The department will celebrate our students, faculty, and staff at the 2026 Honors Day celebration on May 4.

Particle exchange statistics is a fundamental characteristic of quantum matter, conventionally thought to be constrained to either fermionic or bosonic. Each type gives distinct phenomena: fermions and the consequent exclusion principle lead to the structure of the periodic table and properties of metals, while bosons and their bunching give lasers and superfluidity.

I will discuss recent research in our group that has shown other exchange statistics are possible (beyond already-known anyons, which are restricted to two dimensions) and naturally emerge as excitations in spin models. These “paraparticles” admit non-interacting theories, unlike anyons, and I will describe our vision of using this to form the foundation of new analytic and numerical methods to provide a window into correlated matter.

The origin of the heaviest elements in the universe remains one of the most exciting open questions in nuclear astrophysics. Recently, kilonova-like emissions following long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been interpreted as arising from neutron star mergers. In this talk, I will explore a compelling alternative: the jet of a collapsing massive star. First, I will introduce a novel mechanism showing how collapsing massive stars can effectively manufacture their own neutrons. Even if the surrounding stellar material is initially devoid of neutrons, the extreme, high-flux photon environment of a jet can generate them in situ when photons interact with protons. This sudden inundation of neutrons transforms the region into an ideal nursery for heavy element creation. Second, I will ground this theory in recent observations. I will demonstrate that our jet model accurately reproduces the optical and infrared light curves of these events using only a “weak” r-process component. Strikingly, this matches the data without requiring the lanthanide-rich material traditionally assumed to drive the red component of such transients. We conclude that collapsars are a powerful engine for heavy element synthesis, reshaping our understanding of where and how the universe forges its most extreme materials.

The r-process, a series of rapid neutron-capture reactions in cataclysmic astrophysical events such as neutron star mergers, is responsible for the creation of roughly half of the heavy nuclei in our universe. The conditions present in these events are such that the neutron-capture reactions occur on a time scale much shorter than the lifetime of the nuclei involved and the process therefore proceeds through reactions on short-lived neutron-rich nuclei that have mostly never been observed in the laboratory. Sensitivity studies have looked at various scenarios for the r-process conditions and identified regions around neutron numbers 82 and 126 where basic nuclear properties have the largest impact on the distribution of produced nuclei. At ANL, a program centered around the ATLAS facility is aimed at improving access to these nuclei and developing the tools to measure the most critical quantities to constrain r-process scenarios.

Over the last decade, the CAlifornium Rare Ion Breeder (CARIBU) addition to the ATLAS superconducting linac facility provided access to neutron-rich nuclei around the N=82 neutron shell closure that allowed us to gather data that, together with simulations that reverse-engineered the r-process, provided a better understanding of the astrophysical conditions necessary to reproduce the main r-process abundance peak. Additional information is needed to confirm these findings and that requires access to isotopes outside the range of those accessible by current facilities. We have therefore undertaken an upgrade of CARIBU, called nuCARIBU, which makes use of a novel high-intensity-cyclotron based neutron generator irradiating a highly enriched 235U target to increase the fission fragment yield and allow these studies to be extended to even more exotic nuclei in the N=82 region. In addition, the sensitivity studies highlighted another region of high interest, the neutron-rich region “east” of 208Pb, as a particularly sensitive probe for the N=126 abundance peak. This region has proven to be very difficult to access with standard production techniques and ATLAS is building a new facility, the N=126 factory, which uses a different production mechanism to access it. It takes advantage of the unique high-intensity heavy-ion beams at around 10 MeV/u available at ATLAS to produce these nuclei by multi-nucleon transfer reactions and separate them using the techniques developed at CARIBU for fission fragments.

The talk will present the basic nuclear physics inputs required to understand the r-process, together with the existing ATLAS, nuCARIBU and N=126 facilities. The constraints on astrophysical r-process conditions obtained in the CARIBU campaign will also be presented, together with a brief overview of the current research programs at these facilities.

