Spotlight on Physics and Technology

How do the world and the Universe work?

This is the basic question that drives the natural science of physics. Through the theoretical and experimental study of energy (motion, light, gravity...) and matter (from sub-atomic particles to galaxies)—and how they interact with each other, physicists seek to formulate scientific laws and test physical phenomena.

Advances in research fields such as theoretical physics, condensed-matter physics, atomic, molecular, and optical physics, cosmology, and biophysics often lead to revolutions in the way we understand the Universe, as well as in technology and innovation.

Physicists proved the Big Bang theory by harnessing the technologies that could show how energy and matter interacted billions of years ago. Likewise, a new understanding of electromagnetism led innovators to develop modern-day products such as television, computers and cell phones. Advances in medicine have been made possible by machines such as CAT scans and MRIs, the technology for which grew out of physics laboratories. And in future, we look to nanoscientists who have learned to fabricate objects by joining molecule to molecule. Could a single carbon nanotube radio that fits inside the ear canal be in our future?

Suffice it to say, physics informs not simply the scientific past and present but also the scientific and technological future! Below is a list of the stories on this site relating to physics.

Connecting Infinitesimal to Infinity: The Search for Dark Matter

Nader Mirabolfathi tells us about dark matter.

Video: Cal Day 2013 - Adrian Lee: The Microwave Background: A Cosmic Time Machine

Submitted by admin on April 29, 2013 - 10:25am

Adrian Lee talks about the cosmic microwave background at Cal Day, UC Berkeley's annual open house.

Video: Cal Day 2013 - Raphael Bousso: Black Holes, Information & the Quest for a Unified Theory of Nature

Submitted by admin on April 29, 2013 - 10:22am

Raphael Bousso talks about black holes at Cal Day, UC Berkeley's annual open house.

 

Can one see a flower through a granite wall? Amazing capabilities of neutron imaging

 



On August 18, our talk was given by Dr. Anton Tremsin, and was entitled "Can one see a flower through a granite wall? Amazing capabilities of neutron imaging".

The detection technology which we developed for NASA astrophysical missions at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory has been successfully extended to such diverse areas as synchrotron instrumentation, biomedical imaging, ground-based astronomy and neutron microtomography. In this talk I will briefly describe some instrumentation we built for NASA satellites, in particular for the last Hubble repair mission, and how the same technology enables novel non-destructive testing methods utilizing neutrons. These reveal processes happening inside and behind thick objects. The fact that neutrons interact with the nucleus, as opposed to electrons in the case of x-rays, leads to a very different contrast mechanism. As a result, most organic objects are quite opaque and many metals can be easily penetrated. That allows seeing a drop of oil or gasoline inside a real aluminum-block car engine, a flower behind a granite wall, water flow inside metal pipes, strain in materials, etc. The latter can be very helpful for the engineering studies of crack formation in metals, preventing the fatigue of structures used in bridges and buildings. Also, the interaction of neutron spin with magnetic fields allows high resolution measurements of magnetic fields inside and around thick objects. A number of proof-of-principle experiments performed at continuous and pulsed neutron sources will be discussed, as will possible applications. 

Meet Cal Scientists: Big-Thinking Physicists

Submitted by admin on January 18, 2012 - 4:20pm

Cal physicists study the most fundamental questions in science. Read on to learn about these scientists' research!

  • Bernard Sadoulet, professor, Department of Physics
  • Nader Mirabolfathi, associate research physicist, Department of Physics
  • Dmitry Budker, professor, Dept. of Physics
  • Angie Little, graduate student, Dept. of Physics

The Quest for the Higgs Boson at Large Hadron Collider

On January 21, our talk was given by Dr. Beate Heinemann, and was entitled "The Quest for the Higgs Boson at the Large Hadron Collider".

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was built in the past decade near Geneva at the border of Switzerland and France, and is now operating since last year at the world's highest energy. A primary objective of the LHC is to either discover or dispute the so-called Higgs boson. The Higgs boson was first hypothesized nearly 50 years ago in 1964 in order to find a mechanism by which all particles that make up the matter in our Universe acquire mass. Just in the last year the LHC has made significant  progress in its search for the Higgs boson. Particularly at the end of 2011 initial search results were observed that show tantalizing hints that a discovery might be very near which received a broad echo within the scientific community and the popular press. In my lecture will describe the LHC and its experiments, the relevance of the Higgs boson and the current state of the experimental searches.

Shedding Light on the Dark Side of the Universe

 

On December 17, our talk was given by Prof. Bernard Sadoulet, and was entitled "Shedding Light on the Dark Side of the Universe".

The last decade of cosmological observations tells us that 95% of the energy density in the universe is dark: the combination of about 25% of dark matter, whose nature is unknown and 70% of an even more mysterious dark energy. Ordinary matter only represents 5% of the energy budget. I will review attempts to shed light on this dark side of the universe, in particular current attempts to detect Weakly Interactive Massive Particles, which could make the dark matter. 

 

October 15 Science@Cal Lecture: Tectonic Timebombs: Earthquakes Near and Far

Submitted by admin on September 27, 2011 - 4:24am

The next Science@Cal Lecture will be given at 11 AM on October 15th in Genetics and Plant Biology, Room 100. See the Science@Cal Lectures page for details.

 

On October 15, our talk was given by Dr. Peggy Hellweg, and was entitled "Tectonic Timebombs: Earthquakes Near and Far".

Earthquakes have been prominent in the news during the past year or so, with the deadly and damaging earthquakes from Haiti, Chile, New Zealand and, most recently Japan. I'll talk (and answer questions) about these quakes, as well as about the earthquake hazard from the faults in our back yard.

September 17 Science@Cal Lecture: How to Build a Planet

Submitted by admin on August 30, 2011 - 10:18am

The next Science@Cal Lecture will be given at 11 AM on September 17th in Genetics and Plant Biology, Room 100. See the Science@Cal Lectures page for details.

 

On September 17, our talk was given by Dr. Meredith Hughes, and was entitled "How to Build a Planet".

The discovery of extrasolar planetary systems has overturned entrenched ideas about how our own planetary system formed. Around other stars we find exotic planets like nothing we see around our Sun: hot Jupiters, super-Earths, and massive planets at Kuiper Belt distances and beyond. Where do they come from, and can we devise a story of planet formation that can account for the wide diversity of systems we see around our own star and others? This talk will introduce you to some of the ways we learn about planet formation, starting with evidence from observations with the naked eye and small telescopes and proceeding to the latest in high-resolution optical, infrared, and radio telescope observations of the disks of gas and dust around young stars. We will explore the main theories and open questions about how planets form in circumstellar disks, and attempt to place our solar system in context: are we normal?

August 20 Science@Cal Lecture: Nanotechnology-Enabled Environmental Monitoring

Submitted by admin on July 17, 2011 - 1:25pm

The next Science@Cal Lecture will be given at 11 AM on August 20th in Genetics and Plant Biology, Room 100. See the Science@Cal Lectures page for details.

On August 20, our talk was given by Dr. Willi Mickelson, and was entitled "Nanotechnology-Enabled Environmental Monitoring".

The goal of the Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems (COINS) is to inspire and realize applications directed towards sensing of environmental conditions using nanomaterials-enabled technologies. COINS research combines sensing, energy harvesting, electronics, mobility and wireless communication to enable mobile, self-powered, wirelessly communicating sensors.

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