Engineering Physics Commons^™

Website: Home, Zhiqu Lu, Likun Zhang, Lei Cao

Gulf Research Program Data Sets

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Website: Latest Results, Zhiqu Lu, Likun Zhang, Lei Cao

Gulf Research Program Data Sets

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Website: News And Events, Zhiqu Lu, Likun Zhang, Lei Cao

Gulf Research Program Data Sets

No abstract provided.

Development Of Robust Ratio Linear Fitting Method Of Temperature And Emissivity Separation For High-Temperature Data, Mitchell Manzardo, Michael L. Dexter, Shannon R. Young, John Bowlan, Anthony L. Franz

Faculty Publications

Accurate temperature and emissivity separation from thermal infrared radiance is essential for characterizing materials under high-temperature laboratory conditions. Existing temperature and emissivity separation methods have largely been developed for multispectral remote sensing applications, where long atmospheric path lengths require extensive atmospheric compensation. In contrast, the current work considers hyperspectral laboratory measurements acquired over a short optical path, where atmospheric effects are comparatively small but increased measurement uncertainty remains within portions of the measured spectrum. The ABB MR304 FTIR spectrometer used in this study exhibits reduced optical transmission below approximately 2.5 μm, producing increased measurement uncertainty within the spectral region containing …

Emergent De Sitter Expansion And Closed Topology From The Cosmic Fabric Model As An Open Thermodynamic System: Resolving The Negative Bulk Modulus Paradox, T G. Tenev, C B. Ward, T F. Tenev, M F. Horstemeyer

Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Cosmic Fabric Model establishes a continuum-mechanics isomorphism to General Relativity by representing physical space as an elastic three-dimensional hyperplate embedded in a four-dimensional spatial bulk. Reproducing vacuum kinematics requires a vanishing P-wave modulus, which in turn implies a negative bulk modulus—an apparent thermodynamic instability in a closed system. This paradox is resolved by recasting the framework as an open system: the instability is not pathological but instead drives cosmic expansion. In this interpretation, the observable universe is a lower-energy solid formed through continuous solidification from a higher-dimensional precursor fluid. Using multiplicative kinematics from finite-growth mechanics, the model shows that …

Testing And Qualification Of Low-Voltage Power Supplies For The Atlas Tile Hadronic Calorimeter Phase-Ii Upgrade, Justice A. Jones

2026 Spring Honors Capstones Projects

The High Luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) places increased thermal and operational demands on detector electronics, requiring highly reliable power systems. The ATLAS Tile Hadronic Calorimeter (TileCal) uses low-voltage power supply (LVPS) bricks to power front-end electronics, but these units operate in inaccessible regions, making failures difficult to repair. Therefore, rigorous qualification procedures are essential. This work focuses on improving LVPS reliability through a structured burn-in process. Each unit undergoes pre-burn-in electrical verification using a Single Test Stand (STS), followed by sustained operation under load and elevated temperature, and post-burn-in requalification. Standard cooling conditions limit temperatures to …

Physics-Informed Neural Network Solution Of The 2d Helmholtz Equation With A Gaussian Source, Theodoros Panagiotakopoulos, Chris Velissaris, Aristotelis Nikolaos Rapsomanikis

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We present a physics-informed neural network (PINN) framework for solving the complex-valued two-dimensional Helmholtz equation with a localized Gaussian source and spatially varying permittivity. Starting from Maxwell’s equations, the frequency-domain scalar Helmholtz formulation under transverse electric (TE) polarization is derived and enforced directly within the neural network loss function. The model employs a sinusoidal representation network (SIREN) architecture to capture the oscillatory nature of wave solutions and incorporates the Sommerfeld radiation condition to impose open boundary conditions. Training is performed using a hybrid collocation strategy combined with a two-stage optimization procedure consisting of Adam followed by L-BFGS. Numerical experiments in …

Gravity Compensation, Carter Glover, Siyuan Zhou

Senior Project

This project focused on the design, analysis, and testing of an air-bearing gravity compensation testbed intended to simulate reduced-friction motion for space-related applications. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted to evaluate airflow characteristics, pressure distribution, and bearing performance under various operating conditions. The design was refined to improve load support, stability, and airflow efficiency while maintaining manufacturability. Experimental testing and simulation results were compared to assess system performance and validate design assumptions. The completed testbed demonstrates the feasibility of using air bearings to create a low-friction environment suitable for motion testing and gravity compensation studies.

