Dear Physics Community,

The week has ended and I do not have much to say.  We are still going and that is something to be grateful for.

MIT Press – has made their books related to pandemic available online for free.

Wash or sanitize your hands frequently – how you dispense is up to you.

Special Tuesday Lunch Talk Series

• Tuesday April 14, 12pm noon, https://mit.zoom.us/j/632177654 BYOL
• Steven Silverberg — “Peter Pan” Disks: Long-lived Accretion Disks Around Young M Stars, and How Citizen Science Found Them
• Jinghui Liu “Vortices, space-time braids and loops in the membrane of a living cell”.

If you’d like to give one, contact Anna.

Physics Department

Majorana particles – Patrick and Jagadeesh found a new particle in gold – paper here. Majorana particles are their own anti-particles and are found as excitations in topological insulators.  Neutrinos might be a Majorana particle – I hope Lindley finds out for us.

MIT/EMS – MIT students (including Physics students) run the ambulance, a great thing. Most of the EMS crew left, but the remaining students convinced MIT to let them keep operating, so we are safe.  Thank you!  If our student who is involved wants to tell us about it, please send me an email.

UROP direct funding – Direct funding proposals for SUMMER UROP are due April 21.  Faculty: please apply for these.  Current UROP students: please encourage your faculty supervisor to apply for you to work during the summer.  Students who would like a UROP – fill out the form Cathy sent you NOW and we will direct you to faculty with compatible interests.  Faculty can also support UROPs from directly – if you have funds to a UROP, please apply for MIT direct funding to take another.

Summer forms for undergraduates – Cathy sent out a form for you to fill out about your summer plans and if you would like help in finding something this summer.  Please fill it out as soon as you can and the Department will try to find something for you.  No promises except that we will do out best.

Academic Continuity Meeting

Messaging – first part of the meeting was about how to message the admitted students our uncertainties about when and how MIT will ramp back up to “normal” level of research and teaching.  To soon to tell (\begin{rant} I think MIT is 10% too busy.  We operate full out, with no margin.  When something bad happens, we have no excess capacity to absorb a crisis – we just keep going.  My from all this is that we learn we need to build in margins and use the extra time for self-improvement and deep thought.\end{rate}).

Remote teaching – Krishna ask three instructors to talk about new ideas in remote teaching:

• Jacob White – showed a bag of parts that he put together for students to do cool experiments and data analysis in their homes.
• Gunther Roland – teaches 8.13/8.14 remotely with analysis of LHC and LIGO data and a couple of remotely operated experiments.
• Keeril Makan – talked about intro. to acting and intro to composition, with an example :

Restart – in another meeting, we had a discussion of how to restart MIT.  PIs should start thinking of how to ramp up labs.

Los Endos

Google Earth challenges are now on physics-mit.slack.com.  So far, I have not stumped everyone.  Look for daily posts.

Peter

Helping – What MIT is doing to help the City of Cambridge

MIT Press – has made their books related to pandemic available online for free.

Discovering a new particle in gold – paper here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-kffqzfJx8

UROP direct funding deadline April 21

https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-to-find-peace-in-the-time-of-coronavirus-be-very-very-pessimistic-1.8734011

Mindfulness Talk

Hard to say what specifically is best, and I suspect it will vary.  But what I think I’m going to do is try to make the weekend start early on Friday. Something like that.  I would advise you just make it clear that this is normal, and necessary.  Not everyone is going to be able to do it as much as others, but normalizing it could go a long way.

Dear Physics Community,

From yesterday – several readers asked about my suggestion from yesterday to close the lid on the commode. Here is why.

My first day working at home way March 13.  The first time I used zoom was March 14.  It has been about a month.  We are doing okay, but it is hard for all of us, some more than others.  There are resources to help if you feel you need help:

• https://medical.mit.edu/community/wellness/classes/mind
• https://medical.mit.edu/community/wellness/classes/body
• https://hr.mit.edu/covid19/resources

or reach out to those around you, including me.

Physics Events

• Wednesday, April 15, 4-5 pm, Undergraduate Office Hour
• Thursday, April 16, 2020, 4-5:50 pm – Colloquium – Mina Arvanitaki
• Thursday, April 16, 2020, 12-1:30 pm – “Grading and Exam Guidelines for the Spring Term”, Nergis Mavalvala
• Thursday, April 23, 2020, 12-1:30 pm – Nikta Fakhri

Physics Department

B2HF – Today we mark the passing of Margaret Burbridge, a pioneer of astronomy and astrophysics.  The story here gives a good account of her life.  I’ll only add that I recall an early mentor telling me to read Burbridge, Burbridge, Fowler, and Hoyle and after that, my world was never the same.  The paper, referred to as B2FH is here – please read it.

