Physics Commons^™

Classical Mechanics, Mark D. Shattuck

Open Educational Resources

Syllabus for Classical Mechanics

Ds2 As Excitation Of Ads2, Florian Ecker, Daniel Grumiller, Robert Mcnees

Physics: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Title- dS₂ as excitation of AdS₂

We introduce a family of 2D dilaton gravity models with state-dependent constant curvature so that dS₂ emerges as an excitation of AdS₂. Curiously, the strong coupling region corresponds to the asymptotic region geometrically. Apart from these key differences, many features resemble the Almheiri–Polchinski model. We discuss perturbative and non-perturbative thermodynamical stability, bubble nucleation through matter shockwaves, and semiclassical backreaction effects. In some of these models, we find that low temperatures are dominated by AdS₂ but high temperatures are dominated by dS₂, concurrent with a recent proposal …

Classification Of Pixel Tracks To Improve Track Reconstruction From Proton-Proton Collisions, Kebur Fantahun, Jobin Joseph, Halle Purdom, Nibhrat Lohia

SMU Data Science Review

In this paper, machine learning techniques are used to reconstruct particle collision pathways. CERN (Conseil européen pour la recherche nucléaire) uses a massive underground particle collider, called the Large Hadron Collider or LHC, to produce particle collisions at extremely high speeds. There are several layers of detectors in the collider that track the pathways of particles as they collide. The data produced from collisions contains an extraneous amount of background noise, i.e., decays from known particle collisions produce fake signal. Particularly, in the first layer of the detector, the pixel tracker, there is an overwhelming amount of background noise that …

Improved Constraints On The Standard Model Higgs Self-Interaction Using A Search For Hh → 4b Via The Vector-Boson Fusion Production Mode At √S = 13 Tev In 126 Fb^-1 Of Data Collected By The Atlas Experiment, Christopher Milke

Physics Theses and Dissertations

A search for di-Higgs production via the Vector Boson Fusion mechanism decaying to 4 bottom quarks is performed using 126 fb−1 of data from Run 2 of ATLAS at √s = 13 TeV. The search was performed in the non-resonant regime, finding an upper bound on the production cross-section for the Standard Model VBF→HH→4b of about 200 times the Standard Model. Constraints are placed on both the HHVV coupling (which determines the W/Z-higgs four-point interaction strength) and HHH Higgs self-coupling scale factors at 95% confidence. The HHVV coupling scaling factor (κ2V ) is constrained to an observed interval between 0.09 …

Understanding Liquid Dynamics Using The Van Hove Function From Inelastic Neutron Scattering Measurements, Yadu Krishnan Sarathchandran

Doctoral Dissertations

Liquid state physics remains relatively unexplored compared to solid-state physics, which achieved massive progress over the last century. The theoretical and experimental methodologies used in solid-state physics are not suitable to study the liquid state due to the latter's strong time dependence and the lack of periodicity in structure. The approaches based on phonon dynamics break down when phonons are over-damped and localized in liquids. The microscopic nature of atomic dynamics and many-body interactions leading to liquid state properties such as viscosity and dielectric loss in liquids remain unclear. Inelastic neutron scattering measurements were done to study the microscopic origins …

Resonant Energy Exchange In Ultracold Rydberg Atoms, Samantha Grubb, Alan Okinaka

Physics and Astronomy Summer Fellows

Ultracold Rydberg atoms serve as good systems in which resonant dipole-dipole interactions can be observed. The goal of our work is to design a simulation in which energy exchange among many nearly evenly spaced energy levels is observed. These observations are useful for understanding the time evolution of complicated quantum systems, and have applications in quantum computing and simulating. We are utilizing a supercomputer to run our simulation as well as studying the system experimentally. Once we obtain simulated results, we plan to compare them with the results obtained in a lab.

The Role Of Conformational Changes In Viral And Bacterial Protein Functions, Md Lokman Hossen

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Proteins do versatile work in cells. They require a cascade of structural changes to perform different tasks like binding to the other neighboring biomolecules, transporting small chemicals, activating a chemical reaction, etc. The structural conformations of proteins can be critical in changing their working ability. In this dissertation, I investigated the role of conformational changes of viral protein, e.g., spike and envelope protein of SARS-CoV-2, and bacterial protein, e.g., multidrug transporter and toxic extrusion protein- PfMATE from Pyrococcus furiosus. Also, I performed molecular docking-based drug screening targeting the E protein to suggest a set of drugs that can be repurposed …

Developing A Data Acquisition System For Use In Cold Neutral Atom Traps, Jonathan E. Fuzaro Alencar

