VIRTUAL Thursday, March 24th 2022 3:45 – 4:45 pm (MT) WEBEX Speaker: Prof. Dmitry Budker Helmholtz Institute, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz “In search for ultralight bosonic dark matter, and other adventures” Abstract: We will first recall the motivation for considering ultralight bosons as candidates for being dark matter and then survey several recent experiments searching for ultralight bosonic dark matter and fifth forces. We may then take the opportunity and briefly mention two (completely different) new proposals: Gravity Probe Spin to explore the connection between general relativity and quantum mechanics and the Gamma Factory at CERN---a novel light source and a sophisticated “ion trap,” all in one. Bio: Dmitry Budker received his Ph.D. in physics from UC Berkeley in 1993 and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University until his faculty appointment in 1995. Born in the former USSR, Budker was a student at the Novosibirsk State University from 1980 until 1985, when he received an equivalent to MS with honors from the Department of Physics. He then served as a junior researcher at the Institute of Nuclear Physics, where he conducted research on laser spectroscopy of atoms. In 1994, Budker received the American Physical Society Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER award, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and was a Miller Professor in 2003-2004. Budker’s research interests are related to the study of violation of discrete symmetries – parity, time reversal invariance, and permutation symmetry for identical particles - using the methods of modern atomic physics. In particular, he has been involved in exploring the rare earth elements - samarium, dysprosium and ytterbium - where enhancement of P and P,T violating effects occurs due to close proximity of states with opposite nominal parity. More recently, he has also been involved in experimental search for temporal variation of fundamental “constants.” Such experiments involve many aspects and techniques of atomic physics, as well as of linear and nonlinear optics and spectroscopy. Some of the Budker group research involves experimental condensed-matter physics and nuclear magnetic resonance. Budker and his group are also studying applications of nonlinear optical phenomena in resonant vapors and in color centers in diamond to sensitive magnetometry. The group maintains a roughly 50-50 balance of fundamental-physics and applied projects. https://budker.uni-mainz.de/