Speaker: J. Pedro Ochoa-Ricoux (UIC) - Title: First Physics Results from the JUNO Experiment
2026-03-19 16:00 - 17:00 UTC | ca
Research Progress Meeting
Date: March 19, 2026
Time: 4:00- 5:00 pm
Location: Sessler Conference Room- 50A-5132 [In-Person and HYBRID]
Speaker: J. Pedro Ochoa-Ricoux (UIC)
Title: First Physics Results from the JUNO Experiment
Abstract: Neutrinos are elusive particles with unique properties that offer key insights into the fundamental structure of matter and the cosmic sources that produce them. The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a next-generation, 20-kiloton liquid scintillator detector, the largest of its kind in the world, located in China and recently brought into operation after more than a decade of design and construction. In this talk, I will review the initial detector performance and present the first results from the experiment, based on about 60 days of data, which provide world-leading estimates of two neutrino oscillation parameters. I will also briefly outline the broader physics program enabled by JUNO and the additional measurements it aims to pursue.
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/98854322464?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 988 5432 2464

Passcode: [REDACTED]

Speaker: Anže Slosar (BNL) - Title: LuSEE-Night: A lunar radio-astronomy pathfinder.
2026-03-26 16:00 - 17:00
Research Progress Meeting
Date: March 26, 2026
Time: 4:00- 5:00 pm
Location: Sessler Conference Room- 50A-5132 [In-Person and HYBRID]
Speaker: Anže Slosar (BNL)
Title: LuSEE-Night: A lunar radio-astronomy pathfinder.
Abstract: LuSEE-Night is a novel collaborative effort between NASA and DOE aiming to land a path-finder radio telescope on the far side of the Moon. The instrument consists of 4 monopole antennas and will observe the radio sky between 0.1Mhz and 50MHz. This observational band is largely inaccessible from the Earth due to ionosphere and radio interference, but offers potentially transformational information about the early universe. The instrument is manifested for launch on the Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 2, targeting a landing in spring 2027. The mission will attempt numerous firsts: the first US landing on the lunar far side; the first far-side landing by a private company; the first modern US attempt to survive and operate through a lunar night; the first demonstration of radio calibration from an in-orbit calibrator around any planetary body; and, crucially, the first far-side radio instrument to deliver science-grade data. This talk describes the science case, the instrument design, and future opportunities for fundamental physics enabled by the lunar far side.
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/98854322464?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 988 5432 2464

Passcode: [REDACTED]

Speaker: Elliot Lipeles (U Penn) - Title: The Hadron Collider Option
2026-04-02 16:00 - 17:00
Research Progress Meeting
Date: April 2, 2026
Time: 4:00- 5:00 pm
Location: Sessler Conference Room- 50A-5132 [In-Person and HYBRID]
Speaker: Elliot Lipeles (U Penn)
Title: The Hadron Collider Option
Abstract: Hadron colliders have enormous physics reach, but were sidelined in the current cycle of large project planning primarily because of cost. I review the physics motivation and reach of a hadron collider, along with the technology options, the interplay of energy and luminosity constraints, and what they mean for the ultimate project cost as we currently understand it.

https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/98854322464?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 988 5432 2464

Passcode: [REDACTED]

Speaker: Thomas Essinger-Hileman (NASA Goddard) - Title: Science with CLASS and Future CMB Space Missions
2026-04-16 16:00 - 17:00
Research Progress Meeting
Date: April 16, 2026
Time: 4:00- 5:00 pm
Location: Sessler Conference Room- 50A-5132 [In-Person and HYBRID]
Speaker: Thomas Essinger-Hileman (NASA Goddard)
Title: Science with CLASS and Future CMB Space Missions
Abstract: The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a unique probe of the state of the early universe and its evolution since recombination approximately 380,000 years after the Big Bang. CMB observations have been critical in building a concordance model of cosmology consisting of a spatially flat universe dominated by dark matter and dark energy. Current CMB projects from the ground and balloons continue to address fundamental questions in astrophysics, cosmology, and particle physics: Did cosmic inflation create our Universe? What is the nature of dark energy? When and how did the first stars reionize the universe? and What is the mass of the neutrinos? I will highlight ongoing work to constrain reionization and the mass of neutrinos with the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS), which observes more than 65% of the sky from the Atacama Desert of Chile, as well as need for future CMB space missions like LiteBIRD and a NASA CMB Probe satellite to make the ultimate measurements of the CMB at large angular scales.
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/98854322464?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 988 5432 2464

Passcode: [REDACTED]

Speaker: Ritoban Basu Thakur (JPL) - Title: Quantum sensing, Dark Matter Searches & Astrophysics in the Far-IR.
2026-04-23 16:00 - 17:00
Research Progress Meeting
Date: April 23, 2026
Time: 4:00- 5:00 pm
Location: Sessler Conference Room- 50A-5132 [In-Person and HYBRID]
Speaker: Ritoban Basu Thakur (JPL)
Title: Quantum sensing, Dark Matter Searches & Astrophysics in the Far-IR.
Abstract: Advances in superconducting kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) are opening new windows in both astrophysics and fundamental physics. This talk presents two connected applications at the frontier of photon sensitivity. (i) For PRIMA, the PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics, we have developed single-photon-sensitive KID arrays operating at 25 μm. This first photon-counting array demonstrated in the 3–18 THz band, will enable background-limited imaging and spectroscopy for a cryogenic space telescope targeting galaxy evolution, planet formation, and cosmic dust. (ii) QUALIPHIDE (QUAntum LImited PHotons In the Dark Experiment) applies these photon-counting MKIDs to search for hidden photon dark matter beyond the standard quantum limit, which will also empower broadband experiments such as BREAD. Basu Thakur’s group is also developing nonlinear kinetic inductance devices for advanced quantum sensing, promising a new generation of THz detectors that will serve both next-decade astrophysics observatories and unexplored dark matter phase space.
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/98854322464?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 988 5432 2464

Passcode: [REDACTED]

Special RPM: Industry Career Panel
2026-04-28 15:00 - 17:00
Special Research Progress Meeting
Date: April 28, 2026
Time: 3:00- 5:00 pm [Note special start time]
Location: Building 50 Auditorium [In-Person and HYBRID] [Note special location]

Panelists:
Luigi Capodieci [Synopsis]
Katie Copic [Fieldwork]
Tobias Ostermayr [Nvidia]
Nadav Outmezguine [Microsoft AI]
Khilesh Mistry [Block Inc.]
Title: Industry Career Panel
Summary: The Industry Career Panel will consist of panelists that have backgrounds similar to postdocs and graduate students at LBNL and/ or have extensively worked in departments that often employ people with these backgrounds. This event is especially geared towards postdocs and graduate students preparing to apply for jobs in industry. Attendees are encouraged to bring questions about any aspect of the industry job application process.

https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/95679892182?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 956 7989 2182
Passcode: [REDACTED]
