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
What Oregonians can expect during upcoming solar eclipse
3 April 2024 || Source (KLCC)
For the third time in seven years, Oregonians will get to see a solar eclipse. It won’t be the total eclipse of the sun witnessed in 2017, nor the ring of fire from last year’s annular eclipse. But on Monday morning, sky-watchers will have a reason to look up.
In his office at the University of Oregon, astronomer Scott Fisher is clicking around on a sky simulator.
“Every time I click—there goes the moon in front of the sun. And I wanted to confirm when the maximum eclipse is gonna be,” he said. “And it’s going to be almost exactly 11 a.m.
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IFS Seminar May 13, 2024: Yang Bai (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Quark Nuggets
Speaker: Yang Bai
Date: Monday, May 13, 2024
Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm
Location: 472 Willamette Hall
Abstract: A while ago, the concept of quark nuggets was proposed as the potential “ground state” of QCD, characterized by a mass per baryon number lighter than iron and cosmological stability. In this talk, I will begin by utilizing the coincidence of dark matter and ordinary matter energy densities to advocate for the plausibility of quark nuggets as a dark matter candidate. Subsequently, I will explore the extension of standard cosmology necessary for the primordial
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CERN70: Cutting-edge computing
17 April 2024
Paolo Zanella came to the CERN computing group in 1962, just a few years after the first computer had arrived
Source || Part 7 of the CERN70 Series
CERN’s first computer, a huge vacuum-tube Ferranti Mercury, was installed in 1958. It represented the first stage in the evolution of digital computing at CERN.
The next big step came in 1965, when the first supercomputer arrived: a CDC 6600 designed by computer pioneer Seymour Cray. This transistorised sub-microsecond machine was the first real “number cruncher”. CERN was among the first to adopt these new technologies, which
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