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New cosmological model provides alternative to Big Bang
A new cosmological model demonstrates that time may have no beginning or
end, providing an alternative to the Big Bang. The cyclic universe
model proposed by Paul Frampton, Louis D. Rubin, Jr. Professor of physics
and coauthor Lauris Baum, a UNC graduate student in physics, appeared in
the February 16, 2007 issue of Physical Review Letters and is archived at
http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0610213.
Cosmologists first offered an oscillating universe model, with no beginning
or end, as a Big Bang alternative in the 1920s and 1930s especially
Richard Chase Tolman who, like others at the time, failed because of
entropy. Baum and Frampton exploit the dark energy discovered only in 1998
and postulate at turnaround, when expansion changes to contraction, that
the large entropy divides between many patches only one of which is
retained. This small patch contracts with constant small entropy and
empty of matter. A testable feature is that the dark energy equation of
state is always slightly below -1 throughout the cycle, including at
present, unlike a 2002 proposal by Paul Steinhardt and Neil Turok where it
is never less than -1. The Planck satellite to be launched by the European
Space Agency should provide decisive data. For more information, please view the UNC press release.
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Nuclear graduate students to speak at APS meeting
Six graduate students in the nuclear physics group
are presenting their research at a meeting of the Division of Nuclear
Physics of the American Physical Society in Nashville October 25-28. Chris
Angell, Mitzi Boswell, Richard Longland, Joe Newton, Eliza Osenbaugh and
Cindy Wood are co-authors of the following eight contributions (initials
of co-authoring students in parenthesis):
- "Differential Cross Sections for 13C(alpha,n)16O Reaction" (CW)
- "On the Gamow Peak in Thermonuclear Reaction" (JN)
- "Nuclear Astrophysics at the LENA Facility: The Gamma-ray Detection System" (RL,JN)
- "Measurement of the 241Am(n,2n) Reaction Cross Section with the Activation Technique" (CA)
- "Probing the Pygmy Dipole Resonance in 112Sn and 124Sn" (MB,CA)
- "Energy Spectra from Unshaped Signals" (EA)
- "Partial Cross-Sections of 140Ce(n,2n)139Ce Reaction" (CA)
- "Neutron-Induced Partial Gamma-Ray Cross-Section Measurements on Uranium Using Pulsed and Monoenergetic Beam at TUNL" (CA,MB)
See http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DNP06/APS_epitome for more details.
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Undergraduate Josh Haislip wins Vanderbilt Prize
Physics major Joshua Haislip has been awarded the 2006 Vanderbilt Prize
for Undergraduate Research in Physics and Astronomy. The prize, which
includes a check for $1000, will be presented at a banquet at Vanderbilt
University in June. Josh works with Prof. Dan Reichart on gamma ray
bursts (see more at http://www.physics.unc.edu/about/news.php#grbs).
He is also the recipient this year of the first Robert Shelton Prize for
Undergraduate Research in Physics and Astronomy, awarded by the UNC-CH
Physics and Astronomy Department.
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Graduate student wins fellowship for research in Japan
Graduate student Chris Angell has been awarded an East Asia and Pacific
Summer Institute (EAPSI) fellowship from NSF, which funds all expenses for
doing research in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, or Australia, including
international travel, and a
living stipend for a 10-week stay. He will do research on the nuclear
physics of the production of p-nuclides (heavy neutron-poor nuclides),
working with the group of Dr. Utsunomiya at Konan University in Kobe. He
will also assist in making direct (g,n) measurements at the Advanced
Institute of Science and Technology (AIST) in Tsukuba using the
inverse-Laser Compton Scatter (LCS) source, which operates similarly to the
HIGS source at TUNL. Chris is a student of Prof. Hugon Karwowski.
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Physics majors
graduate with Highest Honors
Undergraduate physics major Andrew Fuller will graduate on May 14, 2006
with Highest Honors. His honors thesis is entitled "Electrical Control of
Ferromagnetism in Doped Magnetic Semiconductor Heterostructures," and he
conducted the research under the supervision of Prof. Frank Tsui. Andrew
is also the winner of the Shearin Award for the Outstanding Senior Physics
Major. Physics major Joshua LaRocque also graduated with Highest Honors in
December 2005. He conducted research under the supervision of Nikolay
Dokholyan of the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, and his thesis
was entitled "Direct Observation of Protein Folding, Aggregation, and a
Prion-Like Conformational Conversion.
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Graduate students Rachel Rosen and Jane Moran awarded dissertation completion fellowships
Astrophysics graduate students Rachel Rosen and Jane Moran have been
awarded dissertation completion fellowships by the Graduate School. These
non-service awards support doctoral students engaged in research and
writing toward the completion of their dissertations. Rachel Rosen's
dissertation concerns models of the structure of pulsars. Jane Moran doing
polarimetry of gamma-ray bursts.
