Meeting Notes and End of Year Party

TAPT-ers,

Just a few notes from our last meeting and a heads-up for our end-of-the-year party.  

We had a fantastic meeting two weeks ago –sorry to be late with notes.  There were a lot of new faces, and it was great to see Bob Capen, legendary CDO teacher who is now retired. Thanks to everyone who attended. It’s wonderful to have a big enthusiastic group.

Our speaker, Dr. Eduardo Rozo, was inspiring. His enthusiasm for figuring out the nature of the universe was infectious.  We found out that dark matter is about 80% of the matter in the universe, and simulations of the universe with expansion yield realistic-looking models. The shape of galaxies (visible matter) is shepherded by the distribution of dark matter. Some of the videos of the simulations were incredibly real-looking. We also found out that, if dark energy pushes as hard as it possibly can, considering the acceleration of the expansion leads to a universe that is 75% dark energy, 20% dark matter, and 5% ordinary matter. Alternatively we may need to tweak our theory of gravity and general relativity. Lastly, Dr. Rozo talked about LIGO. The expansion of the universe depends on a “standard candle” measurement of distance. But LIGO is a really good distance determiner for black holes. So there is a possibility that LIGO can help pin down the rate of expansion of the galaxy, since it will give us accurate distance measurements to colliding black holes.

On a more concrete note, we need to plan our end-of-the-year party.  Last year I combined the Pima physics and geoscience people with TAPT, and I thought it was pretty successful. The date we have scheduled is May 14^th. I hope that will be agreeable for everyone. Format will be the same: starting around 5:30 pm, we will be cooking burgers and veggie burgers and chicken. Bring a dish to share. It should be fun! 

Let me know if you have any suggestions or additions. 

Karie