Wash U Physics

Last night (July 23, 2024), Dr. Robin Canup of the Southwest Research Institute gave a riveting talk about the current theories about the Origins of the

This talk, part of NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Exploration Science Forum (NESF) being held this week at Washington University in St. Louis in collaboration with the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences and the Solar System Exploration Virtual Institute (SSERVI), centered on current canonical models of how the moon formed some 4.5 billion years ago, as well as as current gaps in our knowledge which upcoming missions to the moon (like NASA Artemis crewed missions to the lunar surface) will hopefully fill.

Dr. Canup is a longtime contributor to the fields of and . She received her B.S. from Duke University and a PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder before joining SwRI, where she has made major contributions to theories about the formation and evolution of planetary bodies. This expertise was on full display at last night's talk, where she dazzled the audience with news of scientific developments in the Giant Impactor Theory and the "Isotopic Crisis" which demonstrates a peculiar similarity between the Earth's and moon's crustal material that does not necessarily extend the other terrestrial planets in our

Dr. Canup ended her talk by remarking that all the science done on lunar origins in the last 50 years has been thank to samples brought back by Apollo astronauts. We echo her desire to gift another 50 years of great lunar science to researchers at WashU and our partners around the globe, and wish nothing but success for our 👨‍🚀👩‍🚀🚀🌝

WashU Arts & Sciences

A recording of the livestreamed talk can be found below - we encourage you to check it out, as well:
https://tinyurl.com/57m7u256

The flight may be but it was an amazing across the from to northern for our intrepid XL-Calibur telescope 😁 We at the Washington University in St. Louis Department of welcome her back to with open arms and eagerly await the data brought back from her high altitude analysis of polarization of the black hole X-ray binary Cygnus X-1 😎🔭🌠

to the XL-Calibur team at WashU Arts & Sciences and their international cohorts from NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration, JAXA(宇宙航空研究開発機構),the SSC - Swedish Space Corporation, and fellow universities in Japan & Sweden

We're on the ground! Hopefully not in a swamp or lake!

Let's go on a into the realm! 🔬👨‍🔬 play a crucial role in modern , enabling everything from efficient to precise .

One important aspect of materials is the Josephson effect, which allow energy to transfer between superconductors across a thin insulating membrane. So-called Josephson junctions are vital in modern computing and other facets of our tech-driven society.

Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) are revolutionizing sensing technology. Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have teamed up with international partners to develop "momentum space" junctions in BECs, allowing particles to tunnel between different momentum states, creating new possibilities for quantum simulations and magnetic field sensing. 🌌 WashU Arts & Sciences

Read the article here: https://physics.wustl.edu/news/new-routes-josephson-effects-bose-einstein-condensates

That's one big balloon🎈 for ! And one giant leap for the study of black holes and other phenomena 🌠🔭😮

Washington University in St. Louis Department of is excited to announce that the XL-Calibur launched to the stratosphere early today on a scientific balloon the size of a baseball stadium. It will be collecting measurements at about 125,000 feet - that's above 99.97% of the 's atmosphere!

During this flight, on the XL-Calibur team plan to study how the black hole accretes matter. They will also collect data to test how accelerate particles. The XL-Calibur data can be used on its own or together with data from the space-borne Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) satellite launched by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration in December 2021.



Read the full story here:
https://source.wustl.edu/2024/07/xl-calibur-telescope-launched-to-study-black-holes/

Talk about ! 🥳🎇Happy from the Department of Physics at Washington University in St. Louis!

On this day we celebrate two momentous anniversaries - of course the most famous is the 248th birthday of the 🗽😊 But today is also the 12th anniversary of the discovery of the famous particle at CERN

This particle, first predicted in the 1960s by Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Peter Higgs and, independently, by François Englert and Robert Brout, is significant because it arises from the so-called - a quantum field which exists across the and gives particles their mass

The picture below is an artist's depiction of the production of the Higgs-Boson at the CERN facility in as it may have appeared on this day in 2012 - here's to their success, and to many more years of amazing discoveries in 🔬😁

WashU Arts & Sciences

On 1 July 1913, William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg published their article 'The reflection of X-rays by crystals.'

Their work was critical in developing the field of crystallography which today underpins many technological developments in our modern society, such as drug development, nano- and biotechnology.

Read the full article: https://bit.ly/2YXAhLD

You may have heard your friendly neighborhood refer to elements heavier than or as "metals," but why is this?