Physics

The rising interest in quantum computing has led to new quantum systems being developed and researched. Among these are trapped neutral atoms which have several desirable features and may be configured and operated on using lasers in an optical lattice. This work describes the development of a new data acquisition system for use in tuning lasers near the precise hyperfine transition frequencies of Rb 87 atoms, a crucial step in the functionality of a neutral atom trap. This improves on previous implementations that were deprecated and limited in laser frequency sweep range. Integration into the experiment was accomplished using an …

Investigating The Thermodynamics And Seismic Profile Of The Europan Hydrosphere Through Pure-Water Modeling And Saltwater Experiments, Samantha Rosenfeld

Honors Theses

We explore the properties of the hydrosphere on Europa involving both a modeling technique and experimental methods. We perform a computational analysis of the thermodynamic properties for an ideal, pure-water Europan ice shell using a Python programming framework called SeaFreeze. We create four models assuming surface temperatures of either 50 K or 140 K and ice shell thicknesses of either 3 km or 30 km. We observe mostly linear trends for the density and seismic wave velocities with respect to depth and find that surface temperature has the greatest effect on the models. Simultaneously, we experimentally investigate the phase diagram …

A Performance Analysis Of The Belle Ii Detector, John Stacy

Honors Theses

The Belle II experiment has recently (2018) started data taking at the SuperKEKB electron-positron collider in Tsukuba, Japan. Detector performance studies are necessary to understand early data and prepare for more complex analyses. This study of the proton detection efficiency of the Belle II detector compares real and simulated data to find discrepancies with the intention to provide useful information for detector and calibration experts to better gauge detector performance. It also attempts to improve the characterization of proton identification efficiency at low momenta, which performs poorly under the current fitting model. This helps analysts exploring final states that include …

Monte Carlo Study Of Lepton Flavor Universality Violation In B Decays With Belle Ii Simulation, Sakul Mahat

Honors Theses

Belle II, the first super B-Factory experiment, is designed to make precise measurements of weak interaction parameters and search for New Physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. The Standard Model of particle physics is a theory that classifies all known elementary particles and describes three of the four known fundamental forces in the universe. Physics beyond the Standard Model that addresses the theoretical developments needed to explain the deficiencies in the Standard Model is often referred to as New Physics. One of the assumptions of the Standard Model is that the couplings of particles that mediate the weak …

Stem Club, Camden Jones, Erica Gesner, Amber Gadeken

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

The goal of this club is to introduce various topics stemming from different fields in science. We hope to excite the students about science and show them how important it is to their everyday lives. This club also aims to provide free education to underserved communities.

Investigating Gluonic Operators In Coordinate Space, Wayne Henry Morris Iii

Physics Theses & Dissertations

In this dissertation, a method of extracting gluon momentum distributions inside hadrons, and particularly nucleons, is developed. In general, the utility and application of performing calculations in coordinate space at the operator level is discussed, and its application to the method of pseudodistributions in the lattice extraction of parton distributions. An introduction to the background field method and other techniques used in the calculation of corrections to gluon operators are provided. Then, an outline of the calculation of the uncontracted gluon bilocal operator at one-loop is given, and the result thereof. Using the result for the gluon bilocal operator restricted …

Can Women Science?: A Climate Survey To Address Gender Inequity In Wwu’S Geology And Physics/Astronomy Departments, Raina Shaw

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This research study aims to assess and analyze gendered differences in student perceptions of the environment and climate in WWU’s Geology and Physics & Astronomy Departments. Underlying hypotheses involve the perceptions, comfort, and discrimination of women and gender minorities in male-dominated spaces. We also theorize that these gendered differences will increase with seniority and more so within physics than in geology. In addition to testing these hypotheses, we sought to collect relevant student feedback on factors that influence their perceptions of the climate & environment, to identify areas for future study and formal program assessment. From 56 respondents, this study …

First-Principles-Based Modeling Of Energy Converting Properties Of Conventional And Emerging Ferroelectrics, Maggie Kingsland

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ferroelectric materials are a type of multifunctional material that exhibit spontaneous polarization reversable by the application of an electric field. They are used in many technologies such as ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), piezoelectric devices, RFID chips, and capacitors. However, the most commonly used ferroelectrics are often made with rare, expensive elements and are not environmentally friendly. For example, many prototypical ferroelectrics contain elements such as lead, zirconium, and titanium. As technology grows more advanced, there is a need to discover or manufacture cheaper ferroelectrics and to make them less impactful on human health and the earth as a whole. We set …

Using Network Analysis To Contrast Three Models Of Student Forum Discussions, Hannah N. Benston

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

There is much research about how actors and events in social networks affect each other. In this research, three network models were created for discussion forums in three semesters of undergraduate general physics courses. This study seeks to understand what social network measures are most telling of a online forum classroom dynamic. That is, I wanted to understand more about things like what students are most central to the networks and whether this is consistent across different network models. I also wanted to better understand how students may or may not group together. What relationships (student to student, student to …

Impact Of Proton And Neutron Irradiation On Carrier Transport Properties In Ga2o3, Andrew C. Silverman

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This project studies the properties of minority charge carriers in beta gallium oxide (β -Ga₂O₃). The behavior of minority carriers is of high importance as it greatly affects conduction and consequently device performance. Cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy and EBIC (Electron Beam Induced Current) are the main experimental techniques used to study minority carrier behavior.

