Allgemeines Physikalisches Kolloquium
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  • 30.10.2025          Prof. Erwin Frey (Theoretische Physik, LMU München)

    Vortragsankündigung

    Emergence and Self-Organisation in Biological Systems

    Einladender: Prof. Thiele (TP)
     
    Isolated systems tend to evolve towards thermal equilibrium, a special state that has been a research focus in physics for more than a century. By contrast, most processes studied in living and life-like systems are driven and far from thermal equilibrium. A fundamental overarching hallmark of all these processes is the emergence of structure, order, and information, and we are facing the major challenge of identifying the underlying physical principles. Two exciting problems are the self-organised formation of spatio-temporal patterns and the robust self-assembly of complex structures. In both fields, there have been recent advances in understanding the underlying physics that will be reviewed in this talk.

  • 06.11.2025          Dr. Stephen Hicks (Dept. of Earth Sciences, UCL)

    Vortragsankündigung

    Capturing mega-tsunamis with seismology

    Einladende: Prof. Thomas (GP)

    Climate change is increasingly predisposing polar and alpine regions to catastrophic landslides.

    In September 2023, we detected the onset of an unprecedented 9-day, global 10.88-millihertz (92-second) monochromatic very-long-period (VLP) seismic signal originating from East Greenland. This signal began with a glacial-thinning–induced rock-ice avalanche of 25 × 10⁶ m³ plunging into Dickson Fjord, triggering a 200-meter-high tsunami. Simulations show that the tsunami evolved into a 7-meter-high, long-duration seiche oscillating at 11.45 mHz, whose frequency and amplitude decay closely matched the seismic observations. An oscillating fjord-transverse single force of ~5 × 10¹¹ N reproduced both the seismic amplitudes and their radiation pattern, confirming that the seiche directly generated the 9-day-long signal.
     
    In August 2025, another landslide, this time in Alaska’s Tracy Arm fjord, produced a 481-metre high megatsunami, preceded by days of accelerating micro-seismicity. The failure generated globally observed long-period seismic waves equivalent to a magnitude-5.4 earthquake, followed by ~66-second monochromatic signals lasting over 36 hours.
     
    These events demonstrate how climate-driven glacier retreat can trigger cascading hazards - linking slope failure, fjord seiches, and globally detectable seismic waves - and highlight the growing risks posed by landslide-induced tsunamis in increasingly visited fjord environments.

  • 20.11.2025          Prof. Gernot Münster (Universität Münster)

    Vortragsankündigung

    Lucy Mensing: Forgotten Pioneer of Quantum Mechanics

    Einladender: Prof. Rohlfing (FT)
     
    In 1925 a young postdoc, Lucy Mensing, came to Göttingen to do research with the new matrix mechanics, which had just been formulated. In the following years she did groundbreaking work. She successfully made the first application of the new theory to diatomic molecules. As a by-product of this work, she was the first who found that, even though in general both integer and half-integer values are allowed for angular momentum, orbital angular momentum always takes on integer values. Impressed by her clear and masterful treatment of the problem, Pauli invited her to work with him on the polarizability of gases. After that, she worked in Tübingen. In this talk I will sketch Mensing's pioneering work and give a brief account of her life. I will also discuss why she gave up her career, which ended in 1930 after she married and started a family.

  • 27.11.2025          CRC 1459 Colloquium

    Vortragsankündigung  |  Abstact Book

    From Molecular Actuation to Microscopic Motion

    Prof. Svetlana Santer (University of Potsdam, Germany)

    Designer Active Matter:
    From Self-Propelled Particles to Active Lipid Vesicles

    Dr. Rao Hanumantha Vatakuri (University of Twente, The Netherlands)

    Einladende: Dr. Kriegel (SFB 1459)
     

     

    BITTE BEACHTEN: Zeit-/Raumänderung

    • 15:00 Uhr s.t.
    • SoN 100.004

  • 04.12.2025          Prof. Val Zwiller (KTH Sweden, Stockholm)

    Vortragsankündigung

    Detecting light at a single photon level: quantum devices and applications

    Einladender: Prof. Schuck (Dept. for Quantum Technology)
     
    Quantum devices can control light at the single photon level and enable novel instrumentation. Future quantum communication and sensing will require high-performance devices able to generate and detect light one photon at a time. The ability to detect single photons is crucial for quantum optics as well as for a wide number of applications. Several technologies have been developed for efficient single photon detection in the visible and near infrared. The invention of the superconducting nanowire single photon detector in 2001 enabled the development of a new class of detectors that can operate close to physical limits. Different aspects will be discussed including wavelength detection range, time resolution, dark counts, saturation rates and photon number resolution along with various applications such as Lidar, quantum communication, deep space communication, microscopy and bio-medical measurements.
     