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New limits on the invisible decay of neutrons have been established by KamLAND experiment
Baryon number violation is an important signal of physics
beyond the Standard Model. Grand unified theories suggest
that processes such as p->e+pi0 and n->K0nubar
are important but suppressed by powers of the grand
unification scale.
However, baryon number violation is not limited to grand
unified theories. In fact, baryon number is an
accidental symmetry arising from the pattern of particles
in, and renormalizability
of, the Standard Model. New particles or new physics such as
supersymmetry or extra dimensions might also be the cause
of baryon number violation. Moreover, the suppression may
only be at the TeV scale, instead of the much higher
grand unified scale.
Results of the KamLAND's search of intro-nucleus
disappearance of neutrons were published in March 17th
issue of Physical Review Letters (hep-ex/0512059). Abstract available online. The new results
represent a substantial improvement over previous experiments.
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Interplay of Physics and Music
Dr. Laurie McNeil explores the relationship between physics and music.
Through demonstrations, watch and learn how instruments make the sounds
they do and why some combinations of sounds are considered pleasing,
while some are not.
March 20, 2006
Noon to 1 p.m.
Free Admission
Morehead Building
NASA Digital Theater
Visit the Morehead Web site for more information www.moreheadplanetarium.org or call 919.962.1236.
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Ring Around a Quasar May Deflate Quantum Foam After All
Read the entire article at sciencemag.org.
A halo in an image of a distant galaxy rules out some conceptions of the frothy "quantum foam" thought to make up space and time at the smallest scales, a team of physicists claims. If true, the observation clamps the first experimental limit on quantum gravity, the highly theoretical field that strives to marry quantum mechanics and Einstein's general theory of relativity... Read the rest of the article at sciencemag.org.
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Sights set on quantum froth
View the entire article at newscientist.com (subscription required)
The fabric of space-time is thought to be "foamy" rather than smooth, and
soon the largest telescopes could look for signs of that foam, according to
cosmologists Jack Ng, Wayne Christiansen, and Hendrik van Dam at the
University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
View the entire article at newscientist.com (subscription required)
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Blasts from the Past: Astronomers begin to go the distance with gamma-ray bursts
View the entire article at sciencenews.org (subscription required)
Just before 10 p.m. EDT, last Sept. 3, Dan Reichart's cell phone started playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever." A fitting tune, since it was heralding a call from the heavens. Reichart's phone was signaling that a detector on NASA's Swift satellite had registered a gamma-ray burst, the most powerful type of explosion in the universe. Such bursts--none of which lasts longer than a few minutes--typically mark the violent death of a massive star as it collapses to become a black hole.
Since its launch in late 2004, the Swift satellite has recorded more than 100 gamma-ray bursts. About 20 other detections have turned out to be spurious. Reichart, an astronomer based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, didn't want to miss an opportunity to find the new burst's afterglow. With most of his team at a seminar on a remote island in Greece, Reichart immediately contacted his only available student, undergraduate Josh Haislip. They needed to take control of several mountaintop telescopes in Chile within 3 hours. That's when the afterglow, deep in the constellation Pisces, would lie directly overhead in the southern night sky, and detectors would have their best view.
Read the rest of the article at sciencenews.org (subscription required)
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How Foamy is Spacetime?
View the entire article at physorg.com
The idea that space is composed of ever-changing arrangements of bubbles, called spacetime foam, dates back to the 1960s. On a small (Planck) scale, foamy bubbles result from the uncertainty principle, which allows virtual particles to spontaneously pop into and out of existence. Although quantum foam violates the law of conservation of energy on ultra-short timescales, nanoscale devices have measured the effects of these tiny virtual particles on the vacuum in other contexts. Further, many physicists believe that some model of quantum foam must exist in any theory of quantum gravity, which unites quantum mechanics and general relativity.
"The detection of spacetime foam will give us a glimpse of the ultimate structure of spacetime," said Y. Jack Ng, member of the team that observed the ring. "The observational results may also point physicists to the correct theory of quantum gravity."
Ng and his colleagues, W.A. Christiansen and H. van Dam from the University of North Carolina, have narrowed down the possible models of quantum foam into the least foamy variations...Read the rest of the article at physorg.com
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Jack Ng wins William C. Friday/Class of 1986 Award for Excellence in Teaching
Yee Jack Ng, Professor, has taught at UNC since 1978 and does research in
particle and field theory, gravity and cosmology. The citation for the
award reads as follows:
Few professors are as reliable as Dr. Jack Ng. Every one of his lectures
is meticulously prepared, delivered from memory, and presented with
near-perfect accuracy. Dr. Ng is always careful to review the material
carefully before presenting, and his work pays off. "He made exactly one
mistake the entire semester," one student said. Faculty have come to rely
on Dr. Ng as well. The Chair of the Physics department shared "When I ask
him to teach other things (including advanced graduate courses in field
theory) it is generally because I desperately need that class to be taught
well also."