This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Physics, under contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357, and uses resources from ANL’s ATLAS facility, an Office of Science National User Facility.

Quantum spin liquids—magnetic states characterized by long-range entanglement and fractionalized excitations—challenge the conventional description of antiferromagnets in terms of ordered moments and magnons. In this talk, I revisit the evolution of ideas about the antiferromagnetic ground state, from semiclassical order to resonating valence-bond constructions and parton descriptions with emergent gauge structure, highlighting how these frameworks reshape our understanding of magnetic excitations.

I then turn to the two-dimensional Dirac quantum spin liquid, a candidate realization of (2+1)-dimensional quantum electrodynamics with gapless Dirac spinons coupled to an emergent U(1) gauge field. A central question is how such a state responds to an external magnetic field. Recent work reveals an unexpected magnetization process that cannot be understood within conventional spin-wave or quasiparticle pictures.

I conclude by outlining a theoretical scenario, supported in part by numerical studies, in which increasing magnetization induces an internal gauge flux. This emergent orbital field reorganizes the spinon spectrum into relativistic Landau levels, providing a novel mechanism for field-driven reconstruction in a fractionalized magnet.

Living systems are driven far from thermodynamic equilibrium through the continuous consumption of ambient energy. This energy is invested in the formation of complex, internal macromolecular structures and diverse spatial and temporal patterns in chemical and mechanical activities, which in turn orchestrate cell phenotypes and behaviors. This self-organization is a result of a system’s tendency to maximize entropy production while maintaining order internally. However, a system that maximally dissipates energy can achieve high levels of organization and complexity, although this comes at the cost of low thermodynamic efficiency. Despite decades of research, little is known regarding the energetic principles and optimization strategies that constrain the dissipation of energy arbitrarily far from thermodynamic equilibrium. In this seminar, we explore energetic optimization, in studying the assembly of the cytokinetic ring, a complex structure that is an essential component of cellular reproduction and a defining aspect of living systems. Using the Xenopus Oocyte as a model system, we measure the production of entropy, as the cell approaches ring assembly and its first cell division. We demonstrate that en route to division, the production of entropy is maximized, but insofar as the overall system is subject to constraints of Onsager Reciprocity. Thus, in living systems, multiple energetic parameters are optimized simultaneously to promote and sustain life.

The weak force of nature uniquely allows quarks to change flavor, resulting in the transformation of nuclei known as nuclear beta decay. Currently, measurements of the weak mixing of quarks are in tension with the Standard Model’s description, a discrepancy referred to as the “Cabibbo Angle Anomaly.” As the simplest nucleus to undergo beta decay, the neutron has emerged as a system which can provide a competitive measurement and shine light on this anomaly if experimental uncertainties in the neutron dataset can be improved. The Nab experiment at the Spallation Neutron Source employs a novel and robust approach to improve decay correlation measurements by observing the full momentum phase space in neutron beta decay accessible above detection thresholds. The tight kinematic constraints from the experiment have recently been used to place first limits on a new hypothesized excited state of the neutron, suggested to address experimental disagreements in neutron lifetime measurements. In this presentation, I will describe the working principles of the experiment, present early results from first physics data-taking, and discuss the outlook for Nab and its upgrade pNAB (polarized Nab) to perform world-leading measurements of neutron decay correlations and improve our understanding of quark mixing in the weak interaction.

There will be no physics colloquium on March 16, 2026.

There will be no physics colloquium during spring break.

Neutrinos provide a promising window to probe a wide range of fundamental physics. Neutrino related discoveries in the last two decades indicate that the answer to the most sought after question of why we live in a matter-dominated universe may be within reach. Although more than a trillion of neutrinos pass unnoticed through our bodies every second, they still remain largely mysterious. These ghostly little particles are notoriously difficult to detect given how rarely they interact with matter and require building immense and exquisitely sensitive detectors. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next generation neutrino experiment at Fermilab and South Dakota in United States with primary goals of resolving the neutrino mass ordering and measuring the charge-parity violating phase, the indicator of a possible explanation for our matter dominated universe. DUNE will use the promising liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) technology as it presents neutrino interactions with unprecedented detail. After briefly reviewing the current state of neutrino physics and open questions, this talk will describe the DUNE experiment along with the rich physics that it offers and its current status.

The magnetic moment of muon can be characterized by its gyro-magnetic factor $g$, which is numerically close to 2. Fermilab announced a new experimental result for muon $g-2$ on June 3, 2025.
The new result is consistent with the previous BNL measurement, but with about 4 times higher precision. For the Standard Model prediction, the recent theoretical muon $g-2$ white paper was released on May 27, 2025. The new theory result is consistent with the new experimental result, but is about 3 sigma larger than the previous theory white paper result, released on June 8, 2020. Two hadronic contributions, HVP (hadronic vacuum polarization) and HLbL (hadronic light-by-light), are the dominant sources of the theoretical uncertainty. The change in the central value is largely due to the many advances in lattice QCD calculations of these hadronic contributions, particularly the HVP contribution. In this talk, I will describe the theoretical determination of muon $g-2$ with focus on the lattice QCD calculations of the hadronic contributions.

Magnons and phonons are collective excitations in crystals that often behave as independent quasiparticles when their mutual coupling is weak. When magnetoelastic coupling becomes strong, interactions between spin and lattice degrees of freedom can open gaps at band crossings and give rise to hybridized excitations known as magnon-polarons. Because such hybridized modes appear only when energy matching, symmetry compatibility, and microscopic coupling all align, their presence and momentum dependence provide a particularly sensitive probe of the underlying spin–lattice interactions.

In this talk, I will use the olivine-type silicate Co₂SiO₄ to illustrate how this physics plays out in a real material. I will begin by presenting inelastic neutron-scattering measurements that reveal a rich set of hybridized excitations involving magnons, phonons, and spin–orbit excitons. To understand these observations, I will introduce an effective spin Hamiltonian that captures the main features of the magnetic excitations and discuss density functional theory calculations that reproduce the phonon spectrum. Building on these microscopic descriptions, a symmetry analysis of the magnon and phonon modes reveals which excitations can hybridize and where in momentum space such coupling is allowed. This framework naturally leads to a minimal hybridization model that explains the observed avoided crossings and mode mixing, providing a unified picture of the hybridized excitation spectrum in Co₂SiO₄.

More broadly, this work establishes olivine-type oxides as a clean setting for studying magnetoelastic coupling and illustrates how combining dynamical measurements with symmetry-based modeling can reveal microscopic interactions that are difficult to access otherwise.

Below the geographic South Pole, the IceCube project has transformed one cubic kilometer of natural Antarctic ice into a neutrino detector. IceCube detects more than 100,000 neutrinos per year in the one to a million GeV energy range. Among those, we have isolated high-energy neutrinos originating beyond our Galaxy, with a flux that exceeds the extragalactic high-energy gamma-ray flux observed by astronomers in a similar energy range. With a decade of data, we have identified their first sources, which point to supermassive black holes at the centers of active galaxies powering the cosmic ray accelerators that produce high-energy neutrinos. Machine learning techniques eventually revealed that our own Milky Way emits neutrinos but, interestingly, it is not a prominent feature in the neutrino sky as it is in all wavelengths of light. We will also review the study of the neutrinos themselves, emphasizing oscillation measurements.

Note: Because of weather UT is following remote operations for February 2. This colloquium has been moved to Zoom.

Nature violates parity symmetry. Discovered almost 70 years ago, this phenomenon implies that the universe is “left handed.” Although we have a very successful theory, the Standard Model of Particle Physics, which agrees with scores of experimental tests, it includes parity violation in an ad hoc way. There are hints that the Standard Model should break down at very high energies, restoring parity symmetry. There are viable conjectures for how that might come about, and much of High Energy Physics tries to reach the energy scales where this breakdown might occur.

This talk describes a different approach, trading very high energy interactions for extremely precise measurements at lower energies. The MOLLER experiment at Jefferson Lab will measure parity violation in electron-electron scattering for which the Standard Model makes a precise prediction. Disagreement between experiment and theory at this level would indicate “new physics” at energies beyond the reach of current high energy collider facilities. After introducing the key concepts, I will describe the challenges of making this ultra precise measurement and the timeline for executing the experiment.

The first colloquium of spring 2026 will be a Town Hall to discuss the department’s achievements and goals, followed by a Q&A with faculty, staff, and students.

Nearly thirty years after the Nobel-prize-winning discovery of the exoplanet 51 Pegasi b, astronomers have discovered thousands of planets outside the solar system, and the field of exoplanetary astronomy has shifted from purely being driven by discovery to performing demographic analysis, and detailed characterization of properties like mass, radius, and atmospheric composition. However, even today, basic questions remain, like “why do some systems end up looking like the Solar System with orderly co-planar architectures, with small planets close-in, and giant planets orbiting far from their stars, while others, like the so-called Hot Jupiters, are dramatically different?” My team and I are tackling this question from both sides: understanding the evolutionary origins of hot Jupiters and understanding the properties of compact multi-planet systems. Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and Kepler/K2 missions, we are working to find keystone planetary systems around bright stars (those well suited for atmospheric observations) that can help address specific questions about planet formation and evolution. I will review our efforts to discover and characterize hundreds of hot Jupiters while investigating the compact architectures of small rocky planets. Finally, uncertainty in planetary orbital solutions for hundreds of planets have accumulated since their initial detection to the extent that they are not accessible with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to study their atmospheres. I will also discuss how we are addressing this problem on a large scale to make hundreds of planets accessible for JWST.

Observing neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ) would confirm the neutrino has a Majorana nature and offer critical evidence to understanding the universe’s matter/antimatter asymmetry. The LEGEND collaboration targets half-lives greater than T1/2>1028 years using the high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors enriched in the isotope 76Ge. Achieving this unprecedented sensitivity – 18 orders of magnitude beyond the age of the universe – requires a detector environment with exceptionally low background radiation. While HPGe detectors are central to the measurement, sensitivity to 0νββ decay hinges on the scintillating materials surrounding them to actively detect and reject ambient background radiation.

This seminar explores the critical role of radiopure scintillating materials in LEGEND, focusing on poly(ethylene-2,6-naphthalate) (PEN). We will present technical results detailing the radiopurity, scintillation performance, and mechanical stability of these materials, highlighting their successful deployment as both a structural element and an active background veto in LEGEND-200. Furthermore, we will detail ongoing efforts in additive manufacturing to realize complex, ultra-pure components for the future LEGEND-1000 phase.

Beyond these technical results, we will discuss the opportunities of cross-disciplinary collaboration, bridging the fields of material science and particle physics to solve unique and complex challenges vital for fundamental discovery. This talk will conclude with a discussion on the communication journey of working on an “enabling technology” within the framework of a large-scale collaboration, with insights on how to effectively communicate the profound scientific impact of support technologies.

Magnetism is the posterchild of how the interplay between electron-electron interactions and quantum physics promotes novel macroscopic phenomena. Historically, the evolution of our understanding of magnetism has been related to the discovery of new paradigms in condensed-matter physics, as exemplified by the connections between antiferromagnetism and Mott insulators, spin glasses and non-ergodic states, and spin liquids and fractionalized excitations. Recently, a new framework proposed to classify magnetic phases brought renewed interest in unconventional magnetic states, which are qualitatively distinct from ferromagnets and standard Néel antiferromagnets. Among those, altermagnetic phases have been met with enthusiasm by the scientific community, as they display properties found in both ferromagnets (like the splitting of electronic bands with opposite spins) and conventional antiferromagnets (like the absence of a net magnetization). Formally, what distinguishes these three different magnetic states are the crystalline symmetries that, when combined with time reversal, leave the system invariant. In the case of altermagnets, because these symmetries involve rotations, the system is endowed with unique properties such as nodal spin-splitting and piezomagnetism. In this talk, I will introduce the concept of altermagnetism and discuss its connection to long-standing problems in the field of quantum materials, such as multipolar magnetism and electronic liquid-crystalline phases. I will also present the predicted experimental signatures of altermagnetic order in thermodynamic and transport properties, and show that altermagnets provide a fertile ground to realize non-trivial topological and superconducting phenomena in quantum materials.

Observations spanning multiple astronomical scales point to the existence of an unknown form of matter, dubbed “dark matter”, that constitutes over 85% of the mass of most galaxies. Recent theoretical insights into the possible nature of dark matter and how it interacts with normal matter have inspired a wide range of experimental efforts aimed at directly detecting dark matter. As part of this effort, we are developing a small-scale experiment to search for multiple well-motivated “ultralight” dark matter candidates, placing stronger bounds than are currently possible with high-cost and/or large-scale efforts. The core enabling technology relies on microwave cavity readout of mechanical motion in superfluid helium. I will tell you about the experiments that have led up to where we are now, and our current efforts with regards to this table-top dark matter search.

The detection of GW170817 enabled us to track down and watch the cataclysmic event in multiple wavelengths of light, allowing us to scrutinize the source of these cosmic ripples for the first time. This discovery provided the first solid evidence that neutron-star smashups are the source of much of the Universe’s gold, platinum, and other heavy elements. With a single event, we were able to answer fundamental questions in general relativity, cosmology, nuclear physics, and astrophysics. However, other aspects of the story, as revealed by these events, are still shrouded in mystery. For astronomers and physicists across disciplines, this is a fascinating time to be alive.

The weak force of nature uniquely allows quarks to change flavor, resulting in the transformation of nuclei known as nuclear beta decay. Currently, measurements of the weak mixing of quarks are in tension with the Standard Model’s description, a discrepancy referred to as the “Cabibbo Angle Anomaly.” As the simplest nucleus to undergo beta decay, the neutron has emerged as a system which can provide a competitive measurement and shine light on this anomaly if experimental uncertainties in the neutron dataset can be improved. The Nab experiment at the Spallation Neutron Source employs a novel and robust approach to improve decay correlation measurements by observing the full momentum phase space in neutron beta decay accessible above detection thresholds. The tight kinematic constraints from the experiment have recently been used to place first limits on a new hypothesized excited state of the neutron, suggested to address experimental disagreements in neutron lifetime measurements. In this presentation, I will describe the working principles of the experiment, present early results from first physics data-taking, and discuss the outlook for Nab and its upgrade pNAB (polarized Nab) to perform world-leading measurements of neutron decay correlations and improve our understanding of quark mixing in the weak interaction.

All living cells are bounded by envelopes that protect them from the environment and confer their sizes and shapes. These shapes help cells to spatially organize their internal biological processes, allowing them to divide and faithfully segregate genetic material to each daughter. Yet, we still know very little about how cells obtain and control cell shape, even in the arguably simplest and best understood organism: the rod-shaped Escherichia coli. To resist a high intracellular osmotic pressure, bacteria and many other single-celled organisms are surrounded by a cell wall, an elastic, covalent meshwork of sugars and peptides. For walled cells to grow, they must enzymatically cut cell-wall bonds while inserting new cell-wall material to prevent envelope rupture. In some bacteria and many fungi and plants, the process of cell-wall remodeling is limited to the tip of the cell, where intracellular pressure and enzymatic cell-wall fluidization drive growth of the rod, akin to glass blowing. However, in E. coli and many other rod-shaped bacteria, cell-wall remodeling happens all along the cylindrical part of the cell, while the poles remain inert (new poles being constructed at mid-cell during division). How do cells control a straight rod-like cell geometry with a well-defined diameter, all the while increasing cell length at a rate that accommodates biomass growth? While the ultimate answers to these questions remain to be found, we have made important progress in the past two decades. For example, i) curved cytoskeletal polymers sense cell-envelope curvature and reenforce cylindrical geometry, ii) mechanical stress affects envelope growth locally, and iii) the ratio between cell-surface area and biomass emerges as a controlled variable, thus coupling the global rate of envelope growth to the rate of biomass growth. I will present these and other findings, illustrate the importance of experiments and theory, and present future directions.

Dark matter is thought to make up 25% of the universe. Dark sector particles (DSP) do not interact through the known forces but could be weakly coupled to Standard Model particles through a portal or a mediator (Dark Messenger) that could provide access to the dark matter world. Many searches for these particles at an accelerator thus far seem to face a ceiling that the sensitivity reach is greatly limited, beyond statistical effects. DAMSA (DArk Messenger Searches at an Accelerator) is an extremely short baseline, table-top scale experiment that aims to break through this limit. The experiment plans to take advantage of high beam powers available at various accelerator facilities around the world, including the PIP-II LINAC under construction at Fermilab near Chicago, an essential element in providing the necessary high flux proton beams to the $3.5B U.S. flagship neutrino experiment, DUNE. In this talk, I will describe the DAMSA experiment and discuss the current status and plan for DAMSA, as well as its expected sensitivity reach on the search of the Axion-Like Particle, a dark messenger, as a benchmark physics case.

There will be no colloquium on October 6.

When a nucleus is permanently deformed, it exhibits a characteristic rotational band, in which the excitation energies of a state with spin I is proportional to I(I+1). It also shows enhanced electromagnetic transition strengths as well as large quadrupole moments. Moreover, it has also been well known that nuclear deformation significantly affects low-energy nuclear reactions. In particular, heavy-ion fusion reactions at energies around the Coulomb barrier are sensitive to nuclear deformation, and there have been many attempts to determine deformation parameters of a nucleus. In recent years, there has also been increasing interest in probing nuclear deformation in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.

In this talk, I will discuss recent theoretical developments in low-energy heavy-ion reactions, putting emphasis on nuclear deformation. This includes i) a new attempt to visualize nuclear scattering and ii) an emulator for multi-channel scattering. I will also discuss the role of shape dynamics in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.

Although the astrophysical origin of elements is a longstanding mystery, neutron capture processes are known to be a crucial mechanism by which nucleosynthesis can overcome the repulsive forces associated with adding another proton to a nucleus. Studies have identified at least three neutron capture processes believed to be taking place in astrophysics: the slow (s), rapid (r), and intermediate (i) neutron capture processes. Not only are the site(s) of the r and i processes under active study, but open questions remain regarding how much each of these contributed to the overall enrichment of stars such as our Sun. In particular, the r process synthesizes exotic and unstable nuclei that have yet to be probed in terrestrial experiments. Thus r-process studies must consider how uncertainties in the nuclear physics data propagate to the interpretation of observables. In this talk I will discuss how observables such as stellar abundance patterns and signals from multi-messenger events such as MeV gamma rays can be used to inform r-process studies. I will show how recently reported nuclear masses from experiments and cutting-edge nuclear theory change our picture for the abundance of key elements (e.g. gold) produced in sites such as neutron star mergers. I will also discuss new applications of machine learning to nucleosynthesis problems. Novel, interdisciplinary work at the intersection of observation, experiment, theory, and computational science are key to carving out the new ideas and tools needed to modernize heavy element nucleosynthesis studies.

Dominant narratives in introductory physics education often focus on student preparation in mathematics. Students who have not reached a certain level of proficiency as determined by math placement tests are often labeled as underprepared. In this presentation, I will challenge this narrative by reframing the notion of underprepared. Indeed, many physics departments and instructors are underprepared to support the students accepted into their institutions. The Transforming Introductory Physics Sequences to Support all Students (TIPSSS) Network is a network of physicists developing curricular materials, transforming courses, and research the effectiveness of these efforts to help departments meet the needs of their physics students, regardless of the students’ prior mathematics preparation. I will present and overview of the TIPSSS activities and also preliminary findings from the TIPSSS studies.

Fusion energy promises to be a transformative, long-term solution to global energy needs—offering abundant, safe, and carbon-free power. This talk will introduce the fundamentals of fusion, the technical challenges of harnessing it for practical energy production, and the strategies being pursued to overcome these challenges. The talk will highlight recent progress in both public and private sector efforts and outline the path toward a fusion pilot plant. I will highlight the challenges in plasma physics, plasma-materials interaction, and condensed matter/materials science that represent opportunities for collaboration between UT and ORNL.

There is no colloquium on September 1.

With the completion of the Standard Model (SM), Particle Physics stands at a crucial point, where a successful theory framework is faced with a collection of mysteries, contradictions, and unexplained curiosities. Physics at today’s high energy particle collider, the Large Hadron Collider, is a mixture of testing every prediction of the SM and directly searching for signatures that would require a rewrite of our textbooks and symmetries. This talk will describe the broad motivation for my research program today with a focus on unconventional collider signatures, machine learning, and the technical challenges for a future muon collider – a program designed to address both the questions the SM doesn’t answer, and those it doesn’t even ask.

Have you ever left a colloquium or a seminar and thought to yourself “that was interesting, but it wasn’t physics”? If so, you are in good company, because there has long been disagreement in our community about which research specialties belong to the canon of physics and which do not, particularly when it comes to hiring faculty members into physics departments to train PhD students. In this talk, I discuss some aspects of this debate from the founding of the American Physical Society to the present day. Examples include a field that was once a part of physics but is not anymore; a field that was once “not physics” but is definitely so today; and a field whose status as “physics” remains unsettled in the minds of many.

Core-collapse supernovae and neutron-star mergers produce copious amount of neutrinos, which impact evolution of these astrophysical sites as well as the element synthesis they may host. Collective oscillations of these neutrinos represent emergent nonlinear flavor evolution phenomena instigated by neutrino-neutrino interactions in astrophysical environments with sufficiently high neutrino densities. In this talk, after a brief introduction, it will be shown that neutrinos exhibit interesting entanglement behavior in simplified models of those oscillations. Also attempts to study this behavior using classical and quantum computers will be described.

My research focuses on understanding the implications of the Standard Model of particle physics in the formation of the basic building blocks of nature. This model describes three of the four fundamental forces of nature. The opaquest of these is the strong nuclear force which is responsible for the formation of all atomic nuclei. We know that this force is fundamentally described in terms of the theory of quarks and gluons, which is known as quantum chromodynamics (QCD). My research focuses on the development and implementation of novel mathematical and computational techniques to study the emergence of nuclear phenomena directly from QCD. In this talk, I review some of the key ideas driving the field of nuclear physics.

Raising the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) to a point where applications are practical remains one of the most critical challenges in condensed matter physics today. Recent advances in sulfur hydrides have renewed hope of reaching room temperature superconductivity, though the extremely high-pressure requirement limits their practical applications. In this talk, I will show our work on an alternative route to achieve high-temperature superconductivity. By the epitaxial growth of single-layer superconductors on tailored substrates, the superconducting Tc can be enhanced through interfacial interactions optimized to enable 1) charge transfer doping and electron-phonon coupling, 2) coupling to quantum fluctuations of the substrate, and 3) dynamic control via light-matter interactions. Using FeSe grown on SrTiO3(001) substrate as an example, I will show that growth on different terminations of the SrTiO3 substrate can enable the control of charge transfer doping and, in turn, superconducting Tc. Similarly, the substitution of isovalent sulfur (S) or tellurium (Te) in FeSe, equivalent to applying positive (negative) chemical pressure, can turn the interfacial atomic-scale geometry that controls the strength of electron-phonon coupling, thus the superconducting Tc. Finally, I will show that UV light can lead to enhanced superconductivity in the FeSe/SrTiO3, which is also persistent. These findings indicate that epitaxial Fe-chalcogenide heterostructures are a highly tunable quantum system and shed light on the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity in Fe-based superconductors.

The department will share good news and plans for the future, followed by a Q&A session with faculty, staff, and students.