Pretty cool – MIT news story about ultra-cold molecules (paper is here).  The work was done in the MIT/Harvard Center for Ultra-cold Atoms, which I guess needs to be renamed now.

Thanks – to Ibrahim, Ryan and the colloquium committee for getting the Colloquium on track and arranging colloquia for the rest of the term.  I really enjoyed today’s and, for an hour, was able to think about science and not other stuff.

Thanks also – to David Kaiser and Julie Shah (from Aero-Astro) for the lunch talk on SERC.  They are doing a lot and Physics should try to engage.

In the mess that was March, Ulrich passed away unexpectedly.  Sandi Miller’s obituary is here.  I’m really sad about this and sad that we did not get to do more at the time.  I’d love to hear what the Ulrich would have had to say about the COVID-19 mess.

Academic Continuity Meeting – Canceled, few agenda items

As we get our feet under us in this new world, there are fewer things to discuss, which is good.  Also good is the nascent discussion about how we restart campus.  This is still weeks away, but we need to plan and the community will begin to hear next week.

I’ve put a google earth challenge to the Slack physics-mit#general channel.  Kudos to Will, Melania, Samuel, and Graeme.

Dear Physics Community,

Doing your part – physical distancing at MIT.

Fighting COVID-19 – new New England Journal of Medicine paper (courtesy of Bob Jaffe).

We are moving into the time when many will be infected and hospitals will be stretched thin.  Do what you can to help: keep at home, physically separate when you go out, wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands. Tony Fauci said he washes his hands 50 times a day.  At 20 s per wash, that is only 17 minutes.  Just do it.  Also, close the lid on the commode when you flush.  If you really need to know why, ask me. But really, just do it. For the next week, be local in both space and time: here, now.

Physics Events

• Thursday, April 9, 2020, 12-1:30 pm – Faculty-Staff-Student lunch, “Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing”, David Kaiser and Julie Shah
• Thursday, April 9, 2020, 4-5:50 pm – Colloquium – Caterina Doglioni
• Thursday, April 16, 2020, 12-1:30 pm – “Grading and Exam Guidelines for the Spring Term”, Nergis Mavalvala
• Thursday, April 23, 2020, 12-1:30 pm – Nikta Fakhri

Physics Department

I read this story in Quanta.  I would love to see a colloquium about the relationship between time and finite digit numbers.

Academic Continuity Meeting

Emergency Hardship fund – MIT Work/Life has established a fund for MIT employees who are in dire need,  https://giving.mit.edu/search/node/hardship. Gift of up to $2,000 may also be made from discretionary funds (contact Heather).

Budget – The Provost reported on the budget situation.  MIT faces three challenges in this regard:

1. Decline of the endowment – as a result of 2008, MIT put measures in place to mitigate against rapid drops in the value of the endowment, but there still will be a lower payout.
2. Immediate expenses – MIT spent tens of millions starting remote teaching, moving students, paying contract employees through May, etc.
3. Anticipated revenue losses through summer and fall – highly uncertain.

The Provost and VP for Finance have already taken steps to meet the anticipated shortfall:

1. Immediate actions – curtail spending, absorb costs locally where possible, approved hiring only
2. Reducing the 2021 General Institute Budget – FY2021 starts on July 1, 2020, so the FY2021 budget will have to be redone.  The rebudgeting will be biased against any layoffs.
3. Keep payout at the FY20 level, instead of FY21 level from the Tobin Rule.

The Provost was asked about layoffs in 2008 and he said there were 110.  He said keeping everyone will be a priority, even with the large uncertainties.  Filling empty staff (*) positions will be hard and merit raises will be small or unlikely.  Faculty hiring will continue at a reduced level, probably. Personal note: I find Marty expresses what he has to say very clearly and succinctly.  The news is not good, but I believe what he is saying and that is a comfort.

Student/Faculty/Staff support – Cecilia talked more about the importance of using empathic and people-centered language as we move into the time when people we are close to are becoming infected.  We cannot shy away from what is happening around and perhaps to us, but we can talk about it in a personal way.  MIT has resources to help but frequently what is needed is someone to listen and hear each other’s concerns. David Randall talked about two groups that are especially vulnerable: high-risk colleagues and those with children at home.  Check-ins can really help.

Campus access – we currently have the LAP list and the people on this list are Designated Personnel.  Should there be a state of emergency declared, this list will contract to Critical Personnel and they will need a letter allowing them to travel to and from MIT.  DLCs have been contacted about what subset of their people should ve listed as Critical.

Ramp-up – Maria talked about ramp-up once the crisis passes.  Soon (next week?) DLCs will be given guidance about information to provide to prioritize who is needed to restart research.  How this will work is being worked out, but PIs should think about who in their group should return to MIT first.  Those who can work remotely should plan to continue to do so.

