Fermilab’s Batavia site is open to the public. View details on hours, activities and site access requirements.
The Fermilab colloquium introduces a wide range of scientific and science-related topics presented by notable speakers from across the country and around the world.
The colloquium is open to the public. Talks are held at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoons in One West in Wilson Hall (WH1W). To enter the site you will need a REAL ID-compliant identification.
Upcoming colloquia
An integral part of Fermilab’s academic culture, “orange” colloquium talks are aimed at a broad scientific and technical audience, while “green” talks are of general interest to everyone.
Appropriate for physicists Appropriate for all attendees
Aug. 20, 2025, 3:30 pm US/Central
Neutrino oscillation is firmly established experimentally. It implies that neutrinos have nonzero masses, and that there is mixing between the mass and flavor states. Typically we parametrize this mixing in terms of three mixing angles and a CP-violating phase, and describe the masses with two independent mass splittings. The two major remaining unknowns are the ordering of the three masses, and whether charge-parity symmetry is violated. Up to now, experiments have been designed to measure two or three of these parameters, while assuming that the underlying model of oscillations is correct and complete.
DUNE is different. DUNE is the first experiment to measure neutrinos and antineutrinos as a function of energy over a broad spectrum that spans the first two oscillations. DUNE's very long baseline breaks the degeneracy between the asymmetry caused by the matter effect and the one potentially caused by CP violation, which yields an incredibly clean determination of the mass ordering. DUNE's liquid argon technology provides exquisite imaging, enabling excellent flavor and energy determination. All of this combines to make the most robust and most complete neutrino oscillation experiment. If our model is indeed correct, DUNE will measure all of its parameters, including the mass ordering and the CP-violating phase, with world-leading precision. DUNE can also test the validity of the model itself, and search for new physics in neutrino oscillations.
In this colloquium, I will present the physics of DUNE with a focus on what makes DUNE unique, how DUNE fits in the global program, and how the neutrino oscillation community can graduate from measuring model parameters to searching for new physics. I will also discuss DUNE's unique MeV-scale and direct detection programs
Aug. 27, 2025, 3:30 pm US/Central
Fermilab’s 2024 Guest Composer, Mischa Zupko, was inspired by conversations with our own Chris Quigg and Luis Mendoza about the phenomenon of resonance as it relates to the emergence of particles and the study thereof. This led to the concept of applying sympathetic acoustic resonance to illustrate the close connection between science and these visual and audio interpretations. His vision was of a chorus of tuned wine glasses which would ring out in response to specific pitches in a musical composition. After a year of collaboration and R&D with composer/programmer Brad Robin and Fermilab’s Todd Johnson, the piece “In Sympathy” emerged. This project is a musical and conceptual exploration of what it means to coexist in dynamic and responsive ways. This presentation will include a recording of the premiere performance as well as discussion of the path taken from concept to hardware and software development of the project.
Oct. 8, 2025, 3:30 pm US/Central