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DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER WINTER 2004 Physics and Astronomy • WINTER 2004 Message from the Chair

—Arie Bodek tory for Laser Energetics). This must be In fact, in a nationwide survey of U.S. As we enter the 21st century, while surely one of the reasons that the Uni- graduate students conducted in 2001, the building on the traditional strengths of versity of Rochester was ranked 6th department was ranked second in overall the department and the University, we nationwide in atomic physics/ plasma graduate-student satisfaction. As a result, are also moving in new physics by U.S. News & World Report in our domestic applicant pool has been in- directions. Because of 2003. We have recently also strength- creasing and in fall 2003 we had a class the small size of both ened our program in chemical physics of 35 superb entering graduate students. the department and the with the appointments of Esther Conwell We wish to take this opportunity to University, collaborative and Lewis Rothberg as professors of thank all our friends who have contrib- activities in research chemistry and physics, and the addition uted so generously to the support of the and education among of Mark Bocko as professor of electrical department. By completing the form on faculty members in dif- engineering and physics. In addition, we the last page of our newsletter you can ferent subdisciplines within physics are working on new collaborative ven- continue (or begin) that tradition of giv- and astronomy, as well as in association tures with the medical school in the ing that will assure the future excellence with other departments, are growing area of medical physics. of the department. Other ways to help steadily. For example, a new program Several of our faculty and students our cause is to inform any promising stu- was initiated in fall 2003 on a joint Ph.D. have received awards during this past dents about our summer undergraduate in physics and optics, and experimental academic year. Steve Manly, our Distin- research program (REU), and to encourage and theoretical collaboration between guished Brugler Teaching Professor since students interested careers in physics or the quantum optics groups in both de- 2002, was chosen by the Carnegie Foun- astronomy to apply for graduate study partments are currently under way. The dation and the Council for the Advance- at Rochester. Application material for all Deparments of Physics and Astronomy ment and Support of Education (CASE) these programs is available on our Web and Mathematics have initiated a col- as New York State Professor of the Year pages (www.pas. rochester.edu). If you laboration in research in mathematical in 2003. Nicholas Bigelow and David know of any exceptional undergraduates physics, and hold joint seminars. Mem- Meyerhofer received the first Dean’s whom we should consider either for our bers of our particle physics and nuclear Awards for contributions to graduate REU program or for graduate studies, we physics groups are joining together on a education in 2003, and Shaul Mukamel, would appreciate it if you would please program to investigate nucleon struc- professor of chemistry and physics was send their names and e-mail addresses ture and neutrino oscillations by using given the Ellis R. Lippincott Award from to Barbara Warren ([email protected]. electron scattering beams at Jefferson the Optical Society of America for 2003. edu), and we will contact them directly. Lab (Newport News, Va.) and neutrino For completeness, I must also mention Any help from our alumnae and alumni beams at Fermilab (MINERVA). Stephen that Arie Bodek was awarded the 2004 along these lines would be greatly wel- Teitel won a bridging fellowship (in 2003) Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle comed. to the Department of Brain and Cogni- Physics from the American Physical Several years ago, the University in- tive Sciences to venture into biological Society. itiated a tradition of hosting yearly physics, and David Douglass won a Graduate Student Kam Wai Clifford Meliora Weekend reunions (see www. bridging fellowship (in 2004) to the Chan was awarded the University’s rochester.edu/alumni). I encourage all Eastman School of Music. We are proud Messersmith Fellowship, and our fresh- our alumnae, alumni, and friends to of our programs in atomic physics (col- man major Siddharth Parameswaran come and visit us in fall ’04. For the laboration between the Departments of won the University’s Delno Sisson Prize latest news about the department, please Physics and Astronomy and Optics) and in 2003. Over the years, we have given visit our Web page, where you can also plasma physics (involving the Depart- high priority to the training of our un- find the current and several recent ments of Physics and Astronomy and dergraduate and graduate students, and issues of Cross Sections online. Mechanical Engineering and the Labora- this attention has not gone unnoticed.

180 µm) that are bound to have major Cross Sections On the Cover impact on our understanding of the Editors: T. Ferbel and S. Rajeev origin of galaxies. Published by the Department of Physics and August 25, 2003: Launch of the Space Infrared Telescope Facility or Astronomy of the University of Rochester, and Important notices: Department phone: (585) SIRTF (named the Spitzer Space Tele- distributed to alumni and friends free of charge. 275-4344 and fax: (585) 273-3237. scope on December 18, 2003) on a Delta Copies may be obtained by writing to CROSS If you change your mailing address, please rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It’s SECTIONS, Department of Physics and Astronomy, contact Bob Knox with your new whereabouts been a long wait, but our astronomers University of Rochester, Rochester, New York ([email protected]). Also let him know are finally going to get the data in the 14627-0171 USA. your current e-mail address. infrared spectrum (wavelengths of 3 to

