The American Physical Society awarded its 2019 J.J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics to Raman Sundrum, a Distinguished University Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland. Sundrum’s collaborator on two key papers, Harvard University Physics Professor Lisa Randall, also received the award. 

Sundrum and Randall were honored for making a number of theoretical predictions that set off a wave of experiments searching for theoretical subatomic particles—experiments that are still active today, almost two decades later.

“As a theoretical physicist, I always hope my ideas are ultimately connected to experiments that examine the nature of reality,” said Sundrum, who also holds the John S. Toll Chair in Physics and directs the Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics. “It’s very meaningful to me that this prize was awarded for motivating experimental searches for new particles.”

Sundrum studies theoretical particle physics, which seeks to understand the subatomic particles that make up the world around us. The laws of physics—the laws of quantum mechanics, in particular—strongly suggest that such particles should be far heavier than physicists have observed them to be. This disparity is nicknamed the “hierarchy puzzle.”

In 1999, Sundrum and Randall published two papers in the journal Physical Review Letters that have been cited nearly 20,000 times in all. Their work proposed an extra dimension of space that is capable of distorting, or warping, space and time as a solution to the puzzle. People do not experience this dimension because unlike the three dimensions of space, which go on forever, this dimension is highly limited: it is more like an extradimensional, subatomic “bubble.” 

However, this dimension can affect particles. In particular, it can dramatically change the mass of particles, making the “true” mass of the particle match the mass predicted by quantum mechanics.

Sundrum and Randall’s work, which became known as the Randall-Sundrum models, makes a number of other predictions. In particular, it predicts the existence of new types of gravitons, which are theoretical particles that carry the force of gravity. This prediction inspired experiments to look for gravitons using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest particle accelerator located at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland.

“These gravitons would be microscopic gravitational waves bouncing around the extra dimension, so you need a big magnifying glass, which is what the LHC is,” Sundrum said. “Our work has also inspired experiments to search for all kinds of other particles that might exist in the extra dimension. It continues to be an active area of study.”

Sundrum learned about theoretical particle physics as an undergraduate student at the University of Sydney in Australia.

“One day, I came upon a Scientific American article about particle physics,” Sundrum said. “I didn’t even know there was such a thing until I saw that article, but I found the subject so interesting that I decided to study it.”

After receiving his B.S. in mathematics and physics from the University of Sydney in 1984, Sundrum studied elementary particle theory at Yale University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1990. He then took several postdoctoral positions, including one at Boston University from 1996 to 1999. 

At Boston University, he studied “dark energy,” a theoretical form of energy that permeates the universe. Sundrum published a number of papers that tackled the topic using extra dimensions. These papers caught the attention of Randall, who invited Sundrum to collaborate. While they did not solve the mysteries of dark energy, their results turned out to be applicable to the hierarchy problem. 

“Our finding was completely unexpected,” Sundrum said. “I threw myself at the problem of dark energy and failed, but my failure spun off into a solution for the hierarchy problem.”

After taking a faculty position at the Johns Hopkins University, Sundrum came to UMD in 2010, where he continues to study particle physics in extra dimensions and other topics. Today, he is especially interested in warped extra dimensions as a source of macroscopic gravitational waves—such as those detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

In 2018, Sundrum and three colleagues from the Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics—Michael Geller, Anson Hook and Yuhsin Tsai—wrote a paper that is accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters proposing to study the gravitational wave background. Unlike gravitational wave signals from black hole or neutron star mergers, signals from the gravitational wave background can originate from collisions between extradimensional bubbles in the very early universe. These extradimensional bubbles are related to the “bubbles” that make it possible to theoretically solve the hierarchy problem and can potentially teach scientists about the early universe. 

“Our study showed that gravitational wave background signals should not be evenly spread across the entire universe, but would rather have hot spots and cold spots,” Sundrum said. “Importantly, the pattern of the hot spots could tell us about how the universe was operating at the very beginning, possibly even before the Big Bang.” 

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The paper, “Primordial Anisotropies in the Gravitational Wave Background from Cosmological Phase Transitions,” Michael Geller, Anson Hook, Raman Sundrum and Yuhsin Tsai, is forthcoming in the journal Physical Review Letters.

