Graduate Studies in PhysicsThis brochure familiarizes prospective graduate stu-dents with the many facets of the Department. Short descriptions of research activities are provided,

Graduate Studiesin Physics

Department of Physics

Ernest Rutherford Physics Building

McGill University, 3600 rue University

Montreal (Quebec) H3A 2T8 Canada

Telephone: (514) 398 - 6490

Fax: (514) 398 - 8434

Email: [email protected]

Web: http://www.physics.mcgill.ca

McGill Physics 2010 – 2011

Front Cover: Hydrodynamic simulation of relativistic heavy ion collisions. Figure by B. Schenke

in the Nuclear Theory group.

Contents

Introduction 1

Word of Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Un mot de bienvenue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The Challenge of Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Rutherford’s Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Graduate Studies In the Department 7

Requirements at the M.Sc. Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Requirements at the Ph.D. Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Applications and Admissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Deadlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Fees and Financial Support Available . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Graduate courses offered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Life at the University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Research Activities 18

Astrophysics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Astroparticle Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Condensed Matter Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

High Energy Physics - Experiment and Theory . . . . . . . . 57

Nuclear Physics Theory and Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Other Research Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Emeritus Professors in the Department . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

3

Introduction

Word of Welcome The McGill Department of Physics has a long tradition

of frontier research dating from the historic experiments

done here by Rutherford more than a century ago. One

hallmark of our modern Department is a diversification

into many areas: students pursuing graduate studies

here have a wide spectrum of cutting-edge research ac-

tivities from which to choose in a congenial yet challeng-

ing environment, driven by a young and active faculty.

This brochure familiarizes prospective graduate stu-

dents with the many facets of the Department. Short

descriptions of research activities are provided, as well

as details on the graduate applications, living, fees, and

course work.

The Department is based in the Rutherford Physics

Building, a modern building where most of our on-site

research is performed, situated on the scenic and pleas-

ant McGill campus in the heart of downtown Montreal,

a lively city with many attractions.

I hope you consider the McGill Department of

Physics for your graduate studies.

Charles Gale

Chair

James McGill Professor

Un mot de bienvenue Le departement de physique de l’Universite McGill

jouit d’une tradition d’excellence en recherche qui

date des experiences historiques d’Ernest Rutherford

realisees ici il y a deja plus d’un siecle. Il s’enorgueillit

egalement des multiples facettes de ses activites sci-

entifiques, ainsi que de la qualite hors pair de ses

chercheuses et chercheurs de tous les niveaux. En ef-

fet, les membres de notre corps professoral accumulent

distinctions et prix, tant internationaux que nationaux,

et sont des leaders mondiaux incontestes dans leur do-

maines respectifs. Les stagiaires postdoctoraux qui sor-

tent de nos rangs accedent a des postes d’envergure

et nos etudiantes et etudiants recoltent chaque annee

1

Introduction

bourses et distinctions prestigieuses. Celles-ci appuient

une formation moderne et rigoureuse qui prepare a

des etudes superieures plus avancees, ou aux attentes

du marche du travail d’aujourd’hui. La qualite des

personnes qui constituent notre departement se com-

bine donc a son atmosphere sans pareille ainsi qu’a

ses realisations multiples pour lui donner une premiere

place sans equivoque au Canada et une situation tres

enviable au plan international. Le departement est situe

dans le pavillon Ernest Rutherford, un buidling mod-

erne du campus de l’Universite McGill, qui elle est au

coeur de la ville de Montreal: une oasis de savoir et de

connaissances dans un centre-ville effervescent.

Cette brochure est un sommaire de nos activites

et vise a nous faire connaıtre. J’espere que nous au-

rons droit a votre consideration quand vous choisirez

l’endroit de vos etudes superieures.

Charles Gale

Directeur

Professeur titulaire de la chaire James McGill

The Challenge of Physics Physics is the fundamental science. Its goal is no less

ambitious than to discover and understand the laws that

govern everything in the Universe, from the behavior of

the smallest building blocks of matter to the structure

of the space-time and the Universe itself. Given all the

wonderful variety of phenomena in the Universe, it is

truly remarkable that human beings could conceive that

such a goal is even possible.

The discovery of relativity and quantum mechanics

in the 20th century gave us, for the first time in history,

the hope that this goal may be achievable. Today, we

have a spectacularly successful theory called the ‘Stan-

dard Model’ which together with the general theory of

relativity provides the physical laws that govern all phe-

nomena known to human beings so far. Does this mean

everything can be understood by the Standard Model?

The answer is, of course, no.

2

Introduction

First of all, the phenomena we have been able to

observe and study are a tiny fraction of our Universe.

Just as Newtonian mechanics gave way to quantum me-

chanics, our current understanding should give way to

a new understanding where discoveries at the frontiers

of physics demand so. Second, knowing the microscopic

laws of physics does not mean that one understands all

the macroscopic phenomena. There are unending vari-

eties of surprises in nature such as how a cell functions

or how materials at extreme temperatures behave that

await further understanding.

Therefore a physicist, regardless of specialty, is

someone who is excited by these daily challenges: How

do I find new phenomena? How do I understand the

new phenomena? How do I improve current theories

and techniques to do so? How do they all fit together?

At McGill, Professors and graduate students meet

these challenges daily with great enthusiasm. In con-

densed matter physics, we push the envelope of what

materials can do. A new field of ‘soft matter physics’

is also emerging strongly at McGill. In nuclear physics,

McGill physicists are helping to re-create and study a

new state of matter called quark-gluon plasma, which

only existed during the first few micro-seconds af-

ter the Big Bang. Some of our particle physicists

are in the hot pursuit of the superstrings and extra-

dimensions. Observations of astronomical objects with

ground and space-based telescopes allow our astrophysi-

cists to probe extreme physical conditions difficult or

impossible to study in the laboratory.

The exploration of the frontiers of physics is not just

for intellectual fulfillment. Major life-changing discover-

ies and developments in technology were made by physi-

cists. These include the transistor and the laser, the

two most important ingredients of modern information

technology. In addition, physics has a tradition of ex-

panding its domain of activity into new areas where our

unique viewpoint – our ability to identify universal fea-

tures of a problem, beyond the specifics of the problem

3

Introduction

in question – is of great value. In particular, condensed-

matter research has served as the bridge from physics

to other sciences, such as biology, chemistry, and engi-

neering.

These are some of the areas in which physicists are

trained during their graduate studies at McGill. De-

scriptions of different research programs are given later

in this brochure.

Rutherford’s Legacy

Rutherford at McGill by

R.G. Matthews, 1907. (Ruther-

ford Museum, McGill Uni-

versity)

In the autumn of 1898 Rutherford was appointed Mac-

donald Professor of Experimental Physics at McGill

University. At this time the Department of Physics

(strictly speaking, the Physics Laboratory) comprised

two professors, and a small number of junior instructors

and research students. There was a fairly heavy teach-

ing load, mainly to students of engineering, medicine,

chemistry and other disciplines rather than physics per

se. The vacancy arose from the resignation of Pro-

fessor Hugh Callendar, who decided to return to the

UK. The Chairman of the Department, Professor John

4

Introduction

Cox, went over to Cambridge to seek a replacement,

and J.J. Thomson recommended Rutherford.

Rutherford’s research at McGill covered every as-

pect of radioactivity, including the nature and proper-

ties of the ‘emanation’ (radon) produced by radium and

thorium, the heating and ionization properties of the ra-

diations, the charge and nature of the alpha, beta and

gamma rays, excited radioactivity, and elucidation of

the three natural radioactive series (uranium-radium,

actinium and thorium). During his nine years at

McGill, Rutherford published 69 papers, either alone or

with a second author. The latter group included grad-

uate students, demonstrators and professors at McGill

and (after 1903) graduate students and post-doctoral

scientists from several countries outside Canada. These

collaborators published some 30 independent papers on

various aspects of radioactivity, mostly on topics sug-

gested by Rutherford and under his general guidance.

The most significant collaboration was between

Rutherford and Frederick Soddy, a young English

chemist who was appointed Demonstrator in Chemistry

at McGill in 1900. The collaboration between Ruther-

ford and Soddy lasted only 18 months, from October

1901 to March 1903, but resulted in nine important pa-

pers, including “The cause and nature of radioactivity,”

published in two parts in 1902.

Other than Soddy, the most important of Ruther-

ford’s collaborators were Arthur Stewart Eve, an En-

glish physicist; Howard Barnes, a young Montreal physi-

cist; Howard Bronson, an American physicist from Yale;

Tadeusz Godlewski, a physical-chemist from Cracow

(Poland); and Otto Hahn and Max Levin, both physical

chemists from Germany.

Rutherford moved from Montreal to Manchester in

the summer of 1907, and the following year he was

awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “researches

on the disintegration of the elements and the chemistry

of radioactive matter.” Although he was no longer in

Montreal, most of the work referred to in this citation

5

Introduction

had been carried out during his 9-year tenure at McGill.

