Department of Physics
Graduate student Emily Phillips Longley is at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California working with a team to build a camera that will be housed at the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) presently under construction in Chile. The camera that will spend ten years mapping the sky above the Southern Hemisphere. Click over to the Graduate School's website to see photos and read more about Longley's exciting DOE-funded research: "Physics Ph.D.… read more about Grad Student Longley Helping to Build the World's Largest Digital Camera »
Thanks to a grant from the Department of Energy, physics Ph.D. student Emily Phillips Longley is spending six months at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California, helping to build a camera. A camera the size of a car. Longley is part of a team building the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), a facility in Chile that will boast the world’s largest digital camera and use it to conduct a 10-year survey of the sky over the Southern Hemisphere. The 3,200-megapixel camera will observe the entire southern sky… read more about Physics Ph.D. Student Helping to Build World’s Largest Digital Camera »
Higher education institutions like Duke are gateways to opportunity and success for many low-income and first-generation college students. They are also home to professors who once stood in those students’ shoes and used their education to get into academia. Here are some professors from Duke who were low-income, first-generation (LIFE) college students. Jen’nan Read: Sally Dalton Robinson professor of sociology, chair of the department of sociology Jen’nan Read was born in the United States and moved to… read more about Professors from low-income first-generation backgrounds are ready to help Duke students »
The Southeastern Section of the American Physics Society (SESAPS) has just selected TUNL Director Prof. Art Champagne and Prof. Christian Iliadis (UNC Chapel Hill) to jointly receive the 2019 Jesse W. Beams prize for outstanding research conducted in the Southeast. Champagne and Iliadis were selected to receive this prize in recognition of “their research leadership in experimental nuclear astrophysics, especially for the conception and development of their measurement program of thermonuclear reaction… read more about TUNL Director Prof. Champagne Shares 2019 Beams Prize with Iliadis »
Adjunct Prof. Henry Everitt has just had an article published in Science magazine on a new kind of laser he has been working on for the last few years with colleagues at Harvard and MIT. This news was featured on the Duke Research Blog. Read "Scientists Made a 'T-Ray' Laser That Runs on Laughing Gas" here. Press releases were also shared by MIT, Harvard, and the Army. Photo courtesy of Chad Scales, US Army Futures Command read more about Prof. Everitt and Colleagues Run Laser on Laughing Gas »
"The Magnificent CEvNS", a workshop focused on theoretical and experimental aspects of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering, was held in Chapel Hill on November 9-11, 2019. The workshop organization was led by Prof. Phil Barbeau’s former student, Grayson Rich, and local organizers included Phil Barbeau and Prof. Kate Scholberg. Duke graduate students Sam Hedges, Long Li, and Adryanna Smith… read more about Magnificent CEvNS Workshop in Chapel Hill »
The proton, that little positively-charged nugget inside an atom, is fractions of a quadrillionth of a meter smaller than anyone thought, according to new research appearing Nov. 7 in Nature. Haiyan Gao of Duke Physics In work they hope solves the contentious “proton radius puzzle” that has been roiling some corners of physics in the last decade, a team of scientists including Duke physicist Haiyan Gao have addressed the question of the proton’s radius in a new way and discovered that it is 0.831 femtometers across, which… read more about How Small is a Proton? Smaller Than Anyone Thought »
Duke Physics graduate student Weizhi Xiong in Prof. Haiyan Gao’s group is the lead author of a paper on "A small proton charge radius from an electron–proton scattering experiment" which appeared in Nature (online) on November 6, 2019 at 18:00 (London time), November 6, 2019 at 13:00 (US Eastern Time). This is a major result in resolving the proton charge radius puzzle that started in 2010 and refers to the large discrepancy between the ultra-high… read more about Gao's Group Published in Nature on a Major Result After Nearly Ten Years of Research »
The National Science Foundation is funding the new Center for Synthesizing Quantum Coherence (CSQC) as a Phase I Center for Chemical Innovation. Led by Duke, and featuring distinguished chemists at Northwestern University, University of California – Berkeley, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the Center aims to unmask the coherent quantum mechanical flow of electronic excited states and of charges, along with their coherent spin-spin interactions, in precisely tailored nanostructures and… read more about Prof. Beratan to Direct NSF's Center for Synthesizing Quantum Coherence »