The paper, “An Alternative to Compactification,” Lisa Randall and Raman Sundrum, was published in the journal Physical Review Letters on December 6, 1999.

The paper, “Large Mass Hierarchy from a Small Extra Dimension,” Lisa Randall and Raman Sundrum, was published in the journal Physical Review Letters on October 25, 1999.

Media Relations Contact: Irene Ying, 301-405-5204, zying@umd.edu

For a full listing of 2019 APS Award Recipients visit: http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/new-recipients.cfm

Sankar Das Sarma and Ian Spielman join six other faculty members in the University of Maryland’s College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences included on Clarivate Analytics’ 2018 list of Highly Cited Researchers, a compilation of influential names in science.

Sankar Das Sarma is a Richard E. Prange Chair and Distinguished University Professor in Physics, Joint Quantum Institute Fellow, and Condensed Matter Theory Center Director. Das Sarma was included in all previous compilations of this list in 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2001.

Ian Spielman is an Adjunct Professor of Physics, JQI Fellow and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Fellow. Spielman was also included in the 2017 compilation.

The University of Maryland Department of Physics will host the third annual Fundamentals of Quantum Materials Winter School and Workshop January 14th to the 18th at the University of Maryland. 

The Fundamentals of Quantum Materials Winter School and Workshop is an annual event unique to North America, dedicated specifically to the synthesis, characterization and electronic modeling of quantum materials. The FQM Winter School is aimed at providing fundamental training to our current and future generations of Quantum Materials scientists in synthesis and characterization techniques, bringing together senior and junior scientists to address topics at the forefront of current research into quantum materials, while also providing pedagogical background and practical training for junior scientists. With an interdisciplinary and diverse crowd including physicists, chemists, and materials scientists, participants gain a basic functional knowledge of how to plan and carry out synthesis relevant to the study of quantum materials, and experience a unique opportunity to interact with some of the top researchers in the field while networking with fellow peers. The structure of the school includes mornings of pedagogical lectures by ten of the nation's top practicing quantum materials scientists, with afternoons devoted to practical demonstrations in laboratories in the University of Maryland's Center for Nanophysics and Advanced Materials. The school also includes a poster session attended by senior scientists. The FQM Workshop, following the school event, covers current top research on quantum materials, focusing on synthesis, characterization and computational approaches to research of quantum materials such as superconductors, strongly correlated electron systems and topological materials.

For more information, visit the Fundamentals of Quantum Materials Winter School and Workshop homepage.

Professor Daniel Lathrop commented on the movement of Earth's magnetic poles and an eventually flipping of the poles in an article titled, "Check Your Compass: The Magnetic North Pole is on the Move" on Phys.org this week. 

Zohreh Davoudi, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Maryland, has been awarded a 2019 Sloan Research Fellowship. Granted by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this award identifies 126 early-career scientists every year based on their potential to contribute fundamentally significant research to the wider academic community. 

Davoudi, a theoretical nuclear physicist who studies how complex phenomena in nature connect to the Standard Model of particle physics, will use the fellowship to further her research into properties of matter—especially in cases where matter is used in laboratories to detect new particles and interactions not currently accounted for by the Standard Model.

“It is a great honor to be selected as a Sloan Fellow,” said Davoudi, who also has an appointment at the Maryland Center for Fundamental Physics. “Knowing that a committee of esteemed physicists saw promise in my research plan provides further motivation to continue addressing fundamental questions in nuclear physics. It encourages me to keep doing what matters to me scientifically and academically.”

Davoudi’s research seeks to bridge the gap between the theory of quantum chromodynamics—a specialized part of the Standard Model that explains the interactions between quarks and gluons, two elementary particles that make up larger particles such as protons and neutrons—and observations that lie within and beyond the boundaries of current scientific knowledge. Her work could make important contributions to physicists’ understanding of a range of phenomena, such as the nature of dense matter in the interiors of neutron stars; fusion reactions that occur in the hearts of stars; and neutrinoless double beta decay, an exotic process that violates the tenets of the Standard Model.