Optical Force/Torque Sensor, Kyle Sweeney, Ian Unruh

Senior Project

This project presents the design, development, and testing of a low-cost optical force/torque sensor for Skyforge, an autonomous robotic system intended for in-space construction. The sensor utilizes eight optical transmissive sensors and a compliant PEEK spring mechanism to measure forces and torques across six degrees of freedom. By detecting spring deflections through changes in light intensity, the system provides real-time force and torque feedback while remaining significantly less expensive than commercially available alternatives. The prototype was designed to measure forces up to ±5 N and torques up to ±50 N·mm with a target minimum detectable force of 0.5 N. Calibration …

Skyforge End Effector, Sarah Alexander, Coleman Bubar

Senior Project

Large space structures are necessary for space advancement. However, construction is difficult with the current methods; SkyForge is a robot intended for orbital assembly. The robot will walk on and build the structure by utilizing the end effectors to grasp and position parts.

Skyforge—Autonomous Robot For On-Orbit Assembly Of Space Structures, Kate Keeler, Garrett Farnham, Logan Trier, Ainsley West

Senior Project

As interest in deep space exploration and satellite communications increases around the world, the need for large orbital structures such as space stations, solar fields, and telescopes increases in parallel. Current methods include monolithic modular assembly, expanding deployable structures or requiring Extra-Vehicular Activities, all of which are costly and highly specialized. This paper proposes a form of robotic on-orbit assembly for structures beyond the size constraints of the launch vehicle. The SkyForge system consists of a launch capsule containing construction materials and a pair of tripedal robots, identical in form and task. These robots would autonomously locomote on, and assemble …

Thermal Vacuum Technical Report, Taiye Ibukun Fatima Ougundare, Ryan Bade

Senior Project

This system enables ground-based testing of components prior to space deployment. It replicates key Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) conditions, including both pressure and temperature. The chamber reduces pressure from atmospheric conditions (~760 Torr) to ~7.6 × 10⁻⁶ Torr. The thermal vacuum system achieves temperatures ranging from −60 °C to +125 °C for realistic environmental simulation.

Skyforge: Payload Isolation, Denzel Ezekiel, Brayden Gogis

Senior Project

As humanity looks to expand its reach into space, there is an increasing need for large space structures. The existence of these structures would enable large-scale infrastructure for further exploration and long-term habitation of humans beyond earth. However, creating such large structures in space is extremely challenging. Extreme environmental conditions (temperature, vacuum, microgravity) make construction and material handling difficult. Manual construction is dangerous and expensive; it is unrealistic for astronauts to complete this work. The “SkyForge” project, inspired by “Skyworker” (2003), attempts to make large space structure construction possible. SkyForge is envisioned as a fully autonomous construction robot designed for …

Assembly And Testing Of A De-202 Closed-Cycle Cryostat, Chris Maguire

SPARK Symposium Presentations

Closed-cycle cryostats, such as the Advanced Research Systems DE-202 model are commonly used in laboratories as they provide long-term, low-cost, low-maintenance operation. We will outline the assembly, testing processes, and benchmarking experiments associated with the setup of this instrumental accessory. Further, a technical manual was written for future students and faculty in undergraduate research. Assembly involved constructing a custom frame, and integrating vacuum, water, gas, and electrical systems. Testing confirmed the system did not leak gas. Thermal response was recorded during cooling and heating phases to verify functionality; a base temperature of 7.5 K was achieved in 65 minutes, surpassing …

Physics Alumni Newsletter Spring 2026, Terry Goforth

Physics Alumni Newsletter

Physics Alumni Newsletter

The Physics Alumni Newsletter is produced by the SWOSU Physics Department.

Our Engineering Physics students are recruited in fields such as electronics, aerospace, mechanical engineering, petroleum engineering and software engineering. Graduates also have careers in meteorology, architecture, education and more.

Guitar Amplifier Directivity, Rachel C. Edelman, Brian E. Anderson, Samuel D. Bellows, Timothy W. Leishman

Directivity

No abstract provided.

