. Should we just introduce quantum notions in a technical sense - as elementary linear algebra? Or should we also take it upon ourselves to introduce them to the broad, complex and non-intuitive quantum world?

As part of this discussion, we present an empirical study of the different ways in which computer science students at OsloMet respond to quantum physics as part of a master’s course in quantum computing. The empirical study, along with a proposed content of quantum physics for students in quantum computing, is published in European Journal of Physics: What do quantum computing students need to know about quantum physics? - IOPscience

Pizza will be served from 13.00 in D5-175

November 4th @ 13:15-14:00 in R10 (D5-171)

Speaker: Assistant professor Ben David Normann, NTNU

Title: Is Modern Cosmology Science?

Host: Physics Department Student Contacts; Elise Lindegaard Hansen

Abstract: The Universe around us was once the size of a basket ball!" This might sound like the opening phrase in a fiction novel, but actually it is conventional cosmology. Does that make cosmology fiction, or is it science? I discuss this as I give a short, general introduction to the modern cosmological narrative. In ending I will demonstrate a simulator of gravitational lensing which we made in our hunt for the true nature of a substance known as "dark matter".

Pizza will be served from 13.00 in D5-175

November 11th @ 13:15-14:00 in R10 (D5-171)

Speaker: PD Dr. Oliver Passon, Bergische Universität Wuppertal

Title: The Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics

Host: Jonas Persson, Science Education Research Section IFY

Abstract: Given the decade long debate about its meaning and interpretation, quantum mechanics is surrounded by an air of mystery. This talk introduces the “measurement problem” of quantum mechanics as the source of much of these debates and provides an overview about the main camps in the interpretational debate (i.e. de Broglie-Bohm, many-worlds and spontaneous collapse theories).  

Pizza will be served from 13.00 in D5-175

November 18th @ 13:15-14:00 in R10 (D5-171)

Speaker: Alex Hansen, NTNU

Title: Statistical Mechanics of Flow in Porous Media

Host: Erika Eiser, Porous Media Physics Group, IFY-NTNU

Abstract: The central problem in the physics of multiphase flow in porous media is to find a proper description of the flow at scales large enough so that the medium may be regarded as a continuum: the scale-up problem. It is the same kind of problem as finding a proper description of fluids at the continuum level when we know that they consist of molecules; a problem that in this case was solved almost two hundred years ago with the introduction of the Navier-Stokes equation. So far, the only workable approach to the multiphase flow scale-up problem has been a set of phenomenological equations that have obvious weaknesses. Attempts at going beyond this relative permeability theory have so far never led to practical applications due to exploding complexity.

Edwin T. Jaynes proposed in the fifties a generalization of statistical mechanics to non-thermal systems based on the information theoretical entropy of Shannon. We have used this approach to construct a description of immiscible two-phase flow in porous media at the continuum scales, which is directly related to the physics at the pore scale, and with a level of complexity that is manageable. The approach leads to a thermodynamics-like formalism at the continuum scale with all the relations between variables that ``normal" thermodynamics has to offer.

Pizza will be served from 13.00 in D5-175