“On paper, quantum chromodynamics provides a relatively simple picture of fundamental particles and interactions. However, a wealth of complexities arise in nature from these interactions,” Davoudi explained. “So far, physicists haven’t been able to fully build the connection between these complexities and the underlying theory. One of the main thrusts of my research has been to define pathways between computer simulations of nuclear systems and the properties of these systems as observed in nature.”

Much of Davoudi’s research applies a method called lattice quantum chromodynamics (LQCD). By restricting quantum chromodynamics to be defined by a set of discrete points in finite space and time, researchers can use LQCD to reduce big, intractable problems into smaller pieces that a supercomputer can handle. Davoudi’s research shows how to remove these restrictions to make reliable predictions about complex systems. Working with her collaborators, Davoudi has applied these methods to perform accurate simulations. For example, Davoudi and her colleagues were the first to calculate the rate of proton fusion and the beta decay of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. The researchers described their findings in a research paper published in 2017 in the journal Physical Review Letters. 

With the Sloan Research Fellowship, Davoudi plans to continue pushing the boundaries of LQCD and other related techniques into new and exciting areas. As part of this effort, she plans to expand her research group to accelerate the pace of creating and testing new ideas. Davoudi is particularly excited about creating new collaborations with researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute, a partnership between UMD and the National Institute of Standards Technology, to use quantum computing to address computationally complex problems in nuclear physics.  

Davoudi has authored more than 20 peer-reviewed journal articles. Before joining UMD, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Theoretical Physics from 2014 to 2017. During this time, she also was a visiting researcher at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a visiting researcher and program organizer at the Institute for Nuclear Theory in Seattle. 

Davoudi earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics from the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran, in 2007 and 2009, respectively. She earned her doctoral degree in theoretical physics from the University of Washington in 2014. In 2018, she was awarded the Kenneth G. Wilson Award for Excellence in Lattice Gauge Theory, one of the highest distinctions for a junior researcher in her field. Davoudi is also a fellow of the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science.

Davoudi joins the list of 40 current UMD College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences faculty members who have received Sloan Research Fellowships.

The two-year, $70,000 Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded to U.S. and Canadian researchers in the fields of chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, and physics. Candidates must be nominated by their fellow scientists and winning fellows are selected by independent panels of senior scholars on the basis of each candidate’s independent research accomplishments, creativity and potential to become a leader in his or her field.

“Sloan Research Fellows are the best young scientists working today,” said Adam Falk, president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “Sloan Fellows stand out for their creativity, for their hard work, for the importance of the issues they tackle, and the energy and innovation with which they tackle them. To be a Sloan Fellow is to be in the vanguard of twenty-first century science.” 

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The research paper, “Proton-Proton Fusion and Tritium β Decay from Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics,” Martin Savage, Phiala Shanahan, Brian Tiburzi, Michael Wagman, Frank Winter, Silas Beane, Emmanuel Chang, Zohreh Davoudi, William Detmold and Kostas Orginos, was published August 10, 2017 in the journal Physical Review Letters. 

Media Relations Contacts: Matthew Wright, 301-405-9267, mewright@umd.edu 

University of Maryland
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About the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences

The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland educates more than 9,000 future scientific leaders in its undergraduate and graduate programs each year. The college's 10 departments and more than a dozen interdisciplinary research centers foster scientific discovery with annual sponsored research funding exceeding $175 million.

H. Dennis Drew, Howard M. Milchberg, and Jay Deep Sau have been recognized by the Americal Physical Society as Outstanding Referees for their contributions to the Physics community.

Each year, about 150 of the over 70,000 indivudal referees who help review manuscripts for publication in APS journals are recognized by APS for their efforts in maintaining the high standards of their journals. This is a lifetime award that has been carried out since 1978. 

Thank you and congratulations to Professor Emeritus H. Dennis Drew, Professor Howard M. Milchberg, and Distinguished University Professor and Richard E. Prange Chair Jay Deep Sau. 

