I will give a brief introduction to the field of space plasma physics and its relationship to plasma physics and astrophysics. I will describe some interesting new results from the Minnesota group on relativistic electron acceleration, structure of shock waves, reconnection and energy transport via Alfven waves. I will briefly review current and upcoming projects that can involve graduate students.

A lot of new evidence has emerged in the past few years that provides clues to the formation of the Galactic halo. The Λ CDM model, so succesful in the cosmological context,
failed spectacularly when initially applied to this problem, but recent work has largely resolved these discrepancies. I will discuss the newly emerging view of the relationship between the
dwarf spheroidal satellites of the Milky Way, the Galactic globular cluster system, and the stellar halo of our galaxy.

It is shown that the Smorodinsky-Winternitz potential, BC_2 rational model, 3-body Calogero model, Wolves potential are all the members of a continuous family of planar solvable and integrable Schroedinger equations marked by some continuous parameter. Their spectra is always linear in quantum numbers. Hidden algebra of the family for integer values of the parameter is uncovered. It is non-semi-simple Lie algebra gl(2)x R^{k+1} realized as vector fields on line bundles over k-Hirzebruch surface. Obtained potential admits quasi-exactly solvable (QES) generalization with the same hidden algebra gl(2) x R^{k+1}. The question about super-integrability of the QES potential remain open yet.

Classical-mechanical analogue of the family is presented. It has a property of integrability while the solvability is replaced by a feature that all finite trajectories are closed.

I will describe experiments that attempt to understand the physics of the big bang. The experiments are balloon borne and are designed to observe the polarization of the cosmic microwave background radiation. By employing thousands of detectors that collect data over two weeks of balloon flight over Antarctica we hope to clarify physical processes that occurred as early as 10e-35 seconds after the big bang.

There has recently been a dramatic increase in our understanding of the supermassive black hole at the dynamical center of our galaxy, first identified as the nonthermal radio source Sgr A. Stellar orbit measurements have shown a mass of four million solar mass coincident with Sgr A and a luminosity which is several orders of magnitude lower than the Eddington luminosity. To study the underluminous nature of Sgr A, we have been monitoring the variability of the emission from Sgr A by making simultaneous multi-wavelength observations. I will present highlights of these measurements which are providing us with insights on the nature of the flow very near the event horizon as well as the emission mechanism in different wavelength bands. Time permitting, I will also discuss the origin of one or two discs of massive stars found within 0.5 pc of Sgr A as well signatures of young massive star formation in the molecular ring orbiting Sgr A.

Cosponsored by the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science and the Conceptual Foundations of Evolutionary Biology Interdisciplinary Graduate Group.

The organism is the fundamental unit of life and yet there is surprisingly little debate, and even less agreement, about what it is. Following on the realization that new levels of organisms have evolved from groups of lower-level organisms, we propose a social definition. An organism is a biological entity that has very high cooperation among its parts, and very little conflict, and is thus the locus of adaptation. We explore the implications of this view for what we consider to be organisms, and argue its advantages relative to earlier views.

Processes with high transverse momentum leptons and jets
are predicted by many Beyond the Standard Model (BSM)
scenarios including leptoquarks, Left-Right Symmetry and
various models of Grand Unification. Such theoretical models
extend the application of Quantum Field Theory to energies far
above the Electroweak Symmetry Breaking (EWSB) energy scale
and seek to provide a more elegant description of the fundamental
forces. I will present preliminary results of studies performed with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, where we attempt to address questions about the origin of masses and the nature of the known neutrinos, the origin of CP violation and its role in baryogenesis, the origin of flavor and other fundamental questions beyond EWSB.