No diffuse, extraterrestrial neutrino flux has yet been observed, but there is expected to be a near-guaranteed flux of neutrinos from interactions between the highest energy cosmic rays and cosmic microwave background photons. These neutrinos would carry information that would complement data from other cosmic messengers. The radio Cerenkov technique allows us to build experiments with effective detection volumes that exceed hundreds of km^3, the volume that is needed to be sensitive to the expected flux of neutrinos above 10^18 eV. The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) is a balloon experiment that aims to detect neutrinos deep in the Antarctic ice using this technique. ANITA just completed its first full physics flight this month. I will give an overview of the ANITA project, and discuss techniques that we are developing to improve our simulations of the detection system. I will then describe two next-generation radio detection experiments under development, one in a salt formation and another on the Antarctic Ross Ice Shelf, that are designed to move beyond the discovery stage and measure a sample of ultra-high energy neutrinos that is large enough to study their rich properties.

Forty years ago it was recognized that the detection of high energy (E > 10^11 eV) neutrinos from astronomical sources would require the construction of a device with 1 gigaton (or 1 cubic kilometer of water) of target material. This idea is finally becoming a reality with the construction, at the South Pole, of IceCube. Detection of extraterrestrial high energy neutrinos will open new avenues in astrophysics and neutrino physics. What is the origin of the highest energy cosmic rays? How do gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful objects in the universe, work? What is the origin of dark matter? These are just some of the questions that IceCube will help answer. In this talk I will present a summary of the construction status of IceCube, summarize the results of AMANDA, the predecessor (and now part) of IceCube, and present first results from IceCube.

Antigenic Epitopes on Peptides and Proteins
by Sergey Y. Tetin (Core R&D, Diagnostic Division, Abbott)
An antigenic epitope is the area on protein surface that interacts with the complementary area (paratope) on the surface of the antibody binding domains. It participates in electrostatic interactions, hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonding with the antibody and also contains residues responsible for the correct geometry of the surface, its malleability and structural dynamics. There are also buried "second sphere" residues that carry a strong supporting role. In this presentation I will discuss various experimental approaches including combinations of fluorescence based techniques, site-directed mutagenesis and protein NMR that can be used for epitope identification and structure-function analysis.

The main purpose of the project is to study the onset and growth of superfluidity in a thin 3He/4He mixture film (wall film) near the surface of a container. The main experimental technique is to use a thin quartz crystal immersed in a liquid 3He/4He mixture, vibrating in a transverse mode at frequencies near 25M, 35M and 105MHz. By measuring the resonant frequency and peak amplitude as a function of temperature from 0.5 K to 1.5 K, the acoustic impedance of the mixture can be obtained. The experimental results can be used to study the superfluidity properties of the wall film. A capacitor in the experimental cell has been used to measure the dielectric constant of the mixtures for reference. Experiments have been conducted having mixtures with 3He mole fractions of 0.750, 0.705, 0.6735 and 0.644. Results are analyzed based on dynamic Kosterlitz-Thouless theory and local continuum theory. The analysis shows that the wall film has a dynamic Kosterlitz-Thouless type superfluid transition and can be treated as a quasi-2D system. The results of simulation based on a modified hydrodynamic model show good agreement with the experimental results.

Using a series of binary mixtures, we have determined the dependence of the phase sequence upon doping for two compounds with similar chemical structures but inverted phase sequences in one of the pure compounds. The SmC_FI2 phase is favored over the SmC phase on both sides of the mixing phase diagram. In two of these binary mixtures, we observed a reentrant SmC_FI2-SmC-SmC_FI2 transition. Resonant x-ray diffraction identifies the SmC_FI2 phase below SmC and null transmission ellipsometry shows that the phases on either side of SmC have the same structure. The reentrant transition only occurs in thin films.

Applying resonant x-ray diffraction and differential optical reflectivity, we determined that the phase transition between the SmC phase and SmC_alpha phase is a first-order transition that ends at a critical point. We reported observation of the critical point in binary mixtures of homologous liquid crystal compounds. We also determined the order parameter and two critical exponents associated with the transition. Comparison with the mean-field calculations suggested that long-range interactions are present in the critical region of the transition. With the same experimental probes, we studied the pitch evolution with temperature in the SmC_alpha phase near 4 layers. A theoretical model developed by Olson et al. predicted that the SmC_FI2 phase intervenes in the Sm_alpha phase where the pitch is near 4 layers. Our observation showed that the pitch in the SmC_alpha phase decreased continuously and strictly across 4 layers upon cooling while the SmC_FI2 phase appeared at a lower temperature than the SmC_alpha phase. We also found linear relation between the pitch and the layer spacing, which was not observed in other systems. Comparison with a newer theoretical model by Hameneh and Taylor suggested the presence of long-rang interactions in smectic liquid crystals.

