Physics

Field Description

The graduate physics program is designed to give students an adequate background in the concepts and techniques of theoretical and experimental physics in preparation for careers at the most advanced level in research or teaching.

 Research and Study Opportunities

  Theoretical physics -- Condensed Matter. Subjects for study include mesoscopic systems and random matrix theory; collective properties of Bose and Fermi condensates; density functional theory (electronic and liquid) with applications to surface growth and interfaces, defects in solids, matter under extreme conditions, and nanophysics; statistical mechanics and critical phenomena applied to crackling noise, dynamical systems, biological systems, and quasicrystals; inverse problems in protein crystallography; strongly interacting electron physics of magnetism, superconductors, and disordered systems.

  Theoretical physics -- Particle and Astrophysics. Physics of extra dimensions and supersymmetry, mechanisms for electroweak symmetry breaking, collider phenomenology; lattice gauge theories; particle astrophysics and cosmology; string theory and its application to cosmology, brane world; field theories; astrophysics; black holes; and general relativity.

  Experimental particle physics. Our research uses the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, which is the first collider to explore the TeV energy scale, where the Standard Model of particle physics must break down unless new phenomena appear. Cornell is a member of CMS, one of two detector collaborations for elementary particle physics at the LHC. Research topics include mechanisms for electroweak symmetry breaking, including the Higgs mechanism and alternatives, scenarios for physics beyond the Standard Model such as supersymmetry, extra dimensions and new strong interactions, top quark physics, and dark matter.  Cornellians are designing online software for the pixel detector, developing strategies for identifying electrons in the electromagnetic calorimeter, writing analysis software capable of handling petabytes of data distributed world-wide, and ensuring that the trigger will successfully pluck new physics out of the huge background of conventional processes. In the next few years, they will also start developing hardware upgrades of the pixels and the trigger.

  Accelerator Physics. The electron-positron collider CESR at Cornell University is used as a test-bed for accelerator physics and for X-ray science. Having this large accelerator on campus provides a unique opportunity for students interested in many aspects of accelerator physics.  Currently, CESR is testing design concepts for the Linear Collider, which will be the world's largest high-energy physics accelerator. Accelerator research also includes an active program to develop the superconducting radio-frequency cavities needed for the next generation of electron-positron colliders and for future X-ray facilities. The group is also developing a new X-ray facility, the Energy Recovery Linac, for the Cornell campus that offers students the unique opportunity to join a large-scale science project in an early state where many phenomena are still unknown, many parameters need to be computed, and many important decisions are being made.

      Experimental condensed matter physics. Subjects of study include nanostructures and quantum transport; superfluid, solid, and supersolid helium; atomic-resolution STM and tunneling spectroscopy; photoemission spectroscopy; high-temperature superconductivity; nanomagnetics; new forms of scanning-probe microscopy; nanomechnanical systems and limits of quantum measurement; disordered and glassy systems; UV, optical, infrared, and microwave spectroscopies; charge density waves; single-molecule biophysics; molecular motors; protein crystals; complex fluids, polymer networks, and colloids; grapheme, carbon nanotubes and related physics; X-ray diffraction and spectroscopy; and the development of new X-ray sources and high-speed detectors.

 

Contact Information

Website: http://www.physics.cornell.edu
Email: physadmissions@cornell.edu
Phone: 607 255-7561

117 Clark Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY  14853

Data and Statistics

• Doctoral Program Statistics

Subject and Degrees

Physics

• Physics (Ph.D.) (Ithaca)

Concentrations by Subject

Physics

• experimental physics
• physics
• theoretical physics

Faculty

James Paul Alexander

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental high-energy physics

Nozomi Ando

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics
• Research Interests: Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Tomas Alberto Arias

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: condensed-matter theory

Nima Arkani-Hamed

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical particle physics

Toby R Ault

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics

Ivan Bazarov

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental particle physics

Rachel Bean

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: astrophysics

Eberhard Bodenschatz

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental condensed-matter physics

