| Electroweak and Flavor Symmetry Breaking | Prof. Chivukula studies the theory and phenomenology of electroweak and flavor symmetry breaking, collider phenomenology, astroparticle physics, and the dynamics of chiral symmetry breaking. | R. Sekhar Chivukula
(617) 353-9455 |
| Quantum Field Theory, Particle Physics, and Cosmology | Prof. Cohen’s research involves the use of quantum field theoretical techniques to solve problems related to electroweak physics and the early universe. | Andrew Cohen
(617) 353-6051 |
| Electroweak Symmetry Breaking and Supercollider Physics | The past few years have seen renewed efforts to develop a consistent picture of dynamical electroweak and flavor symmetry breaking. One important issue involves the top quark. Its recent discovery brought to a head the difficult problem of formulating a consistent theoretical understanding of its large mass in the context of strong dynamics. Prof. Lane hopes to achieve theoretical progress on these and related problems. In addition, experiments at the Tevatron, at the B-meson factories, and at the LHC will explore the underlying dynamics of electroweak symmetry breaking as well as provide insight into the mysteries of flavor symmetry breaking. A second goal of Prof. Lane’s research is to identify robust signals for dynamical electroweak and flavor symmetry breaking at high-energy colliders. | Kenneth Lane
(617) 353-4512 |
| Particle Physics and Cosmology Interface | Prof. Pi's research concerns field theoretic systems that may arise in particle physics and condensed matter physics, including problems related to the origin of the universe: inflation, phase transitions, and quantum cosmology. | So-Young Pi
(617) 353-4780 |
| Collider Phenomenology | Much of Prof. Simmons’ research explores the origin of the masses of the elementary particles. She is studying the possible causes of electroweak symmetry breaking (responsible for the masses of the W and Z bosons that transmit the weak nuclear force) and of flavor symmetry breaking (responsible for giving the various fermionic matter particles different masses). Currently, she is focusing on what can be learned from the heaviest known (and most recently discovered) elementary particle, the top quark. | Elizabeth Simmons
(617) 353-4792 |
| Computational Physics / Quantum Field Theory | Prof. Rebbi uses supercomputers, including an SGI-PowerChallenge Array at the Boston University Center for Computational Science, to calculate particle properties in quantum chromodynamics and other theoretical models. | Claudio Rebbi
(617) 353-9058 |
| Tracking Chambers for Muon Detection | Prof. Ahlen’s research involves the design and construction of high-precision tracking chambers for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (the LHC) at CERN, which will be completed in 2005. The tracking chambers will occupy a region the size of a five-story building and will measure the trajectories of muons in a magnetic field with a precision better than 1/10 of a millimeter. This permits the determination of the muon momentum, which will be an important ingredient in searches for new phenomena at the LHC energy, an order of magnitude greater than currently available. Prof. Ahlen also is participating in the development of electronics for air Cerenkov devices which use the generation of Cerenkov light in gamma-ray-induced air showers to locate and measure the properties of extraterrestrial gamma ray sources. | Steve Ahlen
(617)353-8940 |
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| Internal Structure of Light Nuclei | Prof. Booth is a member of the
BLAST collaboration at the Bates accelerator. BLAST is a large detector
now being built to study the internal structure of light nuclei using the
100% duty factor, 1 GeV electron beam in the storage ring at Bates. The
detector will surround the polarized gas target inside the ring and provide
an unprecedented ability to simultaneously detect the scattered electron
and two or more of the nuclear constituents ejected by the impact. The
BLAST program will tie together many previous experimental studies narrowly
focussed on a small fraction of the reaction products' energies and angles.
In addition, new studies previously impossible because of low counting
rates will be undertaken. Prof. Booth is responsible for providing one
of the detector elements, a lead glass calorimeter, and is helping in the
commissioning of the ring for internal target studies.