Superconducting circuits exhibit quantum properties on a
macroscopic scale, and are natural candidates for solid state
quantum computing. Their low-energy physics can be described in
terms of the phase of the order parameter, a single collective
degree of freedom associated with billions of coherently paired
electrons. In practice, however, on top of the superfluid
condensate there are single-particle excitations (quasiparticles)
with a continuous energy spectrum; the quasiparticles are coupled
to the phase degree of freedom. The presence of quasiparticles in
the system sets serious constraints on the performance of
superconducting charge qubits. In the thesis, I study the
kinetics of superconducting quantum circuits, and discuss the
fundamental limitations on the energy and phase relaxation times
in the presence of quasiparticles.

Recent in situ observations from the Voyager spacecraft and remote observations from SOHO have both increased our understanding of the interaction of the solar wind with the interstellar medium and provided new information about the very local interstellar medium. Voyage data have revealed a very dynamic, blunt solar-wind terminations shock. The combination of Voyager and remote sensing observations of neutral atoms from the SOHO spacecraft have provided the first measurements of the very local interstellar magnetic field. The direction of this local field is quite different from previous measurements which averaged over parsec scales. The implications of these data will be discussed.

The fundamental laws of physics are very simple. They can be written on the top half of an ordinary piece of paper. The world about us is very complex. Whole libraries hardly serve to describe it. Indeed, any living organism exhibits a degree of complexity quite beyond the capacity of our libraries. This complexity has led some thinkers to suggest that living things are not the outcome of physical law but instead the creation of a (super)-intelligent designer.

In this talk, we examine the development of complexity in fluid flow. Examples include splashing water, necking of fluids, swirls in heated gases, and jets thrown up from beds of sand. We watch complexity develop in front of our eyes. Mostly, we are able to understand and explain what we are seeing. We do our work by following a succession of very specific situations. In following these specific problems, we soon get to broader issues: predictability and chaos, mechanisms for the generation of complexity and of simple laws, and finally the question of whether there is a natural tendency toward the formation of complex 'machines'.

When a "radial velocity" planet was discovered orbiting our neighbor star epsilon Eridani, it was thought that the home of the Star Trek "Vulcans" was finally found. Even though it was later determined that Dr. Spock was originally from a different stellar system, epsilon Eridani remains the best available example to study a younger, dustier solar system analog.

With an age of 850 Myr and a spectral type of K2V, it is a young main sequence star with a mass just below that of the Sun. Apart for the Jupiter-size planet detected with radial velocity techniques, it also harbors a dusty "debris disk" found by IRAS and first imaged at sub-mm wavelengths, roughly the size of our own Kuiper belt. These characteristics, and the proximity of epsilon Eridani to the Sun (just 3.2 pc), make it the ideal subject to study what could have been the early history of our own solar system. The Spitzer Space Telescope, with its high sensitivity and stability, offers a unique perspective to complete this picture, at wavelengths where the dust emission from the disk are stronger, and it is easier to search for direct emission from sub-stellar companions.

Mathematics is central to a professional physicist's work and, by extension, to a physics student's studies. It provides a language for abstraction, definition, computation, and connection to physical reality. This power of mathematics in physics is also the source of many of the difficulties it presents students. Simply put, many different activities could all be described as "using math in physics". Framing is a mental process that helps students navigate such a wide range of possibilities. At any given moment, the mind makes a judgment (often subconsciously) regarding the nature of the present activity. What kind of activity is this? This judgment primes a subset of the student's available resources while inhibiting others. The student's attention is focused while other possible responses are temporarily bracketed away from their conscious consideration. Localized coherencies evolve in the students' thinking. This talk will present a way of identifying and analyzing the effects of framing in upper level physics students' mathematical thinking. It uses an epistemic lens, one that looks at the type of justification the students are offering for their mathematical claims, to do so. Such a focus offers a convenient way of parsing students' thought. Several video clips are offered as examples. This framing analysis is then applied to address the sample research question "What effect does a powerful calculator like Mathematica have on physics students' thinking?"

The Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of British Columbia has recently completed the first year of an expected three-year cycle to reform one of our large courses. In addition to reforms of instructional methods and assessment based on student learning goals and learning outcomes, the course curriculum was shifted to present the physics content in the context of energy production and consumption. I will discuss the motivation, methods and assessment of this reform.