Explainable Physics-Based Constraints On Reinforcement Learning For Accelerator Optimization, Jonathan Colen, Malachi Schram, Kishansingh Rajput, Armen Kasparian

Data Science Faculty Publications

We present a reinforcement learning (RL) framework for optimizing particle accelerator experiments that builds explainable physics-based constraints on agent behavior. The goal is to increase transparency and trust by letting users verify that the agent’s decision-making process incorporates suitable physics. Our algorithm uses a learnable surrogate function for physical observables, such as energy, and uses them to fine-tune how actions are chosen. This surrogate can be represented by a neural network or by an interpretable sparse dictionary model. We test our algorithm on a range of particle accelerator optimization environments designed to emulate the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility at …

The Shms 11 Gev/C Spectrometer In Hall C At Jefferson Lab, S. Ali, A. Ahmidouch, G. R. Ambrose, A. Asaturyan, C. Ayerbe Gayoso, J. Benesch, V. Berdnikov, H. Bhatt, D. Bhetuwal, D. Biswas, P. Brindza, M. Bukhari, M. Burton, R. Carlini, M. Carmignotto, M. E. Christy, C. Cotton, J. Crafts, D. Day, S. Danagoulian, A. Dittmann, D. H. Dongwi, B. Duran, D. Dutta, R. Ent, H. Fenker, M. Fowler, D. Gaskell, A. Hamdi, N. Heinrich, W. Henry, N. Hlavin, T. Horn, G. M. Huber, Y. Ilieva, J. Jarrell, S. Jia, M. K. Jones, M. Junaid, M. L. Kabir, N. Kalantarians, A. Karki, S. J.D. Kay, C. E. Keppel, V. Kumar, S. Lassiter, W. B. Li, D. Mack, S. Malace, J. Mcmahan, A. Mkrtchyan, H. Mkrtchyan, P. Monaghan, C. Morean, P. Nadel-Turonski, G. Niculescu, M. I. Niculescu, A. Nadeeshani, E. Pooser, A. Ramos, J. Reinhold, B. Sawatzky, H. Szumila-Vance, V. Tadevosyan, R. L. Trotta, A. Usman, C. Yero, M. Yurov, S. Zhamkochyan, S. A. Wood, J. Zhang

Physics Faculty Publications

The Super High Momentum Spectrometer (SHMS) has been built for Hall C at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab). With a momentum capability reaching 11 GeV/c, the SHMS provides measurements of charged particles produced in electron-scattering experiments using the maximum available beam energy from the upgraded Jefferson Lab accelerator. The SHMS is an ion-optics magnetic spectrometer comprised of a series of new superconducting magnets which transport charged particles through an array of triggering, tracking, and particle-identification detectors that measure momentum, energy, angle and position in order to allow kinematic reconstruction of the events back to their origin at …

The Xpdirc Concept For Next-Generation Dirc Detectors, R. Dzhygadlo, J. Datta, K. Dehmelt, A. Deshpande, T. K. Hemmick, Md. I. Hossain, C. E. Hyde, Y. Ilieva, G. Kalicy, W. J. Llope, P. Nadel-Turonski, C. Schwarz, J. Schwiening, N. Shankman, J. Stevens, N. Wickramaarachchi, C. Woody

Physics Faculty Publications

The next-generation DIRC (xpDIRC) represents a novel detector geometry concept currently being developed for advanced particle identification systems in high-energy physics experiments. Building upon the high-performance DIRC (hpDIRC) designed for the ePIC detector at the Electron-Ion Collider, the xpDIRC introduces a hybrid optical architecture that combines enhanced focusing optics, a wide plate light guide, and a compact expansion volume. Comprehensive Geant4 simulations demonstrate that the xpDIRC hybrid geometry achieves state-of-the-art performance in π/K separation across the entire range of operation.

K-Long Facility At Jlab, Moskov Amaryan

Physics Faculty Publications

In this talk I present the outline of K-long Facility (KLF) at JLab [1]. It was approved by PAC48 in 2020 to run for 200 days of beamtime, equally divided between liquid hydrogen and deuterium targets, to measure dozens of hyperon states predicted by CQM and LQCD but not yet established. This facility also will allow to measure Kπ scattering in different channels to observe the so-called ᴷ scalar meson and measure its width and position with unprecedented accuracy. Finally, it will be shown that exotic baryons can be measured at this facility in formation reactions with a two-body final …

Geometry Of Almost-Conserved Quantities In Symplectic Maps: Approximate Invariants In Nonlinear Accelerator Systems, T. Zolkin, S. Nagaitsev, I. Morozov, S. Kladov

Physics Faculty Publications

We present a perturbative method for constructing approximate invariants of motion directly from the equations of discrete-time symplectic systems. This framework offers a natural nonlinear extension of the classic Courant-Snyder (CS) theory for systems with 1 degree of freedom—a foundational cornerstone in accelerator physics now spanning seven decades and historically focused on linear phenomena. The original CS formalism emerged under conditions where nonlinearities were weak, design goals favored linear motion, and analytical tools—such as the Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser theory—had not yet been fully developed. While various normal-form methods have been proposed to treat near-integrable dynamics, the approach introduced here stands out for …