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Edward Booth
Professor Emeritus (617)353-2611 |
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| CP Violation
Lepton Substructures and the g-2 Project |
Prof. Miller and Prof. Roberts
collaborate on research involving studies of CP violation in decays of
Ko - ` Ko
produced in proton-antiproton annihilation at the LEAR facility at CERN,
in Geneva, Switzerland. Measurements of the difference in the partial decay
rates were made possible by the time-of-flight detectors and electronics
designed by the intermediate energy group here at Boston University.
The intermediate energy group (IEG) has played a significant role in the g-2 project at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL). The proposed 0.35 ppm measurement of the anomalous magnetic moment (g-2) of the muon will be sensitive to signs of muon substructure and new interactions beyond the Standard Model. A new precision storage ring has been built at and commissioned at BNL, and data was collected for the first time in the spring of 1997. In partnership with Prof. Carey’s DOE-supported g-2 group, the IEG has developed custom electronics that measure the time of arrival and energy of the muon-decay positrons in a rate-independent manner. Prof. Roberts leads the beam dynamics effort, while Prof. Miller heads the detector group. |
Rob Carey
(617)353-6031
Jim Miller (617)353-2659
Lee Roberts (617)353-2187
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| Hadron Collider Physics | Prof. Rohlf studies proton-antiproton collisions at the CERN SPS collider. His research looks for intermediate vector boson properties and b-quark mixing, and searches for new quark and leptons | James Rohlf
(617)353-6035 |
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| Magnetic Monopoles/ Neutrino Astrophysics
Proton Decay, Solar, Atmospheric, and Supernova Neutrinos |
Both Prof. Stone and Prof. Sulak
initiated the construction of the world’s largest area detector, MACRO,
as well as the first proton decay experiment, IMB. Longer than a football
field, the MACRO detector operates in a tunnel in Italy, searching for
magnetic monopoles and astrophysical neutrino interactions. Monopoles are
a natural consequence of grand unified theories, which predict that the
monopole will be extremely massive (1016 GeV). The MACRO detector
is a giant time-of-flight counter to detect the unique signature of a slow-moving
but penetrating massive particle.
This research group also operates at the successor to IMB, the SuperK project- the world’s largest volume detector (50,000 tons of ultra-pure water) located in Japan. The SuperK detector searches for evidence of neutrino oscillations, measures flux of solar and atmospheric neutrinos, and searches for neutrinos from galactic supernovae. |
James Stone
(617)353-8955
Larry Sulak (617)353-9454 |
| High Energy Particles Electroweak Symmetry | Prof. Whitaker’s research involves experimental studies of the collisions of high-energy particle beams to test the Standard Model of the fundamental particles and to search for new particles and new interactions. Experiments are conducted at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, as well as the CERN Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. | J. Scott Whitaker
(617)353-8916 |
| Positron Emission Tomography | The Medical Physics group, in coordination with the Boston Medical Center, is developing high-performance instruments and techniques for application to nuclear medicine. Prof. Worstell is developing instrumentation for new ultra-high-resolution Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners, drawing upon apparatus and techniques originally developed for experimental high-energy physics. PET detectors give quantitative information on the biochemistry of internal organs, distinguishing it from anatomic imaging such as x-rays or MRI scanners that primarily measures tissue density variations. PET technology has clinical application to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, as well as research applications through in-vivo measurements of the metabolism of a wide variety of radiotracers. | William Worstell
(617)353-9884 |
| LEP Physics | Prof. Zhou’s research program focuses on the study of the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking in particle physics using the LEP and LHC accelerators at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. The LEP accelerator is an electron-positron collider that went online in 1989. The LHC accelerator is a proton-proton collider that is expected to take data in 2005. Currently, Prof. Zhou’s group is constructing the precision muon spectrometer for the ATLAS experiment at LHC. They hope to quantify the mechanism of the symmetry breaking and to advance the LHC physics programs. | Bing Zhou