They join these UMD Physics faculty who were recognized by the Outstanding Referees Program in previous years:

2016       Sarah Eno           

2013       Alessandra Buonanno   

2013       Jayanth Banavar              

2012       Thomas D. Cohen            

2011       James F. Drake 

2010       R. N. Mohapatra              

2009       Andrew Elby      

2009       Christopher Jarzynski    

2009       Edward Ott        

2009       John D. Weeks 

2009       O. W. Greenberg            

2009       S. M. Bhagat      

2009       Steven Rolston 

2009       T. R. Kirkpatrick

2009       Ted Jacobson    

2008       Dieter Brill          

2008       Hans R. Griem  

2008       J. Robert Dorfman          

2008       Michael E. Fisher             

2008       Sankar Das Sarma           

2008       Stephen J. Wallace          

2008       Theodore L. Einstein

More about the Outstanding Referees Program and a list of all members at https://journals.aps.org/OutstandingReferees.

Google AI recently announced that JQI Fellow Vlad Manucharyan is among the recipients for this year's Google Faculty Research Awards. The program supports technical research in areas such as machine learning and quantum computing, the latter of which is Manucharyan's area of specialty. In the 2018 awards cycle the program funded 158 of the 910 proposed projects. 

Manucharyan, who is also the Alford Ward Professor of Physics at UMD, is a leading condensed matter experimentalist who uses superconducting circuits to make quantum bits, which underlie one type of quantum computer. This type of research is also an active area of development for Google AI. Beyond qubits, Manucharyan’s team is also exploring ways in which superconducting circuits can probe physics phenomena that remain out of reach for other quantum platforms.

Gregory S. Boebinger, Director of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and a professor at Florida State University, will give the W.J. Carr Lecture on Tuesday, April 9 at 4 p.m. in room 1412 of the John S. Toll Physics Building.  His talk is entitled Exploring the Heart of Quantum Matter with Extreme Magnetic Fields.

On Monday, April 8, he will also give the CNAM Seminar, Using High Magnetic Fields to Reveal Critical Behavior Near Optimum Doping in High-Temperature Superconductivity at 4 p.m. in room 1201 Toll.

The W. J. Carr Lecture Series on Superconductivity and Advanced Materials was established by Dr. James L. Carr, (Ph.D., ’89), in honor of in honor of his father, Walter J. Carr. It aims to contribute to the advancement of students in the UMD physics program and the Center for Nanophysics and Advanced Materials.

On April 16, the UMD Department of Physics and College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences will hold the first Irving and Renee Milchberg Endowed Lecture at 4 pm in room 1412 of the Toll Physics Building (with refreshments at 3:30).

Professor Howard Milchberg, his wife Rena, and their three children established this lecture series in honor of Howard's parents. It aims to highlight the connections among science, truth, the human condition and a civil society.

Susan Eisenhower will speak on Lessons from 1945: Ethics, the War in Europe, and its Enduring Legacy. Eisenhower is the granddaughter of Dwight Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States and the Supreme Allied Commander in the European theater during World War II.  She is an author and a policy analyst on issues including arms control, nuclear non-proliferation and international security, and is Chairman Emeritus at the Eisenhower Institute of Gettysburg College.

The lecture is free and open to all. To learn more or to register, please use this link: https://science.umd.edu/events/milchberglecture.html

Join us for the 21st annual Maryland Day, a spectacular celebration of learning and discovery, on Saturday, April 27, 2019 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Maryland Day is an exciting opportunity for prospective students and area residents to learn more about the University of Maryland with over 400 free events in 5 learning neighborhoods across UMD’s campus.

UMD Physics will be stationed outside the front entrance of the John S. Toll Physics Building. Come try ice cream made with liquid nitrogen and stay for exciting Physics demonstrations!

Maryland Day will be held rain or shine. Admission and parking are free. A campus map can be found here.

From quantum computing and augmented reality to biomedical advances and innovative new materials, the 2018 Invention of the Year award winners spanned the range of research and entrepreneurship at Maryland.

Winners in four categories and one overall winner were announced Thursday at the Hotel at the University of Maryland at Innovate Maryland 2019.   

“This event is a celebration of all the Fearless Ideas being activated by UMD students and faculty to create solutions that can transform lives,” said UMD Chief Innovation Officer Julie Lenzer. "We also gather to recognize recent accomplishments across our innovation ecosystem, the connective tissue that makes all this possible."

