| Prof. W.J. Mullin | U | Professor Mullin's research interests are in quantum fluids and solids. He and his collaborators have studied polarized Fermi fluids, including pure liquid 3He, 3He gas, and dilute solutions of 3He in liquid 4He. Thermal conductivity, viscosity, and spin diffusion in these systems are interesting because of their strong dependence on the degree of magnetic polarization. Recently, he has extended his studies of polarized systems to solid paramagnets, including solid 3He. The recent discovery of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in alkali gases held in magnetic traps has caused excitement among researchers. In these gases particles avalanche into the lowest quantum state at a certain temperature. Prof. Mullin and his collaborators have been studying what happens in two-dimensional versions of these systems. |
| Prof. Donald Candela | U | Prof. Candela's research
activity is divided between two areas: (a) quantum fluids and solids at very low temperatures, and (b) classical statistical systems at ambient temperature. |
| Prof. R.A. Guyer | U | There is behavior seen in the properties of a rock, concrete, and soils that must have a description that is independent of the specifics of those systems. What are the generic elements of a suitable description of the elastic properties of consolidated materials? Examples include rocks, soils, concrete, and wet sand. How do we develop a description of systems for which the equation of state is not an analytic function of the state variables? |
| Prof. J. Friedman | A | AC Suceptibility Measurements: Two effects have been observed in Mn 12 that regulate a sample's relaxation rate - a characteristic rate at which the molecules can change the alignment of their spin-state. We plan to study this by making AC susceptibility measurements of a sample of Mn 12 acetate. These will allow us to determine the sample's relaxation rate. By varying the temperature (near a few degrees Kelvin) and the DC transverse magnetic field, we will test theories that predict how the relaxation rate depends on transverse magnetic field and attempt to find the specific states from which tunneling is occurring. This should allow us to determine the strength of the internal magnetic field required to cause the observed tunneling. Knowledge of the magnitude of the required field will facilitate the determination of the source of the tunneling-inducing field and will help answer the question, "What causes spin-state tunneling in Mn 12 acetate?" |
| Prof. Mark Tuominen | U | Professor Tuominen's research work is centered on the science and technology of quantum nanostructures. This work involves the fabrication of new nanometer-scale devices and materials systems, together with experiments that probe the interesting electronic and magnetic behavior these tiny devices exhibit. |
| Prof. Jenny Traschen | U | Prof. Traschen's research is in the general area of classical and quantum gravity. In the past few years this has focused on black holes and related objects, particularly on black branes in String Theory and M-Theory. Her broad areas of interest have been the phenomena of black hole thermodynamics and evaporation, positive mass theorems and BPS states in gravity, classical solutions and quantum instanton solutions, and the interactions between solitonic objects. |
| Prof. K. Jagannathan | A | I work primarily in the area of High Energy Theoretical Physics. I am also interested in classical field theory, foundations of quantum mechanics, and geometrical and algebraic structures common to several areas of theoretical physics. My recent research has been on the question of the cancellation of infrared and mass singularities up to one-loop in finite temperature quantum field theories. Senior Physics majors in the last five years have worked with me on a wide range of theoretical projects for their honors theses: the possible use of the three photon decay of orthopositronium for testing Bell type inequalities; infrared singularities at finite temperatures; energy, momentum, and radiation from charges in general relativity; connnection between path integrals and the WKB approximation; certain difficulties with Bohm's ontological interpretation of quantum mechanics; and the explicit forms of C,P, and T operators for the K meson system, and the question of anti- particles. |