Department of Physics and Space Sciences

Daniel Batcheldor, Ph.D., Head (Interim)

Degree Programs

Undergraduate Minor Program

Physics Minor  

Professors
Marc M. Baarmand, Ph.D., elementary particle physics: experimental high-energy physics at CERN (CMS experiment), hadroproduction of heavy quarks in pQCD, Higgs physics, particle detector technology, grid computing.

Samuel T. Durrance, Ph.D., space exploration research: instrumentation development, UV spectroscopy, atmospheric physics, nuclear physics, space environment and human space exploration, NASA astronaut.

T. Dwayne McCay, Ph.D., materials science: materials processing in space.

Eric S. Perlman, Ph.D., extragalactic astrophysics: active galactic nuclei, jets, observational cosmology.

Hamid K. Rassoul, Ph.D., space physics and instrumentation: physics of planetary lightning, solar energetic particles and cosmic rays, magnetic storms and substorms, photochemistry of planetary upper atmospheres.

Ming Zhang, Ph.D., space physics: cosmic radiation and interactions with the plasma and magnetic fields in the interstellar medium, the heliosphere and magnetospheres.

Associate Professors
Daniel Batcheldor, Ph.D., extragalactic astrophysics: unified model of active galactic nuclei, scaling relations between super-massive black holes and their host galaxies, instrumentation.

Marcus Hohlmann, Ph.D., elementary particle physics: experimental high-energy physics with CMS experiment at CERN, development of particle detectors, muon tomography, cluster and grid computing.

Ningyu Liu, Ph.D., atmospheric and space physics: theoretical studies, numerical modeling, atmospheric electricity, plasma physics.

Hakeem M. Oluseyi, Ph.D., observational astronomy and instrumentation: solar/stellar atmospheres, cosmology, history of astronomy; physics education research.

Assistant Professors
Catherine Neish, Ph.D., geology of planetary surfaces, impact cratering, surface morphology.

Véronique Petit, Ph.D., stellar astrophysics, massive-star magnetospheres.

Darin Ragozzine, Ph.D., exoplanetary systems, orbital dynamics, extra-solar planets.

Benjamin M. Sawyer, M.S., physics education.

Francisco Yumiceva, Ph.D., elementary particle physics, experimental high-energy physics at CERN with CMS experiment, search for exotic particles, simulation and detector development.

Research Faculty
Konstantin V. Gamayunov, Ph.D., theoretical and computational space plasma physics.

Edward L. Principe, Ph.D., materials science, metrology, materiel characterization, failure analysis.

Igor Vodopiyanov, Ph.D., high-energy physics, Large Hadron Collider experiment, lightning physics.

Ping-bing Zuo, Ph.D., astrophysics: heliospheric physics, space weather, interplanetary medium.

Director of Undergraduate Laboratories
James A. Gering, M.S.

Professors Emeriti
Joel H. Blatt, Ph.D.; James D. Patterson, Ph.D.

Research

Physics

Current research in physics includes experimental high-energy physics, experimental and theoretical condensed matter physics, instrumentation development, theoretical and observational studies of the solar/heliospheric energetic particles and cosmic rays, physics of energetic radiations from thunderstorms and lightning, auroral and magnetospheric physics, astrophysics, engineering physics, and physics education.

Experimental research in physics is carried out in a variety of laboratories operated by the department, as well as at national and international research facilities. Facilities that are currently available to graduate students include the following laboratories.