2 SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS Physics and Astronomy • WINTER 2004 Regina Demina Joins Our Effort in Particle Physics

It is often said that curiosity kills cats. Regina Demina, formerly with Kansas State, and now our new associate professor in experimental particle physics, does not wish to comment on such fatal issues, but claims that when she watches her two cats, they remind her of scientists. One of her cats is especially puz- zled by the underlying principle of operation of their water fountain, and constantly tries to knock it to the floor, presumably in the hope of figuring out what makes it work. Regina maintains that this is the same method that particle physicists have also been using for over a century to study fundamental properties of matter. Inspired by Ruther- ford, smashing together particles in high energy colliders, she too hopes to learn Graduate student Elizabeth Groves along with Regina (right) next to the new the principles underlying the universe. probing station for checking properties of silicon microstrip detectors She says that the puzzle that brought her to physics was the origin of mass. just one of the hypotheses. Models ment of silicon detectors that can with- Closely related to this question is the using strong dynamics (new quark de- stand high doses of radiation, algorithms mystery of electroweak symmetry break- grees of freedom) also offer interesting that maximize the capabilities of these ing (EWSB). The Fermilab Tevatron, and alternatives. The idea of a possible role detectors, and analyses targeted at un- shortly the CERN Large Hadron Collider of the top quark in EWSB is especially derstanding the mechanism of EWSB. (LHC), are collider accelerators that probe intriguing. In the presence of a vast Regina started her research at Rochester the EWSB energy scale, and are there- variety of models, an experimenter’s by setting up our first silicon-detector fore the likely places where the discov- task could become confusing. Luckily, facility (most of us have probably noticed ery of the mechanism behind the EWSB most models predict similar signatures the noise and dust on the 3rd floor!). will take place. That is why her research that rely largely on an experiment’s Silicon tracking devices provide the high- program for the next 10 to 15 years is ability to identify heavy quarks, e.g., est precision available for measurement focused on utilizing data from these ma- the bottom or b-quarks. of track coordinates—at a level of few chines. The mechanism of EWSB is un- Silicon-based tracking devices have microns. These devices are used to known, and although the Higgs mech- proven to be highly effective for tagging measure lifetimes of subatomic particles anism (with Richard Hagen one of its heavy quarks based on the quark life- that travel only a fraction of a millimeter discoverers) is the most likely candidate, times. Regina’s research program is until it is proven through experiment, it is therefore concentrated on the develop- Continued on page 6

John Howell—New Experimenter in Quantum Optics

As many of you know, John Howell The processing of quantum informa- by its frequency, where it is located in joined our faculty as assistant professor tion (or “QIP”) is a relatively new field space and time, its polarization, etc. The of physics and quantum optics in Feb- in physics. QIP exploits nature for de- Howell group studied cloning of the polar- ruary 2002. This was just after he com- veloping capabilities such as sending ization of photons. Polarization is just pleted his postdoctoral work at the secret messages, teleporting quantum the orientation of the electric field, or a University of Oxford at the Centre for states, cloning quantum particles, and measure of how the electric field oscil- Quantum Computation. His primary in- gaining far more computing power in lates transversely during propagation. terests have been focused on experimental certain applications. One of the areas While it may seem trivial to measure the studies of quantum mechanics and the John’s group has chosen to study is polarization of a photon, it is, in fact, processing of quantum information. quantum cloning. Quantum cloning is impossible to do that without altering the After moving into his labs in early 2003, concerned with how well characteristics polarization. Photon cloning involves the his group has become engaged in sev- of quantum particles can be copied. One construction of an experiment that has eral exciting experiments in these fields. of the simplest particles to clone is a one photon of unknown polarization photon. A photon can be characterized Continued on page 5

