Particle Physics & Nuclear Physics

Klink, Mallik, Meurice, Newsom, Norbeck, Onel, Payne, Polyzou, Reno, Rodgers

Nuclear and particle physics is the study of particles and interactions, at the level of nucleons and their quark structure, and at the level of fundamental particles. Our program includes both experiment and theory. Graduate students perform experimental thesis projects at major accelerators, or they perform theory on campus. Our experimenters design and build detector components and perform data analysis, as part of large experiments with multi-institution teams of experimenters. We have weekly seminars on campus, where visitors, faculty and students in nuclear and particle physics present their work.		Image gallery
We have four fellows of the American Physical Society and a representative of the U.S. High Energy Physics Advisory Panel. Group members publish in the leading journals and present their work at international conferences. Our experiments are performed at the world's leading accelerator facilities such as Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Fermi National Laboratory, and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Our experimental students often reside at these labs, and enjoy all the resources and learning opportunities of these major facilities, after completing their courses at Iowa. Theory students have opportunities to travel to summer schools for specialized topics. Students are encouraged to present their dissertation research at conferences.

• Quarks models of nucleons and nuclei, relativistic quantum mechanics for few-nucleon and few-quark systems, electron-nucleus scattering
• Theory bridges the areas of particle physics and nuclear physics; is relevant to experiments at several national and international accelerators
• Students may also collaborate with faculty from national laboratories and other universities
• Students may also collaborate with scientists at Argonne National Laboratory and faculty from other universities
• Students develop skills in writing code in C or Fortran
• Graduate students normally obtain postdoctoral positions for their initial job after completing their degree
• In most years, Klink, Polyzou and Payne share a grant that allows for an RA stipend and student travel to conferences

• CP-violation studies, to understand why matter is more common than antimatter
• Recent project at SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center)
• After courses and exams at Iowa, graduate students move to a lab like SLAC, living and working there 2+ years while completing their thesis research
• Students also interact with group members including two/three postdocs and scientists at SLAC, and attend SLAC seminars
• Students develop skills in fast electronics, real-time data processing, and software
• Placement of previous PhD students: one professor, two postdocs at Fermilab, one in industry; previous graduate students gave invited talks at international conferences
• Grant support allows for multiple?? RA stipends and student travel to conferences; RA stipends for students located at SLAC or other labs are supplemented depending on housing costs

• Renormalization group, lattice gauge, numerical simulations, Feynman diagrams, strong-coupling expansion, large-N approximations, supersymmetry, hierarchy problem
• Employment of former students: postdoc at University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign; instructor at Hawkeye College; senior research scientist in driving simulation project
• Students are involved weekly in two seminars
• Students travel to summer schools and conferences

• Baryon physics: charm and beauty
• Recent projects at CERN and Fermilab
• On-campus facilities: two laboratories
• Students perform projects at accelerators, living and working there for one year or longer
• Students learn to design and build mechanical and electronic components of detectors and to write code
• In most years, grant support is available for multiple RA stipends and student travel to conferences

• Collisions of Ni+Ni, Fe+Fe, lighter nucleons on gold, and Pb+Pb
• Recent projects at Michagan State University and at Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, in collaboration with Prof. Onel
• Emeritus faculty, eligible to advise PhD theses
• Students design, construct, and test equipment; travel to accelerators; analyze data and fit to theoretical models
• Students learn to design and build mechanical and electronic components of detectors and to write code
• Limited funds available to support students

• Search for Higgs and super-symmetric (SUSY) particles
• Heavy ion collisions
• Recent projects at Fermilab and CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), including construction of Forward Calorimeter for Compact Muon Spectrometer
• On-campus facilities: hardware lab with computer-controlled photomultiplier (PMT) test station with CAMAC, NIM electronics, and LabView data acquisition
• Students perform projects at accelerators, living and working there for one year or longer
• Students learn to design and build mechanical and electronic components of detectors and to write code
• Placement of previous PhD's: Three professors including one in the U.S., two staff scientists in national or university labs, and several in industry
• In most years, grant support is available for multiple RA stipends and student travel to conferences

• The three-nucleon system as a tool to learn about the nuclear force
• Large-scale computer calculations to test models of few-nucleon systems
• Students develop skills in writing code in C, Fortran or symbolic manipulation programs using numerical methods to solve differential and integral equations
• Students may participate in collaborations with scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Students normally obtain postdoctoral positions for their initial job after completing a PhD
• In most years, Klink, Polyzou and Payne share a grant that allows for an RA stipend and student travel to conferences

• Quarks models of nucleons and nuclei, relativistic quantum mechanics for few-nucleon and few-quark systems, electron-nucleus scattering
• Theory bridges the areas of particle physics and nuclear physics; is relevant to experiments at several national and international accelerators
• Students may also collaborate with scientists at Argonne National Laboratory and faculty from other universities
• Students develop skills in writing code in C or Fortran
• Students normally obtain postdoctoral positions for their initial job after completing their degree
• In most years, Klink, Polyzou and Payne share a grant that allows for an RA stipend and student travel to conferences

• Phenomenology: calculations support accelerator and cosmic-ray experiments
• Applying the standard model in neutrino physics theory; applying perturbative QCD corrections to particle interactions, evaluating nonstandard model signals in collider experiments
• Students gain skills with computer symbolic and numerical methods; programming in Fortran and other languages
• Students participate in weekly seminar on particle and nuclear physics
• In most years, grant support is available for student travel to conferences

• Topics include string theory with applications in gravitation, cosmology, superstring theories as unified theory
• Numerical techniques developed for solutions in quantum chromodynamics (QCD)
• Students also: interact with students at other universities; participate in interdisciplinary work with mathematics department
• Students develop mathematical skills including analytical, numerical, and symbolic methods
• In most years, grant support is available for student travel to conferences