The secret, as it turns out, is written in the - since most of the is made up of Hydrogen & Helium, which date back to the fiery crucible of the , all of the heavier elements can be traced to the foundries at the hearts of stars which have formed since then. When these stars die, and shed their outer layers - or go - they pump these heavier elements into the rest of the

So why call them metals? Well, that's simply a case of convenient labeling on the part of - since the first element on the after Hydrogen & Helium is Lithium, and Lithium is the first "metallic" element, all of the elements which follow are lumped in with it. This almost leads one to wonder what we might call these elements if the third entry on the periodic table was something like Nitrogen or Sulfur! 😁

So the next time you're confused by this trope of astronomical nomenclature, just remember that it all stems from the fact that astronomers have to keep track of a lot of jargon - one less detail to worry about just helps everything run smoothly 😊

may be right around the corner, but school is back in session here at the Washington University in St. Louis Department of !

From June 3-14, the Simons Collaboration on Extreme Electrodynamics of Compact Source or "SCEECS" Summer School will be imparting beginning researchers with the necessary theoretical foundations and numerical tools to study astrophysical plasmas and related fields.

The summer school involves students from institutions around the nation, and around the world, and will provide an environment to cultivate learning and foster cooperation and collaborative research.

Students will engage with lectures provided by WashU faculty, discuss research at daily poster sessions in the Compton Library, and overall developing skills which will prepare them to move into the professional world with their best foot forward.

The SCEECS summer school is supported by the Simons Foundation, the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.

Where were YOU for the ?

Turns out that Physics students and faculty love astronomical events - who knew? Several members of the Department of attended a gathering in southern Illinois to witness the once-in-a-lifetime on April 8, 2024

Pictured here (L-R): grad students Ali Arra, Marco Hofmann, Audrey Coleman, Lucas Graham, J.R. Cruise, Martin Luepker, Mary Iskakova, and Professor of Physics Alexander Seidel

We hope you got to take part in this phenomenal event, as well! 🌞🌚😎

We have a telescope! 😁📡

Scientists from Washington University in St. Louis and our partners in Sweden and Japan have been hard at work prepping the XL-Calibur telescope for launch from the Esrange Space Center in northern

The team includes principle investigator and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences faculty fellow (and Department of Physics Chair!) Henric Krawczynski and grad students Nicole Rodriguez Cavero, Sohee Chun, and Ephraim Gau, as well as Research Associate Professor Brian Rauch, Senior Research Engineer Richard Bose, and Senior Specialized Equipment Technician Dana Braun. Together, these intrepid explorers braved the snow and ice of the Arctic Circle to launch XL-Calibur on a mission to observe and study

XL-Calibur's first launch was in 2022, when it launched from Esrange in Sweden and touched down in Yellowknife, Canada. The upcoming flight, which could launch as soon as May 29, will follow a similar path across Norway, Iceland, and Greenland as it conducts its primary science mission. The 3,500-pound telescope array will be carried aloft by a huge scientific balloon that will take it up to 125,000 feet (38,100 meters) above the Earth's surface. Talk about getting above it all! 😮🎈

One of the mission's primary goals is to study how the famous black hole Cygnus X-1 accretes matter. It will collect data on using its Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer or "IXPE"

We are certainly eager to see this wonderful mission get off the ground, and hope it will return loads of really exciting data on our universe 😊🌠



Image: the XL-Calibur array at the gets ready for launch at Esrange Space Center in Sweden, featuring (L-R) Brian Rauch, Richard Bose, Dana Braun, and Ephraim Gau

As the moves out into the world to begin their next , we at the Department of would like to reflect on some other milestones - namely, those of our wonderful staff and faculty!

In 2024, we have one staff member, Manager of Financial Operations Adam Coleman, celebrating 5 years with WashU, while Research Scientist Anup Gangopadhyay and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences Communications Specialist Alison Verbeck celebrate 25 years with the university, and last but not least our virtuoso Building Manager, Shop Supervisor, and Assistant Technical Service Director Todd Hardt celebrates an amazing 40 years here at Washington University in St. Louis!

to these wonderful folks - here's to all their successes and those still yet to come 😊

Washington University in St. Louis Department of doctoral student Takuya Okawa has been selected to participate in a research fellowship at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory through the Universities Research Association.