3 SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS Physics and Astronomy •WINTER 2004 SIRTF Is Launched

Early in the morning of Monday, Aug- Their first rewards for the long wait fore in an Earth-trailing heliocentric ust 25, the fourth of NASA’s Great Ob- were not long in coming. Six days after orbit, and arranged so that the observa- servatory satellites, the Space Infrared launch, IRAC was turned on and im- tory always lies in the shadow of its Telescope Facility (SIRTF), was launched mediately delivered SIRTF’s first astro- solar panels and radiation shield. Three into its orbit around the Sun. It illumi- nomical image (see photo), a field full cryogenic instruments based upon ad- nated spectacularly and then punched of faint stars and galaxies captured by vanced solid-state detector arrays, for through a nearby bank of clouds, soared one of the detector arrays developed by which the intrinsic noise is so small that along an arc Pipher and Forrest. And two weeks later, the observatory’s sensitivity is limited through the IRS provided SIRTF’s first astronomical only by the thermal noise in the light clear sum- spectrum. All three astronomers were emitted by interplanetary dust particles, mer sky, heavily involved in the three-month are positioned in the telescope’s focal and for five phase of in-orbit checkout and science- plane. The telescope and its enclosure minutes it verification tasks needed to characterize were cooled by radiation down to about outshone the observatory, and compiled early 30 K during the first few weeks after the other observations for release at the initial launch, and then connected thermally to bright or- SIRTF press conference and naming an onboard 360-liter reservoir of liquid ange light ceremony on December 18, 2003. (Other helium to cool to its present temperature in the south- than the first-light image, all SIRTF of about 5.5 K. IRAC is a camera for east sky, data not released on December 18 will wide-field imaging in the 3–8 micron Mars, as it continue to be embargoed.) They re- range. IRS is a combination of spectro- neared its ported that the observatory and its graphs that cover the 5.3–40 micron “Aliveness Test”—first closest op- instruments are behaving flawlessly, range at low and moderate spectral re- infrared image from SIRTF position in and that performance has met or ex- solution. The Multiband Imaging Pho- many millen- ceeded expectations in nearly all aspects. tometer (MIPS) for SIRTF is a camera for nia. Thus began the five-year mission of As Watson put it, “considering the surveys, and images at 24, 70, and 160 the centerpiece of NASA’s Origins pro- complexity of the observatory and the microns. All were designed and built gram, the 300th launch in the famous risks of a rocket launch, it’s better than by consortia of university scientists, in series of Delta rockets (see front cover), we had any right to hope.” SIRTF pro- collaboration with aerospace companies and the life of the final part of the con- vides access to the full infrared spectrum, and NASA laboratories. Design of the stellation of satellite observatories that at wavelengths of more than 3 microns. telescope and its cryogenic assembly also includes the Hubble Space Tele- In this range, star-formation regions, was led by SIRTF’s management center, scope, the Compton Gamma-Ray Observa- dusty circumstellar disks, and planets the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Roch- tory, and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. emit most of their energy. Extremely ester SIRTF members joined the project The launch was in many ways the cul- distant galaxies—those with redshift at its inception. Judy Pipher participated mination of two decades of work by 5 or more—appear at their brightest. for several years in the initial planning three of our department professors, who Objects that are always shrouded in of the observatory, and in 1983 became are charter members of the teams that dust, such as the black-hole-driven an original member of the team, with designed and built the observatory. And engines in the nuclei of active galaxies Giovanni Fazio (Smithsonian Astrophys- so all three found themselves watching and quasars, appear without obscura- ical Observatory), former faculty member and cheering as SIRTF’s Delta II rocket tion at these wavelengths. Most of of our department, serving as the Prin- blasted off from Cape Canaveral. Judy these kinds of objects are very faint, cipal Investigator of IRAC. Bill Forrest Pipher looked on from the end of a fish- but still well within SIRTF’s reach: also joined the IRAC team at the very ing pier about three miles south of the SIRTF can detect objects that are factors beginning, and Forrest and Pipher, launch pad, surrounded by other mem- of 100–1,000,000 fainter than found already responsible for the first near- bers of the team that built SIRTF’s In- using previous detectors. It is expected infrared array-based astronomical cam- frared Array Camera (IRAC). Half a mile therefore that SIRTF will provide de- eras, led the development of half of farther down the beach, Dan Watson cisive contributions to our understand- IRAC’s focal plane detectors. Simultane- was in a crowd of fellow members of the ing of the origins and evolution of ously, Forrest joined Jim Houck’s (Cor- SIRTF Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) team galaxies, and the origins of stars and nell) IRS team, and began to work with and their families, waving a camcorder planetary systems. Dan Watson, another original IRS mem- and a champagne bottle as the rocket To achieve sufficient infrared sensitiv- ber (while at Caltech). Five years later, flew past. And, back in Rochester, Bill ity for these tasks, SIRTF must be de- Forrest and Pipher recruited Watson Forrest, who belongs both to IRAC and ployed above the Earth’s absorbing to join them on the Rochester faculty, IRS, presided over a cheering group of atmosphere, in a location where it can giving Rochester a stronger presence in graduate students, who were viewing a be cryogenically cooled and shaded from two of SIRTF’s major efforts. The three live NASA TV link as the central feature noisy thermal emission from Earth, astronomers went on to make many of their Ph.D. theses flew off into space. Moon, and Sun. The satellite is there-

4 SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS Physics and Astronomy • WINTER 2004

contributions to the detectors, optics, igators are re-tooling their research ef- clusters. Several other programs arise and electronics of SIRTF, during two dec- forts to carry out the ambitious astro- from interests in such astronomical is- ades of design, development, and quite nomical research they have planned in sues as gamma-ray bursters, brown a few delays. Each instrument had to be parallel with the development of IRAC dwarfs, and the origin of active galactic redesigned several times, as NASA had and IRS. Watson and Forrest are the nuclei. It is now certain that SIRTF’s data to reduce SIRTF’s scope and budget dur- leaders of the IRS team’s extensive rate for these programs will be torrential, ing the 1990s. A great deal of creativity guaranteed-time observing (GTO) pro- and we can confidently expect them to had to be applied to assure that the re- gram on the structure, composition, and answer many of the outstanding ques- sulting facility could still satisfy its sci- evolution of protostellar, protoplanetary, tions of astronomical origins. SIRTF’s huge entific requirements. and debris disks. Pipher and her group leap forward in sensitivity means that Now that SIRTF is working and has a are spearheading the IRAC team’s large the most exciting results from SIRTF may five-year supply of liquid helium to keep GTO program on populations of stars be those that are completely unanticipa- itself cold, the Rochester SIRTF invest- and disks in recently formed stellar ted. Stay tuned for five years of discovery!