David Fisher Chernoff

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics

Debanjan Chowdhury

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical condensed matter physics

Itai Cohen

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental condensed matter physics

James Martin Cordes

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics

Abigail T. Crites

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: Astrophysics

Csaba Csaki

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical particle physics

James C. Seamus Davis

• Campus: Ithaca - (Graduate School Professor)
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental solid-state physics

Iwijn De Vlaminck

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics

Veit Elser

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical condensed-matter physics

Valla Fatemi

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics
• Research Interests: Hybrid Quantum Systems with Quantum Materials

Eanna E Flanagan

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: general relativity; theoretical astrophysics; gravitational wave astronomy

Carl Peter Franck

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental liquid physics; x-ray physics

Gregory Fuchs

• Campus: Ithaca - (Graduate School Professor)
• Concentrations: Physics: physics

Lawrence K Gibbons

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental elementary-particle physics

Paul H. Ginsparg

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical particle physics

Yuval Grossman

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical particle physics

Sol Michael Gruner

• Campus: Ithaca - (Graduate School Professor)
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: structure and properties of soft matter; biomaterials; x-ray instrumentation and methods

Thomas Hartman

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical particle physics

Georg Hoffstaetter

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental accelerator particle physics

Natasha Grace Holmes

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: physics and science education

Chaoming Jian

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical condensed matter physics

Eun-Ah Kim

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical physics; condensed matter physics

René Kizilcec

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics
• Research Interests: Physics Education Research

Lena F. Kourkoutis

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics

Michael J. Lawler

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical physics; condensed matter theory

Andre Roger Leclair

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: high-energy theory

G Peter Lepage

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theory of elementary particles; quantum-field theory

Stephen Levy

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental condensed matter physics

Matthias U. Liepe

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: accelerator physics

Natalie M. Mahowald

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics
• Research Interests: Global interactions between aerosols, climate and biogeochemistry

Kin Fai Mak

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental condensed matter physics

Jared Michael Maxson

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: accelerator physics

Liam McAllister

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical particle physics

Paul L. McEuen

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experiment solid-state physics

Peter McMahon

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics

Erich Mueller

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: condensed matter physics

David A. Muller

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics

Christopher R. Myers

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical physics

Matthias Neubert

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical high-energy particle physics

Michael Niemack

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: Experimental physics

Katja C. Nowack

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental condensed matter physics

Jeevak N Parpia

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: low-temperature physics

Juliet Ritchie Patterson

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental high-energy physics

Maxim Perelstein

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical particle physics

Lois Pollack

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics

Daniel C Ralph

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental nanoscale physics

Brad Jared Ramshaw

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental condensed matter physics

David L Rubin

• Campus: Ithaca - (Graduate School Professor)
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: high-energy particle accelerators

Anders Ryd

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental article physics

Mert Sabuncu

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics

James Patarasp Sethna

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: plasticity and fracture of materials; dislocation dynamics; crack growth laws and stochastic fracture models; crackling noise and avalanche behavior in magnets, plastic flow and other systems; multiparameter fits to data; statistical mechanics; material science; dynamical systems and quantum physics

Jie Shan

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics

Kyle Shen

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental condensed matter physics

Gennady Shvets

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics

Eric D. Siggia

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: evolution of antibiotic resistance, evolution of biological networks, evo-devo, bioinformatics of gene regulation

Andrej Singer

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics
• Research Interests: experimental condensed matter physics

Gordon John Stacey

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics

Steven H Strogatz

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics

Saul A Teukolsky

• Campus: Ithaca - (Graduate School Professor)
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: relativity and astrophysics

Julia Thom-Levy

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental particle physics

Robert Edward Thorne

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: experimental condensed-matter physics; biological physics

Cyrus J. Umrigar

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical physics

Michelle D Wang

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
• Research Interests: biological physics

Zheng Jane Wang

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical physics

Ira M Wasserman

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
• Research Interests: theoretical astrophysics