Since 1987, the university has honored exceptional inventions that have the potential to make a transformative impact on science, society and the free market. Vice President for Research Laurie E. Locascio announced that the Office of Technology Commercialization will retire its name and now be known as UM Ventures–College Park.

“This name change is reflective of the university’s expanded efforts to create a seamless environment for the creative output of our research enterprise,” said Locascio.

A panel of judges selected the following winners:

Overall: “Cryogenic Ion Trapping and Storage System for Quantum Information”

Information Sciences: “Augmented Reality Enabled Catheter”

Life Sciences: “Novel Method of Internal Organ Generation For Therapy and Research in Humans and Animals”

Physical Sciences: “Strong and Tough Graphite-Paper Composites”

Startup of the Year: IonQ, an early-stage quantum computing company co-founded by Monroe and Jungsang Kim, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Computer Science at Duke University.

Three University of Maryland physics undergraduates have been awarded scholarships by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, which encourages students to pursue advanced study and research careers in the sciences, engineering and mathematics. 

Over the last decade, UMD’s nominations yielded 33 scholarships—the most in the nation, followed by Stanford University with 29. Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University also rank in the top 10. The campus Goldwater Scholarship nominating process has been led since 2001 by Robert Infantino, associate dean of undergraduate education in the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences.

John Martyn, Nicholas Poniatowski and Mark Zic were among the 496 Barry Goldwater Scholars selected from 1,223 students nominated nationally this year. All three students plan to pursue Ph.D. degrees.

Yaelle Goldschlag, a sophomore seeking double degrees in computer science and mathematics at UMD, also recieved the prestigious scholarship.

John Martyn—a junior majoring in physics and a member of the University Honors Program in the Honors College—is interested in quantum information and quantum matter. One of his interests is quantum computing, which may solve some problems far faster than classical computers.

Since 2017, Martyn has worked with Physics Assistant Professor Brian Swingle on various aspects of quantum information. Martyn developed a method to prepare approximations to thermal states, which describe quantum systems in contact with a heat bath of a given temperature. Martyn’s method may one day enable quantum computers to study quantum matter systems and models of black holes. Martyn presented this work at the 2019 American Physical Society March Meeting and the 2019 National Collegiate Research Conference.

“John really strives for perfection in his work and has already demonstrated many of the skills needed to function as an independent researcher,” Swingle said.

In addition, Martyn helped administer the high energy physics computing cluster at UMD. Working with Shabnam Jabeen, a lecturer in the Department of Physics who manages the cluster, Martyn simulated the production of theoretical particles that may result from experiments performed using the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland.

In summer 2018, Martyn conducted research with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) team at the California Institute of Technology, where he investigated quantum noise in LIGO’s gravitational wave detectors. Martyn constructed optical components and other electronics for a prototype detector with improved sensitivity. For this work, Martyn received the 2018 Carl Albert Rouse Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the National Society of Black Physicists.

Other awards Martyn received include the 2018 Angelo Bardasis Scholarship from the UMD Department of Physics and the 2016 Mary-Kathryn Abernathy Memorial Scholarship from the Community Foundation of Howard County.

Martyn is a member of the UMD chapter of the Society of Physics Students and the National Society of Black Physicists. He is also president of the UMD Skateboarding Club. 

Nicholas Poniatowski—a junior majoring in physics—is interested in the study of superconductivity in unconventional materials.

Superconductors are valued for their ability to conduct electricity without resistance. However, conventional superconductors must be cooled to temperatures below -200 degrees Celsius. This makes current superconductor technology impractical for real-world applications, such as smart power grids, power storage units and imaging systems.

Working with UMD Physics Professor Richard Greene at the Center for Nanophysics and Advanced Materials, Poniatowski studies a family of copper-oxide materials called cuprates—high-temperature superconductors that can exhibit superconductivity closer to room temperature.

In one project, Poniatowski and his collaborators found that a particular cuprate responded in unexpected ways to variations in temperature and magnetic field. Their findings may offer clues to the origin of high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates. This work will be published on May 17, 2019, in the journal Science Advances. Poniatowski presented additional results related to this work at the 2019 APS March Meeting. 

