UNC physics professor Christian Iliadis publishes the second, enlarged edition of a textbook, entitled “Nuclear Physics of Stars”. The first edition, published in 2007, has been widely used by instructors for teaching classes on nuclear astrophysics and has become the standard in the field. For more information, see the publisher’s website:
Ryan Petersburg, a senior physics and music major at UNC, has won an Undergraduate Research Presentation Award at the APS April meeting that was held in Baltimore from April 11-14. His poster presented work completed as part of his Honor’s Thesis and was entitled “Electromagnet Design for an Experimental Search for CP Violation in Positronium Decay”. The award was “in recognition of an outstanding presentation of undergraduate research at the American Physical Society April Meeting”. The poster is currently on display between rooms 246 and 248 in Phillips Hall. Congratulations Ryan!
Peter Higgs, professor emeritus in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh, was presented with an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during a ceremony at the University of Edinburgh on March 3.The honor was presented to Higgs by Carol L. Folt, chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill, at a ceremony hosted by Professor Richard Kenway, vice principal of high performance computing for the University of Edinburgh. After the ceremony, the Institute of Physics and Edinburgh City Council unveiled a commemorative plaque honoring Higgs at the central Edinburgh office in which he wrote his seminal papers.
“Nearly half a century ago, Professor Higgs found himself at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill conducting revolutionary work in physics and his work continues to inspire us,” said Chancellor Folt. “His research had a profound impact on the field of fundamental physics, and his example motivates our faculty and students to pursue their passions and make their own significant mark on their discipline.”
Photo credit: David Cheskin
Folt explained that the honorary degree was presented in recognition of Higgs’ revolutionary work in particle physics that culminated in 2012 with the identification of the Higgs boson and his subsequent honor of being jointly awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physics.
Professor Kenway said, “It is truly historic to celebrate such a seminal theory in physics with its author, Peter Higgs, in the building where he first wrote it more than 50 years ago, and in the company of some of his colleagues from that time.”
On July 4, 2012, physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, announced that a Higgs boson-like particle (named after Peter Higgs) had been found. This discovery proved the final piece of the standard model of elementary particle physics: a theoretical framework that describes all fundamental particles and forces except gravity. According to the theory advanced by Higgs and others, elementary particles acquire their mass from their interactions with the Higgs field that permeates all space.
As with all quantum fields, there is a particle associated with the Higgs field. Finding the Higgs boson proved the existence of the Higgs field. The theoretical paper that lies behind the CERN experiments was written by Higgs in 1965-1966 during his tenure at the Bahnson Institute of Field Physics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Higgs’ work has played a central role in physicists’ quest to unify the forces of nature.
“The UNC Department of Physics and Astronomy is honored to be associated with the work on symmetry breaking Professor Higgs conducted while a visitor to our department in 1965 and 1966,” said department chair Christopher J. Clemens. “We congratulate him on his many accomplishments as he receives an honorary PhD from our Chancellor Carol Folt.”
Higgs graduated from King’s College London with a first class honors degree in physics in 1950, a master’s degree in 1952 and a doctorate in 1954.
Students are finally getting the opportunity to utilize Phillips 335 following renovation of the space to create a new classroom. The former library / storage space has been given an overhaul in order to allow students to have a better collaborative learning experience. Both physics and math courses are taught in the space, and the response to the new classroom so far has been positive.
An article in the October 2014 issue of Physics World Magazine discusses the Majorana team’s work in the Sanford Underground Research Facility to combat cosmic radiation which interferes with their neutrino experiments. The project’s overall goal is to test whether neutrinos are their own antiparticle. The article details the project team’s efforts to install detectors with ultra-pure copper, much of it machined in-house at the facility, to reduce the types of cosmic rays which interfere with their experiment data. UNC Physics Professor John Wilkerson, a PI on the project, was interviewed for the article. The full Physics World article is linked below.
UNC physics professor Laura Mersini-Houghton was featured in the October 2014 issue of Discover magazine. In the article, she says that anomalies in the Planck full sky map may be evidence of multiverses. The Planck mapping project measures cosmic radiation which resulted shortly after the formation of the universe. Dr. Mersini-Houghton believes that asymmetry in these maps is an indication that, rather than there being a single universe in existence, there are many. The full article from Discover is linked below.
An automated optics system developed in part by UNC Professor Nick Law brings clarity to astronomical observation. The robotic adaptive optics system (Robo-AO) has already been used to observe 715 of the star systems detected by the Kepler Space Mission. It utilizes lasers to reduce atmospheric noise and capture data automatically, eliminating the need for manual telescope calibration and thus saving time while producing very high quality results. There are plans to develop similar technology on UNC’s SOAR telescope project in Chile.
A novel telescope proposed by UNC astronomer Nick Law will take images of the whole sky every two minutes to look for exoplanets transiting in front of their host stars, and other transient events. The project has been fully funded by the NSF Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation (ATI) program and has been featured in MIT Technology Review.
Astronomers have identified what is quite possibly the coldest, faintest white dwarf star ever discovered. Its carbon has cooled to a point that it has crystallized, creating what is essentially a “diamond” in space that is roughly the size of earth. UNC-CH graduate student Bart Dunlap contributed to the research that led to this finding.
A few days ago, we teased that we have an exciting result to share with you. Here it is!
On June 3rd, Chariklo — the largest object between Saturn and Uranus — passed in front of a relatively bright star. It cast a shadow across South America.
The UNC Physics and Astronomy Department is doing its part to transform large lecture halls into smaller, more personal learning environments. Along with many other departments in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences, P&A is providing students the opportunity to participate in a hands-on learning experience.
More on this story can be found at the UNC Spotlight website.
The Sanford Lab in Lead, South Dakota, will be featured in a category on the game show ‘Jeopardy!’ this Friday, 2/21/2014. The lab is the home of research related to the MAJORANA project. Click the link below for the full story.