Ai-Enabled Digital Twins And Optimization Workflows For Accelerator Control, M. Yadav, A. Seryi, B. Terzic, J. Bird, J. Delayen, K. Makino, K. Ahmed, L. Van Riesen-Haupt, Q. Su, S. De Silva, S. Hossain, T. Griffin, T. Satogata

Physics Faculty Publications

We propose to develop advanced ML models, such as physics informed neural network (PINN) based surrogate models, to accurately represent accelerator phase space transport. These surrogate models will enable precise diagnosis and prediction of beam phase space evolution along the beamline, facilitating real-time control and optimization. The developed models will be tested using the Upgraded Injector Test Facility (UITF) at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab), providing a pathway toward ML-driven enhanced diagnostics and beamline control in operational accelerator environments. The primary aim will be to facilitate this by developing machine learning models that outperform traditional simulations in speed and …

Physics-Informed Temperature Prediction Of Lithium-Ion Batteries Using Decomposition-Enhanced Lstm And Bilstm Models, Seyed Saeed Madani, Yasmin Shabeer, Michael Fowler, Satyam Panchal, Carlos Ziebert, Hicham Chaoui, François Allard

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Accurately forecasting the operating temperature of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is essential for preventing thermal runaway, extending service life, and ensuring the safe operation of electric vehicles and stationary energy-storage systems. This work introduces a unified, physics-informed, and data-driven temperature-prediction framework that integrates mathematically governed preprocessing, electrothermal decomposition, and sequential deep learning architectures. The methodology systematically applies the governing relations to convert raw temperature measurements into trend, seasonal, and residual components, thereby isolating long-term thermal accumulation, reversible entropy-driven oscillations, and irreversible resistive heating. These physically interpretable signatures serve as structured inputs to machine learning and deep learning models trained on temporally …

Mtl_Tx: A Multi-Task Transformer Model For Improved Radiation Time-Series Estimation, Hongfang Zhang, Adam Stavola, Hal Ferguson, Bence Budavari, Hongyi Wu, Chiman Kwan, Jiang Li

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Controlling radiation doses at potential radioactive facilities is critical to ensuring the safety of both personnel and the public. At the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab), multiple sensors are deployed around the three experimental halls to monitor key parameters, including single-beam current, energy levels, current leakage, and radiation values during accelerator operations. In this study, we developed a Multi-task Transformer model, MTL_TX, to accurately estimate radiation doses at sensor locations based on historical data, with the aim of enhancing safety in accelerator facilities and surrounding public areas. To improve estimation accuracy, we integrated two innovative components into the proposed …

Variational Autoencoder Inverse Mapper For Extraction Of Compton Form Factors: Benchmarks And Conditional Learning, Douglas Adams, Md Fayaz Bin Hossen, Joshua Bautista, Gia-Wei Chern, Simonetta Liuti, Marie Boër, Marija Čuić, Michael Engelhardt, Gary R. Goldstein, Huey-Wen Lin, Yaohang Li

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Deeply virtual exclusive scattering processes (DVES) serve as precise probes of nucleon quark and gluon distributions in coordinate space. These distributions are derived from generalized parton distributions (GPDs) via Fourier transform relative to proton momentum transfer. QCD factorization theorems enable DVES to be parameterized by Compton form factors (CFFs), which are convolutions of GPDs with perturbatively calculable kernels. Accurate extraction of CFFs from DVCS, benefiting from interference with the Bethe–Heitler (BH) process and a simpler final state structure, is essential for inferring GPDs. This paper focuses on extracting CFFs from DVCS data using a variational autoencoder inverse mapper (VAIM) and …

A Survey On Generative Ai For Detector Effects Unfolding In Particle And Nuclear Physics, Tareq Alghamdi, Tommaso Vittorini, Jitao Xu, Marco Battaglieri, Derek I. Glazier, Glòria Montaña, Giorgio Foti, Alessandro Pilloni, Nobuo Sato, Yaohang Li

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In particle and nuclear physics, “detector effects unfolding” can be viewed as a highdimensional inverse problem whose goal is to recover the true event distributions from observed experimental data corrupted by detector-induced distortions. Recent advances in generative AI have positioned data-driven and machine learning-based approaches as powerful alternatives to traditional unfolding techniques, offering superior scalability to high-dimensional data, capability of learning complex detector responses, and the ability to operate directly at the event level. We survey state-of the-art generative AI-based models for detector folding and unfolding. We review existing architectures and training strategies, and highlight recent methodological advances and open …

Simulation Of Rocket Response To Electromagnetic Environments Using Finite Element Modeling, Eden Powers

Fall Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

The purpose of this project is to develop a rocket model in FEMAP with NX-Nastran to simulate how a rocket might respond when exposed to external electromagnetic conditions. A simplified model of the SpaceX Starship will be constructed and analyzed to explore how various electromagnetic conditions interact with the rocket’s materials and geometry.

