Department of Physics and Astronomy • Department Office/Services • Welcomes • Congratulations • Research Overview
ACADEMIC YEAR 2018/19
Department of Physics and Astronomy • Department Office/Services • Welcomes • Congratulations • Research Overview
Chair’s Colloquium 2018/19 DEPARTMENT STAFF
Department Office Axel Drees Department Chair Nathan Leoce-Schappin Assistant to Chair Graduate Programs Jac Verbaarschot Director Donald Sheehan Assistant Director Undergraduate Programs Bob McCarthy Director Diane Diaferia Assistant Director Business and Grants Management Jin Bentley Lead Manager Vicky Grove Manager
Introducing Department Staff/Services - 2 DEPARTMENT STAFF
Technical Support Staff Frank Chin Director of Laboratories Rich Berscak Building Manager
Instructional Laboratories Bent Nielson Manager Andrzej Lipski Assistant Manager
Machine and Electronics Shop J. Eksi Manager P. DiMatteo, J. Thomas Equipment Designer M. Jablonski, J. Slechta Technical Staff Gene Shafto Technical Staff
Introducing Department Staff/Services - 3 NEW FACULTY
Phil Armitage Professor Department of Physics & Astronomy CCA at the Flatiron Institute
Ph.D. University of Cambridge, UK - 1996 Professor at University of Colorado, Boulder Canadian Inst. for Theoretical Astrophysics, Toronto MPI for Astrophysics Munich
Phil is a professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences. His research focuses on the formation and evolution of planetary systems and the physics of accretion in protostellar and black hole environments. He holds a joint position with the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Simons Foundation's Flatiron Institute as Group Leader for Planet Formation.
Welcome - 4 NEW FACULTY
Jan C. Bernauer Assistant Professor Department of Physics & Astronomy RIKEN BNL Research Center Fellow
Ph.D. Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 2010 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Laboratory for Nuclear Science
Jan is a professor for experimental nuclear physics. He participated in nuclear physics experiments worldwide to investigate the structure of the proton, in particular "the proton radius puzzle", and other questions related to the structure of strongly interacting matter. He will hold a RIKEN BNL Research Center Fellow ship.
Welcome - 5 NEW FACULTY
Jenifer Cano Assistant Professor Department of Physics & Astronomy CCQ at the Flatiron Institute
Ph.D. UC Santa Barbara, 2015 Center for Theoretical Science at Princeton University
Jen is a professor of theoretical condensed matter physics. She studies topological phases of matter and is interested in the classification, experimental probes, material realizations of topological insulators and semi- metals, and in the bulk-boundary correspondence. She will hold a joint position with the Center for Computational Quantum Physics at the Simons Foundation's Flatiron Institute.
Welcome - 6 NEW FACULTY
Cyrus E. Dreyer Assistant Professor Department of Physics & Astronomy CCQ at the Flatiron Institute
Ph.D. UC Santa Barbara Rutgers University
Cyrus is a professor of theoretical condensed matter physics. His research involves developing and implementing first-principles methods based on density functional theory to explore materials for electronic and optoelectronic devices. He will hold a joint position with the Center for Computational Quantum Physics at the Simons Foundation's Flatiron Institute.
Welcome - 7 NEW FACULTY
Will M. Farr Associate Professor Department of Physics & Astronomy CCA at the Flatiron Institute
Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010 Lecturer at University of Birmingham, Institute of Gravitational Wave Astronomy, Northwestern
Will is a professor of astrophysics. His research interests include gravitational- wave astronomy, compact object formation and evolution, the gravitational dynamics of planets and stars, and astrostatistics. He will hold a joint position with the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Simons Foundation's Flatiron Institute as Group Leader for Gravitational Wave Astronomy.