High-Energy Physics Laboratory (HEP): The HEP experimental efforts are centered on studying high energy hadron collisions using large particle physics experiments at major national (BNL) and international (CERN, Switzerland) accelerator facilities, as well as conducting basic detector technology research and development, and high-performance grid computing in laboratories on the Florida Tech campus. Presently, the group is involved in data-taking efforts with the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and is performing physics analyses on these data. The Florida Tech group has responsibilities for calibration of the hadron calorimeters, Tier0-Tier2 data flow and validation for the B physics analysis group, operation of a Tier3 site on the Open Science Grid and a study of an upgrade of the forward muon detector with micro-pattern gas detectors. The physics analyses are initially focused on measurements of the properties of the top and bottom quarks and search for new gauge bosons. With anticipated higher luminosities, the physics program will switch to searches for the Higgs boson and more exotic phenomena at multi-TeV energy scale. Another main research area is the development and construction of a muon tomography system for detecting high-Z materials hidden in cargo, based on advanced micro-pattern gas detectors such as Gas Electron Multipliers. The HEP laboratory houses a Linux-based computing cluster with 180 CPU cores and 100TB of mass storage that is used for muon tomography detector simulation and data analysis and serves as a Tier3 site on the Open Science Grid for CMS data analysis. The group conducts research and development on advanced particle detector technology for the Super-LHC upgrade programs and participates in the RD51 detector development collaboration at CERN. In addition, Florida Tech is a member of the PHENIX experiment at BNL’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, which is investigating a new state of matter dubbed the quark-gluon plasma.

Condensed Matter Physics Laboratory: The research activities at this lab include condensed matter physics, materials science, statistical physics and engineering physics. One of activities is to understand nucleation, growth mechanisms, and evolution of microstructures and nanostructures in materials, to optimize these structures, and finally to design new structures in materials. Another activity is to link processing and structures to various properties of materials, and to predict property of materials by multiscale modeling. Materials include hard and soft materials such as alloys, nanocomposites, colloids and polymers. Other activities also include exploration of the application of statistical physics to anomalous diffusion and relaxation processes in heterogeneous system, biophysics, materials science and econophysics.

Scanning Probe Microscopy Laboratory: This facility provides researchers with the ability to image the surface structure of a solid, and to probe the electronic surface properties of a material down to the atomic scale, using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). This laboratory also investigates novel applications of the STM (e.g., in the field of electrochemistry) and is interested in the development of other types of scanning probe microscopes.

Space Sciences

Current research activity in space sciences includes the evolution of white dwarf stars, observations and modeling of cataclysmic variables and other close binary systems, massive stars, astrophysical jets and accretion phenomena, exoplanets, planetary science, observational cosmology, cosmic ray modulation/propagation and its interactions with the interstellar medium, energetic radiation from terrestrial and planetary lightning discharges, solar wind-magnetosphere interactions and energetic particle observations and human space exploration research.

Experimental research in space science is carried out in a variety of laboratories operated by the department, as well as at national and international research facilities. Facilities that are currently available to graduate students include the following laboratories:

Astronomy and Astrophysics Laboratory: Astrophysicists and students work on a wide variety of topics, including exoplanets, the evolution of white dwarf stars, simulations of cataclysmic variable systems, astrophysical fluid dynamics, accretion phenomena, the physics and evolution of active galactic nuclei and their jets, cosmology, solar and stellar atmospheres, ultraviolet spectroscopy and astronomical instrumentation. The astrophysics group includes professors working in a variety of different wavebands from the radio to x-rays, including observations with the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer satellite, as well as ground-based optical and radio observatories. Members of the group are involved in the development of instrumentation for the CanariCam Science Team, a guaranteed-time program on the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias, the world’s largest optical telescope. Resources include Linux computers, astronomical data reduction packages including IRAF, AIPS and CIAO. Research within the Astronomy and Astrophysics Laboratory also includes planetary science, with a focus on planetary geology, impact cratering, orbital dynamics, exoplanets, and astrobiology. Members of the group are involved in the Kepler exoplanet mission, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Cassini mission to Saturn and Titan, and study solar system objects from Mercury to the Kuiper Belt and beyond.

Ortega 0.8-m Telescope: This is the largest research telescope in the state of Florida and forms the heart of the F.W. Olin Observatory. Installed in 2007, it sits on the rooftop of the F. W. Olin Physical Sciences Center. Equipped with a large-format CCD imaging system and spectrograph, it is available for student and faculty astronomy and astrophysics research projects as well as monthly public guest nights.