Dr. Ng's clarity is what truly sets him apart as an excellent teacher, and
showing clarity in advanced Electricity and Magnetism is no small feat.
Dr. Ng carefully guides his students through complex derivations by
explaining each step in the process and building up to the larger theory.
Students clearly appreciate the effort: "I appreciated the detail he went
into, deriving pretty much everything in front of the class rather than
skipping steps and expecting us to puzzle out the gaps in our notes on our
own." Another student put it this way: "His lectures were very 'smooth,'
if you know what I mean. He began on time, referred to results from the
previous lecture (which were always written on the side of the board) when
he needed to, paused for questions where appropriate and ended on time."
Even pausing for questions was often unnecessary for Dr. Ng. "I didn't
need to ask too many questions" a student said "because he was so thorough
the first time around." In fact, one student said these meticulous
derivations kept her in class. "Other physics professors will skip steps
or just 'give you the answer' in order to save time. It saves time, but it
makes it harder for me to get comfortable with the material. Dr. Ng
managed to cover all of the material he wanted to, but he, too, struggled
against time: at the end of every class, he would look up at the clock,
look at us, and say, 'Two more minutes! Just two more minutes! Please!' I
was always happy to give two more minutes."
What students truly love about Dr. Ng is his wit and sense of humor, which
"tends to sneak up on you," according to his department chair. Dr. Ng is
famous for his funny stories about Nobel laureates in physics, and his
strong sense of the human side of physics is the basis for his connection
with his students. "What I liked most about his class was the way he
integrated stories and anecdotes about physicists into his lectures--it
gave the equations a sense of the people behind them, not to mention making
things a lot more interesting," remembered one student. Dr. Jack Ng truly
engages his students in the full subject of physics, from its complex math
to its interesting characters, and the Tanner/Friday committee is honored
to present him with the William C. Friday/Class of 1986 Award for
Excellence in Teaching.
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Physics Department 2005 Newsletter
For a summary of significant events in the Department, please view our 2005 Newsletter (33 MB download).
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Otto Zhou part of new UNC center for nanotechnoloy in cancer research
The National Cancer Institute has awarded UNC $3.9 million to establish an interdisciplinary center for the study of nanotechnology in cancer research and treatment. The new Carolina Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence, based in the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, will involve faculty in arts and sciences and medicine...
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Otto Zhou, Lyle Jones distinguished professor of physics and materials science, is developing a new method of medical X-ray imaging based on pulsed nanofibers. The pulsed emission nanofiber system captures images of the body or a specific organ while they are moving. The result, Zhou said, is more precise and sensitive X-rays providing earlier detection of tumors before they get too large to treat, as well as an easier procedure for the patient.
Content courtesy UNC College of Arts and Sciences. To read the entire story, please see NCI awards $3.9 million for new nanotechnology cancer research.
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Paul Frampton honored with Festschrift
Prof. Paul Frampton's 60th birthday was marked at the 32nd Coral Gables
conference, an international conference
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in December 2003. The proceedings have recently
appeared in a Festschrift volume
entitled "The Launching of La Belle Epoque of High Energy Physics and
Cosmology" edited by T. Curtright, S. Mintz and A. Perlmutter, containing
contributions by leading physicists from around the world including by
three Nobel prizewinners. Also included are pictures of Paul and a
complete bibliography of his published research.
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Archive of older News and Events.
Results of experimental investigation of geologically produced antineutrinos with KamLAND published in Nature
KamLAND collaboration has used antineutrinos that
are produced in the Earth's interior to estimate how much
of the core's heat comes from natural radioactivity of
uranium and thorium. This is the first time neutrinos have
been used to study geology. In the past they were of
interest only to fundamental physics and astrophysics.
The results published in the recent issue of
Nature (T. Araki et al. Nature 436, p.499,2005) establish
neutrino science as a way to look at the deep Earth. They
may also help to solve some long-standing mysteries of
geoscience such as how hot our planet is at its core, and
how long it will take to cool. UNC-related co-authors of
the paper include graduate student Roger Wendell, professors
Ryan Rohm and Hugon Karwowski and former UNC graduate
student and now Research Associate at the U. of Alabama
Doug Leonard. View the article by clicking this link.
Physics graduate students win UNC Graduate School competition
Michele Arzano and Celeste Yeates won this year's Dissertation Completion
Research Fellowships funded by the UNC Graduate School. Students receive a
competitive stipend, tuition, fees, and student health insurance for one
academic year. Celeste's work is on "Mode Identification from Combination Frequency
Amplitudes in ZZ Ceti Stars" and her research advisor is Prof.Chris
Clemens. Celeste's description of her PhD project.
Michele works under the direction of Prof. Jack Ng and the title of his
dissertation is "Planck-scale Physics :Theory and Phenomenology".
Michele's PhD project description.
Junior physics major wins major jazz composition award
From the College of Arts and Sciences News...
