Department of Physics
Submitted by Prof. Dan Gauthier, July 2011 Department Happenings First, let me apologize for the “missing” print newsletter during summer 2010. Life in general was hectic and I fell behind on my obligations; thus, this “Happenings” summarized information from Summer 2009 - Summer 2011. Over the past two years, there have been numerous changes in department leadership and faculty ranks. In 2011, I stepped down as Chair of the department after six years and I am very… read more about Department Happenings: 2010 through 2011 »
Submitted by Prof. and Chair Haiyan Gao It will be an exciting and challenging way for me to start my 10th year at Duke as the Chair of the Physics department. I am honored and humbled by your trust and support. Duke has been the place where I have spent the longest, continuous time in my life including my birth city and hometown, Shanghai. To me, it is home and the department is my family. It is my good fortune to follow Prof. Dan Gauthier, whose leadership and service to the… read more about Vision For The Future »
In June, Prof. Berndt Mueller and Prof. Chung-I Tan (Brown University) organized the biennial Workshop on Nonperturbative Quantum Chromodynamics in Paris, France. This year, the scientific highlights at the workshop were first results from the LHC, as well as the application of string theoretical techniques to the calculation of processes involving quarks and gluons. The photo shows the two organizers (left: Mueller, right: Tan) relaxing in the hotel lobby before dinner after a long day of theory talks. read more about Prof. Mueller Organizes Workshop in Paris »
In March Prof. Stefano Curtarolo, who holds a secondary appointment in Physics, was named a fellow of the Institute of Physics (IOP). You can see his name among the list of other recently elected fellows here. read more about Prof. Curtarolo Named IOP Fellow »
Dr. Hannah Petersen has recently been appointed to a Visiting Assistant Professor position in the QCD theory group. Her field of expertise is the dynamical description of heavy ion collisions using transport theory to study the properties of hot and dense nuclear matter and the quark gluon plasma. The development and application of a hybrid approach that combine microscopic transport and fluid dynamics constitutes one part of her research. The calculation of characteristic matter properties like the shear… read more about Dr. Hannah Petersen Appointed as Visiting Assistant Professor »
Georgios Laskaris, current president of the Duke Physics Graduate Student Organization (GSO), submitted an update on the activities of the graduate students during the 2010-2011 school year. His update includes notes about: * The Graduate Student seminar, a weekly gathering of students in the department * GSO activities in Duke University's Graduate and Professional Student Council * Information about GSO Ombuspersons * GSO Weekly Tea Times * Prospective Students and Open House Week * Department T-… read more about GSO Update »
Physics undergraduate student Jay Krishnan shared a recent story. He writes: [In June], my hometown held the bi-annual "Molino Math Scavenger Hunt", which is held at the prestigious Maple Woods Golf Course. Everybody starts with a single clue, which is a difficult math problem that leads to a certain area on the course that holds the next clue. Well, 18 clues and several tricky integrals later, I ended up winning the whole thing! [Below] is a picture of me clutching the Molino Trophy (this goes to the… read more about Undergrad Jay Krishnan wins Molino Trophy »
Dr. Yi Qiang, a former postdoc at Duke Physics, submitted the following update. Dr. Qiang is now at Thomas Jefferson Lab. Dr. Yi Qiang is a staff scientist of Hall D at Thomas Jefferson Lab, a national nuclear research facility. He is an expert of exotic hadronic states, nucleon spin structure, tests of QCD, polarized ³He target and the detector system for nuclear and particle physics. Dr. Qiang received his B.S. degree in physics from USTC, China, and was awarded the highest honor of… read more about Former Postdoc Now at Thomas Jefferson Lab »
From Professor Steffen Bass: In an article just published in the Physical Review Letters, a group of theorists including Prof. Steffen A. Bass showed that the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) created in high energy heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN forms the most perfect liquid ever studied in the laboratory. To read more about this article, click here: Using a new theoretical tool… read more about Quark-Gluon Plasma identified as the most perfect liquid of all »
Graduate Student Min Huang has been named winner of the 2011-2012 Jefferson Science Associate (JSA) Graduate Fellowship. Huang, who came to Professor Haiyan Gao’s Medium Energy research group at the age of 19, was notified this spring that the JSA Fellowship Evaluation Committee selected her application for research at the Jefferson Lab in Virginia. As a recipient of the Fellowship, Huang will receive a stipend, stipend support, and travel allowances. Min was a part of the young… read more about Grad Student Huang named winner of the 2011-2012 JSA Graduate Fellowship »
