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The Institute for Fundamental Science (IFS) enhances the experimental, theoretical, and astronomy research activities at the University of Oregon. IFS is one of several centers and institutes supported by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, and maintains close relationships with the Department of Physics, the Department of Chemistry, the Department of Mathematics, and the Materials Science Institute.

The institute hosts visiting scientists, supports graduate and undergraduate student research, facilitates interaction between the experimental activities and theoretical investigations of IFS members, and fosters communication of research to the broader community.

IFS members have major involvement in international collaborations including the ATLAS and FASER Experiments at CERN, LIGO’s gravitational wave observatories, and others.  We have vigorous programs of research in astronomy and astrophysics; condensed matter theory and statistical mechanics; data science; mathematics; particle theory; quantum information and quantum optics; and the International Linear Collider project.


Center Activities

Observing accelerator resonances in 4D

20 March 2024

For the first time, scientists at CERN, in collaboration with scientists at GSI, have been able to measure a coupled resonance structure that may cause particle loss in accelerators

Source

Whether in listening to music or pushing a swing in the playground, we are all familiar with resonances and how they amplify an effect – a sound or a movement, for example. However, in high-intensity circular particle accelerators, resonances can be an inconvenience, causing particles to fly off their course and resulting in beam loss. Predicting how resonances and non-linear phenomena affect

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CERN70: The dark side of the muon

14 March 2024

Francis Farley, a British physicist, joined CERN in 1957. This marked the start of a long and remarkable career in experiments to measure the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon

Source || Part 5 of the CERN70 Series

In the 1950s, the muon was still a complete enigma. Physicists could not yet say with certainty whether it was simply a much heavier electron (with 200 times the mass) or whether it belonged to another species of particle. Acting on an idea of Leon Lederman, CERN launched the “g-2” experiment in 1959, aimed at measuring one of the properties of this strange

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