Rutherford delivered his Nobel Lecture in Stockholm on

December 11, 1908, under the title, “The Chemical Na-

ture of the α-Particle from Radioactive Substances.”

As arguably the premiere experimental physicist of

the 20th century, Rutherford’s work affected not only

the development of modern physics in general, but also

profoundly influenced the history of mankind.

With that exceptional start, McGill’s Department

of Physics has established itself as one of the major

institutions in North America.

In 1976, the Department moved from the Macdon-

ald building into a new building which bears the name

“Ernest Rutherford” in honour of Rutherford’s illustri-

ous contribution to science while at McGill.

In November 2009, the Historic Sites Committee of

the American Physical Society offered plaques (one in

English and one in French) commemorating the semi-

nal work done at McGill by Rutherford and Soddy. The

plaques are installed in the entrance of the Schulich Li-

brary of Science and Engineering (the former Macdon-

ald Physics Building).

6

Graduate Studies The Department currently has a faculty of 37 mem-

In the Department bers, along with approximately 40 postdoctoral fellows

and research scientists. The graduate student enroll-

ment is currently about 150. The Department offers

full M.Sc. and Ph.D. degree programs in a wide range

of disciplines, including astrophysics, condensed mat-

ter physics, high energy physics, nuclear physics, at-

mospheric physics, laser spectroscopy, material physics,

bio-physics, statistical physics, non-linear dynamics,

and medical radiation physics. A description of current

research projects is given later in this brochure, orga-

nized by the research groups and also around particular

researchers.

Although most of the teaching and research facili-

ties are located in the Ernest Rutherford Physics Build-

ing, the Department has space and access to research

facilities in the Wong Materials Science Center, ad-

jacent to the Rutherford Building on McGill’s lower

campus. Our research groups are also regular users of

many major facilities such as Brookhaven National Lab-

oratory (Upton, NY), CERN (Geneva, Switzerland),

DESY (Hamburg, Germany), Fermi National Acceler-

ator Laboratory (Batavia, Il.), TRIUMF (Vancouver),

Sandia National Laboratory (Albuquerque, NM), and

SLAC (Stanford, CA).

The Department also maintains a close tie to the

Medical Physics Unit, a unit in the Faculty of Medicine,

whose main objective is to join in one academic unit the

medical physicists who hold their primary appointments

in various clinical departments at McGill or in McGill

teaching hospitals.

The Department is well equipped with research facil-

ities such as engineering support, some electronics sup-

port, and a machine shop. Most of the scientific com-

puting is done with an extensive network of powerful

workstations and several Beowulf clusters. Remote ac-

cess to other supercomputing sites in Canada and the

United States is also possible. The Department has

access to the McGill University library system contain-

7

Graduate Studies

ing more than 5 million items, the most extensive in

Quebec. In particular, the Physical Sciences and En-

gineering Library is housed in the Macdonald Stewart

Library Building, a short walk from the Department of

Physics, and contains complete collections of most rel-

evant journals. McGill also has e-access to many jour-

nals.

The Department of Physics has close contacts with

Montreal’s other institutions of higher education: Con-

cordia University, l’Universite de Montreal, l’Ecole

Polytechnique, and the Montreal branch of l’Universite

du Quebec, as well as with l’Universite de Sherbrooke in

the nearby Eastern Townships and with l’Institut Na-

tional de Recherche Scientifique (INRS) in Varennes.

A face-to-face meeting can sometimes be the best

introduction to a new environment. The Department

has a small budget for assisting in the travel expenses

of prospective students. To get more information about

this program, please contact the graduate officer (con-

tact information appears below in Applications and Ad-

missions section).

In the below, you can find a brief summary of our

programs. For more details, please visit our website

http://www.physics.mcgill.ca/grads

or consult the McGill Graduate Studies brochure at

http://coursecalendar.mcgill.ca/gradgi200910.

For general information on Graduate Studies at

McGill, contact the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studiesat

Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies

James Administration Building, 4th floor

McGill University,

845 Sherbrooke Street West


Telephone: (514) 398-3990

Fax: (514) 398-1626


8

Graduate Studies

Requirements at the (i) Candidates for admission to studies at the M.Sc. level

M.Sc. Level must have a B.Sc. in physics, or equivalent, with

high standing.

(ii) Basic departmental requirements consist of five

one-semester courses to be chosen from a list ap-

proved by the Department and an M.Sc. thesis.

(iii) Prior to, or upon arrival at McGill, the M.Sc. can-

didate will be advised by the Graduate Program

Director, who assists in the arrangement of a pro-

gram of studies and the selection of a research

supervisor.

(iv) Upon the selection of a research topic, the candi-

date will come under the supervision of a research

supervisor. This occurs, at the latest, by Septem-

ber 30th of the year following registration.

It should be noted that the research supervisor men-

tioned in (iv) above is often engaged by the candidates

prior to their arrival at McGill.

Transfer from the M.Sc. Candidates registered in the M.Sc. program may be per-

to the Ph.D. Program mitted to transfer into the Ph.D. program after one year

without submitting an M.Sc. thesis. To exercise this

option, the candidate must be accepted by a Ph.D. re-

search supervisor. The candidate must have a good

academic standing and must pass a Ph.D. Preliminary

Examination at the earliest opportunity.

Requirements at the (i) Candidates for admission to studies at the Ph.D.

Ph.D. Level level must have an M.Sc. degree in physics or

equivalent qualification.

(ii) Candidates must present themselves for the

Ph.D. Preliminary Examination within one year

of initial registration. These examinations are

normally scheduled in late spring. Two one-

semester courses at the graduate level are re-

quired; one of these courses will normally be at

least a 600-level course in the subject of the stu-

9

Graduate Studies

dent’s specialization. If the candidate completed

two or more courses at the 600 level as part of

the McGill Physics M.Sc. program, then one of

these courses may be used as a substitute for one

of the required courses. In all cases, candidates

must also pass the Ph.D. preliminary examination

(PHYS 700). A candidate is required to submit a

Ph.D. thesis.

Applications and Admission inquiries for both M.Sc. and Ph.D. (Physics)

Admissions and for Ph.D. (Medical Physics) programs should beaddressed to:

Graduate Program Coordinator

Department of Physics

Ernest Rutherford Physics Building

McGill University, 3600 rue University


Telephone: (514) 398-6485


Admission inquiries for the M.Sc. in the Medical Physics

program should be sent directly to Medical PhysicsUnit:

c/o Margery Knewstubb

Medical Physics Unit

Montreal General Hospital, Room L5-107

1650 Cedar Avenue

Montreal (Quebec) H3G 1A4 Canada

Telephone: (514) 934-8052

Fax: (514) 934-8229


Applications to the Graduate Program should be made

online. Information regarding the application procedure

and the application forms can be found at

http://www.mcgill.ca/gradapplicants.

Applicants are required to ask two instructors famil-

iar with their work to send letters of recommendation

on letterhead from their institution with original signa-

tures. The instructors are requested to use their own

10

Graduate Studies

judgment in writing the recommendation letter. There

is no required format. Letters may be sent electronically

(via e-mail). However, they must meet all conditions

detailed in the following webpage.

http://www.mcgill.ca/gradapplicants/apply/

prepare/checklist/documents/

The GRE and the Advanced GRE are not required

but recommended with the minimum acceptable score

on the Advanced GRE in the 700 to 750 range. Students

from non-English speaking countries are required to

demonstrate proficiency in English via the TOEFL ex-

amination or the IELTS examinations. For the TOEFL,

a minimum score of 567 required for the paper based

test, and a minimum overall score of 86 with each com-

ponent score not less than 20 for the internet based

test. For the International English Language Testing

System (IELTS), a minimum overall band score of 6.5

is required. The graduate application fee is $100.

Deadlines The admission deadline for regular September admis-

sion is January 15th for all applicants. For January ad-

mission, the deadline is September 15th. The deadline

for the Medical Physics M.Sc. is March 1st.

Fees and Financial Sup- The tuition fees at McGill are regulated by the Quebec

port Available Provincial Government. They are set at a rather low

(The amounts appearing in level relative to other North American universities. For

this section are for the aca- Quebec residents in the M.Sc. program and Canadian

demic year 2010 - 2011.) students in the Ph.D. program, the tuition fee is cur-

rently $3,627/year. For a Canadian student from out-

side Quebec in the M.Sc. program, the current tuition

fee is $7,227/year and for an international M.Sc. stu-

dent, the tuition fee is presently about $16,388/year. To

offset this, the Department of Physics currently offers

the difference as the tuition fee assistance to all out-

of-province and international M.Sc. students. For an

international Ph.D. student, the tuition fee is $3,994.

Further information on tuition and other fees may be

obtained from http://www.mcgill.ca/student-accounts.

Graduate students admitted into the Department

11

Graduate Studies

are assured of a financial support of $19,200 per an-

num in additional to tuition fee assistance as outlined

above. This amount is subject to review every year.