To further characterize high-temperature superconductors, Poniatowski also used quantum tunneling—a quantum phenomenon that can help scientists study materials at the atomic level—to probe the microscopic properties of cuprates.

In addition, Poniatowski is the sole author of an article, forthcoming in the American Journal of Physics, describing the theoretical relationship between superconductivity and the Higgs mechanism in the standard model.

“Nick is extraordinary at both theory and experiment, a combination of skills that is very rarely seen,” said Greene. “He has tremendous potential for significant experimental research contributions in the future.”

In addition to conducting research, Poniatowski served as a teaching assistant for PHYS 272: “Introductory Physics: Fields” and PHYS 441: “Introduction to Sub Atomic Physics.” During summer 2018, he served as a mentor with the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation. 

Mark Zic—a junior majoring in physics and a member of the University Honors Program in the Honors College—is interested in the study of topological materials and superconductors, which have potential applications in quantum computing.

Working with Johnpierre Paglione, professor of physics and director of the Center for Nanophysics and Advanced Materials, Zic conducts quantum materials research. He helped discover and characterize a novel potential superconductor that may one day help quantum computers store information more robustly. This study was published in the journal Physical Review B in 2018. 

In addition, Zic led an effort to use the UMD Radiation Facilities to irradiate quantum materials to characterize their physical properties for potential use in quantum technologies. He helped uncover how to study disorder on the atomic level in superconducting materials, which will help scientists understand the fundamental mechanism behind superconductivity. Zic presented this work at the 2018 Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Quantum Materials Summer School and Program Meeting.

Zic also assisted in experiments using ultracold temperatures to characterize a new superconductor that survives under extremely high magnetic fields. This work has been accepted for publication in the journal Science.

“Mark has continued to surprise me with his abilities, initiative and progress,” Paglione said. “He has engaged in not one, but three graduate or even postgraduate level projects in the last year and shows no signs of slowing down. He is a true asset to our center.”

Zic currently serves as a teaching assistant for PHYS 273: “Introductory Physics: Waves” and previously served as a teaching assistant for three other physics courses. In 2018, his outstanding performance as a teaching assistant earned him an honorable mention for the UMD Department of Physics’ Ralph Myers & Friends of Physics Award. In 2017, Zic served as a mentor for Foundational Learning and Mentorship Experience (previously Science Enrichment After School), a student-led program that teaches after-school physics classes to students at Adelphi Elementary School in Adelphi, Maryland.

In addition, Zic received the 2016 Angelo Bardasis Scholarship from the UMD Department of Physics from 2016 to 2019.

The Goldwater Scholarship program was created in 1986 to identify students of outstanding ability and promise in science, engineering and mathematics, and to encourage their pursuit of advanced study and research careers. The Goldwater Foundation has honored 66 University of Maryland winners and five honorable mentions since the program’s first award was given in 1989.

Colleges and universities may submit up to four nominations annually for these awards. Goldwater Scholars receive one- or two-year scholarships that cover the cost of tuition, fees, books, and room and board up to $7,500 per year. These scholarships are a stepping-stone to future support for the students’ research careers.

UMD physics professors Christopher Monroe and Jake Taylor, together with Michael Raymer of the University of Oregon, published an article on the National Quantum Initiative (NQI) in the May 3 issue of Science. The NQI Act, which was signed into law on December 21, 2018, lays out a plan for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy to work with academia and industry to further grow the quantum information science and technology (QIST) sector. Earlier this year, Monroe and Raymer wrote an article on the NQI for the February 2019 issue of Quantum Science and Technology, which details some of the events that ultimately led to this law.

The new article describes how the NQI aims to enable a so-called QIST ecosystem to study and overcome scientific challenges in this area, as well as build up a workforce educated in quantum science. Some of the possible outcomes of the NQI could include improved sensors, universally programmable quantum computers, and a more secure global communication network. The article also briefly summarizes possible risks associated with quantum research and development, including possible failure modes of the technology, as well as unforeseen ethical questions.