A Carolina junior with a double major in music and physics has won the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Foundation Young Jazz Composer Award.
Eric W. Hirsh, son of Donald and Lisa Hirsh of Carrboro, N.C., was recognized for his jazz composition, "Urbane Asylum," written during the spring semester of his freshman year. The piece was recorded on the UNC Jazz Band's 2003 CD "From One to Another."
Hirsh, 21, is one of two dozen recipients of the award, selected through a nationwide juried competition for composers ranging in age from 12 to 30. The prize, which includes a $1,000 cash prize, was established in 2002 to encourage gifted American jazz composers to create new works.
...Click to read the rest of the article...
Hear Rich Superfine's How Things Work course featured on National Public Radio
Read about Physics Major Ken Varner's year in Spain
Undergraduate physics major Ken Varner won a Leonard M. Rieser Fellowship
in Science, Technology, and Global Security from the Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists, and used it to spend a year researching solar energy at a
university in Spain. Read an account of his activities
See pictures of how undergraduate students have spent a semester in Chile with the UNC telescopes
Physics majors inducted into Phi Beta Kappa
Four physics majors, Andrew M. Fuller, Justin Low, Nora A. Tramm, and Joel Basile Varley, will be inducted into the Alpha of North Carolina Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa on Nov. 22, 2004. This honor is restricted to junior undergraduates with a quality point average of at least 3.85 and seniors with a quality point average of at least 3.75. The Physics & Astronomy Department salutes these outstanding students, and is very pleased that they will receive this significant recognition of their achievements.
Department receives major grant to build robotic telescopes in Chile
Prof. Dan Reichart is leading the construction of six robotic telescopes to
observe gamma ray bursts. See photos of the construction project, and read
about the partnership with other NC schools that will allow students
unparalleled access to these observing facilities by remote control.
Carney appointed senior associate dean for science
Upon stepping down as Physics & Astronomy Department Chair, Prof. Bruce
Carney was appointed Senior Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences and
Mathematics. He now works closely with Dean Bernadette Gray-Little of the
College of Arts & Sciences to guide the future of the sciences at Carolina.
Read more about Bruce and his new appointment.
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Superfine awarded Bowman & Gordon Gray Professorship
Professor Richard Superfine will begin a five-year term as
Bowman and Gordon Gray Professor in honor of his very signficant
contributions to the teaching mission of the Department, the
College, and the University. This is a major honor and
Rich's success reflects very well on the Department. Rich is
not the first in our Department to win this award: Professors
Laurie McNeil and Hugon Karwowski have also held the chair, but Rich
is the first to be awarded the significantly enhanced version.
Congratulations to Rich!
Carney addresses Congressional staff members
Professor Bruce Carney was invited to Washington by
the "Science Coalition", a group of Congressional staff
and Members interested in federal funding for science.
The group hosts "Science 101" sessions devoted to
specific science issues and the spring semester's
topic was Big Telescopes. Some details and a downloadable
version of all such talks, including Professor Carney's,
may be found at: www.sciencecoalition.org/activities/science101/telescopes.htm.
Watch the Science Complex be built
SOAR Dedicated
On April 17, 2004, a ceremony was held atop Cerro Pachon
in northern Chile to dedicate the 4.1-meter SOAR Telescope,
a project initiated by UNC, a whose faculty and students
will receive 61 nights of observing time a year with the
new facility.
On April 16, a "local" ceremony was held in the Morehead
Planetarium Star Theater, with Chancellor Moeser acting
as Master of Ceremonies. Speakers included Leonard Goodman
of New York City, a vital contributor to the project,
Dr. Dan Reichart, assistant professor of astronomy,
and Adam Crain, who worked on helping UNC achieve
the capability to observe in Chile from Chapel Hill
using the Henry Cox Remote Observing Center, which
is part of the Department's Morehead Observatory.
The remote observing capability was demonstrated by
participation in the Star Theater event by Drs. Robert
Shelton (Provost), Bruce Carney (Department Chair),
Wayne Christiansen (Professor and Director of Morehead
Observatory), and Robert McMahan (Research Professor
and Science Advisor to Governor Easley), all of whom
were in the control room atop Cerro Pachon. Professor
Jim Rose and other members of the Department's faculty
and staff, as well as most members of the UNC Board
of Visitors, very much enjoyed the dynamic show.
The dedication event itself featured speakers from all
partners, including Provost Shelton, Vice Chancellor
Robert Huggett of Michigan State University, Professor Joao Steiner
of Brazil (and President of the SOAR Telescope Board
of Directors), and Dr. Jeremy Mould, Director of the
US National Optical Astronomy Observatory. The banquet
held that evening in La Serena, Chile, was a wonderful
event celebrating many years of hard work and good
fellowship. Other UNC faculty attending included
Professor Gerald Cecil (former SOAR Project Scientist),
Chris Clemens (Director of the Goodman Laboratory
for Astronomical Instrumentation), and Charles Evans
(former member of the SOAR Telescope Board).