Los Endos

The last one – I didn’t think many would know about the Hindenburg crash site, but Rachel, Albert, Bolek, Samuel, Will, and Phiala got al (all before 8 am the next day).  I thought this would be a hard one. The default end for a hydrogen-filled airship was to explode – I recall that something more than half ended like that.  If you are really interested in this stuff, this book is a must.

Here is one more. Lat.  35° 0’36.96″N Long. 106°32’49.73″W.

Dear Physics Community,

How far – there is actually some scientific basis for six feet for physical distancing, but it may not be enough. In addition, enclosed rooms present a problem.

Physics Events

• Wednesday, April 8, 4-5 pm – Office Hours for Graduate Students with Peter Fisher and Nergis Mavalvala
• Thursday, April 9, 2020, 12-1:30 pm – Faculty-Staff-Student lunch, “Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing”, David Kaiser and Julie Shah
• Thursday, April 16, 2020, 12-1:30 pm – “Grading and Exam Guidelines for the Spring Term”, Nergis Mavalvala
• Thursday, April 23, 2020, 12-1:30 pm – Nikta Fakhri

Physics Department

Dear Physics Community,

We are starting in on difficult weeks and will learn a lot about ourselves and each other as we navigate this.  We have to accept where we are and think in terms of how we and those around us are today and tomorrow.

I’m keeping away from national and international news – I hear about it anyway because that’s what people tend to talk about.  State and local news is more relevant to me right now and can be inspirational.  I read Somerville Times (which is good), Wicked Local Cambridge (okay), Universal Hub, and the Globe.  The smaller and closer, the better.

One of the cooler things going on is GLX.

Physics Department Events

• Tuesday, April 7, 12-1 pm, Special Tuesday Lunch Talk Series: Zoom info: https://mit.zoom.us/j/632177654

Jeremy Owen – Universal Bounds on Nonequilibrium Response with                                                                      Biochemical Applications Elisabeth Matthews – Probing exoplanet populations with debris disks

• Wednesday, April 8, 4-5 pm – Office Hours for Graduate Students with Peter Fisher and Nergis Mavalvala
• Thursday, April 9, 2020, 12-1:30 pm – Faculty-Staff-Student lunch, “Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing”, David Kaiser and Julie Shah
• Thursday, April 16, 2020, 12-1:30 pm – “Grading and Exam Guidelines for the Spring Term”, Nergis Mavalvala
• Thursday, April 23, 2020, 12-1:30 pm – Nikta Fakhri

Physics Department

Dear Physics Community

Dear Physic Community, 

I read a very interesting article on glass today in Quanta Magazine.  Noise from the glass itself is a limiting factor in the performance of the LIGO interferometers and the thinking is the noise comes from impurities forming two-state systems in the glass itself.  Thermal activation causes the systems to flop back and forth – absorbing thermal energy and re-emitting it as thermal energy.  The challenge is to reduce the number of two-state systems in the glass.  However, doing so requires laying the molecules that makeup glass down one at a time…

Physics Department Events

• Wednesday, April 8, 4-5 pm – Office Hours for Graduate Students with Peter Fisher and Nergis Mavalvala
• Thursday, April 9, 2020, 12-1:30 pm – Faculty-Staff-Student lunch, “Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing”, David Kaiser and Julie Shah
• Thursday, April 16, 2020, 12-1:30 pm – “Grading and Exam Guidelines for the Spring Term”, Nergis Mavalvala
• Thursday, April 23, 2020, 12-1:30 pm – Nikta Fakhri

Physics Department

Our colleague David Kaiser has a book, “Quantum Legacies: Dispatches from an Uncertain World” dropping today.  Here is an interview he did with Sean Carroll.

Academic Continuity Meeting

Advisories

• How its going at Stanford
• Statement on online conduct

Zoom cheat sheets from Donna Behmer – quick zoom intros you can send to those who might need it (like your yoga instructor):

• Scheduling, starting, running a meeting 
• Setting zoom meeting defaults

MIT Medical – is beginning voluntary testing of students to learn how to monitor a cohort of students at MIT.  A description is here. The Broad will do the analysis.

Next things – working groups are beginning to think about how major declarations and subject evaluations will be handled in this new world we are in.

Revised “Last Supper” – from Ernie Ihloff’s uncle.

Peter

P.S. I am posting these messages in my blog roll here and I have been accumulating useful links that have gone by here. In particular, I am trying to keep a list of MIT policy communications.

Thanks to Physics Council, Cathy Modica, Vicky Metternich and Christina Andujar for input and comments on these messages.