Welcome - 8 UNDERGRADUATE MAJORS
Factor 2.4 in 10 years
Welcome - 9 UNDERGRADUATE MAJORS
Factor 2.4 in 10 years
National Trend factor 1.5
Welcome - 10 GRADUATE STUDENT CLASS 2018 Class of 77 graduate students from 15 countries
29 PhD program 3 MSI program 40 MA program 5 MAT program Russia The Netherlands Romania Germany Turkey Iran Japan US Greece Korea China Taiwan Vietnam India
Brazil
Graduate Students from 15 Countries
Welcome - 11 GRADUATE STUDENT CLASS 2018
Welcome - 12 GRADUATE STUDENT CLASS 2018
Welcome - 13 GRADUATE PROGRAM
Graduates in 2017/18: PhD Program: 20 degrees 18 moved to postdoc positions MA/MS Program: 13 degrees 9 now in PhD programs MAT Program*: 6 degrees 3rd in nations 5+ club *2016/17
Highlights: 2018 DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship Sydney Andrew Advised by Alan Calder 2018 Presidents Distinguished Doctoral and Mike Zingale Thesis Award: Hans Niederhausen Core collapse of Advised by Joanna Kiryluk Supernovae Measurement of the High Energy Astrophysical Neutrino Flux Using Electron and Tau Neutrinos Observed in the Ice Cube
Congratulations - 14 MA IN TEACHING (MAT)
PHYSTEC
The 5+ Club Award given to an institution who graduates 5 or more highly qualified physics teachers per year who become certified to teach physics and are placed in classrooms.
Thriving Physics Teacher Education Programs
Programs who frequently get into the 5+ Club. PHYSTEC is studying these thriving programs as model programs to see how to improve physics teacher education in general. Stony Brook is one of 8 thriving programs, ranked 3rd in terms of number of placed teachers. • Congratulations - 15 FACULTY PROMOTIONS
Marivi Fernandez-Serra Associate Professor to Professor
Neelima Sehgal Assistant Professor to Associate Professor
Congratulations - 16 FACULTY AWARDS
Distinguished Prof. Edward Shuryak receives the 2017 APS Herman Feshbach Prize in Theoretical Nuclear Physics "for his pioneering contributions to the understanding of strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions, and for establishing the foundations of the theory of quark-gluon plasma and its hydrodynamical behavior".
Congratulations - 16 FACULTY AWARDS
Prof. Martin Rocek (YITP) recognized by the 2017 Neuron Award's for his many contributions to theoretical physics and for being a “role model and inspiration for younger generations of scientists". Private Foundation in the Czech Republic
Research Prof. Gabor David was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit for his accomplishments in experimental nuclear physics. David received his PhD at SBU 1991 Congratulations - 17 FACULTY AWARDS
Distinguished Prof. Chang Kee Jung Was named fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Distinguished Prof. Chang Kee Jung 2018 Dean's Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentoring Award is given for the deep devotion to mentoring and the important contribution to academic excellence at Stony Brook University.
Congratulations - 18 FACULTY AWARDS
Associate Prof. Rouven Essig (YITP), and collaborator, received nearly $1-million from the Heising- Simons Foundation for the SENSEI experiment (Sub-Electron Noise Skipper-CCD Experimental Instrument) a novel, ultra-sensitive, table-top direct- detection experiment that will search for dark matter.