The telescope features 120 "active" supports to control
the shape of its 10 cm thick primary mirror, enabling
the telescope to achieve very high image quality. The
light is brought to a focus at several possible positions
perpendicular to the telescope's optical axis using
a third ("tertiary") mirror. That mirror itself will
contribute to the overall image quality since it is
designed to apply "tip-tilt" corrections to the
incoming light at a rate of up to 50 Hz. This will
overcome atmosphere-induced image motion.
A second distinguishing characteristic of the SOAR
Telescope is its "agility". Its suite of instruments,
including optical and near-infrared imagers and
spectrographs, are permanently mounted and may be
used, in principle, at any time for a "target of
opportunity". UNC intends to use SOAR in this mode
to study optical afterglows of gamma-ray bursters.
As the skies brighten or darken with moonrise or
moonset, different instruments are likely to be
employed to maximize the scientific productivity
of the telescope.
UNC is supplying one of the major instruments for
the project, the Abraham Goodman Spectrograph. Designed
and built under the leadership of Professor Chris
Clemens, it employs volume phase holographic gratings
to disperse the light, with much higher throughput
than traditional ruled reflection gratings. The shipment
of the spectrograph to Chile began in mid-May.
For the next few months, the telescope will undergo
commissioning to enable it to routinely deliver superb
image quality. Most of the instruments should be installed
later in 2004, and by the end of the year, we anticipate
at least 50% science time availability, with full scientific
use expected early in 2005. More details may be found at
www.soartelescope.org.
Jeffrey Blackmon wins Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
Jeffrey C. Blackmon (UNC Ph.D., 1994) is one
of five Department of Energy recipients of the most
recent Presidential Early Career Awards for
Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Blackmon
worked with the Department's faculty in the
nuclear astrophysics program, and he continues
this work in the Physics Division of the Oak
Ridge National Laboratory. Blackmon's work probes
the reactions and the events called novae
and supernovae. In the former, matter from a
companion star falls onto the surface of a white
dwarf, a stellar remnant supported by electron
degeneracy. When sufficient material collects,
it undergoes an explosive nucleosynthesis event,
ejecting material at high speeds into space, but
leaving the white dwarf and companion star intact.
In supernovae, the conditions are much more violent.
Massive stars nearing the ends of their lives undergo
a violent core collapse and rebound that unbinds most,
but not necessarily all, of the star explosively.
The remnant is usually a neutron star, but possibly
a black hole. Other supernovae are thought to be
created when merging white dwarfs have a combined
mass exceeding the Chandrasekhar mass limit of about 1.4
solar masses. The nuclear detonation is thought to
be energetic enough to destroy the entire star.
Blackmon and his family have lived near ORNL since
leaving Chapel Hill in 1995 to begin work there as
a postdoctoral fellow.
Congratulations May Graduates
DOCTORATES
Bostick, David Lee;
Brewer, Mary Margaret;
Leonard, Douglas Sidney;
Lopez-Morales, Maria M.;
Thompson, Susan Elizabeth
MASTERS
Boswell, Melissa Suzanne;
Canning, Anthony John;
Daniels, Timothy Vaughn;
Deniz, Hakan;
Fuller, Brian Ray;
Kavic, Michael James;
King, Douglas Scott;
Levy, Lorenza;
Moran, Jane;
Norton, Healther R;
Nysewander, Melissa C.;
Peppers, Mark A.;
Tenyotkin, Valery;
Wendell, Roger Alexandr;
Yeates, Celeste Marie
BS
Bartelme, John William Jr.;
Brandl, Donald Edward;
Capella, Kristopher Alex;
Carter, Joshua Adam;
DeSena, Phillips Joseph, Jr.;
Dratz, Joseph Alexander;
Gintautas, Vadas;
Jawerth, Louise;
Johnson, Lauren Ann;
Varner, Kenneth Edward;
Vernarsky, Brian James
BA
Baden, Craig Joseph;
Turner, Joseph Scott
Physics Department 2004 Newsletter
For a summary of significant events in the Department, please view our 2004 Newsletter.
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Laurie McNeil Selected as AAAS Speaker
In partnership with the National Science Foundation,
the American Association for the Advancement of
Science has selected Dr. Laurie McNeil as one
nine distinguished U. S. women scientists to
participate in the AAAS Lecture Series on Women
in Science and Engineering. Her specific role will be to
speak to scientists, educators, students, and
policy-makers in Latin America. Laurie will
discuss her work and personal experiences in
physics, and in her "Climate for Women" site
visits that she has led in the U.S. Her travel
will be to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where'll
she'll speak at the Forum for Professional and
Young Scientists of the Argentine Network of
Gender, Science, and Technology in late April of 2004.