High energy radiation affects minority carrier properties through damage to the material and through the production of carrier traps that reduce the conductivity and mobility of the material. In this investigation, we study the effects of various kinds of high energy radiation on …

3-D Printed Arduino Powered Drone, Michael Floccare

Senior Honors Projects

With the 3D technology available today creating something in a lab has never been easier. Using 3D printers, the body of a drone is created and printed using a combination of programs. With a body created using PLA filament the drone is durable and light weight. The drone’s flight system and controller are programmed with the built-in software from Arduino. Adding the Arduino nano to the drone body then gives the drone capabilities to fly.

Perturbative Unitarity And Nec Violation In Genesis Cosmology, Yong Cai, Ji Xu, Shuai Zhao, Siyi Zhou

Physics Faculty Publications

Explorations of the violation of null energy condition (NEC) in cosmology could enrich our understanding of the very early universe and the related gravity theories. Although a fully stable NEC violation can be realized in the “beyond Horndeski” theory, it remains an open question whether a violation of the NEC is allowed by some fundamental properties of UV-complete theories or the consistency requirements of effective field theory (EFT). We investigate the tree-level perturbative unitarity for stable NEC violations in the contexts of both Galileon and “beyond Horndeski” genesis cosmology, in which the universe is asymptotically Minkowskian in the past. We …

The Effects Of "Sticky Stuff" On The Spin Rate And Break Of A Baseball Pitch, Natalie Dale

Scripps Senior Theses

In June 2021, Major League Baseball cracked down on the use of foreign substances by pitchers on the ball (Castrovince, 2021a). It is believed the sticky substances give the pitchers an unfair advantage over batters since they increase spin rate, consequently, through the Magnus Effect, creating more movement or “break” in the pitch, making it harder to hit. There are existing gaps in empirical research on this topic, thus the goal of this project was to determine the effect the banned substances have on the spin rate and related break of the pitches. By using pitch tracking technology, two types …

Observation Of Azimuth-Dependent Suppression Of Hadron Pairs In Electron Scattering Off Nuclei, S. J. Paul, S. Morán, M. Arratia, A. El Alaoui, H. Hakobyan, W. Brooks, M. J. Amaryan, W. R. Armstrong, H. Atac, L. Baashen, N. A. Baltzell, L. Barion, M. Bashkanov, M. Battaglieri, I. Bedlinskiy, B. Benkel, F. Benmokhtar, A. Bianconi, L. Biondo, A. S. Biselli, M. Bondi, F. Bossù, S. Boiarinov, K.-Th. Brinkmann, W. J. Briscoe, D. Bulumulla, V. D. Burkert, R. Capobianco, D. S. Carman, A. Celentano, V. Chesnokov, T. Chetry, G. Ciullo, P. L. Cole, M. Contalbrigo, G. Constantini, A. D' Angelo, N. Dashyan, R. De Vita, M. Defurne, A. Deur, S. Diehl, C. Dilks, C. Djalali, R. Dupre, H. Egiyan, L. El Fassi, P. Eugenio, S. Fegan, A. Filippi, G. Gavalian, Y. Ghandilyan, G. P. Gilfoyle, A. A. Golubenko, G. Gosta, R. W. Gothe, K. A. Griffioen, M. Guidal, M. Hattawy, T. B. Hayward, D. Heddle, A. Hobart, M. Holtrop, Y. Ilieva, D. G. Ireland, E. L. Isupov, H. S. Jo, R. Johnston, K. Joo, S. Joosten, D. Keller, A. Khanal, M. Khandaker, W. Kim, A. Kripko, V. Kubarovsky, V. Lagerquist, L. Lanza, M. Leali, S. Lee, P. Lenisa, X. Li, K. Livingston, I.J.D. Macgregor, D. Marchand, V. Mascagna, B. Mckinnon, Z. E. Meziani, S. Migliorati, R. G. Milner, T. Mineeva, M. Mirazita, V. I. Mokeev, P. Moran, C. Munoz Camacho, K. Neupane, D. Nguyen, S. Niccolai, G. Niculescu, M. Osipenko, A. I. Ostrovidov, P. Pandey, M. Paolone, L. L. Pappalardo, R. Paremuzyan, E. Pasyuk, W. Phelps, N. Pilleux, D. Pocanic, O. Pogorelko, M. Pokhrel, J. Poudel, J. W. Price, Y. Prok, B. A. Raue, T. Reed, M. Ripani, G. Rosner, F. Sabatié, C. Salgado, A. Schmidt, R. A. Schumacher, Y. G. Sharabian, E. V. Shirokov, U. Shrestha, P. Simmerling, D. Sokhan, N. Sparveris, S. Stepanyan, I. I. Strakovsky, S. Strauch, J. A. Tan, R. Tyson, M. Ungaro, S. Vallarino, L. Venturelli, H. Voskanyan, E. Voutier, X. Wei, R. Wishart, M. H. Wood, N. Zachariou, Z. W. Zhao, V. Ziegler, M. Zurek