For a new graduate student without a scholarship, the

support is currently made up of a research assistantship

(RA) of $15,200/year and a teaching assistantship (TA)

of $4,000/year.

Additional support is offered to students holding

scholarships. This additional amount is approximately

equal to 20 % of the value of the scholarship. For ex-

ample, a new student holding a scholarship of $10,000

would receive an RA stipend of $8,500 and a TA stipend

of $4,000, giving a total of $22,500 per annum, in ad-

dition to tuition fee assistance, where applicable. How-

ever, for a student holding an NSERC or FQRNT schol-

arship, the RA stipend (top-up) is $6,500, and the TA

stipend is $4,000, plus tuition fee assistance where ap-

plicable.

There is a whole range of scholarships/fellowships

available for excellent students. Canadian and landed

immigrant students are encouraged to apply for the

NSERC scholarships and, for the Quebec students, the

FQRNT scholarships as well. The current NSERC

scholarship value for M.Sc. students is $17,500 and for

Ph.D. students $21,000; the FQRNT scholarship value

for M.Sc. students is $15,000 and for Ph.D. students

$20,000. All new students, Canadian or otherwise, with

a CGPA better than 3.80/4.00 are especially encouraged

to apply for the prestigious Richard Tomlinson Fellow-

ship at McGill. The full value of these fellowships are

$15,000 for M.Sc. students and $20,000 for Ph.D. stu-

dents. They can be held concurrently with other ma-

jor scholarships, albeit with a reduced value (one-half).

The Tomlinson Fellowships has an early application

deadline January 15, interested students should con-

tact us via the graduate officer in December. We also

offer recruitment fellowships that range from $5,000 to

$15,000 to new students. For these fellowships, appli-

cants are nominated by the Department.

12

Graduate Studies

The Department has many other scholarships avail-

able to on-going students as well. Students already

enrolled in our programs also have other major McGill

fellowships with values ranging from $2,500 to $25,000

available to them through our Graduate and Postdoc-

toral Studies Office. Further information on these

fellowships can be found in the brochure ‘Gradu-

ate Fellowships and Awards’ from the Fellowships

and Awards section of the Graduate and Postdoc-

toral Studies Office (GPSO) or from the website

http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/fellowships.

Graduate courses Number Title

offered PHYS 514 General Relativity

PHYS 521 Astrophysics

PHYS 534 Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

PHYS 551 Quantum Theory

PHYS 557 Nuclear Physics

PHYS 558 Solid State Physics

PHYS 559 Advanced Statistical Mechanics

PHYS 562 Electromagnetic Theory

PHYS 567 Particle Physics

PHYS 580 Introduction to String Theory

PHYS 606 Selected Topics: Cont. Physics 1

PHYS 607 Selected Topics: Cont. Physics 2

PHYS 610 Quantum Field Theory 1

PHYS 616 Multifractals and Turbulence

PHYS 620 Experimental Methods of

Subatomic Physics

PHYS 632 Seminar in Astrophysics 1

PHYS 633 Seminar in Astrophysics 2

PHYS 634 Seminar in Advanced Materials

PHYS 641 Observational Techniques of

Modern Astrophysics

PHYS 642 Radiative Processes in Astrophysics

PHYS 643 Astrophysical Fluids

PHYS 644 Galaxies and Cosmology

PHYS 645 High Energy Astrophysics

PHYS 657 Classical Condensed Matter

13

Graduate Studies

PHYS 659 Experimental Condensed Matter

PHYS 660 Quantum Condensed Matter

PHYS 673 Quantum Field Theory 2

PHYS 717 Many-body Physics

PHYS 718 Special Topics: Solid State Physics 1

PHYS 719 Special Topics: Solid State Physics 2

PHYS 729 Special Topics: Nuclear Physics

PHYS 730 Special Topics: High Energy Phys. 1

PHYS 731 Special Topics: High Energy Phys. 2

PHYS 732 Topics in Astrophysics 1

PHYS 733 Topics in Astrophysics 2

PHYS 741 Superstring Theory

PHYS 742 Introduction to the Standard Model

PHYS 743 Very Early Universe

PHYS 744 Finite Temperature Field Theory

PHYS 745 Supersymmetry and Supergravity

Courses in the 500 series are available with departmen-

tal permission to M.Sc. students as well as to honours

undergraduates. Courses at the 600-level are normally

taken by students at the M.Sc. level, while the 700 series

are designed for Ph.D. students. Most of the 500-level

courses are offered each year, and a selection of 600-

and 700-level courses are offered in any given year.

Approved graduate courses in other departments

will also be accepted in fulfillment of departmental

course requirements; the course program of each stu-

dent should be worked out with his/her adviser, subject

to final approval by the Department.

Life at the University McGill University is situated in Montreal, Quebec. It

includes a main campus in the center of Montreal, and

the Macdonald campus, approximately 35 kilometers

west of the city in Ste. Anne de Bellevue. The down-

town campus is situated on the southeast foothill of

Mont Royal and is a green oasis within easy walking dis-

tance of the commercial, cultural, and residential heart

of the bustling metropolis of Montreal. It is an English

language university in a city with a population which is

14

Graduate Studies

two-thirds French-speaking; thus, it is an excellent place

to profit from the interaction of two flourishing Cana-

dian cultures. McGill is a private university founded in

1821. It is presently supported in the same way as the

public universities in Quebec. The university has a full-

time enrollment of about 34,000 students from about

160 countries, including about 7,600 in graduate stud-

ies. It has approximately 1,600 full-time faculty mem-

bers, 11 faculties, 10 schools, 8 teaching hospitals, and

many affiliated medical centers. McGill researchers are

involved in majority of the Canadian Networks of Cen-

tres of Excellence. It is one of the oldest, best-known,

and most prestigious of all Canadian universities.

The University resides at the foot of Mont Royal

and near the center of Montreal, so that one has ready

access to the city’s rich and varied cultural life and to

its extensive shopping facilities. Montreal has numerous

theatrical companies, several film societies, many pub-

lic and private art galleries and various musical groups

including the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal and

the McGill Chamber Orchestra, both are of interna-

tional renown. Within walking distance of the univer-

sity is Montreal’s Place des Arts, which has three halls

of varying sizes for concerts and plays.

McGill has a number of museums open to the pub-

lic, including the Redpath Museum of Natural History

and the McCord Museum of Canadian History. On

the Macdonald Campus (approximately 25 km west of

downtown Montreal) which houses the McGill Faculty

of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the Mac-

donald Arboretum includes an extensive wooded area.

The public may join the Arboretum Association, which

allows its members access to the grounds both winter

and summer. For cross-country skiing enthusiasts, there

is a network of marked and unmarked trails in win-

ter. At Mont St-Hilaire, some 40 kilometres south-east

of the city, McGill is proprietor of the Gault estate,

parts of which are centres of geological and biological

research; others are open to small group conferences and

15

Graduate Studies

symposia, and to the public for recreation.

Other university facilities available to students are

the gymnasium, athletic facilities, swimming pools, a

stadium and a hockey arena. There is also a Graduate

Student Centre, Thomson House, containing recreation

facilities, meeting rooms and a licensed bar.

Housing One of the many advantages of life in Montreal lies in its

modest cost of living. Housing, for example, is available

close to campus at much more reasonable rates than in

most major Canadian cities. In addition, McGill has

several co-educational residences and owns a number

of apartment buildings near the campus which are re-

served for married graduate students. There is usually a

waiting list so those interested are encouraged to applyearly. For information and application forms:

Graduate Housing Office

McGill University

3641 University Street

Montreal (Quebec) H3A 2B3 Canada

Telephone: (514) 398-6050

Fax: (514) 398-2305

email: [email protected]

web: http://www.mcgill.ca/residences/graduate/

There is also an extensive residential area near campus

where students can rent rooms or apartments commer-cially. Assistance can be obtained from:

Off Campus Housing

Diocesan College

3473 University Street

Montreal (Quebec) H3A 2A8 Canada

Telephone: (514) 398-6010

Fax: (514) 398-2305

email: [email protected]

web: http://www.mcgill.ca/offcampus/

This office maintains a computer listing of available

housing, including names of families willing to take

in student boarders and other students seeking room-

16

Graduate Studies

mates.

17

Research Activities Owing to its many research groups, the research activi-

ties in the Department of Physics are as diverse as they

are exciting. In terms of length scale, our researches

cover from attometer to 10 billion light year. In terms

of energy scale, our researches range from micro-kelvin

to the Planck energy. In any given week, there are usu-

ally 4 to 5 seminars and there is regular Physical Soci-

ety Colloquium series (first established by Rutherford).

The Department also has a close relation with the Med-

ical Physics Unit. The activities of individual groups

and researchers are listed below roughly in alphabetical

order.

More detailed description of each group and its

members are given in the following pages. Information

can be also found by following the ‘Research’ link from

http://www.physics.mcgill.ca.