In addition to professional exchanges, the program's
purpose is "the identification and discussion of the
major factors that influence pursuing a scientific
career and overcoming barriers to professional
advancement". Well done, Laurie.
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Robert McMahan named Governor's science advisor
Bob McMahan, who has been a research faculty member of our department since 1989, has been named Senior Advisor to the Governor for Science and Technology and Executive Director of the North Carolina Board of Science and Technology. In this position, he is charged with taking the lead in science and technology policy at the state level. In this position he will serve as liaison between the Governor and the university system in science matters, and will play a similar role with technology Centers of Excellence such as the NC Biotechnology Center. He will work to define the strategic direction for science and technology policy in the state of North Carolina.
Bob's background uniquely suits him for this position. After receiving his BS from Duke in 1982, his Ph.D. in Physics from Dartmouth in 1986, and while a postdoc at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, he founded McMahan Research Laboratories. He moved the company to North Carolina in 1989, and sold it to a Swiss-based public corporation ten years later. Bob subsequently became Executive Vice President of Engineering and Research & Development at GretagMacbeth, LLC, and then a Senior Technology Strategist for In-Q-Tel, the private venture capital arm of the CIA. Throughout this time he has maintained his appointment in our department, teaching astronomy and engaging in active research in large-scale motions of elliptical galaxies. These experiences have helped him understand the perspective both of the academic and the business communities.
Bob feels that it is very important that the State have a person who will work persistently on the strategic issues involved in guiding North Carolina's transition from an industrial to a knowledge-based economy. He particularly wants to work on improving the relationship of the university to the entrepreneurial community and to capital markets. He would like to optimize technology transfer and, where possible, to align university resources with the needs of entrepreneurs.
"I have been impressed with the level of engagement on these issues at high levels in the government in North Carolina," says Bob. He is looking forward to the opportunity to help the state "put the pieces together" and remain a leader in a very competitive environment. However, he intends to continue to participate in departmental activities, teaching astronomy and collaborating on research projects with his colleagues here. He says, "I think my appointment is indicative of how our department is perceived at high levels in the state." We are inclined to agree.
UNC physics major Ken Varner wins Rieser Fellowship, will study in Spain next year
By LAURA TOLER, UNC News Service
CHAPEL HILL -- One senior in cap and gown at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill commencement ceremony Sunday (May 18) won't be graduating - well, not exactly.
Ken Varner of Wilmington has added a fifth year of undergraduate work to study physics in Spain next year at the Solar Energy Institute of Madrid, researching the potential for highly efficient industrial solar cells.
"I will be walking at this graduation since I will not be able to attend my own (next year)," Varner said. "I will still be in Spain."
Helping to make his study abroad possible will be a $5,000 Leonard M. Rieser Fellowship in Science, Technology and Global Security from the Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, based at the University of Chicago.
Varner is the first Carolina student to win the Rieser, created in 1999 and first awarded in 2000, said Stephen Schwartz, the foundation's executive director and publisher of its bimonthly magazine, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Three to five scholarships of $2,500 to $5,000 are awarded each spring. This year three students won. The other winners were from Stanford University and Dartmouth College, Schwartz said.
Varner also is one of 14 UNC students in the sciences who will study abroad next year, a record number for the university, said Dr. Tomas Baer, a Kenan professor of chemistry who has been at Carolina for 32 years. Five will be in Spain, four in France, one in Germany and two each in Scotland and England, all as part of the TransAtlantic Science Student Exchange Program, for which Baer is academic adviser at UNC. Those going to non-English-speaking countries have schooled in the languages spoken there.
"Science is an international activity," Baer said. "As a scientist, I deal on a daily basis with my colleagues in Asia and Europe. For these students, spending some time abroad and working along with the people there will be extremely helpful to their future careers."
A physics major with a minor in music, Varner is the son of Wayne and Becky Varner of Wilmington and a 1999 graduate of John. T. Hoggard High School. He will use the fellowship to realize his dream of understanding and helping to develop renewable energy sources.
"I hope to play a significant role in renewable energy development both here in the United States and in developing countries," he said. "I want to work for an institution that addresses the political, economic, educational and scientific aspects of renewable energy as it relates to communities."
Recently he installed solar panels at the Morehead Observatory, working with UNC professor of physics and astronomy Dr. Wayne Christiansen. This summer he will work for the physics department, designing and building a lab that allows UNC students to conduct experiments involving the panels.
The Rieser Fellowships honor the late scientist (1922-98) and Dartmouth physics professor, who advocated peaceful resolution of conflicts. He chaired the
foundation's board from 1984-98.
"Leonard Rieser believed very strongly in young people and the contributions they could make toward making the world a better place," Schwartz said. "This fellowship is designed to encourage undergraduate students to explore the connections among science, technology, public policy and global security. Ken's application was very strong. In many ways he exemplifies the type of student we would like to see apply for this in the future."