Okawa studies the characteristics of axions and how interacts with the rest of the cosmos. At Fermilab, he will work alongside Asher Berlin, Dan Hooper, and Gordan Krnjaic of the Theory Division, using the Lab's resources to theorize on how radio waves emitted by dark matter axions can inform us about this enigmatic material.

Story here: https://physics.wustl.edu/news/okawa-selected-ura-fellowship-fermilab

Takuya! We know your work is going to have universal appeal 🌠🔭😉

We are pleased to announce that our own Professor Alexander Seidel was honored at the 2024 Washington University in St. Louis Outstanding Faculty & Staff Awards.

Professor Seidel, who is also the Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of , can be seen at middle in the image alongside four members of the graduate student body (L-R: Jason Bub, post-doc Andrea Gokus, J.R. Cruise, and Mary Iskakova). Seidel's research interests lie in the theory of many-body systems in condensed matter physics, where new phenomena emerge that cannot be understood even at a crude level without properly taking into account the interactions between particles.

, Alex! We're so thankful to have you on our team and are excited to see where your research leads next 🔬😊

The Department of wishes to extend to the and to all graduates from all academic programs - you made it! 😁

We admit that we may be biased, but we are especially proud of our new Bachelor's and Doctor of Philosophy degree-holders from within the Department. We hope your next adventures are truly stellar 🌠🔭

At the Washington University in St. Louis Department of , we had some prizes to hand out yesterday as part of the celebrations 😄 First came the Senior Prize, awarded to outstanding physics major . This year's honorees were Olivia Lazorik (image 5) and William Urdahl (image 6)

Next up came the honorees for the Shull Prize, awarded to the top top graduate teaching assistants in the Department of Physics. This year the prize went to Yashika Kapoor (image 7) and Nathan Whitsett (image 8), who were recognized for their dedication and energy as teaching assistants

Next came the recipients of some of our research awards & fellowships. These honors are granted to undergraduate physics students recognized for their achievement in research during their time at WashU. In order, the honorees pictured are Luc Bourgeade (image 9), Yinyao Shi (image 10), and Tony Li (image 11)

After the honorees received their awards, the seniors recognized for Distinction, High Distinction, and Highest Distinction in academic achievement were recognized (group photo in image 2)

Then came the ceremony inducting this year's new members of , a national honor society dedicated to outstanding scholarship in physics and astronomy. Inductees can be seen taking their oath in image 3, and alongside chapter chair Xi Wang and former WashU Physics chair Mark Alford in image 4

Last but not last, some lighter photos of the reception. First, some of the Physics department grad students reminiscing on their own undergraduate ceremonies. Second, we have departmental superstars Sarah Akin and Alison Verbeck, whose hard work and dedication (alongside that of virtuoso secretary Mary Sullivan) is what makes events like this come together. And finally, we have a candid group shot of families and friends gathered to celebrate the achievements of the students they have helped to shepherd on their academic journeys

To the new , their families, and everyone else who came out, we wish you a happy and productive summer - to the grads in particular, we hope the whole universe is your laboratory as you begin this next stellar adventure! 🔭✨😁

As the end of the year approaches for , the Washington University in St. Louis Department of Physics congratulates our Washington University in St. Louis Arts & Sciences PhD and Masters graduates!

Many of these students were hooded today in a ceremony at Graham Chapel and were out in full regalia alongside their advisors for the occasion.

To the graduates, ! We wish you all the success in the universe as you begin your new adventures 😊🌠

Pictured here:

1) Yashika Kapoor with advisor and Associate Professor of Physics Erik Henriksen

2) Garrett King with advisor and Associate Chair Saori Pastore, Ziyuan Zhang with Professor of Physics Mark Alford

3) Shixing Wang with advisor and Assistant Professor of Physics Shankar Mukherji

Last month we had a number of speakers present talks on a variety of topics within the field of . Pictured here are Eilens Lopez Saavedra of Florida State University, Christian Drischler of Ohio University, Patrick Fasano of Argonne National Laboratory, and Ole Koenig of Harvard University.

They presented seminars on everything from near-threshold resonances in theoretical nuclear physics to spectral timing analysis of the famous Cygnus X-1 black hole, and answered questions from students in their fields.

