For the last quarter century, experiments at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s  Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the LHC at CERN have measured extremely high-energy heavy-ion collisions with the hope of producing the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) and extracting its properties. The success of this mission depends critically on combining careful, detailed and thorough measurement with complex multi-component theoretical simulations. I will first review how specific bulk properties are illuminated by specific experimental observables. I will then show how the comparison of these large heterogeneous data sets with computationally expensive models built on high-dimensional model-parameter spaces are rigorously constraining these properties through state-of-the-art Bayesian analysis. The extracted equation of state and chemical compositions are found to be consistent with lattice gauge theory. Other properties, which are not so well calculated on the lattice, such as the opacity and emissivity of QCD radiation, the diffusivity of both light and heavy quarks, and the viscosities have also been extracted. I will review where these determinations currently stand and how well they substantiate the claim of having produced the QGP in the laboratory. 

Join alumni and faculty from the Astrophysical & Planetary Sciences and Physics departments as they share their experiences and advice on applying for jobs, careers in quantum, and careers in heliophysics!

Strong light-matter interactions hold great promise for modulating molecular and material properties, including chemical reactivity, energy transfer, and charge conductivity, via polaritonic states. In realistic chemical and material systems, disorder arising from thermal fluctuations and structural defects is inevitable and has a significant impact on the polaritonic state. However, disorder is often considered a perturbative effect and is usually omitted from models of light-matter dynamics and spectroscopy. In this talk, I aim to explore dynamical simulations of strongly coupled systems under various forms of disorder, including random dipole orientations, electromagnetic field fluctuations, and electron-phonon coupling. Contrary to the intuition that disorder inherently hinders exciton transport and suppresses strong coupling phenomena, our findings suggest that disorder can actually facilitate access to hidden degrees of freedom, specifically optical dark states. We demonstrate how these states can be leveraged to modulate exciton transport properties and introduce unique spectroscopic signatures.

The dynamics of Earth’s radiation belts remain one of the central challenges in space weather research. Despite decades of satellite observations, predicting when and how the belts will intensify or decay remains difficult. This seminar will discuss recent work combining multi-mission datasets from 36 multi-agency satellites to produce the highest-resolution phase space density (PSD) observations of the outer belt to date, and how these have been used to identify dominant acceleration and loss mechanisms. New developments in data-assimilative modelling through the Radiation Belt Forecasting Model and Framework (RBFMF) will also be discussed, including how diminishing real-time data coverage affects operational hindcasts. The results highlight the need for continuous, strategically placed measurements through the heart of the radiation belts and improved understanding of which orbital configurations most effectively enhance prediction capability.

As educators, we would like to prepare our students for 21st century physics careers. Overall, to ensure all students will become successful scientists, physics departments need to be able to provide evidence to make sure that we are reaching these goals. The field of Physics Education Research has made major contributions to various educational practices and materials to reform instruction in order to recruit and retain more students. However, while many research-based instructional strategies in physics have continued to advance, reform in undergraduate physics assessment tools has had limited space in these conversations. In this talk, I will motivate the need for the next generation of physics assessment tools and present a few projects that my physics education research lab at Michigan State University has been working on. In particular, I will discuss our efforts to build a more diverse set of tools to use within our classrooms in order to better understand our students’ learning as well as how we can best support them throughout their time in higher education.

This training provides an overview of best practices for writing a proposal once you have a brilliant research idea that meets the parameters of a proposal solicitation from a funding source. We will review characteristics of effective and persuasive proposals, key questions your proposal must answer, components of proposal solicitations, and understanding the audience who will review your proposal. We will also review guidelines and components of a proposal budget. 

Explore physics and quantum-related research through student showcases and poster sessions. Hear from industry executives Safy Fishov (AMD) and Billy Landuyt (ExxonMobil), and network with engineers from AMD. Food will be provided!

Visit the Research Expo website to RSVP or Register to present a poster:

• Register to present a poster by March 22.
• RSVP to attend by April 3.