The not-for-profit Educational Foundation's mission is to inform citizens about global security issues, especially dangers posed by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, and about other issues involving nuclear technology. Support comes from individual donations and from organizations including the Prospect Hill Foundation and the Ploughshares Fund.
Varner expects that studying in Europe will give him a strong leg-up in his field. "Europe is much farther ahead with renewable energy development and implementation," he said. "I hope my time there will allow me to gain an understanding of how to get a national community involved. I will then bring that back to the United States."
UNC astronomer wins top science award
By DAVID WILLIAMSON
UNC News Services
CHAPEL HILL -- Dr. Daniel E. Reichart, assistant professor of
physics and astronomy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
has been selected to receive one of the nation's most prestigious astronomy
honors, the Robert J. Trumpler Award of the Astronomical Society of the
Pacific.
"This award is made to a recent Ph.D. degree recipient whose
research is considered unusually important to astronomy," said Dr. Mary Kay
Hemenway, secretary of the society and a University of Texas in Austin
professor, in a letter to Reichart. "We wish to recognize your outstanding
thesis titled 'The GRB-Supernova Connection,' which significantly enhanced
knowledge in the field of gamma ray bursts and opened up important new areas
of research."
The UNC scientist will pick up the Trumpler award, which includes a
cash prize and travel expenses, at the society's annual meeting in Berkeley,
Calif., on Oct. 11.
Reichart's chief research interests are cosmic explosions known as
gamma ray bursts, the early universe, interstellar extinction, galaxy
clusters, Bayesian interference and archaeoastronomy. When he learned of the
award, he was coordinating a global gamma ray burst observing campaign.
"I know competition for this award is very, very keen because I
served on the awards committee for eight years," said Dr. Bruce Carney,
Baron professor and chair of physics and astronomy at UNC. "It's pretty rare
for someone as young as Dr. Reichart to win one. We lured Dan to Chapel Hill in part because of the SOAR Telescope," Carney
said. "We wanted him here because of SOAR and the energizing effect he'd
have on undergraduate and graduate students. We felt we all could learn a
lot from him, and we have been delighted with his successes."
Reichart, who earned his Ph..D. in astronomy and astrophysics at the
University of Chicago in 2000, joined the UNC faculty last year. Earlier, he
received three bachelor of science degrees in mathematics, physics and
astronomy, and astrophysics from Pennsylvania State University and a
master's from Chicago.
From 2000 to 2002, he was a Hubble fellow at the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena. Reichart already as published five major papers and
has won the Carl Sagan Outstanding Teacher Award at the University of
Chicago for his influential thesis.
His thesis research examined the connection between supernovae and gamma-ray
bursts (GRBs). In 1999, he showed that a GRB that occurred in 1997 coincided
with what appeared to be a supernova.
The combination of optical and near-infrared observations made the event the
best case at the time for a GRB-supernova connection at cosmological
distances. The GRB-supernova connection, which has been confirmed by a
relatively nearby GRB-supernova in April 2003, has led
astronomers to the current consensus that most GRBs result from the
explosive death of massive stars.
Dr. Michael Turner of the University of Chicago said in his nomination
letter that Reichart's thesis "attracted the attention of the most talented
astrophysicists." Reichart also showed that the variability in gamma-ray
burst light curves can be used as an estimate of the bursts' intrinsic
luminosity, and therefore give an estimate of their distance.
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific is an international non-profit
organization founded in 1889 and headquartered in San Francisco. Its mission
is to promote scientific research and disseminate research findings to
schools and the public. Carney served as president of the society for two
years and a board member for six.
Note: Reichart can be reached at (919) 962-5310 or reichart@physics.unc.edu.
Bob Park lecture on "voodoo science"
Robert Park, Professor of Physics at the Univ. of Maryland and head of the
American Physical Society's Washington Office, will give a lecture entitled
"The Seven Warning Signs of Voodoo Science" on April 21, 2003. Park's
presentation, which will take place at 7:00 p.m. in 111 Carroll Hall, is
part of a First-Year Seminar taught by Prof. Ed Samulski of the Chemistry
Dept. Park is also author of "What's New," a controversial on-line
commentary on science policy issues. He is a regular contributor of opinion
articles in major newspapers and a frequent guest on radio and television
news programs. A reviewer for The New York Times called his book "Voodoo
Science" (which serves as the primary text for Samulski's course)
"frequently droll and invariably entertaining." The lecture is free and
open to the public. Further information can be found at artsandsci.unc.edu/news/news.xml?id=3888.
Winter 2002-2003 Newsletter
For a summary of significant events in the last year, take a look at our Winter 2002-2003 department newsletter.
