2003 Gold Bragg lecture

AIP members and Physics students are invited to the
2003 Gold Bragg Medal Lecture
Thursday, January 20^th, 2005, at 7:30 pm
in the Kerr Grant lecture theatre
Physics building, The University of Adelaide

Dr Michael W. J. Bromley
Faculty of Technology
Charles Darwin University, Darwin

"Positron-atom interactions studied using configuration interaction methods"

The interactions of low-energy positrons with atoms provides a host of problems for both experimentalists and theorists alike. For example, even one of the most fundamental questions in positron physics, whether a positron can form an electronically stable bound state with a neutral atom, was only in 1997 theoretically resolved as a 'yes'.
I will discuss the application of the configuration interaction (CI) method to the computational study of various positronic atoms, demonstrating both their stability and structure. The CI method has also been used in conjunction with the Kohn variational method to examine low-energy positron scattering and annihilation from hydrogen and copper. I will also mention the prospects for using positron scattering from metal vapours as a signature to detect their bound states.

Brief Biography:

* Grew up in Darwin, BSc at Northern Territory University (2nd last physics major to go through up there)
* Honours year in Optics Group at University of Melbourne.
* Returned to Darwin to do PhD supervised by Dr. Jim Mitroy (Awarded Bragg gold medal in 2003)
* Past couple of years Postdoc at Kansas State University, USA doing Atom Optics research with Prof. Brett Esry.
* Temporarily based back in Darwin while looking for next job...

Photos from the meeting:

Dr Michael Bromley answering questions

The AIP provides supper after the lecture