Assistant Prof. Navid Vafaei-Najafabadi receives SBU-BNL Seed Grant for “Enabling the Efficient Radiation Sources of the Future Through Investigation of Plasma Instabilities”
Congratulations - 19 FACULTY AWARDS
2018 SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence
Congratulations - 20 RESEARCH AT STONY BROOK • High Energy & Particle Physics • Nuclear Physics • Condensed Matter Physics • Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics • Astronomy and Astrophysics
• C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics
• SCGP: Simon Center for Geometry and Physics • IACS: Institute for Advanced Computational Science • Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology • CFNS: Center for Frontiers in Nuclear Science • CASE: Center for Accelerator Science and Education
• Flatiron Institute: Centers for Computational Astrophysics and Quantum Physics
• iSTEM: Center for Science Education • Many research opportunities at BNL
Research - 21 HIGH ENERGY & PARTICLE PHYSICS
Collider Experiments – ATLAS at LHC
John Hobbs Bob McCarthy Giacinto Piacquadio Michael Rijssenbeek Dimitri Tsybychev Nucleon Decay and Neutrino Experiments
Chang Kee Jung Clark McGrew Michael Wilking
Research - 22 High Energy Experiment: ATLAS Group
Faculty: Hobbs, Piacquadio, McCarthy, Rijssenbeek, Tsybychev Post docs: Thomas Calvet, Lily Morvaj, Vakhtang Tsiskaridze Graduate students: Chris Hayes, Yan Ke, Yidi Qi, (Alyssa Montalbano – now at SFU) and new students welcome! Research Scientists: Chris Bee, Dean Schamberger
Not in pictures: D. Tsybychev, Y. Qi Research primarily related to Higgs Boson Measuring expected decays for the 1st time: H → bb (See recent press release) H → μμ Looking for modifications to reactions, pp → WW (Higgs intermediate in this process) Searching for new physics: Heavy Higgs, H’ → WW Light pseudoscalars, H → aa → μμbb
Also searching for anomalous quartic gauge couplings
Also upgrade electronics design, testing, production. An opportunity to design and build equipment! 9/28/18, Stony Brook Press Release
NUCLEAR PHYSICS
2018 - Nuclear Physics Nuclear Experiment ranks #3 in US up from #4
Jan Bernauer Axel Drees Joanna Kiryluk Abhay Deshpande Tom Hemmick Krishna Kumar Nuclear Theory
Dima Kharzeev Sergey Syritsyn Jac Verbaarschot Edward Shuryak Derek Teaney Ismail Zahed Research - 26 21st Century Nuclear Science Probing nuclear matter in all Its forms & exploring their potential for applications
Where in the universe, and how, were the heavy elements formed? How do supernovae explode?
How are the properties of protons and neutrons, Where are the limits of and the force between them, built up from quarks, nuclear existence, and what is antiquarks and gluons? What is the mechanism the structure of nuclei near by which these fundamental particles materialize those limits? as hadrons?
Will
What is the nature of the How are the nuclear different phases of nuclear Do nucleons and all nuclei, How can the properties of nuclei be building blocks How can technologies matter through which the viewed at near light speed, used to reveal the fundamental manifested in the developed for basic universe has evolved? appear as walls of gluons processes that produced an internal structure of nuclear physics research with universal properties? imbalance between matter and compact stellar be adapted to address antimatter in our universe? objects, like neutron society’s needs? stars? Experimental Nuclear Science Deshpande Deshpande Drees Hemmick Fundamental symmetries Quark Gluon Plasma Hemmick Kumar Nuclear & Nucleon structure Spin Structure of Nucleon Electron scattering Hall A at 12 GeV CEBAF Nulceon & Nuclear collisions with PHENIX and nEXO and sPHENIX at RHIC
PHENIX data analysis
Detector construction for sPHENIX MOLLER SoLID PREX Super BigBite
Astrophysical PeV neutrinos Kiryluk Bernauer Nucleon Structure and IceCube Experiment at Antarctica the Proton Radius Puzzle Lepton Scattering MAMI, DESY, Jlab, PSI
MUSE experiment at PSI Muon-proton scattering New PeV event candidate discovered by SU group Experimental Nuclear Science Deshpande Deshpande Drees Hemmick Fundamental symmetries Quark Gluon Plasma Hemmick Kumar Nuclear & Nucleon structure Spin Structure of Nucleon Electron scattering Hall A at 12 GeV CEBAF Nulceon & Nuclear collisions with PHENIX and nEXO and sPHENIX at RHIC
PHENIX data analysis
Detector construction for sPHENIX MOLLER SoLID PREX Super BigBite
Astrophysical PeV neutrinos Kiryluk Bernauer Nucleon Structure and IceCube Experiment at Antarctica the Proton Radius Puzzle Lepton Scattering MAMI, DESY, Jlab, PSI
MUSE experiment at PSI Muon-proton scattering New PeV event candidate discovered by SU group Recent news and results
IceCube, muon neutrinos
At SBU we focus on astrophysical electron and tau neutrino observations: their flux measurement and n-N cross section measurement at the TeV-PeV energies.