(617)353-5102 |
| Theory of Nucleation/ Percolation and Foundations of Dynamic Processes | Prof. Klein is interested in three areas of research: (1) kinetics of phase transitions where one investigates the pathways that systems use to change from disordered phases such as liquids to ordered phases (e.g. solids), (2) the properties of the glass phase and (3) the transition from liquids to glasses and statistical models of earthquake faults. These problems have the common thread that they are concerned with highly non-linear processes, they take place on many length and time scales, and the processes on these scales interact strongly with each other. The methods Prof. Klein uses range from the application of field-theoretical methods to the use of large-scale computational resources. | William Klein
(617)353-2188 |
| Superfluidity/Quantum Hall Effect | Prof. Murthy's research involves various aspects of correlated electron physics. He is investigating phase transitions in Josephson junction arrays as a function of the interaction between electrons using the techniques of Quantum Magnetism. Another project is devoted to developing a microscopic approach to the fractional Quantum Hall effects using a variant of Chern-Simons field theory. A third project is concerned with applying the techniques of Renormalization Group to explicate the electronic structure of atoms and molecules. Finally, Prof. Murthy is investigating quantum magnetism on the surface of bulk antiferromagnets. | Ganpathy Murthy
(617)353-6116 |
| Statistical Mechanics/ Phase Transitions/ Stochastic Processes | The dynamical properties of random walks are being used by Prof. Redner to describe the time evolution of a variety of reactive systems. Applications of basic theoretical ideas have provided deep insights into the dynamics of disparate reactions, such as aggregation, catalysis, recombination, and trapping. These advances are being used to understand more complicated, but phenomenologically richer problems, such as oscillatory systems, models of combustion, and population biology models. Prof. Redner is also developing theoretical tools to account for the wide variety of co-operative and competitive socioeconomic phenomena that can be described within the framework of stochastic reaction processes. | Sidney Redner
(617)353-2618 |
| Dynamics of Nonlinear Soliton Equations and Biophysics: | Prof. Willis' area of current interest involves research into the effect of discretization on continuous nonlinear equations that possess soliton solutions, in particular, the existence of spatially-localized excitations (discrete breathers) and radiation of phonons. Prof. Willis also continues the study of flux dynamics in Josephson-junction arrays, including radiation and kink-kink interactions. Collective variable effects in the nonlinear Schrodinger equation are also being researched, as well as biophysics problems relating to the effect of nonlinear excitations in DNA and the dynamics of actin. | Chuck Willis
(617)353-2619 |
| Atomic Scale Structures | Prof. Crommie conducts research on the properties of single adsorbed atoms and atomic-scale structures on metal and semiconductor surfaces. A liquid-helium-cooled UHV scanning tunneling microscope for surface characterization studies has been constructed. Current experiments are underway to fabricate atomic-scale structures (adsorbates) that will be deposited onto liquid-helium-cooled surfaces to study the 2-dimensional electron gas on certain metallic surfaces. | Michael Crommie crommie@buphy.bu.edu
(617)353-9297 |
| Solitons on Surfaces | Prof. El-Batanouny’s research involves the study of the dynamics and structure of localized nonlinear surface wave packets by supersonic, monoenergetic helium beams. The surface physics group recently has pioneered a novel technique that employs spin-polarized metastable helium atoms to investigate, for the first time, the long-range magnetic (or spin) order of the surfaces of antiferromagnets. | Michael El-Batanouny
(617)353-4721 |
| Electronic Systems | Prof. Goldberg’s current research focus includes low- and room-temperature near-field scanning optical microscopy and spectroscopy in semiconductors and biological systems. Ultra-high spatial resolution combined with time-resolved spectroscopy provide new ways of examining mesoscopic systems. Magneto-optics and magneto-transport of two- and one-dimensional electron systems are used to examine spin textures in interacting electrons. | Bennett Goldberg
(617)353-5789 |
