The following projects were recently completed by undergraduates. Similar projects are available to REU students and to UCI students who perform research for credit or employment.

EXPERIMENTAL ELEMENTARY PARTICLE PHYSICS (Mark Mandelkern and Jonas Schultz)

This research group is working on projects at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) and at the Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC). Exciting opportunities for students at both laboratories are available. At FNAL, this group will be running two related experiments. The first is the study of the charmonium spectrum by detecting the annihilations of stored antiprotons with protons in a hydrogen gas jet. The charmonium system is a relatively simple example of the strong interaction, and bears great similarities to the hydrogen atom, which was the laboratory in which the relativistic electromagnetic interaction was fully explored. The second is a search for anti-hydrogen atoms formed in the same collisions. At FNAL an REU student would participate in operation of the experiment, working with particle detectors, data acquisition electronics and computers and analysis techniques. At SLAC this group is working on BABAR, the detector for the B Meson Factory under construction. This project is designed to explore the weak interactions, and in particular to elucidate the source of CP violation, the lack of invariance under the combined operation of exchanging left and right and particle and antiparticle. CP violation is responsible for the existence of a preponderance of matter in the universe, perhaps for the existence of the universe at all. At SLAC an REU student would participate in the design of the BABAR experiment and learn the physics of particle interactions, the properties of scintillation detectors and electronic readouts, and the simulation techniques required for the design of large systems.

EXPERIMENTAL HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS (Andrew Lankford)

This research group is working on projects at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) in Switzerland, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL). At CERN this group is working on ATLAS, one of two detector experiments being built for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Scheduled to begin operation in 2005, the LHC will be by far the world's highest energy accelerator. Experiments there are likely to discover new particles and phenomena, and provide insights into questions such as why various particles have mass and why their masses are different. At the heart of ATLAS, silicon strip and pixel detectors will measure the tracks of the many charged particles produced by proton-proton collisions in the LHC. We are involved in the development and testing of these detectors and their readout electronics. An REU student would participate in these activities using new test facilities we are setting up at UCI. At SLAC this group is working on BABAR, the detector for the PEP- II collider now under construction. While the BABAR experiment is well-suited for extensive studies of the physics of charm and bottom quarks and of tau leptons, its primary goal is to provide insights into the source of "CP violation". CP violation involves differences in the behavior of matter and anti-matter which have led to the excess of matter in today's Universe. We are working on the BABAR detector readout electronics and control systems, and on preparing data analysis methods. An REU student would participate primarily in developing data analysis techniques at UCI using computer simulations of the physics processes and the BABAR detector. At FNAL this group is working on the D0 Experiment at the Tevatron proton-antproton collider. D0 was one of two experiments at FNAL which discovered the top quark in 1995. D0 and the Tevatron are presently being upgraded to obtain more, and higher quality, data. We are using D0 data to study the top quark and the W and Z bosons, and working on the silicon tracker for the D0 Upgrade. An REU student would participate in data analysis activities at UCI.

DEVELOPMENT OF MICROBALANCES FOR SURFACE PHYSICS EXPERIMENTS (Peter Taborek)

This research effort involves the development of novel mechanical oscillators which are used as mass transducers to detect thin adsorbed films. Mass adsorbed on the surface of a high Q oscillator causes a small decrease in frequency proportional to the mass. In some cases, it is possible to detect frequency changes as small as 1 part in a billion, which means that fractions of a single atomic layer can be resolved. We have applied this microbalance technique to a variety of problems ranging from superfluid onset on weak substrates at less than 1 degree Kelvin to intercalation of materials into crystals of C60 (bucky balls). An REU student participating in this project will experiment with new types of microbalances based on surface acoustic wave devices (SAWs) and piezo electric polymer films.

TESTS OF NEWTONIAN GRAVITATION & THE EQUIVALENCE PRINCIPLE (Riley Newman)

This group is developing torsion balance instruments designed to test the equivalence of inertial and gravitational mass -- the so- called "equivalence principle" which is the foundation of Einstein's theory of general relativity. The same instruments are used to search for possible new forces in nature that are weaker than gravity. Wildly discrepant reported results from research groups which have recently measured the gravitational constant G suggest that the instruments in this lab be applied to a new precision measurement of G -- by far the least well known fundamental constant of nature. An REU student working in this group will participate in the design, development, and operation of a torsion balance operating at cryogenic temperature, to test the feasibility of a new ultra-precise measurement of G.

SOFT CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS (Michael Dennin)

Undergraduates in this laboratory study the binding of proteins to phospholipid monolayers and the flow properties of various complex fluids.