Prof. Haiyan Gao begins serving as the Chair for the Department of Physics today, July 1st, 2011. As well as supporting Duke Physics as chair, Dr. Gao is investigating Neutron EDM, Polarized Compton scattering, neutron transversity, search for phi-N bound state, polarized photodisintegration of 3He. read more about Welcome Haiyan Gao, Our New Department Chair »
Prof. Shailesh Chandrasekharan begins serving as the Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Physics today, July 1st, 2011. In addition, Dr. Chandrasekharan is exploring Quantum Critical Behavior in Fermion Systems, Using the generalized fermion bag algorithm, Applications to Graphene and Unitary Fermi Gas. read more about Welcome Shailesh Chandrasekharan, Our New Director of Graduate Studies »
The 2011 National Nuclear Physics Summer School (NNPSS) is hosted by the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) and held on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The School will run for two weeks from June 20 - July 1, 2011. The NNPSS provides broad coverage of the research topics at the frontier of nuclear physics. The School program is designed to give graduate students and postdocs an opportunity to gain a broad perspective of the field and to help foster a community of young… read more about TUNL hosting the 2011 National Nuclear Physics Summer School »
At right is a picture showin Prof. Lisa Randall with Duke Physics Professors Kate Scholberg and Haiyan Gao. During the commencement weekend, the physics department hosted a luncheon on Saturday, May 14 in honor of Prof. Lisa Randall, a renowned particle theorist, who received an honorary degree from Duke on Sunday, May 15. Dr. Randall also made a few remarks at the joint Physics and Mathematics diploma ceremony on Sunday following the… read more about Luncheon to honor Prof. Lisa Randall »
NOTE: SOME LINKS WERE BROKEN DUE TO WEBSITE REDESIGN The T2K experiment reports indications of electron neutrino appearance! Read more on Prof. Chris Walter's website here. Read the official T2K press release here and the Duke Today story here. Full list of Duke T2K people: Faculty:Kate Scholberg Chris Walter Postdoc:Roger Wendell Grad Students:Josh Albert Taritree Wongjirad New postdocs starting now:Alex Himmel Tarek Akiri read more about The T2K experiment reports indications of electron neutrino appearance! »
Prof. Ashutosh Kotwal has recently been elected to serve as the Chair of the Nominating Committee for the Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physical Society. Prof. Kotwal writes, "This committee serves as the Search Committee within the Division of particles and fields, to discuss potential candidates for all the other official positions in the division. My role as chair will be to conduct the search for the other officers of the Division and generate a short list of candidates.… read more about Prof. Kotwal to serve as Chair of the Nominating Committe within APS Division »
The 2011 Daphne Chang Memorial Award for the best undergraduate research conducted in the 2010/2011 academic year was awarded to graduating senior Siuyan Sun for his research into the Z' Boson in the Dimuon Decay Channel at the ATLAS experiment. Siuyan's faculty advisor is Prof. Ashutosh Kotwal. Find more information on Daphne Chang and the Daphne Chang Memorial award here. read more about 2011 Daphne Chang Award goes to Siuyan Sun »
On Sunday, May 15, the Physics Department held a ceremony to recognize the 2011 Physics undergraduate and graduate student graduates. Congratulations to all our graduates! More photos from the event may be viewed on Flickr here. read more about 2011 Graduation Ceremony »
Prof. Calvin Howell was highlighted in the newsletter Waves and Packets: A Joint Publication of the African Physical Society, the National Society of Black Physicists, and the South African Institute of Physics in an article entitled "NSBP member Calvin Howell leads project applying nuclear physics to safe ports." Read it online here. read more about Calvin Howell in "Waves and Packets" »
Members of the Duke QCD Theory Group and MADAI collaboration, Chris Coleman-Smith, Robert Wolpert, Prof. Steffen A. Bass and Hannah Petersen, published a paper "Constraining the granularity of heavy ion collisions: Can bulk observables help to quantify the initial state fluctuations in relativistic heavy ion collisions?" in the Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics. Read the article online here. read more about QCD Group Published in Journal of Physics G »