Physics Faculty Publications

We present the first measurement of dihadron angular correlations in electron-nucleus scattering. The data were taken with the CLAS detector and a 5.0 GeV electron beam incident on deuterium, carbon, iron, and lead targets. Relative to deuterium, the nuclear yields of charged-pion pairs show a strong suppression for azimuthally opposite pairs, no suppression for azimuthally nearby pairs, and an enhancement of pairs with large invariant mass. These effects grow with increased nuclear size. The data are qualitatively described by the gibuu model, which suggests that hadrons form near the nuclear surface and undergo multiple scattering in nuclei. These results show …

Beam-Recoil Transferred Polarization In K+Y Electroproduction In The Nucleon Resonance Region With Clas12, D. S. Carman, A. D'Angelo, L. Lanza, V. I. Mokeev, K. P. Adhikari, M. J. Amaryan, W. R. Armstrong, H. Atac, H. Avakian, C. Ayerbe Gayoso, N. A. Baltzell, L. Barion, M. Battaglieri, I. Bedlinskiy, B. Benkel, A. Bianconi, A. S. Biselli, M. Bondi, S. Boiarinov, V. Ziegler

Physics Faculty Publications

Beam-recoil transferred polarizations for the exclusive electroproduction of K + Λ and K + Σ⁰ final states from an unpolarized proton target have been measured using the CLAS12 spectrometer at Jefferson Laboratory. The measurements at beam energies of 6.535 and 7.546 GeV span the range of four-momentum transfer Q² from 0.3 to 4.5 GeV² and invariant energy W from 1.6 to 2.4 GeV, while covering the full center-of-mass angular range of the K⁺. These new data extend the existing hyperon polarization data from CLAS in a similar kinematic range but from a significantly larger dataset. …

Deeply Learning Deep Inelastic Scattering Kinematics, Markus Diefenthaler, Abdullah Farhat, Andrii Verbytskyi, Yuesheng Xu

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

We study the use of deep learning techniques to reconstruct the kinematics of the neutral current deep inelastic scattering (DIS) process in electron–proton collisions. In particular, we use simulated data from the ZEUS experiment at the HERA accelerator facility, and train deep neural networks to reconstruct the kinematic variables Q² and x. Our approach is based on the information used in the classical construction methods, the measurements of the scattered lepton, and the hadronic final state in the detector, but is enhanced through correlations and patterns revealed with the simulated data sets. We show that, with the appropriate selection …

Establishing A Machine Learning Framework For Discovering Novel Phononic Crystal Designs, Drew Feltner

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

A phonon is a discrete unit of vibrational motion that occurs in a crystal lattice. Phonons and the frequency at which they propagate play a significant role in the thermal, optical, and electronic properties of a material. A phononic material/device is similar to a photonic material/device, except that it is fabricated to manipulate certain bands of acoustic waves instead of electromagnetic waves. Phononic materials and devices have been studied much less than their photonic analogues and as such current materials exhibit control over a smaller range of frequencies. This study aims to test the viability of machine learning, specifically neural …

The Effects Of An Ultrafast Pulsed Laser On Ybco Thin Film Circuit Transients, Matthew L. Rustad

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Terahertz (THz) frequency light has shown promise for a wide variety of applications due to its material characterization and imaging capabilities. Its nondestructive nature coupled with its submillimeter spatial resolution provides the most value for terahertz light as an imaging tool. The application of terahertz technology has been limited by a lack of novel and powerful sources. It has been shown that that Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide (YBCO), a type II superconductor, has certain properties that would allow YBCO to be an effective source for THz light. Recent microwave work has shown that when a persistent supercurrent is placed on …