    Multipixel single photon detectors based on superconducting nanowires will also be discussed, including a quantum spectrometer based on an array of high-performance single photons. By time stamping single photon detection events at the output of a spectrometer, we generate data that can yield spectra as well as photon correlations and cross correlations among different spectral lines, under pulsed excitation, transition lifetimes can also be extracted. This instrument therefore replaces a spectrometer, a streak camera, and a Hanbury-Brown Twiss interferometer and operates with far higher signal to noise ratio than is possible with existing detectors that are commonly used in the infrared.

  • 15.01.2026          Prof. Gregor Koblmüller (Inst. für Festkörperphysik, TU Berlin)

    Vortragsankündigung [PDF]

    tba

    Einladender: Prof. Krenner (PI)

  • 22.01.2026          Prof. Christian Kautz (TU Hamburg, Didaktik Ingenieurwiss.)

    Vortragsankündigung

    Verständnis der Physik auch in großen Vorlesungen durch forschungsbasierte und aktivierende Lehrmaterialien fördern

    Einladende: Prof. Heinicke (DP)
     
    Lehrende der Physik, besonders im Grundlagenbereich im Haupt- und Nebenfach, beobachten häufig, dass Studierende auch nach Vorlesung und Übung oft große Schwierigkeiten haben, auch einfache Fragen und Aufgaben korrekt zu lösen. Grund hierfür sind nicht nur mangelnde mathematische Fähigkeiten, sondern auch weit verbreitete und systematisch auftretende Schwierigkeiten beim Verständnis der physikalischen Konzepte selbst, also der zentralen Begriffe und Zusammenhänge der Physik. Mithilfe empirischer Methoden lassen sich diese Schwierigkeiten genauer beschreiben und analysieren. Die Erkenntnisse dieser Untersuchungen ermöglichen es, Lehrmaterialien zu entwickeln, die den Studierenden gezielt helfen, die identifizierten Schwierigkeiten zu überwinden und ein besseres Verständnis zu entwickeln.
     
    Der Vortrag beschreibt kurz den Entwicklungsprozess sowie typische Merkmale solcher Materialien am Beispiel der Tutorien zur Physik1,2 von McDermott & Shaffer. Zudem werden Voraussetzungen für die erfolgreiche Einbettung der Materialien in bestehende Lehrveranstaltungen, auch in Verbindung mit weiteren aktivierenden Formaten, diskutiert. Abschließend werden Ergebnisse einer mehrjährigen Untersuchung an der TUHH präsentiert, die zeigen, dass sich durch den Einsatz der Materialien deutliche und signifikante Verbesserungen des Lernerfolgs erzielen lassen3.
     
    1. L. C. McDermott und P. S. Shaffer, Tutorien zur Physik, München: Pearson Studium, 2011.
    2.  L. C. McDermott und P. S. Shaffer, Tutorials in Introductory Physics, 1st ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2002.
    3. C. Kautz, J. Direnga und C. Schäfle, “Physik gemeinsam konstruieren,” Physik Journal, 33-37 (1), 2024.

  • 29.01.2026          N.N.

    Vortragsankündigung [PDF]

    tba

    Einladende/r: 

  • 05.02.2026          Dr. Robert Wimmer (Sen. Associate Editor, Physical Review D)

    Vortragsankündigung [PDF]

    tba

    Einladender: Prof. Schmitz

  • ... in Planung (SS 2026)

    16.04.2026

    Antrittsvorlesung(en) | Prof. Alexander Mook (FT) und Prof. Tobias Heindel (Dept. QT)

    30.04.2026

    CRC 1459 Kolloquium | verantw. Dr. Christina Kriegel

    xx.07.2026

    Kolloquiumsvortrag & Lehrpreisvergabe | FB Physik & FS Physik

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    Stand: 20.11.2025