The American Physical Society held their April 2011 meeting in Anaheim, California. Several members of Duke Physics were in attendance: Undergraduate student Ashley Jones: N-16 Capture to Differentiate Between Neutrinos and Antineutrinos in Super-Kamiokande, also received a certificate for notable accomplishments and presentation of research Taritree Wongjirad: T2K Outer Detector Events John Ahearne: Leo Szilard Lectureship Award Talk Prof. Kate Scholberg… read more about Duke Physics at APS April Meeting »
Professor Haiyan Gao’s former student, Xin Qian, has been named the 2011 Jefferson Lab Thesis Award winner. Qian, who came to Prof. Gao’s Medium Energy research group at the age of 19, will receive the prize and present on his thesis at the Jefferson Lab Users Meeting Award ceremony on June 7th, 2011. Qian went on to a postdoctoral position at Caltech in 2010. Qian’s thesis, “Measurement of Single Spin Asymmetry in n↑(e, e′π±)X on Transversely Polarized 3He” was… read more about Xin Qian Named 2011 Jefferson Lab Thesis Award Winner »
NOTE: LINK HAS BROKEN DUE TO WEBSITE REDESIGN Duke researchers at TUNL were surprised to uncover evidence contrary to a long-accepted explanation of how nuclei collide. Duke physicist Prof. Henry Weller and colleagues are featured in a Duke Research blog post from Spring of 2011. See the original article for a short video and more information: read more about Duke Research Blog features TUNL scientists »
Simona Malace, a research scientist under Prof. Haiyan Gao stationed at Jefferson Lab, was the winner of the 2010 JSA Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Award. With this award she successfully organized the 3rd International Workshop on Nucleon Structure at Large Bjorken x. Attendees of the 3rd International Workshop on Nucleon Structure at Large Bjorken x The workshop Nucleon Structure at Large Bjorken x was held at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator… read more about Postdoc Simona Malace Receives JSA Fellowship Award »
On Friday, May 13th, members of Prof. Dan Gauthier's lab played a prank on him by filling his office with chairs to bid him a fond farewell as Chair of the Physics Department. There was a note reading "We're sad that you will no longer be one of us! ~chairs" and one chair was labeled "Take me with you!" See the group's photos can be viewed here as well as on Flickr. read more about The Chair's Farewell »
At this year's Physics Department undergraduate poster session, a new group of students was inducted into Sigma Pi Sigma, the national Physics Honor Society. Students were nominated by the Physics faculty and by the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Prof. Henry Greenside. Students were nominated based on a combination of academic excellence in physics courses, excellence in physics research, outreach to Duke or to surrounding schools related to physics, and leadership efforts on campus or… read more about 2011 Physics Honor Society Inductees »
At right: Ariana at Monet's garden in Giverny, France--traveling while on her Fulbright Scholarship in Paris After graduating from Duke in 2010 as a primary physics and secondary math major and completing a year of research on the ATLAS experiment through the Fulbright program, Ariana Minot is starting doctorate studies in applied mathematics at Harvard University as an NSF Graduate Fellow. Either incoming or current first-year graduate students in the discipline of mathematics, science… read more about Alumni Update: Ariana Minot, NSF Graduate Fellow »
At right: Senior Ashley Jones discusses her poster with graduate student Abhijit Mehta. The Annual Poster Presentation by Undergraduate Students was held on Thursday, April 28, 2011 under the direction of Director of Undergraduate Studies Prof. Henry Greenside. Presentations were made by: Travis Byington, "Physics of Limit-Periodicity: Defects and Annealing” advisor: Prof. Joshua Socolar Kevin Driscoll, "Einstein Causality in a Fast-Light Medium… read more about 2011 Undergraduate Poster Presentations »
NOTE: THE FIRST LINK WAS BROKEN DUE TO WEBSITE REDESIGN. A public talk given on April 22nd by Professor Mark Kruse's on the origins of the universe and The Large Hadron Collider was recently featured by the Duke Research Blog. This talk, which was very well attended by members of the university community and the public, covered a broad spectrum of topics within High Energy Physics and offered insight into the work being done at CERN. Prof. Kruse discussed both the LHC and ATLAS… read more about Mark Kruse's Talk Featured by Duke Research »
Four undergraduates from the Physics Department will be participating in summer research projects this year thanks to the Duke Endowment fund. The Duke Endowment has funded faculty mentored research for undergraduate students for the past five years. This research is intended to lead to "graduation with distinction" projects. Awards are made for summer programs and academic year programs and funds are awarded on a one-year basis from winning proposals submitted on the department level. The Physics Department's… read more about Duke Endowment Funds Summer Research Fellowships »