If you ask Duke assistant professor Dan Scolnic what amazes him about cosmology, he’ll say, it’s “really the only field in all of science where you could stand in front of people and say, ‘we understand 5% of what’s going on,’ and still think we’re kind of smart.” That’s because all the stars, planets and galaxies that scientists see today make up just 5% of the universe. The other 95% is made of mysterious stuff called dark matter and dark energy that scientists can’t see or detect directly. Scolnic says scientists may be… read more about Prestigious Packard Fellowship Supports Duke Cosmologist in Answering Questions About What Makes Up the Universe »
The Physics Department is delighted to report that Prof. Daniel Scolnic has been selected by the David & Lucile Packard Foundation as a 2019 Packard Fellow. Congratulations on this outstanding honor! See the official announcement from the Packard Foundation here and DukeToday's article here. read more about Prof. Scolnic Receives Packard Fellowship »
Graduate student Yiqiu Zhao and colleagues have been featured in an APS Viewpoint. Zhao summarizes: Granular matter can behave like solid or liquid. A phase diagram that predicts the behavior of granular matter based on control parameters is important but not well established. Part of the difficulty is, granular matter develops spatial heterogeneity known as shear band under shear, making it hard to build connections between state variables since a well-defined “state” should be homogeneous.… read more about Grad Student Zhao and Colleagues in APS Viewpoint »
The 2019-2020 Department of Physics graduate student fellowships were awarded to: Richardson Fellowship: Aitor Bracho Rebecca Chen Austin Hulse Shiv Yadavalli AAPT Outstanding Teaching Award: Benjamin Hamm (nominated by Lecturer Arya Roy) Derek Soeder (nominated by Prof. Joshua Socolar) Mary Creason Award: Ethan Mancil (advisor: Prof. Gleb… read more about 2019-2020 Graduate Student Fellowships »
Prof. Mark Kruse and Prof. Emeritus Al Goshaw discovered the top quark and received the 2019 High Energy and Particle Physics Prize. Kruse was interviewed by the Duke Chronicle regarding this exciting research. Read "Duke physicist explains his discovery of the most massive fundamental particle" here. read more about Prof. Kruse Interviewed about Top Quark »
Prof. Ashutosh Kotwal served as co-convener of the Higgs and Electroweak Physics Sessions at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physics Society. The meeting was held at Northeastern University, Boston from July 29 through August 2. Over three days, the Higgs and Electroweak Session hosted speakers from the LHC and Tevatron experiments, theorists and representatives of future collider study groups. The results presented are consistent with the … read more about Prof. Kotwal Served at 2019 Annual Meeting of the Division of Particles and Fields »
Two graduate students, Connor Awe and Tyler Johnson (advisor: Prof. Phil Barbeau), have been awarded Doctoral Fellowships in Applied Antineutrino Physics. Awe and Johnson were awarded two out of a total of four competitive Consortium for Monitoring, Technology, and Verification (MTV) fellowships to support the NNSA mission through antineutrino physics in nuclear nonproliferation applications. See the press release and read the students' research… read more about Grad Students Awe and Johnson Awarded Doctoral Fellowships »
Prof. Michael Rubinstein is part of the team of five researchers that was awarded 270,000 node-hours for the project “Large Scale Numerical Simulations of Polymer Nanocomposites” from the Department of Energy's Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research’s Leadership Computing Challenge (ALCC) program. ASCR received 75 proposals and awarded computer time at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center to ten research teams. Read the press release here.… read more about Prof. Rubinstein and Team Awarded in Computing Challenge »
On July 18, Cristin Ryman, assistant to the chair, walked with 86 of over 140 other Duke employees who earned Certificates of Excellence over the last year. Ryman spent 48 hours in six courses to complete the Supervisory Excellence certificate in December. That ceremony was canceled due to snowfall but she was invited to attend the celebration along with this semester's graduates. Vice President for Administration Kyle Cavanaugh (pictured with Ryman on the right) conferred… read more about Staff Member Ryman Earns Certificate of Excellence »
The early 1990s were heady times for Duke physicists Al Goshaw and Mark Kruse. They belonged to one of two rival teams racing to discover an ephemeral building block of nature called the top quark. The final missing piece in a puzzle, the top quark was the last undiscovered quark of the six predicted to exist by scientific theory. “This was one of the major discoveries in our field,” said Goshaw, James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of Physics. In 1995, the two 450-person teams working on a machine near Chicago called the… read more about Duke Physicists Share Prize for Discovery of the Top Quark »