18

Research Activities

Faculty’s main research areas

Astrophysics

Compact Objects, Astrophysical Fluids, Extrasolar Planets A. Cumming

Experimental Cosmology M. Dobbs

at the Interface with Particle Physics

Dark Matter, Dark Energy, Cosmology G.P Holder

Neutron Stars, Radio Astronomy, X-Ray Astronomy V. Kaspi

Neutron stars, Black holes, X-ray Astronomy R. Rutledge

Formation and evolution of massive galaxies T. Webb

Astroparticle Physics

Very-high-energy Astrophysics, Instrumentation D. Hanna

Ground-based Gamma-ray Astrophysics K. Ragan

Condensed Matter: Experiment

Ultrafast Terahertz Spectroscopy and Photonics D. Cooke

Ultra-low temperature physics G. Gervais

Nanoscience, Nanotechnology, Scanning Probe Microscopy P. Grutter

Low Dimensional Systems and Quantum Structures, M. Hilke

Superconductors, Quantum Computing

Soft Matter, Bionanofluidics, Nanotopography W. Reisner

Mossbauer spectroscopy, Frustrated Spin Systems, D. H. Ryan

Neutron Scattering, µSR, Magnetic Materials

Transient structures of molecules and materials. B.J. Siwick

Ultrafast electron diffraction and laser spectroscopy

X-ray Diffraction, Non-equilibrium Structures M. Sutton

Cellular Biophysics, Image Correlation Spectroscopy, P. Wiseman

Fluorescence and Nonlinear Microscopy, Technique Development

19

Research Activities

Condensed Matter: Theory

Quantum mesoscopic systems, Nano-electromechanical systems, A. Clerk

Quantum computing

Quantum and classical information processing W. Coish

Modeling of gene networks and their evolution P. Francois

Non-equilibrium Structures M. Grant

Nanoelectronics Theory, Ab-initio Modeling, Soft Matter H. Guo

Correlated electrons systems in two-dimensions T. Pereg-Barnea

High Energy: Experiment

Deep Inelastic Scattering, Photoproduction, QCD and Particle Jets, F. Corriveau

Proton and Photon Structures, ZEUS at DESY, ATLAS at CERN

Higgs and the International Linear Collider

BaBar, B Physics, Rare B decays S. Robertson

Top-quark production, B. Vachon

High Energy Proton-Antiproton Collisions, DØ and ATLAS

Heavy-Quark Production, High-Energy Hadron-Hadron Collisions, A. Warburton

CDF and ATLAS

High Energy: Theory

Theoretical cosmology, Very early Universe, Superstring theory R. Brandenberger

Particle Physics and Cosmology J. Cline

String theory and String cosmologies K. Dasgupta

String theory, Quantum gravity A. Maloney

Thermal and Nonequilibrium quantum field theory G. Moore

String Theory, Algebraic Geometry. J. Walcher

Nuclear: Experiment

Heavy-ion Collisions (Nucl. Exp.) J. Barrette

Spectroscopy of Exotic Nuclear Isotopes F. Buchinger

Nuclear: Theory

Relativistic Heavy-ion Collisions C. Gale

Relativistic Heavy-ion Collisions S. Jeon

20

Research Activities

Nonlinear Physics

Non-linear Variability in Geophysics S. Lovejoy

Medical Physics

Clinical reference dosimetry, water calorimetry, treatment planning J. Seuntjens

Clinical applications of physics to radiotherapy M.D.C. Evans

Positron emission tomography (PET) E. Meyer

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging G.B. Pike

Emeritus Professors in the Department

Metallic Multilayers, GMR, Supermagnets, Glassy Metals, Z. Altounian

Magnetocaloric Materials (Cond. Mat. Exp.)

Ion trap, Nuclear spectroscopy (Nucl. Exp.) J. Crawford

Heavy Ion Collisions (Nucl. Th.) S. Das Gupta

Quantum Mesoscopic Systems (Cond. Mat. Th.) R. Harris

Ion trap techniques (Nucl. Exp.) R.B. Moore

B Physics, CLEO and BaBar (High E. Exp.) P. Patel

ZEUS, HERA (High E. Exp.) D. Stairs

Nuclear Collisions and Structure N. H. de Takacsy

21

Astrophysics McGill’s Astrophysics group works at the forefront of

a wide variety of major astrophysical research areas, in-

cluding neutron stars, pulsars, magnetars, pulsar wind

nebulae, X-ray binaries, thermonuclear bursts, black

holes, gamma ray bursts, active galactic nuclei, galaxy

evolution, galaxy clusters, microwave background, cos-

mology and exoplanets.

Astrophysics

Professors

Cumming, Andrew My work is in the area of theoretical astrophysics, in

Ph.D. (Berkeley ’00) particular studies of neutron stars and exoplanets.

Associate Professor Neutron stars contain matter that is compressed to

Theoretical Astrophysics a density greater than an atomic nucleus and initially

(514) 398-6494 heated to temperatures of more than a billion degrees.

[email protected] They have a surface gravity one hundred billion times

larger than the gravity on Earth, and magnetic fields

vastly greater than the strongest laboratory magnets.

They therefore give us a unique chance to study mate-

rial under extreme conditions of density, temperature,

gravity, and magnetic fields.

The study of exoplanets is a new and rapidly grow-

ing part of astrophysics, with over three hundred plan-

ets now known to be orbiting nearby stars. The sur-

prising diversity of these planetary systems has led us

to rethink our ideas of how planets form and evolve.

We take a theoretical approach to these problems,

with the aim of learning about the underlying physics

by comparing to observations. Research in exoplanets

at McGill ranges from studying the statistical distri-

butions of extrasolar planet properties and what they

have to tell us about planet formation, to the physics

of exoplanet atmospheres. Recent projects on neutron

stars include understanding thermonuclear explosions

in their surface layers, the origin and evolution of their

magnetic fields, and the physical properties of their

solid crusts. These are fascinating problems which in-

22

Research Activities – Astrophysics

volve a range of different physics, including magnetized

fluids, nuclear physics, condensed matter physics, radi-

ation transport, and electrodynamics.

Recent Publications:

1. The Keck Planet Search: Detectability and the

Minimum Mass and Orbital Period Distribution

of Extrasolar Planets, A. Cumming, R. P. Butler,

G. W. Marcy, S. S. Vogt, J. T. Wright, & D. A.

Fischer (2008), PASP 120, 531 (arXiv:0803.3357)

2. Mapping crustal heating with the cooling lightcurves

of quasi-persistent transients, E.F. Brown, and A.

Cumming (2009), ApJ in press (arXiv:0901.3115)

3. Long Type I X-ray Bursts and Neutron Star In-

terior Physics, A. Cumming, J. Macbeth, J. in’t

Zand, & D. Page (2006), ApJ, 646, 429 (astro-

ph/0508432)

23


Dobbs, Matt Research Interests:

Ph.D. (Victoria ’02) Matt is a hands-on experimentalist designing, building

Assistant Professor and using observational cosmology experiments to bet-

Canada Research Chair ter understand the origin, fate, and composition of the

Observational Astrophysics universe. His main focus today is the Cosmic Microwave

(514) 398-6500 background.

[email protected] Although the interactions of matter at energies ac-

cessible at present-day particle colliders (where grav-

ity is negligible) are well understood in the framework

of Particle Physics, we find a mammoth deficiency in

our appreciation of nature when we apply these laws

at cosmological scales: only 5% of the energy density

in the universe can be ascribed to the known matter

constituents. About 25% is wrapped up in mysterious

dark matter (which couples only to gravity) and the re-

maining 70% appears to be in the form of dark energy,

a recently discovered contribution which is pushing the

universe to expand faster as time goes on.

I am an experimental physicist interested in under-

standing how matter and its interactions evolve from

the early universe to create the cosmology in which we

live today. Broadly speaking, the Big Bang model is

consistent with astronomical observations and experi-

mental measurements as long as the theory includes an

early period of Inflation (when the universe expands

faster than the speed of light). Inflation predicts other

signatures such as a gravity wave background emanat-

ing from the inflationary era that may be encoded in

the observable universe.

The signature of inflationary gravity waves may

manifest itself as an observable polarization pattern in

the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation,

providing a rare opportunity to probe nature at the in-

flationary energy scale where all the fundamental forces

are important. I am involved in the construction of

an experiment in California’s White Mountains, called

POLARBEAR, to probe this signature. Two other ex-

periments, APEX-SZ (deployed to the Atacama Plateau

in Chile) and the South Pole Telescope, will use a sub-

24


tle distortion of the CMB from galaxy clusters called

the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect to measure the expansion

history of the universe and gain new information aboutDark Energy.

Student Opportunities:

Students engaged in these experiments will gain a

knowledge of cosmology, low noise electronics instru-

mentation, cryogenic sensors and detectors, and data

analysis. Travel to the experimental sites (White Moun-tains, Atacama Plateau, or the South Pole) is expected.


1. The SPT Collaboration (Z. Staniszewski et al.),

Galaxy Clusters Discovered with a Sunyaev-Zel’Dovich

Effect Survey, Astrophys.J.701:32-41, 2009.

2. M. Dobbs, Eric Bissonnette, and Helmuth Spieler,

Digital Frequency Domain Multiplexer for mm-

Wavelength Telescope, IEEE Transactions on Nu-

clear Science, Vol. 55, (2008) 21-26.

3. The EBEX Collaboration (W. Granger et al.),

EBEX: the E and B Experiment, Millimeter and

Submillimeter Detectors for Astronomy, Proc. of

SPIE, Vol. 7020 (2008) 70202N-70202N-9.

25


Holder, Gilbert P. Observational cosmology has made tremendous ad-

Ph.D. (Chicago ’02) vances over the last few years, ranging from the dis-

Associate Professor covery of the accelerating universe, driven by dark en-

Canada Research Chair ergy, to the characterization of the fluctuations in the

Theoretical Astrophysics microwave background to very high precision. The ob-

(514) 398-7031 served situation in the universe is a curious one, how-

[email protected] ever, with 70% of the universe in the form of dark

energy, 25% in the form of dark matter, and only 5%

in the form of baryonic matter. Both dark energy and

dark matter have direct ties to particle physics, so as-

trophysics can make important contributions to physics

through a better understanding of the nature of the

dark matter and the properties of dark energy.

My research is built around theoretical studies of

how astrophysics and observational cosmology can ex-

perimentally determine the most important proper-

ties of dark matter and dark energy. The observa-

tional probes that I have investigated are the cosmic

microwave background and gravitational lensing, and

there are several experimental projects coming up that

show great promise. Among others, upcoming projects

of interest include the Atacama Large Millimeter Ar-

ray (an international, including Canada, enterprise),

the South Pole Telescope, and the Square Kilometer

Array.

I am always interested in new graduate students,

with projects ranging from timescales of a few months

to several years, with the topics including gravitational

lensing, large scale structure in the universe, the cosmic

microwave background, the first stars, and in general

any astrophysics that has important ramifications for

observational cosmology (e.g., star-forming galaxies and

black holes in galaxies).

26


Kaspi, Victoria M. More massive than our Sun, yet packed into a sphere

Ph.D. (Princeton ’93) the size of Montreal (and sometimes spinning faster

Professor than your kitchen blender!), neutron stars represent the

Canada Research Chair most extreme form of non-singular matter in the known

Lorne Trottier Chair Universe. Emitting beams of radiation from their mag-

Observational Astrophysics netic poles, these objects are often observed via their

(514) 398-6412 pulses, like cosmic lighthouses.

[email protected] My research involves the observational study of a

variety of types of neutron star, using primarily radio

and X-ray observations, with some optical/IR as well.

The main goal of my research is to use neutron stars

to understand exotic physics inaccessible to Terrestrial

laboratories. Such physics includes Einstein’s theory of

General Relativity, the nature of matter at supranuclear

densities, and QED. I am also interested in astrophysi-

cal topics surrounding neutron stars, especially under-

standing the different observational manifestations of

these objects and their implications for the physics of

core collapse supernovae.

Specifically, I am currently involved in several dif-

ferent research projects, including: searching for ra-

dio pulsars using the 100-m Green Bank radio tele-

scope in West Virginia, and the 305-m Arecibo radio

telescope in Puerto Rico as part of an international

consortium; detailed radio study of a variety of inter-

esting binary radio pulsars; long-term monitoring of

magnetars using NASA’s Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer;

studying high-magnetic field radio pulsars, magnetars,

and pulsar wind nebulae using NASA’s Chandra X-ray

Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton Telescope, op-

tical/infrared monitoring of magnetars using the 8-m

Gemini-North telescope, as well as long-term timing of

young radio pulsars. I am also on the Canadian Science

Team for the Indian X-ray mission Astrosat, as well as

on the Galactic Science Team for the upcoming NASA

mission NuSTAR.

27


Rutledge, Bob Prof. Robert Rutledge is an observational astronomer

Ph.D. (MIT ’97) who studies neutron stars and black holes. His primary

Associate Professor interest is in measuring the sizes of neutron stars, us-

Observational Astrophysics ing X-ray spectroscopic observatories such as NASA’s

(514) 398-6509 Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s X-ray Multi-

[email protected] Mirror Telescope. Measuring the sizes of neutron stars

provides direct measurements of strong-force physics,

since the size of a neutron star is determined by strong-

force interaction of matter at and above nuclear density.

He also studies the phenomena which neutron stars and

black holes share – in particular, their accretion and in-

tensity fluctuations – as well as the phenomena which

set them apart, most obviously the absence of a ma-

terial surface in black hole systems, or the presence of

strong magnetic fields in neutron star systems.

Additional interests include: gamma-ray bursts;

coronally active low-mass stars; X-ray binaries, and

transients; millisecond X-ray pulsar timing; optical

identifications of astronomical X-ray sources.

28


Webb, Tracy My research focuses on the formation and evolution

Ph.D. (Toronto ’02) of galaxies, and massive galaxies in particular. I study

Assistant Professor these processes by gathering observational data using

Observational Astrophysics some of the world’s most powerful telescopes. Recently,

(514) 398-7226 we discovered a new population of galaxies which ap-

[email protected] pear to represent an explosive phase of massive galaxy

formation in the early universe. These objects are so

deeply enshrouded in dust that they are almost unde-

tectable at optical wavelengths even with today’s largest

telescopes. Dust, small grains of carbon and silicon in

the interstellar medium, absorbs optical and ultravio-

let light, thereby either modifying the radiation emit-

ted by objects behind the dust, or blocking it com-

pletely. It now seems clear that dust absorption is im-

portant during almost all phases of galaxy evolution

and a comprehensive study of the relevant physics re-

quires observations at longer wavelengths, such as the

far-infrared where the dust emits energy or at radio

wavelengths, which penetrate through the dust shield.

In fact, any complete understanding of galaxy forma-

tion requires information at all wavelengths, from the

X-ray to the radio. Using telescopes such as the James

Clerk Maxwell submillimeter telescope, the Spitzer in-

frared space satellite, the Very Large radio array, and

the Gemini optical/infrared telescope I am investigating

questions such as: what are the important timescales for

galaxy formation - i.e. do massive galaxies form most

of their stars in a single burst or gradually over time;

what effect does feedback from central black holes have

on star formation; what role does galaxy-galaxy merg-

ing and high-density environments, play in driving the

evolution of galaxies.

29

Astroparticle Physics Particle Astrophysics (also called Astroparticle Physics)

is a relatively new area of research where ideas and data

from elementary particle physics are applied to topics

in astrophysics and cosmology, or vice versa.

On the theoretical side this has been going on for

many years where, for example, theories of nuclear and

particle physics can be used in calculating details of

stellar evolution or the very early history of the Universe

itself.

Experimentally, one can use techniques and instru-

ments developed for use at accelerator laboratories to

make astronomical observations using gamma rays, neu-

trinos and cosmic rays, thus extending our view of the

Universe beyond that accessible using more the more

traditional messengers of astronomy, such as optical

photons and radio waves. For example, in searches for

exotic particles such as those which may make up the

mysterious dark matter, astrophysical observations are

complementary to lab-based searches and can explore a

greater range of masses.

The McGill efforts in Experimental Particle Astro-

physics are currently concentrated in the field of Very-

High-Energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy using the

VERITAS detector array.


Professors

Hanna, David My research roots are in experimental high energy

Ph.D. (Harvard ’80) physics and I am applying the techniques I know

Macdonald Professor from that field to projects in high energy astrophysics.

High energy experiment Specifically, I am a member of the VERITAS collab-

(514) 398-6510 oration, which recently completed the construction of

[email protected] an array of four 12-m telescopes on Mount Hopkins in

southern Arizona. This array is now being used to de-

tect very high energy astrophysical gamma rays, in the

energy range from 100 GeV to 10 TeV, by measuring

the Cherenkov radiation emitted by the particles in the

air showers they produce when impacting the upper

atmosphere.

30

Research Activities – Astroparticle Physics

Very high energy gamma-ray astronomy is the sci-

ence of extreme astrophysics. The sources of TeV

gamma rays are non-thermal and often transient; ex-

amples include pulsar wind nebulae, active galactic nu-

clei and colliding stellar winds. It is also possible that

some of the gamma-rays are produced by annihilation

of dark matter particles in the centres of galaxies and

globular clusters and we are searching for the signal of

such a phenomenon.

I also maintain an interest in instrumentation and

have a few hardware projects in detector development.

Specifically, I am involved in development for the next-

generation gamma-ray detector, AGIS, and I am also

developing a Compton-scattering imager for safety andsecurity applications.


1. A connection between star formation activity and

cosmic rays in the starburst galaxy M82, V.A. Ac-

ciari et al, Nature, Vol. 462, pp 770-772, (2009)

2. Radio Imaging of the VERY-High-Energy Gamma-

ray Emission Region in the Central Engine of

a Radio Galaxy, V.A. Acciari et al, Science,

Vol. 325, Issue 5939, pp. 444- (2009)

3. An LED-based flasher system for VERITAS,

D. Hanna, A. McCann, M. McCutcheon and

L. Nikkinen, Nuclear Instruments and Methods

A 612, pp 278-287 (2010)

31

Research Activities – Astroparticle Physics

Ragan, Kenneth My primary research interests are presently in the area

D.Sc. (Geneva ’86) of particle astrophysics, where astrophysical phenom-

Macdonald Professor ena are studied through particle physics techniques and

High energy experiment used to understand the high-energy physics of the cos-

(514) 398-6518 mos.

[email protected] My main research effort is the VERITAS project

based at Mount Hopkins, Arizona. This is a ground-

based gamma-ray detector whose primary goal is to ob-

serve astrophysical sources of high-energy gamma rays

in the energy range between about 50 GeV and 10 TeV.

A number of different classes of objects are known to be

strong emitters in this energy regime, including active

galactic nuclei (black-hole driven galaxies), supernova

remnants, pulsar-wind nebulae, and microquasars; this

energy regime is thought to be crucial to a thorough

understanding of these sources.

VERITAS detects the Cherenkov light produced

when energetic particles impinge on the upper atmo-

sphere. It uses an array of four 12-m telescopes to image

the gamma-ray showers; the multiple-telescope aspect

improves the resolution of the instrument and gives it

exquisite sensitivity in the 100 GeV to few-TeV regime.

In addition to the VERITAS experiment, I have an

interest in other topics in astroparticle physics and more

traditional (accelerator-based) particle physics, as well

as in new detector and instrumentation technologies.

For VERITAS and for a previous experiment called

STACEE, I helped design and implements specialized

parts of the electronic triggering systems.

See also Dobbs, Matt in As-

trophysics.

32

Condensed Matter Physics The physical properties of materials depend not as much

on the forces between atoms as on its structure on an

intermediate length scale, that is, its microstructure.

Much of the progress in Materials Science has been

based on the formulation of this understanding and the

development of processing techniques allowing control

of this microstructure. These concepts are exemplified

by the characterization and manipulation of material

on nanometer length scales which has come to be called

Nanoscience. Indeed, the last decades have seen re-

markable developments in technological advances based

on new materials and processing techniques. These

have revolutionized materials science, leading to novel

forms of matter with unprecedented mechanical, chem-

ical, magnetic and electrical properties.

The Condensed Matter Physics group is devoted

to the understanding, fabrication, and characterization

of novel materials. The research work often results

in an exploration of industrial applications as well as

the most fundamental issues in physics. Researchers

have a variety of techniques at their disposal for the

production of materials, including micro-machining ca-

pabilities. Characterization methods are state of the

art. Highlights are ultra-low temperatures, synchrotron

x-ray beamlines, neutron scattering, Mossbauer spec-

troscopy, ultra-fast lasers and advanced scanning probe

and atomic force microscopies. The theoretical group

has large-scale computer facilities, including several Be-

owulf systems, which are continually being upgraded.

The group emphasizes collaborations, especially be-

tween experimentalists and theorists. A new thrust into

biophysics and biomaterials further reinforces existing

collaborations which have united researchers in physics

and chemistry with engineers and life sciences expertsto

provide a multidisciplinary approach which is essential

in order to truly understand condensed matter physics

at all its levels.

The profiles of individual professors follow in the

next pages.

33

Research Activities – Condensed Matter

Experimental Condensed Matter Physics

Professors

Cooke, David My research explores the ultrafast kinetics of funda-

Ph.D. (Alberta ’06) mental single and collective charge particle excitations

Assistant Professor in condensed matter, focusing on semiconductors and

Condensed matter exp. their nanostructures. This can include watching charges

[email protected] move in a semiconductor and interact with their micro-

Starting in Jan. 2011 scopic environment to monitoring the build-up of in-

teractions and correlations leading to a metal-insulator

transition. The tool that allows these processes to be

observed on femtosecond time scales are phase-locked

electric-field transients called terahertz pulses. These

sub-picosecond duration pulses of light are made of a

single-cycle of the electric field and can be extremely

broadband, covering more than 7 octaves in frequency

(0.3 – 40 THz) across the electromagnetic spectrum

centered in the far-infrared (by comparison, the visible

spectrum spans only 1 octave).

I am particularly interested in carrier and conduc-

tion dynamics in nanostructured semiconductors, the

effects of Coulomb interactions on the transport prop-

erties of in disordered materials, time-resolved nonlinear

transport phenomena using high-field THz pulses, and

developing new photonic components to control light in

the THz spectral region.

In the new ultrafast terahertz photonics laboratory

being developed during 2011, we will use advanced op-

tical techniques and femtosecond laser systems to gen-

erate phase-locked far- to mid-infrared bursts of light

that can be coherently detected, meaning we detect the

actual electric field of the pulse. The lab activities will

stretch from fundamental optical spectroscopy of semi-

conductors and their nanostructures to more applied

development of THz sources and detection technology

to constantly improve our capabilities. The lab will en-

joy a close collaboration with the Advanced Laser Light

Source (ALLS) facility in Varennes, Quebec just 20 min-

utes outside of Montreal. This facility houses a high-

34


field THz pulse beamline where intense coherent field

transients can be used to explore strong light-matter

interactions in a wide variety of materials.

35


Gervais, Guillaume In recent years, the electronic properties of low-

Ph.D. (Northwestern ’02) dimensional structures such as electrons ‘trapped’ in

Associate Professor quantum wells (2-D), flowing in a quantum wire (1-

Condensed matter exp. D) or forming a quantum dot (0-D), have drawn a

(514) 398-1545 high-level of interest for both fundamental aspects and

[email protected] promising device applications. As the temperature of

the electrons present in these structures is reduced

toward very near absolute zero, totally new proper-

ties emerge from a competition between many-body

electron-electron interactions, disorder, and fluctua-

tions. Examples of interest include ‘bizarre’ phenomena

such as the fractionalization of charge excitations in 2-

D, fractional (abelian and perhaps non-abelian) quan-

tum statistics, as well as the separation of spin and

charges predicted to occur in 1-D. These phenomena

cannot be understood in terms of classical or Boltz-

mann physics; they are the result of the subtle mechan-

ics that emerge when quantum particles interact near

T = 0. Our group at McGill works at elucidating

new quantum phases of matter in semiconduc-

tor electronic and fluidic structures fabricated

‘on-a-chip’.

Material-wise, we use extremely low-disorder

GaAs/AlGaAs grown in the highest-mobility Molec-

ular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) facility in the World, as well

as the cleanest material in Nature, 3He near T = 0. We

carry out measurements down to 8 mK, in high mag-

netic fields up to 16T. In our laboratory, we develop and

implement novel tools and techniques such as resistively

detected NMR with ‘too few spins’, scanned probe mi-

croscopy, as well as optical techniques. Starting from

raw semiconducting material, we tailor-fabricate struc-

tures for electrons, or nanoholes for quantum fluids

using cutting-edge clean room fabrication processes

evolved from the nanotech community. In Gervais’

lab, the search for new quantum phases of mat-

ter occurs when the nanotech tools and low-

temperature know-how connect with quantum

36


physics.


1. Contrasting Behavior of the 5/2 and 7/3 Frac-

tional Quantum Hall Effect in a Tilted Field, C.R.

Dean, B.A. Piot, P. Hayden, S. Das Sarma, G.

Gervais, L.N. Pfeiffer, K.W. West, Phys. Rev.

Lett. 101, 186806 (2008)

2. Intrinsic Gap of the ν = 5/2 Fractional Quantum

Hall State, C.R. Dean, B.A. Piot, P. Hayden, S.

Das Sarma, G. Gervais, L.N. Pfeiffer, K.W. West,

Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 146803 (2008)

3. Wigner Crystallization in a Quasi-3D Electronic

System, B.A. Piot, Z. Jiang, C.R. Dean, L.W. En-

gel, G. Gervais, L.N. Pfeiffer, K.W. West, Nature

Physics, 4, 936 - 939 (2008)

37


Grutter, Peter My research interests are focused on scanning probe mi-

Ph.D. (Basel ’89) croscopy and the interdisciplinary application of these

Professor techniques. At the nanometer level, the traditional

Research Director, NSERC boundaries between physics, chemistry, engineering and

Nano Innovation Platform the life sciences vanish. Physics, and in particular a

Director, CIAR background in scanning probe techniques, is an excel-

Nanoelectronics Program lent basis to contribute significantly to the emerging

James McGill Professor field of nanotechnology.

Condensed matter exp. Together with my group, I try to push the limits of

(514) 398-2567 instrumentation. I want to build and operate instru-

[email protected] ments at the absolute limits given by nature - this chal-

lenges creativity, physical insight and technological wiz-

ardry. As an example, we are in the process of building

an instrument that would allow us to directly detect the

spin of a single proton. This would allow very interest-

ing experiments in the field of quantum measurements

and, on the other end of the spectrum, would also open

the door to the direct structure determination of com-

plex organic molecules by performing NMR with single

atomic resolution and sensitivity.

The focus of my research program in the next few

years will be to apply the tools, techniques and materi-

als developed in the past few years to the emerging new

field of Nanoelectronics. In particular, I have set myself

the goal of providing experimental data that will al-

low the stringent testing of modeling. Modeling is very

important in understanding the nanoworld, but many

approximations commonly made have not been tested

experimentally. Experiments that control all degrees of

freedom are crucial, as this leaves no room for (edu-

cated) guessing, fitting or fudging the interpretation of

the data. One has to appreciate that currently model-

ing and experimental measurement of the conduction of

a simple molecule such as C60 only agree to within a fac-

tor of 10. This is definitely due to the unknown atomic

structure of the contact leads (necessary as input to the

simulation) and (probably) due to inadequate model-

ing. Only if quantitative agreement between modeling

and experiment is achieved can one reliably test approx-

38


imations. This will ultimately lead to the engineering

rules of thumb necessary to design 1015 switches in a

nanoelectronics implementation of an information pro-

cessing device. On a shorter time scale a better under-

standing will provide guidance in the search for optimal

nanoelectronics components.

39


Hilke, Michael One of the main foci in our group is life in the quantum

Ph.D. (Geneva ’96) world. We are particularly interested in small dimen-

Associate Professor sions and dimensionalities. Why? When reducing, for

Condensed matter exp. example, the dimension from 3 to 2 of an electron gas

(514) 398-3307 confined in a semiconducting heterostructure, new ele-

[email protected] mentary quasiparticles appear. These particles have an

effective fractional charge and obey fractional statistics.

They are obtained when a perpendicular magnetic field

is applied to the 2D electrons, which leads to the for-

mation of composite Fermions and to the observation

of the fractional quantum Hall effect.

By reducing the dimension even further, i.e., to 1D

a whole new set of phenomena appear. Because of the

inherent electron-electron interactions, the electron gas

can no longer be described as a Fermi gas or Fermi liq-

uid but rather as a Luttinger liquid. One of the most

fascinating properties of a Luttinger liquid is the sepa-

ration of charge and spin, i.e., the charge and the spin

become independent of each other.

On a more applied level, the miniaturization is of

tremendous interest for information technologies. Re-

ducing the dimensions to such an extent that the infor-

mation is not carried anymore by a macroscopic current

but by single electrons, leads to the computing on the

nanoscale. An even more fascinating outlook is the pos-

sibility to realize a quantum computer. In this case the

computational information is the quantum mechanical

“state” of an electron.

In particular we study:

• Experimental and theoretical qubit systems

• New materials such as graphene, carbon nan-

otubes, quantum Hall and quantum dot systems,

disordered and exotic superconductors

• Transport properties in the quantum limit (close

to absolute zero temperatures - theory and exper-

iment)

40


Reisner, Walter Experimental Soft Condensed Matter Physics:

Ph.D. (Princeton ’06) In Walter Reisner’s upcoming bionanofluidics lab at

Assistant Professor McGill University one of our projects will be to ex-

Condensed matter exp. plore how complex sub micron nanotopographies em-

(514) 398-3085 bedded in a confined slit-like nanochannel can be used

[email protected] to perform manipulations of single biopolymers, such as

DNA, in solution. Variation in local confinement across

the nanotopography results in spatial variation of a

molecule’s configurational freedom, or entropy. Conse-

quently, by controlling device geometry, we can create

a user-defined free energy landscape that allows us to

‘sculpt’ the equilibrium configuration of a molecule.

For example, nanogrooves embedded in the slit will

extend DNA, unscrolling the genome for optical map-

ping. Individual square depressions, or nanopits, can be

used to trap DNA at specific points in the slit. Arrays

of nanopits will lead to complex ‘digitized’ conforma-

tions with a single molecule linking a number of pits

(possibly the basis for a self-organized nanoelectronic

circuit). The effect arises purely from design of device

topography so there is no need for performing local sur-

face chemistry. Moreover, in contrast to manipulation

techniques based on optical tweezers or atomic force

microscopy, we can manipulate many molecules in par-

allel without the need for complex instrumentation or

attaching beads/chemical linkers to the molecules.


• Walter Reisner, Niels B. Larsen, Henrik Flyvb-

jerg, Jonas Tegenfeldt, Anders Kristensen. Di-

rected Self-Organization of Single DNA Molecules

in a Nanoslit via Embedded Nanopit Arrays PNAS

106, 79-84 (2009).

41


Ryan, Dominic H. My research interests are centred on magnetic materials,

Ph.D. (Dublin ’86) with particular emphasis on those with frustrated or

Professor competing exchange interactions.

Condensed matter exp. Typical alloys include a-FexZr100−x, a metallic glass

(514) 398-6534 which evolves from a weakly frustrated ferromagnet to

[email protected] a spin-glass with increasing iron content, and RFe6Ge6

where a cancellation in the R-Fe exchange leads to a

two orders of magnitude difference in the rare-earth and

Fe sub-lattice ordering temperatures. My primary re-

search tools are Mossbauer spectroscopy, magnetisation

and ac-susceptibility, with magnetic neutron scattering

using the neutron scattering facilities at Chalk River

and µSR at TRIUMF in Vancouver playing an increas-

ing role.

Other areas of interest include

• Development of high-performance rare-earth –

iron permanent magnet alloys. Current work is

focused on the R2Fe17 series modified by the ad-

dition of carbon and or nitrogen.

• Hydrogen diffusion in metallic glasses as a probe

of the glass structure. Properties of magnetic thin

films and multilayers, studied using Conversion

Electron Mossbauer Spectroscopy (CEMS) and dc

magnetisation.

• Fine magnetic particles prepared by confined ge-

ometry chemistry in various biological and min-

eral systems.

• Development of gadolinium-based magnetic re-

frigeration alloys.

• Superparamagnetic spin dynamics in fine particles

are being studied using Selective excitation double

Mossbauer (SEDM) spectroscopy and µSR.

42


Siwick, Bradley J. Is it possible to resolve the elementary atomic motions

Ph.D. (Toronto ’04) taking place in molecules during the breaking and mak-

Assistant Professor ing of chemical bonds in the transition state region be-

Canada Research Chair tween reactant and product states? Or to make direct

Condensed matter exp. observations of the collective atomic motions leading to

(514) 398-5973 structural phase transitions in material systems as they

[email protected] take place? The experimental challenge associated with

such measurements has often been referred to as the

making of a “molecular movie” and requires that these

systems be studied on both their natural length and

time scales simultaneously. This can require the abil-

ity to obtain atomic level structural information on the

timescale of a single vibrational period (∼ 10−13 s).

Research in my laboratory is focused on developing

technologies that will allow complex transient struc-

tures of molecular and material systems to be deter-

mined at the atomic level. In particular, this in-

volves engineering new instruments that unite the tools

and techniques of electron microscopy with those of

time-resolved (ultrafast) laser spectroscopy in novel

ways. We are interested in studying photo-induced

phase transitions in materials (order-disorder and order-

order), where it will be possible to directly determine

the changes in atomic configuration that accompany

the system’s progress along the physical pathway be-

tween phases. These techniques will also be employed

to try and understand structural dynamics in func-

tional light-activated nanocomposite, nanostructured

and organic materials. An additional area of research

will be structural studies of extreme states of matter

(i.e. materials under the conditions existing at the core

of planets, or plasmas). Extreme conditions can be pre-

pared transiently through interaction with intense laser

pulses. Some projects will take place at the Advanced

Laser Light Source (ALLS) facility being constructed in

Varennes, Quebec, near Montreal – a world class $21M

laser facility that will be able to produce femtosecond

laser pulses in a range of wavelengths from the mid-IR

to X-ray with peak powers greater than 1014 W.

43


Sutton, Mark The research of my group involves the study of the

Ph.D. (Toronto ’81) time evolution in non-equilibrium systems and appli-

Rutherford Professor cations of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. The

Condensed matter exp. main research technique is high resolution x-ray diffrac-

(514) 398-6523 tion performed at third generation synchrotrons around

[email protected] the world.

By using high intensity x-ray synchrotron sources

we have developed techniques to measure in situ time

resolved diffraction with a time resolution of a few mil-

liseconds, both by conventional x-ray diffraction and

using the new technique of x-ray intensity fluctua-

tion spectroscopy (often called x-ray photon correlation

spectroscopy). We have been using these techniques to

study the kinetics of systems out of thermal equilibrium,

from first order phase transition kinetics to visco-elastic

properties of polymers and rubbers.

We also have projects using x-ray reflectivity to

study the structure of metallic thin films and their in-

terfaces. Finally, we are involved in experiments to use

the x-ray free electron laser at the Stanford Linear Ac-

celerator Center when it starts up in the next few years.