Orbital Modulation Of Gamma Rays Up To 100 Tev From Ls 5039, R. Alfaro, M. Araya, J. C. Arteaga-Velázquez, D. Avila Rojas, H. A. Ayala Solares, R. Babu, P. Bangale, E. Belmont-Moreno, A. Bernal, K. S. Caballero-Mora, T. Capistrán, A. Carramiñana, S. Casanova, U. Cotti, J. Cotzomi, S. Coutiño De León, D. Depaoli, P. Desiati, N. Di Lalla, R. Diaz Hernandez, B. L. Dingus, M. A. Duvernois, K. Engel, T. Ergin, C. Espinoza, K. L. Fan, K. Fang, J. A. Garcia-Gonzalez, H. Goksu, A. Gonzalez Munoz, J. A. Gonzalez, M. M. Gonzalez, J. A. Goodman, S. Groetsch, J. P. Harding, S. Hernandez-Cadena, I. Herzog, J. Hinton, D. Huang, F. Hueyotl-Zahuantitla, P. Huntemeyer, S. Kaufmann, D. Kieda, A. Lara, J. Lee, H. Leon Vargas, J. T. Linnemann, A. L. Longinotti, G. Luis-Raya, K. Malone, O. Martinez, J. Martinez-Castro, J. A. Matthews, P. Miranda-Romagnoli, J. A. Morales-Soto, E. Moreno, M. Mustafa, M. Najafi, L. Nellen, M. U. Nisa, N. Omodei, E. Ponce, Y. Perez Araujo, E. G. Perez-Perez, C. D. Rho, A. Rodriguez Parra, D. Rosa-Gonzalez, M. Roth, H. Salazar, D. Salazar-Gallegos, A. Sandoval, M. Schneider, G. Schwefer, J. Serna-Franco, A. J. Smith, Y. Son, R. W. Springer, O. Tibolla, K. Tollefson, I. Torres, R. Torres-Escobedo, R. Turner, E. Varcla, Xiaojie Wang, Z. Wang, I. J. Watson, H. Wu, S. Yu, S. Yun-Carcamo, H. Zhou, C. De Leon

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Gamma-ray binaries are luminous in gamma rays, composed of a compact object orbiting a massive companion star. The interaction between these two objects can drive relativistic outflows, either jets or winds, in which particles can be accelerated to energies reaching hundreds of teraelectronvolts (TeV). However, it is still debated where and under which physical conditions particles are accelerated in these objects and ultimately whether protons can be accelerated up to PeV energies. Among the well-known gamma-ray binaries, LS 5039 is a high-mass X-ray binary with an orbital period of 3.9 days that has been observed up to TeV energies by …

Red Forest, Lucas Shilts

Senior Project

Sustaining large numbers of astronauts on Mars will require greenhouses capable of supplementing astronaut dietary needs. Lower solar irradiation and high levels of ionizing radiation on the Martian surface complicate the growth of crops on the red planet. Crops on Mars must be protected from radiation sources while still receiving sufficient illumination to grow. This research seeks to develop a Martian greenhouse illumination and heating design capable of efficiently providing plants the illumination and warmth needed while protecting them from the Martian radiation environment. This research explores a design for a direct-light subsurface Martian greenhouse which employs sun-tracking mirrors, vertical …

Numerical Approach To The Optimization Of The Bandwidth Tunability Of A Non-Cascaded Multifunctional Optical Filter, Ramon Benedict L. Lapina, Benjamin B. Dingel, Clint Dominic Bennett

Ateneo Innovation Center

Previously, we reported a multifunctional optical filter which is a Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC)–based, noncascaded bandpass filter wherein the Ring Resonators-based Direct-Coupled-All-Pass Filter (D-APF) and Cross-coupled All-pass Filter (C-APF) are attached to each of the arms of a single Mach Zehnder Interferometer (MZI). This device is an alternative platform to the conventional platform of programmable photonic filters that does not rely on combining different photonic elements to implement various filter functionalities. For one, it can generate (i) Narrowband Filter, (ii) Asymmetric Interleaver (AI) and (iii) Symmetric Interleaver (SI) responses by varying limited number of specific parameters of the device. It …