2003 Polanyi Lecturer
In January 2003, the Physics & Astronomy Dept. once again hosted the Michael
Polanyi Visiting Lectureship in the History and Philosophy of Natural
Science. This lectureship was established through an endowment from the
late Waldo "Rip" Haisley and his wife, Doris Weaver Haisley. Rip was a
faculty member in our department from 1960 To 1980. The lectureship is
named after Michael Polanyi, a Hungarian physical chemist well known for
both his scientific work on plasticity and strength of materials and for his
philosophical book, Personal Knowledge. Previous holders of the lectureship
include Freeman Dyson and Phillip Morrison.
The 2003 Polanyi Lecturer is Peter Galison of
Harvard. Trained originally as a physicist, Prof. Galison is a
distinguished historian of 20th-century physics. His work considers issues
such as the ways in which experimenters come to the decision that they have
an effect, not an artifact of the apparatus or environment. What role does
theory play in the establishment of data reduction strategies, in
triggering, or in the experimental set-up itself? How do large groups decide
something is real? He has also been interested in the long-standing
competition between image-producing instruments such as bubble chambers,
cloud chambers, and nuclear emulsions on one side, and the "logic" devices
such as counters, spark chambers, and wire chambers on the other. His
Polanyi Lecture, given on January 21, 2003, titled "Einstein's Clocks,"
explored the theory of relativity at the crossroads of technology,
philosophy, and physics. He also gave a departmental colloquium entitled
"Artificial Reality: The Origins of Monte Carlo Simulations" and met with
physics, philosophy, and history of science classes both at UNC and at Duke.
Undergrads to study in Chile
The Burch Field Research Seminar Program offers selected faculty and students an opportunity to study abroad together. With the anticipated completion of the SOAR Telescope in Chile in early 2004, we are delighted to announce the first Burch Field Research program in the sciences at UNC. Roughly a dozen undergraduates will spend the fall semester of 2004 in La Serena, Chile, the headquarters of the SOAR Telescope, and of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, which itself is part of the U. S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory. Professors Wayne Christiansen and Gerald Cecil will take turns working with the students in Chile, supervising their work on their own small telescopes, and on the 4.2-meter SOAR Telescope atop Cerro Pachon. The students will take two classes at UNC, one taught in La Serena, and one taught in Chile, and they will be joined by students in Chapel Hill via videoconference facilities in the Department. They will also study Spanish and participate in a seminar on Chilean culture. We expect the students will learn what it is like to live and work in a beautiful and dynamic South American country, and also amidst a stimulating international community of working astronomers.
Construction begins on a new building
As part of a massive bond referendum approved by 73% of the North Carolina voters, a new science complex will be constructed on our campus, aimed at both providing new space and facilities, but also encouraging more interdisciplinary research. There are five phases involved for the science complex, three of which will involve our Department in some fashion. In Phase I, two new buildings will be constructed to house the Departments of Marine Sciences and of Chemistry so that the old chemistry building, Venable Hall, can be demolished. In Phase II, a new parking deck and plant to provide chilled water will be constructed, and in Phase III a new Venable Hall will rise, as will an addition to Sitterson Hall, which houses the Department of Computer Science. All the old and new science buildings will be physical connected via bridges to promote more interdisciplinary research. Phase I of the construction began in the fall of 2002, and will include a new building offset from Phillips Hall by about 30 feet.. When it is completed in early 2006, we will occupy new observing space for teaching at the top of the building, and new laboratories for condensed matter research on the lower, vibrationally more stable, floors. We anticipate that a new center for nanomaterials will be housed in the new building, as will the remote observing center for the SOAR and SALT telescopes. Marine Sciences will occupy the rest of the new building until their own new building is completed, probably in 2009. At that point, physics and astronomy will expand into the rest of the Phillips Addition, providing yet more new teaching and laboratory capabilities. A scale model representation of the results of Phases I, II, and III is available.
UPDATE: A remote-controlled webcam is now available to view the construction underway for the first two buildings in the Science Complex. The construction at Phillips Hall is on the left, and that at Wilson-Dey is on the right. Each user of the Science Complex webcam can take control of the camera for 30 seconds and move it left or right, up or down, and zoom in or out. Enjoy!
Author Dava Sobel to visit
On October 28 and 29, 2002, author Dava Sobel will be the guest of the Department of Physics & Astronomy, in partnership with the Curriculum in Women’s Studies, the College of Arts & Sciences, and the Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence. She will present a Departmental colloquium at 4:00 pm on Monday, October 28, and will meet with interested Departmental undergraduate and graduate students on Tuesday, October 29.
Discovery may revolutionize X-ray technology
Scientists at UNC and Applied Nanotechnologies, Inc. believe they have made a major breakthrough to improve X-ray technology.
The team has conducted experiments showing they can cause carbon nanotubes (a new form of carbon discovered about a decade ago) to generate intense electron beams that bombard a metal "target" to produce X-rays. more...
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Dan Reichart, UNC Assistant Professor of Physics, along with UNC
undergraduate Josh Haislip, discovered the most distant explosion in the
universe yet known. The GRB was detected using NASA's Swift satellite and
measured using the international 
Physics professor 