John Howell—New Experimenter in Quantum Optics Continued from page 3

entering a “black box” and two photons photon was also deter- of identical polarization emerging. mined. The setup was However, it is also known that it is not then changed so that the possible to start with an arbitrarily momentum of the second polarized photon and get out two photon could be deter- photons with that initial polarization. mined based on a meas- The goal of the experiments has been to urement of the momen- push the bounds of copying the polar- tum of the first photon, ization of photons. In a series of rather and the uncertainty in dramatic experiments, John’s group has momentum also mea- shown that cloning has a much broader sured. Just as EPR pre- perspective than many had supposed. In John Howell’s hardy group now consists of (left to right) dicted, the measured particular, they showed that it may not Brian Winey, Irfan Ali Khan, John, Michael Pack, and product of uncertainties even be necessary to construct a “cloning Ryan Camacho (and more are flocking to join). was much smaller than machine,” and all that is required is to allowed by Heisenberg’s produce interference between the input transform, or conjugate relations, be- uncertainty principle for complementary photon and another photon. tween position and momentum. Thus, observables (e.g., position and momen- In collaboration with Bob Boyd’s group, once the momentum of one photon is tum) of a single quantum particle. In Howell is also studying the entangle- measured, then the momentum of the fact, the experimentally measured value ment of continuous variables. Entangle- other photon can also be determined was almost an order of magnitude smaller. ment, used in this context, refers to a without measuring the other photon. The ramifications of this experiment are wave function describing two individual Although the particles are separated by tremendous, because this means that particles that is not just the product of a large distance, without any means to entangled two-photon imaging can be their two separate wave functions. The communicate with each other, the un- performed well beyond the limit of clas- notion of entanglement of continuous measured particle must nevertheless sical diffraction (a limit that is, in fact, a variables, i.e., physical quantities such be in definite position and momentum manifestation of Heisenberg’s uncertainty as momentum or position of a quantum eigenstates. More simply, the position principle for non-entangled photons). particle that can have continuous as and momentum of the second (unmeas- Further, the group showed that, without opposed to discrete values, was intro- ured) particle could, in principle, be being subject to Heisenberg’s uncertainty duced by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen known perfectly, leading to a violation principle, it is indeed possible to have a (EPR) in their famous paper, which of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. much larger depth of focus than for seemingly defied Heisenberg’s uncer- The paradox is resolved if quantum classical sources of light. This implies tainty principle. They showed that if mechanics is nonlocal. that a high resolution image of an object positions of two particles were entangled, Using position and momentum- can be obtained, independent of where then measuring the position of one par- entangled photons, the group has recently that object is located. Many other inter- ticle would imply that the position of demonstrated the first momentum- esting experiments are now in progress the other particle could be determined position realization of the EPR paradox. to explore both the physics and the ap- without further measurement. Entangle- The position of one photon was meas- plications of continuous entanglement. ment in position implies entanglement ured, followed by the measurement of It appears that John has truly hit the in momentum, resulting from the Fourier the position of the other photon. The road running! uncertainty in the position of the second

5 SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS Physics and Astronomy • WINTER 2004 The Expanding PARTICLE Program

Now in its fourth year of operation, the PARTICLE program (Physicists and Rochester Teachers Inventing Classroom Experiments), an offshoot of the Quark- net venture supported by the U.S. Depart- ment of Energy, continues its mission of promoting research in high school settings. Led by Kevin McFarland, the program currently involves approximately 20 participating teachers from 17 schools in the greater Rochester and Syracuse areas. Six new teachers are trained each year during a three-week summer institute, at which they construct detectors to study cosmic-ray muons, develop classroom activities associated with these detectors, hear lectures on particle physics, tour lab facilities, and borrow equipment for eventual use in classrooms. Currently, the program has a dozen or Teachers in action during a recent summer institute held at our department so muon telescopes, an apparatus to measure the charge-to-mass ratio of in lead and water, scattering and de- students present the results of their muons, a cloud chamber, and laminated pendence of muon flux on variables research, display posters, hear lectures lead sheets in its expanding inventory such as barometric pressure, angle of from our physicists, and tour lab facil- of shared equipment. Interested grad- incidence, and time of day. Students at ities. uate and undergraduate students assist Pittsford Mendon High School conducted PARTICLE is turning into a highly with the development of equipment and a two-month experiment last fall to study successful hands-on experience in sci- computer programming through special the relationship between geomagnetic/ ence for both teachers and students in internships provided by our department. solar activity and muon flux. This proj- our area. The word about the project High school students become involved ect should prove to be particularly in- has also been spreading nationally in through research performed at their teresting, given the unusually high level presentations made by teachers at a schools or by participating through in- of solar activity during the last week of meeting of particle physicists at Snow- ternships at the University. The expand- October 2003. mass in 2002, at the National Science ing list of research topics for students Each spring, participating high schools Foundation in 2003, and at meetings of includes determining the lifetime of can send a delegation of students to the American Association of Physics muons, studying absorption of muons PARTICLE Day at the University, where Teachers in 2001, 2003, and 2004.