WAVEFRONT SENSING AND LARGE TELESCOPES (Gary Chanan)

Professor Chanan's group has designed and built wavefront sensors for the world's largest optical telescopes - the two 10 meter Keck Telescopes in Hawaii and the 5 meter Hale Telescope on Mount Palomar. These instruments can detect wavefront distortions with amplitudes of less than 100 nanometers over these large apertures, equivalent to slope errors of less than one hundredth of an arcsecond. These devices find applications in correcting the figures of the telescope mirrors, and also in the emerging field of adaptive optics, where one tries to compensate in real time for the atmosphere-induced wavefront distortions which limit ground- based observations at optical (and infrared) wavelengths. Current work involves improvement of existing measurement algorithms, as well as collecting and analyzing data on atmospheric distortion of wavefronts at the Keck Telescope, to be used in the design of an adaptive optics system. There is an opportunity for student involvement, which would include work with image processing, algorithm development and data analysis.

ANALYSIS OF ASTRONOMICAL DATA (Tammy Smecker-Hane)

Recent projects include ``The Optical Variability of the Seyfert Galaxy MACHO 6.7059.207" by Steve Dawson. Steve examined the time variability of the luminosity of this galaxy using discrete correlation function analysis. He searched for hidden periodicity that would constrain models of the black hole at its center, but no unique periodicity was found even though the galaxy's brightness was highly variable. In other projects, Bill Fenton and William Ward learned how to work with a number of computer software packages to process and analyze CCD images previously taken with the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory 1.5-meter telescope, and to accurately measure the magnitudes of stars in crowded images of a nearby galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud.

HIGH ENERGY ASTROPHYSICS (Gaurang Yodh)

The REU student working with Professor Yodh will help analyze the properties of a new gamma ray telescope: Milagro. This instrument, currently under construction in the Jamez Mountains near Los Alamos, New Mexico, is designed to search for astrophysically interesting high energy gamma ray signals in the energy range between 100 Gev and 50 Tev, from sources such as active galactic nuclei, the sun, and gamma ray bursts. The detector system is a large pond (80 meters by 60 meters, 8 meters deep) at an elevation of 8700 feet, instrumented with photomultiplier tubes to detect Cerenkov radiation generated by gamma ray showers. The REU student working on this project will also learn about performance testing and encapsulation of these photomultiplier tubes.

AMANDA (Steve Barwick)

The Amanda neutrino detector is located near the South Pole. A recent undergraduate project involved seeing if the instrument could identify a special signature of neutrino oscillations.

PLASMA PHYSICS DIAGNOSTICS FOR THE UCI STAGED Z-PINCH INERTIAL FUSION PROGRAM (Frank Wessel)

Nuclear fusion promises a virtually unlimited supply of clean, inexpensive energy. Today the UCI effort is the only university- scale program investigating the potential for inertial-confinement fusion in a "Staged Z-Pinch." The process begins by discharging electrical energy through an annular-gaseous liner, such as xenon. The liner implodes onto a co-axial target transferring its energy to a cryogenic-deuterium-tritium (fuel) on timescales of less than 1 nanosecond. Ultimately the fuel compresses to high density and temperature, producing fast-nuclear particles and excess energy. Projects suitable for a summer REU project include diagnostics related to spectroscopy and imaging. This would involve crystal x-ray spectrometers to record emissions onto a sensitive film substrate and data analysis to identify the characteristic atomic lines. Alternately, a pulsed x-ray light source may be developed to "backlight" the pinch and provide a time-resolved radiograph of the plasma-density contour. Depending upon available resources it may be possible to record the images on a multi-frame, image- intensifier system.

ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM THE DIII-D TOKAMAK (William Heidbrink)

The DIII-D tokamak in San Diego is one of the leading facilities for plasma physics research in the country. The student will tour the DIII-D facility and learn background material about magnetic fusion, tokamaks, and plasma diagnostics. The bulk of the project will be devoted to computer program development and analysis of "fast-ion" data from DIII-D. The final stage of the project will be to enter the analyzed data into a data base and to search the database for correlations between parameters.

MODELING OF BRAIN FUNCTIONS (Gordon Shaw)

Professor Shaw is a theoretical physicist who is developing models of brain function based on analogies with physical spin systems. Research in Shaw's brain theory laboratory is based on his highly structured neural model of the cortex (which was developed from highly structured physical spin system analogies). Learning, memory and "higher brain functions" are studied through computer simulations and have led to successful human behavioral studies testing predictions from the model. Symmetries in the spatial- temporal firing patterns in the model play a key role in Shaw's work. A student working on this project should have extensive programming experience in C on a Sun workstation or on a Mac computer.

BEAM-PLASMA PHYSICS (Eusebio Garate)

We are studying photofield emission from tip cathodes. In photofield emission a cathode is biased to high fields and then irradiated with light. In principle, for fields at the cathode of the order of 0.1 V/Angstrom and greater the effective work function of the cathode is lowered and the quantum efficiency of photoelectron production increases. Typical cathodes have a tip radius of ~ 1 mm and can be biased by applying a pulsed voltage up to 50 kV for up to 200 ns. During the voltage pulse a 25 ns laser pulse is incident on the cathode tip. The REU student will participate in data acquisition and learn about short pulsed, high power lasers, electron beam generation and propagation and pulsed, high voltage systems.
 
 

Riley Newman, rdnewman@uci.edu