| Kinetics of Phase Transitions | Prof. Ludwig uses x-ray synchrotron radiation to study the kinetics of phase transitions. The early stages of the transformation process are particularly challenging, as the relatively fast time-scales make experiments difficult, and the strong non-linearities make the theoretical model arduous. Prof. Ludwig’s group, using time-resolved x-ray scattering at Brookhaven National Laboratory, has developed the ability to study kinetics with millisecond resolution, an improvement of over two orders of magnitude. The group is using this capability to examine early-stage kinetics in metallic alloys undergoing ordering and spinodal decomposition. | Karl Ludwig
(617)353-9346 |
| Electronic Transport in Wide-Band-Gap Materials | Prof. Skocpol supervises the Physics Department Materials Research Facility and the Photonics Center Optoelectronics Processing Facility. His research group, including undergraduate and graduate students, uses state-of-the-art nanofabrication and device processing equipment to research electronic transport in wide-band-gap materials and devices. | William Skocpol
(617)353-3782 |
| Electronic Structure of Novel Materials | The Electronic Structure Group, under the direction of Prof. Smith, studies the fundamental electronic properties of novel materials. Numerous state-of-the-art spectroscopies are employed during experiments at synchrotron radiation sources in the United States, Germany, and Sweden. Prof. Smith’s interdisciplinary research is at the interface of Physics, Chemistry, and Materials Science. At present, the group is studying wide-band-gap semiconductors (new thin-film materials with applications in blue/UV lasers), organic superconductors (unique carbon-based solids that are metals at room temperature and superconductors at low temperatures), and quasi-low-dimensional oxides (metal oxide crystals that conduct electricity only in one or two dimensions, allowing us to test spectroscopically quantum models of reduced-dimensional solids). | Kevin Smith
(617)353-6117 |
| Excitation of Materials at Very Low temperatures (<1oK) | Prof. Zimmerman’s research involves applications for high-temperature superconductivity and mathematical simulations of electrical conduction in superconductors and 2-d magnetic systems. Fundamental calculations of colossal magnetoresistance and superconducting interactions are also developed. | George Zimmerman
(617)353-2189 |
| Physics of Polymers | Prof. Bansil uses laser light-scattering methods to study the structure, phase transitions and dynamics of polymers, gels, and water. Her research has shown that diffusion in gels is qualitatively different than in solutions. Similarly, the kinetics of phase-separation processes in polymeric systems are also studied, complemented by computer simulations of model gels and diffusion in gels. | Rama Bansil
(617)353-2969 |
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| Structure of Biomolecules | Prof. Chasan’s research is concerned with the molecule ACTIN, which is part of the mammalian muscle apparatus but is also involved in a huge range of cellular motions. Preliminary results from far-infrared spectra suggest the presence of structural water in actin fibers, which leads to the speculation that this polymer is held together by water-mediated hydrogen bonds between the monomer units. Further work to study this is planned, including Raman spectroscopy. Prof. Chasan also is in the early stages of atomic-force microscopy studies of this fascinating molecule, including the conditions under which the fibers form biologically important bundles, the polymerization process itself, and its behavior in various solution environments. | Bernie Chasan
(617)353-2608 |
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| Near-Field Infrared Microscopy | Prof. Erramilli is working on high-resolution infrared microscopy for studying biological systems. Images are obtained by using a scanning near-field infrared microscope, based on a tunable infrared laser. The pulse width of the laser is about 100 femtoseconds, which is useful for studying ultra-fast dynamics in biomolecular systems. | Shyam Erramilli
(617)353-6114 |
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| Statistical Mechanics of Random Materials | Theoretical and experimental approaches to various random systems ranging from polymers and gels to high-temperature superconducting material are being examined by Prof. Stanley’s polymer research group. Current projects include development of theories of diffusion-limited aggregation and of physical mechanisms in liquid water. | Gene Stanley
(617)353-2617 |
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| Biophysics of Vision/ Molecular Biology | Bacteriorhodopsin, a light-driven proton pump, is being studied by Prof. Rothschild’s group for insights into the structure of the human eye. Applications of this knowledge include extremely small and powerful electronic devices based on biological components | Ken Rothschild
(617)353-2603 |
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