Research

High Energy Physics (HEP) is concerned with the elementary particles and their interactions. This basic research is driven by intellectual curiosity and the desire to understand the underlying structure of the universe. Although elementary particles are infinitesimally small, the consequences of their properties are enormous. If, for example, the electron were much heavier, the universe would have evolved entirely differently: No atoms would exist, and the universe would now consist solely of electrically neutral particles.

Particle physics had relatively simple origins, beginning with the study of natural sources of particles, either radioactive atoms or cosmic rays from space. As one discovery led to another, surprises proliferated. New questions emerged, and newer and more powerful instruments were developed to answer them. Now particle physics has advanced to the point that it can ask some very deep questions:

  • Can all the forces between particles be understood in a unified framework?
  • What do the properties of particles reveal about the nature and origin of matter and the properties of space and time?
  • What are dark matter and dark energy, and how has quantum mechanics influenced the structure of the universe?

Accelerator-based experimental HEP research, such as recently completed Large Hadron Colider (LHC) as the highest-energy particle accelerator ever built on Earth, is complemented by Astroparticle detectors which observe particles produced in space, such as:

  • the flux of neutrinos emitted from the interior of the Sun, exploding stars, and colliding galaxies
  • very high  energy (> 100GeV) gamma-rays produced in the core of active galaxies, around pulsars and supernova remnants
  • the composition of invisible dark matter (22%) and dark energy (74%) which together comprise 96% of our universe
  • the origin of the highest-energy cosmic rays which generate a whole cascade of particles when they strike Earth's atmosphere.

The discoveries of HEP illuminate all of science, and the technology developed in the course of this basic research may ultimately be applied for practical benefit, as exemplified by: synchrotron type of particle accelerators which yield as a by-product intense electromagnetic radiation used in surface chemistry, materials science and engineering, environmental science, and biology; computer-aided tomography and positron-emission tomography in medical applications utilize detectors largely developed for particle physics experimentation; the World Wide Web was developed to enable elementary-particle physicists around the world to share information quickly and easily.

Research Areas:

Seminars

Time: 2:00PM
Location: 215 Sharp Lab

2009

Date Speaker Title
4 February 2010 Jonathan Heckman
(IAS) 		Signatures of Minimal F-theory GUTs
11 February 2010 Anupam Mazumdar
(Lancaster University, UK) 		Inflation: creating matter and perturbations
18 March 2010 V. Mukhanov
(Ludwig Maxmillians University, Germany) 		Higgs for Gravitons
31 March 2010 Stefano Profumo
(UC Santa Cruz) 		Cosmic Rays and the Quest for New Physics
15 April 2010 Mark Trodden
(University of Pennsylvania) 		TBA
22 April 2010 Zuowei Liu
(Stony Brook University) 		TBA
29 April 2010
Tanmay Vachaspati (Case Western Reserve University) 		TBA

People

Faculty

Stephen Barr

Office: 209 Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-6883
Email: smbarr@bartol.udel.edu
WWW:

Thomas K. Gaisser

Office: 256 Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-8113
Email: mailto:gaisser@bartol.udel.edu
WWW: http://www.expeditions.udel.edu/antarctica/tom-gaisser.html

Chung Ngoc Leung

Office: 272 Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-3511
Email: cnleung@udel.edu
WWW:

Qaisar Shafi

Office: 252 Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-6876
Email: shafi@bartol.udel.edu
WWW:

Todor Stanev

Office: 254 Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-1495
Email: stanev@bartol.udel.edu

Postdoctoral Researchers

Ilia Gogoladze

Office: 102 Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-0042
Email: ilia@physics.udel.edu
WWW:

Hasan Yuksel

Office: 102 Sharp Lab
Phone: (302)831-4233
Email: yuksel@udel.edu
WWW: http://www.bartol.udel.edu/~yuksel

Graduate Students

Adeel Ajaib

Office: 320 Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-1410
Email: adeel@udel.edu
WWW:

Matthew Civiletti

Office: 320 Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-1410
Email: mcivil@udel.edu
WWW:

Bin He

Office: 012B Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-3254
Email: hebin@udel.edu
WWW:

Rizwan Khalid

Office: 227 Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-6538
Email: rizwan@udel.edu
WWW:

Almas Khan

Office: 305A Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-6385
Email: almas@udel.edu
WWW:

Fariha Nasir

Office: 320 Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-1410
Email: fariha@udel.edu
WWW:

Syed Shabbar Rizvi Raza

Office: 227 Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-6538
Email: shabbar@udel.edu
WWW:

Mansoor Rehman

Office: 320 Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-1410
Email: rehman@udel.edu
WWW:

Cem Un

Office: 227 Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-6538
Email: cemsalihun@bartol.udel.edu
WWW:

Joshua Wickman

Office: 012B Sharp Lab
Phone: (302) 831-3254
Email: jwickman@udel.edu
WWW:

Long Term Visitors

Office:
Phone:
Email:
WWW:

Alumni

Office:
Phone:
Email:
WWW:

Past Group Pictures

2009

2007