Congratulations to Prof. Emeritus Al Goshaw and Prof. Mark Kruse on their 2019 High Energy and Particle Physics Prize for their discovery of the top quark! DukeToday wrote an article and you can read "Duke Physicists Share Prize for Discovery of Top Quark" here. Additionally, see the European Physics Society's press release here. Photo credit: Fermilab read more about Profs. Goshaw and Kruse Awarded for Discovery of Top Quark »
Prof. Daniel Scolnic works as part of the SH0ES team which measures the local expansion rate of the universe. His team’s measurement has been in tension with measurements from the early universe, and now new teams are coming in with independent measurements. Prof. Scolnic comments here. read more about Prof. Scolnic and SH0ES Team Research Featured »
Alum Leah Broussard (2013, advisor: Prof. Calvin Howell) now studies subatomic particles at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and is working to reach a parallel universe. Read about what she has been up to in "Scientists are searching for a mirror universe. It could be sitting right in front of you." online here. Photo credit: Genevieve Martin / Oak Ridge National Laboratory / U.S. Dept. of Energy read more about Alum Broussard Seeks Mirrorverse »
Several members of the Duke Neutrino and Cosmology Group— faculty member Prof. Kate Scholberg, graduate student Adryanna Smith, post-baccalaureate intern AJ Roeth, and physics major Crystal Burgos, attended the SNEWS 2.0: Supernova Neutrinos in the Multimessenger Era workshop in Sudbury, Canada. This workshop, co-organized by Scholberg, explored the future of SNEWS, the Supernova Early Warning System. Smith presented a poster on future… read more about Neutrino and Cosmology Group Members Attend SNEWS 2.0 »
The Department of Physics and the Department of Math held their annual diploma ceremony and luncheon on Sunday, May 12, 2019. In attendance were graduates, faculty, family, and friends. Read a copy of the Event Program Photos of the event can be viewed on our Flickr site. A video of the celebration is available. Congratulations to the Class of 2019! read more about 2019 Graduation »
Prof. Christoph Schmidt was recognized as Hertha Sponer Chair at the annual University Distinguished Chair’s dinner. See DukeToday's announcement here. read more about Prof. Schmidt Recognized at University Distinguished Chair’s Dinner »
Prof. Michael Troxel and scientists on the Dark Energy Survey have been published in Physical Review Letters. Click here to read the accompanying article "Viewpoint: Dark Energy Faces Multiple Probes" and learn how they were able to verify and measure dark energy. Duke Research has a nice summary on their 1,100 Words gallery. Photo credit: F. B. Abdalla et al., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 460, 1270 (2016) read more about Prof. Troxel and Team Published in PRL »
The Office of the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies has awarded Duke Support for Interdisciplinary Graduate Networks (D-SIGN) grants to two graduate student groups for 2019-2020. Our own graduate student Jonathan Yuly is a part of the Triangle Molecular Simulation Societ, mentored by Prof. David Beratan. From the Interdisciplinary Studies' website: Molecular simulation is a staple of research for a number of disciplines in the natural sciences.… read more about Grad Student Yuly and Group Award D-SIGN Grant »
Jay Zussman (majoring in Biophysics and in Gender, Sexualities, and Feminist Studies) has been selected as Faculty Scholar for academic year 2019-2020. Faculty Scholar is the highest award given to undergraduates by Duke faculty. Approximately three are awarded in the junior year to students with impressive grade point averages, evidence of independent work, potential for innovative scholarship, and promise for future scholarship. Jay is coauthor on a paper currently being considered by Cell, a… read more about Biophysics Major Zussman Selected as Faculty Scholar »
John Franklin Crenshaw is the recipient of this year's Daphne Chang Memorial Award. John Franklin received the award during Monday's Undergraduate Poster Session. He is pictured at right with Director of Undergraduate Studies Prof. Kate Scholberg. Congratulations, John Franklin! Read more about Daphne Chang and the award in her memory here. read more about 2019 Daphne Chang Memorial Award »
The Physics Department's annual Undergraduate Poster session was held on Monday, April 22. Will Smith won first 1st place, Eric Seewald and Isabel Ruffin tied for 2nd, and John Franklin Crenshaw and Nikita Zemlevskiy tied for 3rd place. Prizes were supported by the McCormick Foundation. Congratulations to all and well done on your hard work! The poster session's program can viewed here. More photos are on Facebook here. Photo: … read more about Undergraduate Poster Session 2019 »