Yiqian Xu (SBU): new analysis release of results electron and tau n-N cross section vs n energy
En > EeV sensitivity to new physics
(this analysis)
published in Nature 551 (2017)
TeV PeV Log(E/GeV) Nuclear Theory Group Research in all areas of modern nuclear physics: QCD, quark-gluon plasma, chiral matter, hadron structure, lattice field theory. Interdisciplinary connections to condensed matter, cosmology ..
Green’s function mapping initial conditions in heavy ion collisions to later times when hydrodynamics begins to apply (Mazeliasuskas, Teaney)
Holographic description of DIS (Mamo, Zahed) 1.2 Exp. [Alberico] Plat., D5, p~0 =(− 4, 0, 0) 1.0 2-state, D5, p~0 =(− 4, 0, 0) 2-state, D5, p~0 =(− 3, − 3, 0)
) 0 2 0.8 2-state, D6, p~ =(− 5, 0, 0)
QCD magnetic monopoles in Q
Hadron structure in (
p M
G 0.6
the quark-gluon plasma / p
lattice QCD: the nucleon E
G p (Ramamurti, Shuryak) formfactor µ 0.4 (Syritsyn et al) 0.2
0.0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Q2 [GeV2]
Free energy of the SYK model computed Quantum oscillations in (Jia, Verbaarschot) the chiral magnetic conductivity predicted (Kaushik, Kharzeev) CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS Condensed Matter Experiment
Matt Dawber Xu Du Mengkun Liu Condensed Matter Theory
Sasha Abanov Dimitri Averin Jen Cano Cyrus Dreyer Marivi Fernandez-Serra
Research - 32 Experimental Condensed Matter Group
Quantum Transport in Low Nano-scale Infrared Near-field Artificially Layered Ferroelectric Dimensional Materials imaging of strongly correlated Oxides (students wanted) electron materials and metamaterials
2D Quantum Devices
Growth and characterization Charge transport in novel 2D materials of nanostructured oxide thin Terahertz near-field scanning microscope and interactions with superconductivity, films to create new materials Ferroelectricity (with Dawber group), and Insulator Radiation (With Liu group) Metallic Insulating 100 nm
Nanoscale investigation of phase transition in
transition metal oxide (Ca2RuO4)
2D materials under strain
Synchrotron X-ray Diffraction at NSLS-II with multiple experiments at ISR (in-situ diffraction during material growth) and CHX (coherent x- ray photon correlation spectroscopy of Nanoscale investigation of THz dynamics in ferroelectric domain wall motion) chiral magnetic material ZrTe5 (left: AFM, right: THz imaging) Du group Dawber group Liu group Condensed matter theory and computation
• Jennifer Cano studies topological phases of matter and is interested in the classification, experimental probes, material realizations of topological insulators and semi-metals, and in the bulk-boundary correspondence.
• Cyrus Dreyer’s research involves developing and implementing first-principles methods based on density functional theory to explore materials for electronic and optoelectronic devices.
• Marivi Fernandez-Serra:
• Leading the Artificial Intelligence effort on a new DOE center - Chemistry in solution and at Interfaces - with Princeton. Incorporating machine learning and artificial intelligence in density functional theory for more accurate and efficient simulation methods.
• Newly established LBECA direct Dark Matter search collaboration with Essig et all: Condensed matter modeling of dark matter particles scattering with electrons in Xenon.
• Dmitri Averin: Superconducting Qubits and quantum mesoscopic and device physics.
