Dear All,

The 12th "Patrick Moore" lecture (www.talkandtelescope.org.uk)

"Mirror images, antimatter and time reversal" by Prof Peter Kalmus
OBE

OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC

The talk starts at 7:30pm on Thursday 4th Dec Poynting Physics S02
(LLT) Birmingham University.
Snacks and tea in the coffee lounge from 7pm before the talk If
clear, sky viewing with telescopes with the help of Astrosoc members
after the talk

Talk synopsis:
We explore, without mathematics, the three symmetries implied in the
title. These are important in science, particularly in particle
physics. At the microscopic level, the laws of mechanics and
electromagnetism appear to be perfectly symmetrical, but the symmetry
is broken by the weak interaction, the force that allows the Sun to
shine. We explain how symmetry breaking could help us to avoid being
annihilated by a science-fiction antimatter alien from another world.
Again at the microscopic level there is a small asymmetry between the
forward and backward directions of time. On larger scales however the
direction of time is crucial, and time-reversed systems generally
lead to absurd situations.

Speaker Bio:
Peter Kalmus has carried out experiments at accelerators in the UK,
USA,Germany and CERN. He has taught physics from A-level up to
postgraduate courses. He received the Rutherford Medal for his
contributions to the discovery of the W and Z particles, which
provided the experimental evidence that electromagnetism and the weak
interaction were aspects of the same force. He has also received the
Kelvin Medal, and the European Physical Society Outreach Prize.

This series of talks is funded by STFC http://www.scitech.ac.uk/,
(PublicUnderstanding of Science grant), and is organised by the
School of Physics and Astronomy http://www.ph.bham.ac.uk and the
Astronomical Society of UoBAstroSoc http://www.astrosoc.org.uk