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Self-Evaluation Report of the Racah Institute of Physics

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Self-Evaluation Report of the Racah Institute of Physics The Quality Assessment Racah Institute of Physics and Assurance Division Jan 1, 2017 To: Postdoctoral Fellowship in Astrophysics Selection Committee, פרופ' ניר שביב יושב ראש מכון רקח לפיסיקה Letter of recommendation for David Benyamin Prof. Nir Shaviv Chairman It is with pleasure that I write this letter of recommendation for David Benyamin. I have Racah Inst of Physics known David since his undergraduate studies, as he has taken 3 courses with me. He later finished a very nice master's thesis, which I co-advised, together with Prof. Tsvi Piran (while Self-Evaluationalso collaborating withReport of the Racah Prof. Ehud Nakar from Tel-Aviv University). And he has since continued working with us on the topic of cosmic ray propagation in the Milky Way. Recently,Institute of Physics he submitted his PhD theses which summarizes his interesting, productive and important research. During the present year he is a post-doc in our group and he plans moving to the US for a more prolonged post-doc in the summer. As an undergraduate, David was an active participant in class. He was above average and his enthusiasm was very much apparent (enough, that I knew him already in the first basic mechanics and relativity course, among 150 students!), which is why when he approached and asked for a master's project, I was happy that we found a interesting one. For his masters, David developed from scratch a Monte Carlo simulation describing the diffusion of cosmic rays, from an inhomogeneous and dynamic source distribution in the Milky Way, while allowing for inhomogeneous diffusion parameters. This was the first fully 3D model which included the effects of inhomogeneities in the source distribution as well as the dynamics of the sources. The inhomogeity was later incorporated to the two other main models in the community, but not the dynamics aspect, making David's numerical model still unique. DuringFall his 2018masters, the model included all the nuclear spallation chains up to Oxygen, and the various hadronic interaction with the interstellar medium. Thus, the model was suitable to describe secondary cosmic rays formed while interacting with the interstellar medium. The main results of that work were to show that the observed behavior of the secondary to primary ratio in cosmic rays, as a function of energy (e.g., as exemplified with the boron to carbon [B/C] ratio), can naturally be explained given the fact that most cosmic rays are formed in dynamic spiral arms. Specifically, standard models predict that the B/C ratio should decrease with energy (because higher energy cosmic rays diffuse faster out of the galaxy, producing less secondaries). However, the observed B/C ratio appears to be an increasing function of energy at energies below 1GeV. This is often explained through various assumptions (some of which are quite ad hoc). In his simulation, David has shown קרית אדמונד י' ספרא that just by considering that cosmic rays are primarily formed in the vicinity of dynamic גבעת רם spiral arms, one automatically recovers a B/C which increases at energies below about 1 ירושלים 91904 GeV, as is observed. This provides a natural solution to a 30 year old riddle. (see טלפון: 02-6585807 ( http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/782/1/34 נייד: 054-4738555 פקס: 02-5611519 For his PhD, david continued by generalizing and extending the work he did for his masters. Edmond J. Safra campus Givat Ram First, David extended the spallation network up to Iron and Nickel. With it we could make Jerusalem 91904, Israel additional predictions for the ratio of secondary to primary particles. We could show that Tel. 972-2-6585807 the discrepancy between the grammage needed to explain the B/C ratio and the grammage Cell. 972-54-4738555 needed to explain the sub-Iron to Iron ratio is naturally explained once source Fax. 972-2-5611519 [email protected] inhomogeneity is considered. These results were published recently. (see http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/826/1/47 ) Second, David added the description of electron capture isotopes, which are unstable in the lab as they capture their bound electrons. However, as cosmic rays, they are stripped and Table of Contents Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................... 2 1. Executive Summary .......................................................................................................................... 3 2. The Institution .................................................................................................................................. 5 3. Internal Quality Assurance ............................................................................................................... 7 4. The Parent Unit .............................................................................................................................. 10 5. The Department/Study Program .................................................................................................... 12 5.1. Study Programs .......................................................................................................................... 12 5.2. Teaching and Learning Outcomes ............................................................................................. 18 5.3. Students ..................................................................................................................................... 21 5.4. Human Resources ...................................................................................................................... 27 5.5. Diversity ..................................................................................................................................... 30 5.6. Research ..................................................................................................................................... 32 5.7. Infrastructure ............................................................................................................................. 37 5.8. Ultra-Orthodox Study Program .................................................................................................. 40 Additional Required Materials ................................................................................................................ 41 1. Executive Summary 1.1. A short summary of the main strengths and weaknesses that were pointed out in the self- evaluation process. The Racah Institute (RI) of Physics has a long impressive record of both high-level research and high level teaching. It is not an accident that its graduates found themselves with prominent achievements (from a prime minister to a Nobel laureate). Following is a summary of its strengths and weaknesses. Weaknesses: 1. One of the main bothersome problems is a clear gender asymmetry and total absence of minorities within the faculty. Although significant attempts to solve this problem are taken, it is hard to solve at the hiring level given that only 10% of the applicants are women and none over the past 5 years have been minorities (non-Jewish Israelis), and that no compromise in academic level is accepted. 2. The undergraduate program is presently not suited for international students. Intentions to have 3rd year courses suitable for exchange students are underway. And although the graduate courses are automatically switched to English if any student requires, the international exposure is still low at the graduate level. 3. There has been a general decline (in all of Israel) in the number of M.Sc. students, making it harder to either keep or attract students to the graduate program (though the registration for the upcoming year is encouraging). 4. The department is distributed over 13 buildings (with faculty offices in no less than 7 building including split groups). This makes it hard to keep a cohesive department. 5. Some disciplines are under-represented (e.g., Nuclear Physics due to retirements). 6. Insufficient number of administrative and technical staff reduce the department’s productivity. Strengths: 1. Undergraduate and Graduate Study programs are excellent, producing first rate graduates (for example, finding themselves at the best places in the US as post-docs and even as faculty). 2. The department is young and vibrant (due to the size that has recently started increasing, about 70% of the non-emeriti senior faculty joined after 2000). 3. The department is becoming more international. John Howell, Nick Stone, Eric Kuflik and Yonathan Anahory are Americans/Canadian that decided to join the department and immigrate to Israel even though each one had options elsewhere abroad. 4. Researchers and research groups are generally very successful. A few disciplines are particularly strong at the national and international level, in particular Astrophysics, Quantum Information, Brain research and biophysics and Nonlinear Physics. 1.2. A short description of the actions the Institution, the Parent Unit, and the Department are going to take in order to improve the weaknesses that were found. Addressing the weaknesses: 1. Women Faculty: In the hiring process of new faculty, special attention is given to hiring women (e.g., by approaching potential candidates and encouraging application). Graduating women PhDs are encouraged to pursue post-docs, with special programs at the university level. 2. Study program internationalization: The senate standing committee has recently taken the decision to have several undergraduate courses
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