UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy PhD Defense Sten Delos “Probing the Early Universe Using Dark Matter Minihalos” Through their observable properties, the first and smallest dark matter halos represent a rare probe of subkiloparsec-scale variations in the density of the early … Read more
Physics and Astronomy Thesis Proposal Presentation Thomas Dombrowski "From single to many: swimming and collective behavior at intermediate Reynolds numbers" Living organisms dynamically self-assemble into large clusters exhibiting complex collective behavior, such as bait balls and bird flocks. This emergent … Read more
UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy PhD Dissertation Defense Carisa Miller “Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Early Universe” Less than 5% of the current energy content of the Universe is contained in Standard Model (SM) particles; the remaining 95% is … Read more
Physics and Astronomy PhD Defense David Little "Nature of Low-Spin Excitations and Shape Coexistence in 64Ni" The structure of 64Ni, the heaviest stable Ni isotope, has been investigated to search for shape coexistence, a phenomenon recently observed in neutron-rich 66Ni … Read more
UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy PhD Dissertation Defense Jeff Ratzloff “Designing and Building the Evryscopes, Fast Transit Search Results” Fast astronomical events offer a window into exciting stellar, binary, and planetary astrophysics that enhance our understanding of stellar formation and evolution, … Read more
Physics and Astronomy Senior Undergraduate Honors Thesis Defense Roark Habegger "A Time-Dependent Grid for Simulations of Binary Neutron Star Merger Ejecta" Heavy r-process elements have been observed in the spectra of binary neutron star merger ejecta, suggesting that binary neutron … Read more
UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy PhD Dissertation Defense Casey Berger “Circumventing the sign problem in rotating quantum matter” Quantum field theories with a complex action suffer from a sign problem in stochastic nonperturbative treatments, making many systems of great interest – … Read more
UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy PhD Defense Josh McKenney “PROPERTIES AND THERMODYNAMICS OF ANOMALOUS ONE-DIMENSIONAL FERMIONS” In ultracold Fermi gases, the spatial dimension and the number of particles involved in interactions largely determine the behavior of the system. By exploiting harmonic … Read more
Physics and Astronomy Masters Defense Gaither Frye Composition and Morphology of Conjugated Polymer Brush and Analogous Spuncast Films Organic semiconductors possess properties for the development of low cost, highly tunable, and easy to fabricate electronic and photonic components that stand … Read more
UNC-CH Physics and Astronomy Thesis Proposal Presentation Britta Gorman “The effect of crosslinkage, scission, and stress on the mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix” It is known that variations in hierarchical structuring and length of biopolymers affect the mechanical properties … Read more