Regina Demina Joins Our Effort in Particle Physics Continued from page 3

from their birth to their decay. The detec- ductors—knowledge that is essential in measure other parameters of the top tors she is developing in her laboratory many industrial applications. Based on quark using her techniques. Aside from will be capable of working in the high the information provided by such silicon the Tevatron, the LHC that is being radiation environment of the LHC. detectors, Regina’s group is developing completed in Geneva, Switzerland, is Silicon detectors are made of arrays of algorithms for identifying b-quarks the next most likely place where physics semiconductor diodes, no different than (located within their subatomic B part- of electroweak symmetry breaking will those used everywhere in the electronics icles). These algorithms are then applied be uncovered through the possible ob- industry, e.g., inside computers. Thus, to study the properties of the top quark servation of the hypothesized Higgs by working with these devices, students —the heaviest fundamental object boson. The silicon detectors to be checked are not only doing cutting-edge tech- known. out and approved in Regina’s laboratory nological development for high energy Preliminary results on the cross section will be installed in the CMS experiment, experiments, but are also gaining in- for top-quark production at the Tevatron one of the two major all-purpose LHC sights into the operation of semicon- were reported at summer conferences in experiments, and will be crucial for the 2003, and more work is in progress to detection of any possible Higgs bosons.

6 HONORS AND AWARDS Physics and Astronomy • WINTER 2004 Manly is New York’s Best Prof Don Lamb Elected

On November 13, 2003, the Carnegie Foundation announced that Steve Manly, Mercer to the American Brugler Distinguished Teaching Professor of Physics and associate professor of physics, Academy was selected by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as New York State’s Professor of the Year in 2003. Manly is the second Rochester faculty member to win this award. The first was Alfred Clark of the mechanical engineering department, Donald Lamb, Jr, Louis Block Profes- who received it in 1994. The sor in Astronomy and Astrophysics at U.S. Professors of the Year the Enrico Fermi Institute and the Uni- awards, created in 1981, are versity of Chicago (Ph.D. the only national honors for ’74) was inducted this excellent teaching in higher past October into the education. The Council for American Academy of Advancement and Support of Arts and Sciences. He is Education (CASE) and the the former Chair of the Carnegie Foundation for the Department of Astron- Advancement of Teaching make omy and Astrophysics the selections. The Professors at the University of Chicago, and re- of the Year were honored at a nowned for his many contributions to luncheon at the National Press resolving astrophysical problems rang- Club, followed by a reception on ing from the structure and evolution of Manly unconfusing an undergraduate student Capitol Hill. degenerate dwarfs and neutron stars to the origin of X-ray and gamma-ray bursts.

Kimble Wins 2004 Lilienfeld Prize Another Major Jeff Kimble (Ph.D. ’78), William L. Valentine Professor of Physics at Caltech, has Tribute to Emil been awarded the 2004 Lilienfeld Prize of the American Physical Society for his pioneering work in quantum optics: “for his innova- Wolf tive experiments in single-atom optical experiments, and for his skill in communicating the scientific excitement of his research to We are very used to the many tributes a broad range of audiences.” Jeff is a member of the National Aca- given over the years to our own Emil demy, and is a great friend of the department, involved in the fund- Wolf. This time, it was raising for an endownment in honor of his former thesis advisor Len the SPIE—the Interna- Mandel. tional Society for Op- tical Engineering—that honored Emil at its Juan Estrada Wins First Tollestrup Award 48th Annual Meeting this past August at San Juan Estrada, presently at Fermilab (Ph.D. ’02), was the first recipient of the Alvin Diego with a special Tollestrup Award, which is sponsored by the Universities Research Association (URA) two-day symposium devoted to his im- that manages Fermilab. The Award is for best post- pact on physical optics and engineering. doctoral research (in theory or experiment) done on Emil spoke at one of the sessions on the any project affiliated with Fermilab during 2002– influence of Young’s interference experi- 2003. Juan was recognized for his recent precision ment on the development of the theory measurement of the mass of the top quark that was of optical coherence, and at the SPIE based on a technique that he and colleagues Flor- banquet, where he reminisced about his encia Canelli (Ph.D. ’04, currently with UCLA) and former mentor and colleague, Nobel Gaston Gutierrez, a senior physicist at Fermilab, Laureate Max Born. developed at the D-Zero Collider experiment. (Es- trada also received our department’s Lobkowicz Prize in 2002 for the best Ph.D. thesis in particle and nuclear Juan Estrada accepts his physics.) As a postdoc at Fermilab, Juan extended award from distinguished the work he initiated in his thesis, which led to the experimenter Alvin Tollestrup. Tollestrup Award.