We're very lucky to have these distinguished guests join us to share knowledge in the world of . Here's to another month of exciting and at
Washington University in St. Louis!

in history: May 7

In 1867, Alfred Nobel patented dynamite in England, marking the first of three times he would be awarded patents for this explosive material. Nobel is of course best known to modern readers for the Nobel Prize which bears his name, and which has marked the highest achievements in physics and other fields since 1901

In 1952, the concept of the integrated circuit is first published by Dummer. Dummer's work paved the way for the microchip age to begin, which has revolutionized the way we live, think, and do science - think about all the and calculations made possible by this wondrous technology!

We also congratulate Yashika Kapoor, who will participate in the 73rd annual meeting this summer. This meeting will connect 650 students from around the world with 30 Nobel Prize laureates from the field of in order to foster international collaboration in and offer opportunities for

Yashika is a doctoral student studying under Associate Professor of Physics Erik Henriksen, and her studies centers on investigating novel electronic phases in two-dimensional Van der Waals materials, particularly

Story here: https://physics.wustl.edu/news/kapoor-selected-lindau-nobel-laureate-conference

Go Yashika! This is an amazing achievement 🔬😁

Physics congratulates , who has accepted a fellowship role at . Liam, a doctoral student studying under Professor of Physics Mark Alford, will be working with Chromodynamics (QCD) specialist Dr. Rob Pisarski while at Brookhaven, and expects to develop new data on how nucleons interact at close-range in the ultra-dense hearts of neutron stars

Story here: https://physics.wustl.edu/news/physics-student-brodie-selected-prestigious-doe-program

Way to go Liam! Wishing you all the success in the universe 🔭😁

ExoCup@WashU was a riveting knockout tournament between 16 exoplanets championed by the students of Physics 3330/5330, a brand-new planetary astrophysics course taught by Assistant Professor this Fall.

https://mcss.wustl.edu/news/exocupwashu

Learn more about the at: https://physics.wustl.edu/jaynes-fellowship. Deadline: November 15!

Spotted in the department today, our former chair seems to have let his hair down.

Happy Halloween from the Department of Physics!

Meenakshi Wadhwa, School Director and Foundation Professor, School Of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University will present the 2023 Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lecture, "Bringing Mars Samples Back to Earth," tonight at 7pm in Whitaker 100 at Washington University in St. Louis.

The planet Mars has fascinated humans for centuries. But it is only in the last few decades that robotic orbiters, landers, and rovers have allowed us to explore Mars in ever increasing detail. Nevertheless, some of our biggest questions relating to the formation and planetary-scale evolution of Mars, including its geologic and climate evolution, the history of water and volatiles, as well as the potential for the development of life in its ancient past can only be addressed by detailed analyses of carefully selected martian samples in state-of-the-art Earth-based laboratories. The campaign to return Mars samples to Earth is underway with the currently on-going collection of well-documented samples by the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. The Mars Sample Return (MSR) program represents the next phase of this campaign. Wadhwa will talk about the samples that have been collected so far and those that are expected to be collected in the near future, the scientific motivations for bringing these samples back, and how and when they are planned to be returned.

https://mcss.wustl.edu/events/robert-m-walker-distinguished-public-lecture-meenakshi-wadhwa-bringing-mars-samples-back

Join us this afternoon for the Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lecture with Meenakshi Wadhwa on "Exploration of the Solar System via Sample Return Missions."

The analysis in Earth-based laboratories of lunar samples returned by NASA astronauts during the Apollo program and by the robotic Soviet Luna program in the late 1960s and early 1970s revolutionized our understanding of the Moon and the Earth-Moon system. In the following decades, NASA has returned samples from a comet (Stardust mission) and from the Sun (Genesis mission), and JAXA’s Hayabusa and Hayabusa2 missions have returned samples from two asteroids, Itokawa and Ryugu, respectively. At the time of this talk, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission will additionally have returned samples of asteroid Bennu. Samples returned by these robotic missions are also contributing immensely to addressing questions about conditions in the early Solar System, planet formation processes, and the sources of organics and volatiles on planetary bodies. In this talk, Wadhwa will discuss the results and implications of the isotopic analyses in her laboratory of Ryugu samples from JAXA’s recent Hayabusa2 mission. She will additionally touch on future plans to return carefully selected samples from the planet Mars.

4pm CDT, Crow 201

https://mcss.wustl.edu/events/robert-m-walker-distinguished-colloquium-meenakshi-wadhwa-exploration-solar-system-sample

Join the Society of Physics Students at a research panel at 5 today featuring physics profs