Monroe is the Bice-Seci Zorn Professor of Physics, a Distinguished University Professor, Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) and the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science (QuICS). He also co-founded the quantum computing company IonQ. Monroe previously advocated for a NQI through the National Photonics Initiative and testified before a joint congressional committee hearing on the topic of American Leadership in Quantum Technology in 2017. A second JQI and QuICS Fellow Carl Williams, who is Acting Director of the Physical Measurement Laboratory at NIST, provided expert testimony to congress at that same hearing.

Taylor is an adjunct professor in the Department of Physics, Co-Director of the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science and Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He is also the Assistant Director for Quantum Information Science at the Office of Science and Technology Policy and was recently named the Interim Director for the National Quantum Coordination Office, which was established as part of the NQI.

Raymer is a Knight Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences of the Oregon Center for Optical, Molecular and Quantum Science at the University of Oregon. Raymer has also been a strong advocate for developing a national strategy around QIST.

Auction of Notes by Stephen Hawking to Professor Emeritus Charles Misner Endow the Weber Fund with Approximately $260,000

"Dear Charlie,” each letter begins.

They go on to talk about kids, explore recent theoretical ideas and even ask whether reimbursement for a recent trip to the University of Maryland was coming through. Job references are also a big topic—typical for correspondence between two academics.

Far from typical was their author: Stephen Hawking, the brilliant physicist who became a popular author, a science advocate and an international symbol of perseverance in the face of his crippling Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Now the letters—donated by their recipient, UMD physics Professor Emeritus Charles Misner—are being auctioned to create an endowment in the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. Christie’s online auction of the five letters ends tomorrow; it can be viewed here.

Hawking wrote the letters between 1967 and 1970. He’d hit it off with Misner, a fellow physicist studying Einstein’s theory of gravitation, while the American scientist was on a fellowship at the University of Cambridge.

Soon after, Hawking brought his family to Maryland to stay at Misner’s home and spend time at UMD. Misner’s research group was immersed in the theoretical study of gravitation, while UMD Physics Professor Joseph Weber was leading a charge to experimentally detect gravitational waves in space-time—something predicted by Einstein’s theory that even Einstein doubted could be found.

In correspondence that followed the visit, among other things, Hawking asked Misner for job referrals. “Not that I was smarter than him—but I was older,” Misner cracked in a recent interview.

Even in the late ’60s, despite the increasing physical limitations brought on by his ALS, it was clear Hawking was headed for greatness, Misner said. Through the years, the two and their families continued meeting up during fellowships, at conferences and elsewhere, although communication for Hawking became more and more labored, Misner said. Hawking died in March 2018.

Last year, when the Department of Physics was seeking funds for a memorial to Weber—who failed in his personal quest to observe gravitational waves, but laid the critical groundwork for a later experiment that would succeed—Misner remembered the letters. Departmental staff helped ransack his overstuffed office, finally turning up four letters that were auctioned by Christie's, which will create an endowment in honor of Weber to support research in gravitational physics. The auction just closed on May 23, 2019, and the letters sold for a total of 228,750 GBP.  After commissions, this should endow the Weber fund with approximately $260,000.

Original story by Chris Carroll here.

The University of Maryland’s Physics Department has joined The First-Year Innovation & Research Experience (FIRE) program through the launch of the Simulating Particle Detection research group. The group is run by Dr. Muge Karagoz in collaboration with two Experimental High Energy Physics faculty members: Professor Sarah Eno and Assistant Professor Alberto Belloni, both of whom are members of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider based at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.

FIRE is a three-semester program with second and third semesters concentrating on research in a specific discipline. FIRE provides students with authentic research experience and a broad mentorship with the goal of influencing academic success and personal development. The FIRE Simulating Particle Detection brings undergraduate students from a wide variety of majors into the field of experimental particle physics, concentrating on the simulation of cutting-edge, high-energy particle detectors, such as the planned upgrade of the CMS detector.

In Simulating Particle Detection, students go through all aspects of conducting research. They start with a literature search on particle physics and detectors, as well as training on computing and coding. They then move on to data analysis and presentation of their results. For their research projects, they form teams giving them a chance to experience the pursuit of collaborative achievements. As a natural outcome of performing research, especially in the context of an international, big-data experiment like CMS, the students also learn skills such as adaptability, and strategies such as trouble-shooting.