CU Chemistry Professor Wei Zhang and his team consisting of chemistry, mechanical engineering and industry (RockyTech) collaborators will present an all new show that highlights the past, present and future of plastics. During this show students will learn more about pros and cons of plastics in our daily life, as well as the innovation that fosters sustainability and recyclability of plastics!

The first year of a Ph.D. is our last opportunity to gather students heading into every research area and tell them one long-form story. Because they have just finished an undergrad degree, it is also our first opportunity to focus on the interconnections that make us so happy doing physics, to break out of the silos bounding undergrad courses. Also, many aspects of Physics culture can at last be expressed in concrete form, including symmetry/geometry as the drivers of physical insight. I'll offer an approach that focuses on crazy phenomena that make us ask, "How could anything like that possibly happen at all?" After so much education, students are sometimes shocked at how many such questions remain; some are delighted by how many of them are tractable with ideas that are in their heads, but not fully interconnected yet.

This century is witnessing a second quantum revolution, and quantum sensing represents an area in which chemists can make significant contributions. Achieving quantum sensing requires more than precise control of quantum states at the molecular level; it is also crucial to organize molecular qubits so that they function effectively in complex environments. In this seminar, I will discuss materials chemistry approaches to molecular quantum sensors, focusing on their extension from biological systems to engineered materials.
We have recently enabled intracellular quantum sensing by developing molecular quantum nanosensors (MQNs). By encapsulating atomically optimized molecular spin qubits within biocompatible nanocrystals, MQNs achieve highly uniform spin energy levels and enable room-temperature optical detection of molecular spin states inside living cells. Compared with existing quantum sensors, MQNs exhibit superior uniformity, making absolute temperature sensing within cells possible—an achievement that has been challenging to realize with conventional platforms.
I will then show how molecular quantum sensing can be extended into chemically programmable materials. By incorporating photoactive chromophores as components of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), these MOFs enable spatial organization and chemical accessibility of molecular qubits. This design allows quantum sensors whose spin coherence times respond to surrounding chemical species at room temperature. Finally, I will discuss how controlled molecular assembly leads to multilevel quantum states (qudits). Through precise chromophore arrangement, singlet fission generates spin-correlated quintet triplet pairs with submicrosecond quantum coherence, expanding molecular quantum sensing beyond two-level systems. Together, these examples illustrate how materials chemistry transforms molecular qubits from isolated spin systems into versatile sensing platforms that function across biological and materials environments.

The Will Lab studies quantum systems of ultracold atoms and molecules. The lab cools atoms and molecules to temperatures less than a millionth of a degree above absolute zero, where atomic behavior is fully governed by quantum mechanics. Under these conditions, the lab controls individual quantum particles and their interactions with high precision using atomic physics tools, enabling novel platforms for many-body quantum physics, quantum simulation, quantum computing, and quantum optics. Their work spans from fundamental physics—including the first molecular Bose–Einstein condensates—to applied quantum technologies such as large-scale atomic tweezer arrays, opening new approaches to quantum information science and quantum networking.

Condensed matter physics aims to explore and understand various quantum phenomena that emerge from the interactions between nuclei and electrons. Through synthesizing and investigating various crystals, this constructionism approach has led to the discovery of many amazing phenomena, especially when the principles of electron correlation and topology play important roles. The settings of such conventional crystals are often very complicated, making it hard to extract the essential ingredients and understand the underlying physics. In this talk, I will show our efforts on establishing a new paradigm, based on a material known as rhombohedral graphene, which is part of natural graphite. Rhombohedral graphene has the simplest chemistry and structure, yet can be controlled by a set of experimental knobs to exhibit many intriguing phenomena in condensed matter physics. Beyond phenomena that were familiar, I will focus on two newly observed quantum phases of matter, chiral superconductor and fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect. I will show their construction, phenomena, and implications for quantum many-body physics and applications. In the end, I will discuss new opportunities to be explored in this new paradigm.

I will discuss the standards of time and frequency and how these standards have evolved over the centuries. I will present the current definitions of time and frequency and how these definitions are likely to evolve in the coming years.

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