SARA 0.9-m Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, 0.6-m Telescope at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory and 1.0-m Telescope at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos: Florida Tech is the founding institution for the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA). See “Research” in the Institution Overview  section for more information.

Geospace Physics Laboratory (GPL): This facility is a collection of four major laboratories that host all of Florida Tech’s space physicists, planetary scientists and their students’ research projects. These labs are outlined below (GPL-A-D). In a joint operation with UCLA of California, Florida Tech is hosting a 10-site meridional array of magnetometers along the east coast of the United States (the MEASURE array) from Florida to southern Canada. The array observations, and particle and field measurements from various satellites are used for studying the geospace environment during magnetic storms and substorms. We also have joint operational custody (with the University of Florida) of the International Center for Lightning Research and Testing (ICLRT) that is located at Camp Blanding Army National Guard Base near Starke, Florida, where airspace can be controlled for rocket-triggering.

Lightning and Instrument Development Laboratory (GPL-A): A series of recent theoretical breakthroughs and experimental detector development by our team working at both this lab and the ICLRT has led to the discovery of x-ray emission from lightning and its possible central role in understanding the lightning plasma processes. Exploring the implications of this discovery is one of the main goals of this research lab. At the ICLRT, lightning is artificially triggered using small rockets trailing wires; in effect telling the lightning when and where to strike. This allows detailed observation and theoretical investigations to help us better understand how terrestrial (and planetary) lightning works and how to better protect lightning-vulnerable assets.

Cosmic Rays and Space Weather Laboratory (GPL-B): This lab uses a network of workstations to study the energetic particle environment in the solar system. Some of the particles are cosmic rays from the galaxy, while some are produced by the sun during solar flares. By studying these particles, we try to understand the energetic phenomena in the galaxy or on the sun that affect the radiation environment at Earth. Gaining such understanding is one of our main goals to protect astronauts working in space and the electronic components on satellites. In addition, analysis of the COSPIN experiment on Ulysses and several other spacecraft datasets (Wind, SOHO, SAMPEX, ACE and RHESSI) in support of investigating the energetic particles environment with the solar system are conducted in this lab.

Visualization and MHD Simulation Laboratory (GPL-C): This lab has state-of-the-art 3D visualization systems, video-processing workstations and shared memory multiprocessor systems for use in research and in the classroom. The systems use active and passive 3D displays to illustrate a variety of 3-dimensional topics. Some of the projects being pursued include classroom visuals such as 3D rendering of the Solar System, our Galaxy, and the Earth-Moon-Sun system. Scientific research in MHD modeling of space weather simulations is also conducted using 3D rendering as an analysis tool for studying the near-Earth space environment. Researchers are also investigating some cognitive science topics related to how the brain processes 3D imagery and how this may affect educational techniques in the physical sciences.

Space Exploration Research Laboratory (GPL-D): This lab supports a research program focused on enabling sustained human space exploration and on the origin, distribution and future of life in the universe. The lab includes imaging systems, optics, calibration and test equipment, a large clean room, and other hardware used to support the development of space instrumentation. It has a high-performance computing system for modeling and simulation, and a ground control system to receive data and send commands to the International Space Station. Some of the labs activities are housed in the new Space Life Sciences Laboratory at the Kennedy Space Center, where atomic force and laser confocal fluorescence microscopes optimized for bioimaging, small-animal research hardware, and other equipment supports research into the hazards associated with long-term human exposure to the space environment, such as radiation damage, loss of bone mass, muscle atrophy and cardiovascular de-conditioning.

Teaching and Research Assistantships

The department offers a number of teaching and research assistantships each year. Teaching assistants participate in laboratory instruction and/or assisting faculty in the preparation of teaching materials and grading. Research assistants work on research projects that are often related to their own master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation investigations. Both types of assistantships are awarded on a competitive basis, and provide graduate course fee remission and a stipend for living expenses. To increase the probability of receiving an assistantship, applicants are advised to apply as early as possible in the academic year prior to requested admission.