Department of Physics & Astronomy
Presidents Day Event!
Teaching by Inquiry Workshop for Teachers and First College Experience for High School Students
More info...
Research Highlights
Perfect Fluid Behavior in Graphene
Are the electrons in graphene, a single-atom sheet of graphite, strongly or weakly interacting? While some would say that the electron-electron Coulomb interaction in graphene is unimportant, a recent theoretical work on the hydrodynamics of electrons shows that this is not quite true. This paper shows that graphene is close to be a perfect fluid, i.e. a fluid that is as strongly coupled as seems to be allowed based on general principles obtained from the close relationship between strongly coupled quantum field theories and general relativity.
Talks / Events
10 Nov 2009 - Ground-Based TeV Gamma-Ray Astronomy: New Insights into Blazar Astrophysics
11 Nov 2009 - Quarkonium Production at Hadron Colliders
11 Nov 2009 - Exploring the Extreme Universe with Very High Energy Gamma Rays
12 Nov 2009 - The Future of Heavy Flavor Studies in Heavy Ion Collisions
Welcome to the Department of Physics & Astronomy
Physics and astronomy explores the behavior and structure of matter and energy at all levels to help describe our world and the universe. Physics has been helped us contemplate the origins of the universe and develop new products and technologies that meet human needs. The fundamental laws of physics find application in almost every branch of science, engineering and technology.
The Department has active research programs in Astronomy/Astrophysics, Condensed Matter Physics, High-energy Physics, and Nuclear Physics. Our high-energy physics, particle astrophysics and nuclear physics groups are involved in experiments which recreate the conditions of the early universe and help explain how it has evolved. In providing instruction in classical and modern physics, we cover such areas as mechanics, electricity and magnetism, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, introductory modern physics, and quantum mechanics.