• Phil Allen: Phonon thermal conductivity, thermal boundary resistance, quasiparticle thermodynamics, pyroelectric and other thermal shifts Condensed matter theory Sasha Abanov Current members: Gabriel Cardoso
• Strongly correlated quantum systems • Low-dimensional systems • Topological effects in condensed matter physics CMT+QFT+MathPhys • Hydrodynamics of quantum systems • Integrable models
Recent works
A. G. Abanov Public lecture in ICTS, Bangalore, India What is common between falling cats and the Quantum Hall Effect?
A. G. Abanov, T. Can, and S. Ganeshan arXiv:1801.10150, SciPost Phys. 5, 010 (2018) Odd surface waves in two-dimensional incompressible fluids ATOMIC MOLECULAR AND OPTICAL PHYSICS (AMO)
Tom Weinacht Tom Allison Eden Figueroa Hal Metcalf Dominik Schneble
Research - 36 Yuning Chen, PhD Cavity-enhanced ultrafast Spectroscopy → Industry Spencer Horton, PhD Ludwig Krinner, PhD Mehdi Namazi, PhD Ultrafast mol. dyn. & Matter-wave Q. proc. network photoionization quantum optics → Yale (postdoc) → Industry → PTB Gemany (postdoc)
Ultrafast Quantum Optical forces spectroscopy and Ultracold technology and laser cooling control atoms & quantum gases Metcalf Figueroa Weinacht Schneble Allison Openings for students! http://amo.physics.sunysb.edu/AMO/ TuTh 5:30-6:50
Ultracold Atomic Physics Weisskopf-Wigner model (1930) ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS Cosmology
Will Farr Anja v.d.Linden Marilena LoVerde Rosalba Perna Neelima Sehgal (YITP) Computational - Nuclear Observational Astronomy
Phil Armitage Alan Calder Jim Lattimer Mike Zingale Jin Koda Fred Walter
Research - 40 Stony Brook Cosmology Group Faculty Research • Will Farr Theoretical and observational cosmology: • Anja von der Linden black holes, inflation, microwave • Marilena Loverde background, dark energy, dark matter, • Rosalba Perna galaxies and galaxy clusters, gravitational • Neelima Sehgal lensing, large-scale structure, neutrinos, Postdocs 21 cm, gravitational waves • Thejs Brinckmann • Ricardo Herbonnet • Nathan Leigh
Students LIGO • Lucie Baumont (grad) • Dongwon Han (grad) Atacama Cosmology Telescope, Simons Observatory, CMB-S4 • Andrew Jamieson (grad) • Shuang Liang (grad) • William Tyndall (grad) BMX • Yihan Wang (grad) • Jiani Ye (grad) Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Computation and Nuclear Astrophysics
Faculty / Postdocs Grad Students Undergrads
Alan Calder Sydney Andrews Abby Bishop
Alice Harpole Maria Barrios Sazo Ying-Tai Chen
James Lattimer Zhan Hengrui Chris Degrendele
Doug Swesty Xinlong Li Kiran Eiden
Michael ZIngale Tianqi Zhao Blaire Ness
Research Interests News Type Ia supernovae Don Willcox receives PhD, joins LBNL X-ray bursts Mu-Hung Chang defends MA, starts PhD at UT Knoxville Core-collapse supernovae Our group is funded as part of the DOE Neutron star interiors SciDAC TEAMS collaboration Gravitational Radiation Alice Harpole joins group High performance computing Maria Barrios Sazo receives IACS Jr Researcher Award Hydrodynamics algorithms PRL on analysis of GW170817 GPU programming Verification & Validation Open science / reproducibility Background image: merging white dwarf calculation run with our Castro hydrodynamics code. Research Highlight C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics [YITP] (I)
Broad Coverage of Theoretical Physics Particle and collider physics, dark matter, cosmology Field & string theory, mathematical physics Quantum information, statistical mechanics About 20 students working in a variety of areas. SCGP Physics Permanent Members are YITP Faculty
-- Collaborating with the Department & maintaining strong ties to Brookhaven theory groups, including opportunities for student research.