The research group launched in the spring of 2019, with 33 undergraduate students, and has just completed its first semester. This was made possible through the collaborative efforts of the FIRE program operated through the Office of the Senior Vice President and the Provost, the Department of Physics, and the Experimental High Energy Physics Group. The research group was also greatly helped by highly-dedicated undergraduate research assistants and peer mentors. Peer Mentors are second-year FIRE students who return to serve as mentors for the first-year students in FIRE research groups, through the Teaching and Learning Transformation Center’s Academic Peer Mentoring Program. The Simulating Particle Detection will continue with current students in the fall, with the next group of first-year participants to begin in Spring 2020.

More information on the Simulating Particle Detection research group can be found on the FIRE program’s web site (http://fire.umd.edu/). Additional information on the Experimental High Energy Physics Group can be found on the Department of Physics website (https://umdphysics.umd.edu/research/research-areas/high-energy-physics.html).

Seventeen theoretical physics faculty across 12 institutions have established a new Simons Collaboration on Ultra-Quantum Matter. The team, which includes Victor Galitski, a Chesapeake Chair Professor of Theoretical Physics in the Department of Physics and Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute, will investigate innovative ideas about how quantum physics works on macroscopic scales. This new effort will be led by Professor Ashvin Vishwanath at Harvard University and is supported under the Simons Collaborations in Mathematics and Physical Sciences program, which aims to “stimulate progress on fundamental scientific questions of major importance in mathematics, theoretical physics and theoretical computer science."

The Simons Collaboration on Ultra-Quantum Matter aims to explore unusual quantum mechanical behaviors arising in systems comprised of many constituents. This kind of matter is made from quantum particles (e.g. atoms and electrons) that interact strongly and feature robust non-local quantum entanglement, for instance. Such a system defies the conventional expectation that quantum effects tend to dissipate as the number of particles increases. The collaboration will primarily focus on developing theory around ultra-quantum matter and exploring pathways towards future technologies, such as devices that store quantum information non-locally and unconventional quantum materials.

Ultra-Quantum Matter is an $8M four-year award funded by the Simons Foundation and renewable for three additional years. It will support researchers from the following institutions: Caltech, Harvard, the Institute for Advanced Study, MIT, Stanford, University of California Santa Barbara, University of California San Diego, the University of Chicago, the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Innsbruck, University of Maryland and University of Washington.

Mohammad Hafezi has been named a finalist for the 2019 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists.

He is one of 31 researchers competing for three Blavatnik National Laureate Awards in the categories of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Chemistry and Life Sciences, and is one of 10 finalists in Physical Sciences and Engineering. Each of the three National Laureates will win $250,000—the world’s largest unrestricted prize for early-career scientists. The awards are sponsored by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences.

"Starting during his time as a postdoc in the Joint Quantum Institute, Hafezi has established himself as a world leader in marrying topology, many body physics and photonics," said Steve Rolston, chair of the Department of Physics. "With appointments in physics and engineering,  he is helping to catalyze UMD's efforts to transition quantum physics to quantum technology."

Now in its 13th year, the Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists recognize the past accomplishments and the future promise of the most talented faculty-rank scientists and engineers aged 42 years and younger at America’s top academic and research institutions. This year, the Blavatnik National Awards received an unprecedented 343 nominations from 169 academic and research centers across 44 states—a record in all three categories. The three 2019 National Laureates will be announced June 26.

Inspired by the concept of topology in mathematics and its prevalence in electronic quantum materials, Hafezi’s innovative work has addressed a critical problem of inevitable nanofabrication defects. These imperfections have plagued the reliability and performance of optical devices in nanophotonics and quantum optics for years. Hafezi has shown that like electrons, photons under a given set of conditions can also be made insensitive to both the shape and defects in an optical device. This discovery has garnered immense interest in the optics community and spurred a new field of topological photonics. Hafezi is an associate professor with affiliations in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of Physics, Joint Quantum Institute, and Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics.