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Research Activities
The Department is active in a number of research areas:- Experimental Elementary Particle Physics
- Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics
- Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics
- Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
- Molecular Biophysics and Medical Physics
Experimental Elementary Particle Physics
The experimental particle physics group is concentrating its main efforts
on two of the world's most important accelerator-based experiments,
DØ at Fermilab, and
CMS at CERN, and the Pierre
Auger Observatory, which observes ultra-high-energy cosmic rays from
a base in Argentina. The DØ detector in the Tevatron collider at
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois measures the products
of 2 TeV head-on collisions of protons and antiprotons. Fermilab is unique
because nowhere else in the world are such high energies, essential for
the study of such massive particles as the top quark, available. The CMS
detector, which has been approved for the LHC (the Large Hadron Collider
at CERN) is presently being constructed by a large international collaboration.
Operating in the energy range beyond Fermilab, it will search for the
elusive Higgs particle. In DØ we are participating in improving
the muon detector system, in event and data visualization, in the upgrade
of the trigger system, and in the analysis of top-quark properties. In
CMS we are working on an APD-based calorimeter readout, gas microstrip
tracking, and data visualization.
The faculty consists of Alverson
(DØ, CMS), Barberis
(DØ, CMS), Garelick
(E706), Reucroft (DØ,
PAO, CMS), Swain (CMS, PAO),
von Goeler (Emeritus) (DØ, CMS), Wood
(DØ), and Glaubman (Emeritus) (DØ). The senior scientists/adjunct
professors are: J. Moromisato (DØ, CMS), T. Paul (PAO), and L.
Taylor (CMS). Post-doctoral fellows are Shpakov (DØ) and Anchordoqui
(PAO). DØ and PAO currently have two graduate students each.
Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics
The research activities of faculty, graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows in this area cover a range of fundamental topics in this exciting and rapidly changing field: unified models based on superstrings, supersymmetric phenomenology; unified gauge theories in the TeV energy region; precision calculations within and beyond the Standard Model; proton stability and neutrino masses; renormalization group analysis of unified gauge theories; particle physics in the early universe; electroweak anomaly in the observed asymmetry of the baryon number; interface of elementary particle physics and cosmology; high energy particle interactions in astrophysics and at hadron and lepton accelerators; gravitational theory and quantum gravity; computer simulation of topological structures in field theory; finite temperature effects in quantum chromodynamics.Goldberg, Nath, Srivastava, T. Taylor, Vaughn, Malenka (Emeritus). 2 postdoctoral fellows.
Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics
The theory group has strong interactions with researchers in experimental condensed matter physics and molecular biophysics, and enjoys a reputation for independent activities in strictly fundamental areas: transport theory; quantum chaos; Fermi liquid theory; charge density waves; dense dipolar suspensions; theory of Josephson junction arrays; catalytic properties of alloys; transport theory in nanostructures; structural phase transitions in DNA; nanotribology (atomic level friction); electronic structure of disordered materials; magnetism and magnetic resonances in ferrites; fermiology of high-temperature superconductors; exact and rigorous results in statistical mechanics; magnetic properties of high-temperature superconductors; localization and percolation in order-disorder phase transitions; positron annihilation and photoemission spectroscopy of materials; pattern formulation from solidification, hydrodynamic instabilities and chemical waves; computational physics and pattern formation in crystal growth, reaction-diffusion, and biological systems. The Condensed Matter Theory group has a large number of the new fast CPU DEC Alpha workstations, as well as a special graphics workstation equipped with the Advanced Visualization System software. Large scale computer simulations on Cray and Connection Machine Supercomputers are also carried out through individual research program.Bansil, José, Karma, Sokoloff, Widom, Wu, Argyres (Emeritus), 2 postdoctoral fellows.
Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
Research carried out by the experimental condensed matter group encompasses a variety of intellectually challenging and technologically important areas. Work in these overlapping areas is enhanced by close contact with a vigorous theoretical group. On-campus research includes the following. High temperature superconductivity; fundamental studies of mechanisms through microwave response measurements and theory of electronic stripes; novel fabrication techniques. 2D correlated electrons in semiconductors; studies of new metal-insulator transition and quantum Hall effects using ultralow temperature measurements of capacitance, conductivity and optical spectroscopy. Mesoscopic physics; complex materials are probed using novel scanning probe microscopic techniques and noise measurements. Quantum chaos; investigation of the role of chaos and disorder in quantum wave functions through electromagnetic experiments. Molecular beam epitaxy; synthesis of novel ferromagnetic semiconductors and quantum wells. Low-dimensional magnetism; investigated through high frequency electrodynamic response and optical studies. Faculty and graduate students have access to a wide spectrum of inhouse and off campus experimental techniques.On campus facilities in the newly constructed Egan Research Center include: spectroscopy from radio frequency to visible; dielectric/FTIR/Raman spectroscopy; ultralow noise measurements; STM/AFM; linear and nonlinear electrodynamics; high magnetic fields; high pressures; ultralow temperatures; SQUID magnetometer; MBE growth;
Off campus experiments include: Xray measurements (Brookhaven synchrotron), and high magnetic fields (Los Alamos and Tallahassee Magnet Labs).
Heiman, Israeloff, Kravchenko, Markiewicz, Perry, Sridhar
Molecular Biophysics and Medical Physics.
The molecular biophysics group is primarily engaged in a variety of experimental programs designed to probe the structure and function of macromolecules, metalloproteins, and protein complexes. Research areas: Electron transport in macromolecules; ligand binding and protein dynamics; enzyme catalysis. Instrumentation: Quasielastic and Rayleigh scattering; transient absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy; femtosecond, picosecond, and nanosecond laser sources; infrared and far infrared spectrometers; dielectric spectroscopy.Champion, Sage, Shiffman, Sridhar, Williams. 1 postdoctoral fellow.
Medical Physics
- Electrical activity in the human body: imaging of neuronal activity in the brain via electro- and magnetoencephalography;
- in vivo measurements of electrical parameters, and impedance tomography;
- studies of spiral waves in cardiac tissue and their possible relevance to fibrillation.
There is slso an established program of measurement and analysis of human body motion with emphasis on fall.
Garelick