7 HONORS AND AWARDS Physics and Astronomy • WINTER 2004 Bodek Wins the 2004 Panofsky Prize

Arie Bodek will receive the 2004 W. K. H. Panofsky Prize of the American Physical Society that honors outstanding contributions in the field of Experimental Particle Physics. He is cited “for his broad, sustained, and insightful contributions to elucidating the structure of the nucleon, using a wide variety of probes, tools, and methods at many laboratories. The prize will be presented at a special ceremonial session of the APS at the “April” 2004 meeting in Denver, Colo. (May 1–4, 2004), where Bodek will also present a lecture on the work for which the Prize is being awarded. Arie is a veritable dynamo, and, beside chairing our department, has a very strong program at CERN, Fermilab and at the Jefferson Lab (Newport News, Va). Bodek’s major contributions include experimental and phenomenological investigations of parton density functions (PDFs), and elucidation of the EMC (European Muon Collaboration) effect of nuclear matter on parton densities in nucleons. Over his career, he has conducted a variety of experiments, involving electron and neutrino scattering from nuclear targets, and proton-antiproton col- lisions. Bodek has had a continuous love affair with the structure of the nucleon, and, he confesses that “The structure of the nucleon has always been dear to my heart.” Bodek is the second faculty member in our department to have received this prestigious award. The first was Ed Thorndike, who won the honors in 1999 for studies of the bottom quark at the CLEO experiment (at Wilson Lab in Ithaca, N.Y.).

OTHER DEPARTMENT NEWS Robert Forties and Jesse Chvojka Honors for Sid Receive Grants the Chennai Kid

Robert Forties, president of our chapter of the Society for Physics Students (SPS) re- Siddharth Parameswaran, normally ceived a grant from the New York State Section of the American Physical Society (APS) referred to as Sid, is our latest gift from to construct “Physics Museum Demonstrations” as part of our chapter’s participation India. It would be difficult to tell from in the APS Celebration of the World Einstein Year of Physics in 2005. The project will his list of current classes, which include be carried out in consultation with Arie Bodek and David Douglass, the current SPS mainly graduate- and senior-level under- advisor. Jesse Chvojka, a graduate student in particle physics also received a grant from graduate courses, that Sid is a just a the New York State Section of the APS for a project titled “Particle Physics High in the physics sophomore. He excels in every- Sky: Outreach through Remote Cosmic Ray Measurements from an Airplane.” This will thing! Sid won the 2003 Iota Book Award be carried out in consultation with Kevin McFarland and the PARTICLE outreach pro- (Phi Beta Kappa), which recognizes out- gram at Rochester that was initiated by Kevin. These grants were announced at the standing scholarly achievement, human- NYS APS meeting at Brookhaven Laboratory in October 2003. Last year, graduate stu- istic values, co-curricular activities, and dent Adam Harrington also won a grant from the New York Section of the APS under leadership potential in first-year under- the auspices of the PARTICLE program. graduates. The selections are made by the College’s deans. Sid also won the University-wide Delno Sisson Prize in 2002–2003. In addition, Sid was chosen J. D. Jackson—Watch Out! as this year’s recipient of the Physics Honors Prize, awarded annually by the Ashok Das has been especially prolific in his writing over these past two years. Besides department to the sophomore student his dozens of articles, he has just published three books: Lectures on Quantum Mechanics, with the best academic record in the Introduction to Nuclear and Particle Physics (2nd Ed.) with Tom Ferbel, Lectures on Electricity honors physics introductory sequence. and Magnetism, and he is finishing his fourth book titled Advanced Topics in Integrable Finally, and surely most impressive, is Models. He is particularly proud of his treatise on E&M, which arose from his teaching of that Sid is a member of the University of our graduate course on electromagnetism. For years, the scene has been dominated by Rochester’s Quiz Bowl Team, which placed David Jackson’s popular classic on the subject, but wait and see when the word gets out third at the National College Tournament about Ashok’s version! in April 2003, in Philadelphia, Pa.!

Eric Blackman Joseph Eberly

In November 2003, Eric Blackman was elected for a three-year term as a member at This past fall, Joseph Eberly was large of the executive committee of the APS Plasma Astrophysics Unit, where he will elected divisional councillor of the APS join Ethan Vishniac, currently a distinguished member of Johns Hopkins University, Division of Laser Science, and is serv- and one of our former undergraduates (B.S. ’76). ing on the APS Council. He is also a member of the Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics. 8 ALUMNI AND OTHER NEWS Physics and Astronomy • WINTER 2004

Following his graduation from Roch- Gerald C. Blazey, our former research engineer developing the so-called ester several years ago, John Larkin and senior research associate is doing Vigilance of the Amazon air-traffic con- (Ph.D. ’00) became assistant professor quite well indeed. He is the current co- trol system. He has even learned Portu- at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, spokesperson for the D-Zero Collabora- guese as a result of his many trips south. S.Dak. This past year he accepted a tion at Fermilab, involving over 600 position as assistant professor of physics scientists and over 80 institutes world- Eric Prebys (Ph.D. ’90), who recently at Whitworth College in Spokane, Wash. wide. He is professor of physics and joined the Fermilab Beams Division, is Presidential Research Professor at now the head of the Proton Source De- Since 1997, Sheldon Stone (Ph.D. Northern Illinois University, and direc- partment, which includes the Linac and ’72), professor of physics at Syracuse tor of the Nothern Illinois Center for Booster accelerators. His main respon- University, has been the co-spokesperson Accelerator and Detector Design. sibilities are overseeing upgrades and for BTeV, a major Fermilab experiment optimizations needed to deliver the high involving more than 30 universities and Michele Migliuolo (Ph.D. ’88) is flux of protons required for experiments laboratories. This experiment will have President and CEO of Verimetra, Inc. in on neutrino scattering, one of the most sensitivity that is orders of magnitude Pittsburgh. The company manufactures important research programs at the Lab. better than any other current effort with blood velocity sensors embedded at objectives of measuring the properties the tip of very small catheters used in Nikos Varelas (Ph.D. ’94) has been of the bottom quark. For his many contri- cancer treatment procedures. Michele’s promoted to tenure as associate pro- butions to scholarship and improvement brother Stefano Migliuolo (Ph.D. ’77) fessor of physics at the University of of academic life at Syracuse, Sheldon left MIT several years ago and joined Illinois at Chicago. He is also in charge has been presented with the Chancellor’s Raytheon Network Centric Systems of searches for the Higgs boson at the Citation for Exceptional Academic Company, where he is currently the D-Zero experiment at Fermilab. Achievement. head and senior principal systems

Special Showing of Copenhagen Arranged by SPS

This past fall, our chapter of the Society for Physics Students (SPS) arranged special rates for a performance of the play Copen- hagen at Rochester’s Geva Theatre. The story is about the great theorists Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr, who revolutionized atomic physics before the onset of World War II. By 1941, these two friends were polarized by the politics of the Second World War. The nuclear future of the globe rested in the hands of Heisenberg, Bohr, and their colleagues. One thing is certain, and that is that Heisenberg visited Bohr in Copenhagen in 1941, but it is less clear what exactly was discussed. Winner of the 2002 Tony Award for Best Play, Copenhagen is a riveting exploration of differing recollections of the conversation that might have taken place that day, a conversation that may have altered the trajectory of the entire world. Unfortunately, in the very first few minutes of the special performance, one of the leading actors fell off the stage, and the show was canceled! The SPS took immediate action, and resched- uled the attendance at Geva. According to all those that could make it on the second round, the evening was a great success, leaving much to think and talk about, both in and out of class.

Thank You

We gratefully acknowledge recent donations of alumni and friends to the University. Those whose gifts were contributed directly to the department are indicated by an asterisk (*). If you intended your donation for the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and your name does not have an asterisk, please let us know so that an account adjustment can be made. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this list. If you find an error or an omission, please let us know by calling us at (585) 275-4344, or by an e-mail to [email protected]. If you change your postal or e-mail address, please contact Bob Knox with your new whereabouts ([email protected]).

Appelera Corporation* Heurtley, John C.* Lev, Naomi B.* Power, Wesley* Ball Corporation* Holroyd, Edmond William* Lichtin, Harold H.* Robson, Wylie Bayer, Joan Jacobsen, Edward* Lockheed Martin Foundation* Sakita-Mozeson, Mariko* Beale, Carol Kaminstein, Joshua* Luckey, George and Doris* Seward, Fred* Chu, Steven* Keck, Margaret Ramsey* Mozeson, Mark* Shlesinger, Michael and Nava* Garvin, Hugh and Kernan, Warnick* Osman, Mark Sproull, Mary and Robert* Shirley* Klein, Myron Paxhia, Emmanuel Temperley, Judith* Gaspari, George* Koehler, Peter* Pearson Education* Whitley, Richard Morgan* Guertin, Robert Powell* Kozikowski, Derek M.* Peelle, Robert Wolf, Emil and Marlies* Hertz Foundation Lamb, Donald Q.* Pieper, Steven and Gail W.* Zou, Xingyu*

9 Physics and Astronomy • WINTER 2004 Need Your Help

Bob Knox is searching! Maintaining an updated list of former colleagues and students in the department is not an easy task, and often thankless. Nevertheless, being of stout spirit, Bob has done a splendid job over the past several years to assure that each edition of Cross Sections makes it through to most of you. Now Bob needs your help. It seems that we have lost contact with some of our friends, and Bob is terribly concerned and cannot sleep at night because of this. Can you look at the partial list of former students with a degree in physics or physics and astronomy given below, and if you know how to reach any of these individuals, please alert them or send an e-mail to Bob ([email protected]) so that he can rest easy.

1964 Perlman, Stanley Frederick, Robert 1976 Frankel, Ira Shen, Ming-Liang Maa, Yeou-Wei Kern, Bruce Shibut, Dennis Smith, Barham Khare, Vijay 1965 Rosenberg, Fred Smith, Charles A. M-Tehrani, Shahin Batt, John Trost, David Landau, Robert 1969 1977 Becherrawy, Tamer 1972 Bayley, Cynthia 1966 Bhargava, Raj K. Chen, Jen-I Ginsberg, Charles Aldins, Janis Parekh, Amala Giray, A. Goto, Tetsuya Barmanroy, Binoy Oyanna, Gabriel Mukherjee, Avijit Trahern, Charles Beach, Steven Rehler, Nicholas Schurmann, H. K. Weinstein, Rita Gregory, Mitchell Kazi, Rafik A. 1970 1974 1978 Lalor, Sean Eamon Bass, Ronald Christman, Sue 1967 Lawson, James Magde, John Gulkok, Yusuf Dell, Jeffrey Maasha, Ntungwa Nti, Kofi O. Presicci, Manny McClung, David Najmabadi, Farzaneh Prasad, Mahendra 1979 1968 Subba Rao, Jandhyala 1975 Dranchak, M. B. Bahnsen, Axel 1971 Kim, Jihn Eui Elliott, Friedrich Chanda, Rajat Charlu, Srinivas Manare, Abraham Pandey, Akhilesh Nagai, Yoshikazo Endal, Andrew Morshedzeh-Tehrani, M. McLaughlin, Michael

Meliora Weekend Rocky Kolb of the University of Chicago and Fermilab wowed a packed Hubbell Auditorium during Meliora Weekend with his unmatchable sense of humor and his remarkable insights into the nature of the Cosmos. He even impressed our provost, Charles Phelps, who asked Rocky to autograph a copy of Blind Watchers of the Sky, one of Rocky’s many contributions to spreading science to a general audience.

10 Physics and Astronomy • WINTER 2004 Departmental Funds

The department has established to attract the most talented young nu- The Leonard Mandel Endowment several funds that greatly benefit clear and particle physicists to continue Fund. This will fund the Leonard Mandel departmental activities. They are: their research in the department. Faculty Scholar Award in Optical Science at the University of Rochester and be The David L. Dexter and Elliott W. The C. E. Kenneth Mees Observatory used to support one graduate student. Montroll Lecture Fund. Established in Fund. Established in 1977, this fund is the 1980s in memory of Professors Dex- for the discretionary use of the director Contributions from alumni and friends ter and Montroll, these funds support of the University’s Mees Observatory in are the dominant source of income to an annual lecture by an outstanding support of observatory activities, such these funds. If you would like to support scientist as part of either the Dexter as the upgrade to the facility. the department, please mark the appro- Lecture or the Montroll Lecture Series. priate box on the form below and send it The Physics and Astronomy Alumni with your contribution. Donations may The Robert E. Marshak Memorial Fund. Fund. Established in 1968, this fund is be tax deductible, and donations of ap- This fund will be used to support the for the discretionary use of the chair of preciated securities may also carry tax newly created postdoctoral Robert E. the Department of Physics and Astron- advantages. The department is grateful Marshak Research Fellowships, intended omy in support of departmental activities. for any help you give.

I wish to contribute to the following fund: ❑ The David L. Dexter and Elliott W. Montroll Lecture Funds ❑ The Robert E. Marshak Memorial Fund ❑ The C. E. Kenneth Mees Observatory Fund ❑ The Physics and Astronomy Alumni Fund ❑ The Leonard Mandel Endowment Fund

My contribution: $

❑ Check enclosed ❑ VISA ❑ MasterCard Card # Exp. Date

Name

Address

Year/Degree

If donating by check, please make sure your check is payable to the “University of Rochester,” and indicate that it is for the “Department of Physics and Astronomy.” Be sure to check the specific fund to which your donation should be applied. Gifts of appreciated securities are also gratefully accepted. Please return this form to:

Chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Rochester P.O. Box 270171 Rochester, NY 14627-0171 USA

11 UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS A&S581-25C-104EP