Simons Center Faculty (Physics and Math)
Director of the Simons Center: Luis Álvarez-Gaumé Deputy Director: Sasha Abanov Senior Faculty Members: Simon Donaldson, Kenji Fukaya, Zohar Komargodski, John Morgan, Nikita Nekrasov and Samson Shatashvili
Special event: “The Sense of Beauty” – October 2nd Fall 2018: Program
Exactly Solvable Models of Quantum Field Theory and Statistical Mechanics: September 4 - November 30, 2018 Organized by: Nathan Haouzi, Vladimir E. Korepin, Sergei L. Lukyanov, Nikita A. Nekrasov, Samson Shatashvili, and Alexander B. Zamolodchikov
FALL 2018: WORKSHOPS • Simons Collaboration on Special Holonomy in Geometry, Analysis, and Physics: September 9-12, • Geometrical Aspects of Supersymmetry: October 22 - 26, • Developments in Quantum Field Theory and Condensed Matter Physics: November 5 - 7, 2018 • Nonequilibrium Physics in Biology: December 3 - 7, 2018 • Entanglement and Dynamical Systems: December 10 - 14, 2018 • Vertex Algebras and Gauge Theory: December 17 - 21, 2018
Seminars and events: http://scgp.stonybrook.edu Research - 49 Activities in 2017-2018 • Workshops & meetings • 9 in 2018 • ~200 scientists visited CFNS http://www.stonybrook.edu/cfns • Bi-monthly joint seminars (SBU/BNL) Established in Fall 2017 with • 40+ seminars and special talks in 2018 generous support from the Simon’s Foundation and NY State. A collaboration between • Visitors program & exchange visitor Stony Brook & BNL to create a program with other Centers being frontier research center to established support the US Electron Ion Collider (EIC) and enhance the US Nuclear Science • Post doctoral fellow program: local and joint-remote post docs with remote universities Participation from EIC and QCD enthusiasts from around the world. • Annual summer school for 30+ students starting in 2019 Institute for Advance Computational Sciences Alan Calder and Marivi Fernandez-Serra • Core members of IACS (Calder is deputy director) • Phil Allen, Mike Zingale and Sergey Syritsyn are affiliated faculty. • Research in computational astrophysics, condensed matter physics, and nuclear physics • Graduate Certificate on Computational Science • Fellowship and award opportunities for students working for core and affiliated faculty of IACS • Large amount of computer resources both for affiliated and SBU faculty. Laufer Center Physics meets Biology of the Cell & Proteins
Jin Wang, Gabor Balazsi, Carlos Simmerling, Ken Dill.
Theory: Cellular machines. Cell evolution.
Computer modeling: Protein folding. Drug design. t Experiments: Designing gene circuits to control cells. Accelerator Physics research CASE faculty and students are involved in a number of theoretical and experimental research activities: eRHIC design, Coherent electron Cooling, Polarized Gatling Gun, Super-conducting RF system, Laser-plasma Vladimir Navid Vafaei- accelerators, Free-electron lases, Future Circular Collider Litvinenko Najafabadi See http://case.physics.stonybrook.edu Recent achievements Discovery of Plasma-Cascade Instability New apparatus for plasma accelerator experiment at BNL Accelerator Physics courses Continue to teach accelerator physics courses: intro-, advanced, lab. This Fall: PHY 554, Fundamentals of Accelerator Physics
Vladimir Yichao Gang Litvinenko Jing Wang CASE member are from various departments (P&A, Applied Math, Engineering, Material Sciences…). We have eight graduate students (seven from P&A), two post-docs and are in process of recruiting more. About 30 people from SBU and BNL are involved in CASE.
August 30, 2018 The mission of the Flatiron Institute is to advance scientific research through computational methods including data analysis, modeling, and simulations
Privately supported by the Simons Foundation
Center for Center for Center for Scientific Computational Computational Computational Core Computing Astrophysics (CCA) Biology (CCB) Quantum Physics (CCQ)
Astronomical data Biophysical modeling Dynamics and Control Compact objects Genomics Quantum Materials Cosmology X data Science Neuroscience Software Projects Galaxy formation Numerical Algorithms Theory and Methods Gravitational waves Systems Biology Planet formation Members Cano and Dreyer Group leaders: Armitage & Farr Associate members: CCA founded 2015 – CCQ founded in 2016 Perna, Sehgal Each center is expected to have ~60 scientific employees and Zingale Thank you
See you Friday at West MeadowThank you Beach West Meadow Beach Party 2017