News & Events

HEPL Seminar

Professor David F. Bartlett
Department of Physics, University of Colorado

“Contour Map for the Gravitational Potential of the Milky Way”

One usually does not draw a 2D contour plot for the gravitational potential of an astronomical system. It is too boring. For the solar system, the plot of equipotentials is simply a nest of circles about the sun as the center. Replace the sun with a black hole, squash the inner contours towards the x-y plane, and – voila - the Milky Way. The situation is entirely different with the non-Newtonian sinusoidal potential. Here the potential near a point mass is:

V(R) = - (GM/R) cos[koR] where ko = 2pi/Ro

The putative universal wavelength Ro is 400 pc

Now the contour plot for the potential of the Milky Way has an infinite number of minima and maxima. I shall give evidence for these maxima, which is the unique feature of this proposal. I also will show why recent precise measurements to nearby astronomical masers will either kill or support the sinusoidal potential.

Location: Physics/Astrophysics Building, Conference Rooms 102 & 103
Thursday, September 25, 2008, 4:00 pm – 5:15 pm
Light refreshments available 4pm; Presentation begins 4:15pm. Open to all.

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