44


Wiseman, Paul My research interests lie at the interface between the

Ph.D. physical and biological sciences. I am interested in un-

(Western Ontario ’95) derstanding the molecular mechanisms involved in cel-

Associate Professor lular adhesion (how biological cells stick together and

Condensed matter exp. to an underlying substrate) and how cells dynamically

(514) 398-6524 regulate adhesion receptors to control cellular migra-

[email protected] tion. I am also interested in developing new biophysical

methods such as third harmonic generation (THG) mi-

croscopy and the use of bioconjugated quantum dots as

robust luminescent labels for biophysical imaging ap-

plications on live cells and neurons. Other projects will

make use of an atomic force microscope(AFM)/total

internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscope that

was built in collaboration with Prof. P. Grutter. My

research topics include:

• Biophysical chemistry with emphasis on measur-

ing macromolecular interactions in living cells

using single photon and two-photon variants of

image correlation spectroscopy (ICS) and image

cross-correlation spectroscopy (ICCS)

• Live cell measurement of macromolecular dynam-

ics and clustering phenomena of green fluorescent

protein (GFP) integrin constructs to study their

role in assembly of cell adhesion structures and in

receptor ‘cross-talk’ with other signaling systems

in cells.

• Development of new microscopic techniques that

extend the capabilities of the ICS and ICCS meth-

ods. Development of a combined ICS, ICCS and

imaging fluorescence resonance energy transfer

microscopy. Applications of nonlinear harmonic

microscopy and ICS to measurements of macro-

molecular mobilities in live cell systems. Appli-

cation of bio-conjugated quantum dot labels for

dynamic ICS measurements in living cells.

• Extension of ICS and ICCS for application to re-

search problems in areas of neuroscience.

45


Recent Publications

1. M. A. Digman, P. W. Wiseman, C. Choi, A. R.

Horwitz and E. Gratton. Mapping the stoichiom-

etry of molecular complexes at adhesions in living

cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences, USA, 106 (7): 2170-2175 (2009).

2. J. M. Belisle, J. P. Correia, P. W. Wiseman, T. E.

Kennedy, S. Costantino. Patterning protein con-

centration using laser-assisted adsorption by pho-

tobleaching, LAPAP. Lab on a Chip in press DOI:

10.1039/b813897d (2008) Highlighted in Chemi-

cal Technology October 30, 2008

3. N. Durisic, A. I. Bachir, D. L. Kolin, B. Hebert, B.

C. Lagerholm, P. Grutter, P. W. Wiseman. Detec-

tion and correction of blinking bias in image cor-

relation transport measurements of quantum dot

tagged macromolecules. Biophysical Journal 93:

1338-1346 (2007).

Awards

• Keith Laidler Award in Physical Chemistry (CSC)

2009

• Fessenden Professorship in Science Innovation

(McGill) 2008

• Leo Yaffe Award for Excellence in Teaching

McGill University 2007

• Principal’s Prize for Excellence in Teaching (As-

sistant Professor Level) 2007

46


Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics

Professors

Clerk, Aashish My research is in the general area of mesoscopic

Ph.D. (Cornell ’01) physics. This is a subfield of condensed matter physics

Associate Professor concerned with electronic systems which are much

Canada Research Chair larger than the size of an atom, but which nonethe-

Condensed matter theory less are strongly influenced by the presence of quantum

(514) 398-5179 phase coherence. Examples include nanometer-scale

[email protected] quantum dots formed in semiconductor heterostruc-

tures, carbon nanotubes acting as one-dimensional

quantum wires, and micron-sized superconducting

metallic grains. A central theme in this field is ”de-

coherence”, the process by which quantum phase in-

formation is usually lost as we move from microscopic

to macroscopic length scales. Problems in mesoscopics

usually involve the complex but interesting interplay

between quantum phase coherence, disorder physics,

and inter-particle interactions.

I am particularly (but not exclusively) interested in

the noise properties of mesoscopic systems. Noise can

reveal a wealth of information on the mesoscopic regime

not accessible by other means; its study is also directly

relevant to attempts at using mesoscopic systems for

quantum information processing (i.e. solid-state quan-

tum computation). I am also interested in the emerging

area of quantum nano-electromechanics: what happens

when one couples a small mechanical resonator to a

quantum conductor? Such systems are interesting from

the point of view of dissipative quantum mechanics, and

because of their potential to be used in ultra-sensitive

detectors and in quantum control applications.

Finally, note that though I am a theorist, I try to

maintain a close connection to experiment, and have anumber of experimental collaborators.


1. Effects of Fermi Liquid Interactions on the Shot

Noise of a SU(N) Kondo Quantum Dot, P. Vi-

47


tushinsky, A. A. Clerk and K. Le Hur, Phys. Rev.

Lett. 100, 036603 (2008).

2. Entanglement Dynamics in a Dispersively Cou-

pled Qubit-Oscillator System, D. Wahyu-Utami

and A. A. Clerk, Phys. Rev. A 78, 042323 (2008).

3. Cooling a nanomechanical resonator with quan-

tum back-action, A. Naik, O. Buu, M. D. LaHaye,

A. D. Armour, A. A. Clerk, M. P. Blencowe and

K. C. Schwab, Nature (London) 443, 193 (2006).

Awards:

• Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship - 2007

48


Coish, William My work deals with the theory of quantum proper-

Ph.D. (Basel ’06) ties of nanometre-scale condensed-matter systems and

Assistant Professor applications of these systems to quantum and classical

Condensed matter theory information processing. A central motivator for most

[email protected] of my work is the realization that the spin magnetic

Starting in Sept. 2010. moment of electrons and holes can be decoupled rela-

tively well from their orbital degrees of freedom, allow-

ing for long-term storage of either classical or quantum

information in the spin. A very important fundamen-

tal question is then: How long can this information be

stored in the presence of influences in a solid-state en-

vironment? In the last 5 years, there has been a flood

of new experimental and theoretical results suggesting

that information can be stored in these systems far

longer than previously imagined, but the upper limit

is still relatively poorly understood, and is the focus

of much of my research. Moreover, there are several

interesting theoretical problems related to the transfer

of information from spin to charge degrees of freedom,

from spin to light (photons), or between collective quan-

tum states of spins and other quantum-mechanical de-

grees of freedom. To explore these ideas in relatively

new nanoscale systems far from equilibrium, it is of-

ten necessary to rethink the relevant physical systems

“from the ground up”, discovering essential features of

the underlying physical systems along the way.

To resolve these issues requires an interdisciplinary

approach; I try to combine a complete theoretical un-

derstanding of the microscopic description of solid-state

systems with applications borrowed from more abstract

ideas in quantum computing and quantum measure-

ment theory. This combination opens the door to an-

swering a number of intriguing questions, including:

How can we control the polarization (or more com-

plex quantum state) of nuclear spins in nanostructures?,

What materials give rise to the longest spin lifetimes?,

and What are the roles of electron and nuclear spins

in nanoelectronic devices (quantum dots, wires, and

wells)? These questions lead to a wide range of potential

49


applications from quantum and classical information tobiomedical imaging and precision measurement.


1. W. A. Coish, Jan Fischer, and Daniel Loss, Free-

induction decay and envelope modulations in a

narrowed nuclear spin bath, Phys. Rev. B. 81,

165315 (2010),

2. W. A. Coish and J. Baugh, Nuclear spins in

nanostructures, Physica Status Solidi (b), 246,

2203 (2009),

3. F. Qassemi, W. A. Coish, and F. K. Wilhelm, Sta-

tionary and transient leakage current in the Pauli

spin blockade, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 176806

(2009).

50


Francois, Paul The theory of evolution proposed by Darwin is used to

Ph.D. (Paris VII ’05) interpret biological data in retrospect. Evolution is gen-

Assistant Professor erally supposed to be contingent, i.e. if the whole history

Condensed matter theory of life had to be restarted, all organisms, genetic net-

[email protected] works, genetic sequences then it would be completely

Starting in July. 2010. different. However, there are also many examples of

what is called convergent evolution : evolution could

find several times independently the same “solution”

to the same problem. This means that evolution fol-

lows preferential pathways, that could potentially be

predicted by a careful theoretical analysis, making evo-

lution much closer to a physical theory. I am studying

this question in the context of gene networks . I have

developed a method of evolution “in silico” to generate

models of genetic networks performing specific biologi-

cal functions, and applied it to many biological systems

from biochemical adaptation to the formation of spatio-

temporal patterns in vertebrate embryos. Evolved mod-

els of gene networks suggest simple geometrical descrip-

tions of the biological phenomena (at the level of the

bifurcation diagram), that can be used to make pre-

dictions. I am also collaborating with experimentalists

on physical aspects of embryonic development, based

on models I evolve in the computer. I am especially

interested in the growth and formation of vertebrae inembryos, a process called somitogenesis.


1. Predicting Embryonic Patterning using Mutual

Entropy Fitness and in silico Evolution, Francois

P, Siggia E, Development, in Press, (2010)

2. Posterior elongation of the amniote embryo is

controlled by a gradient of random cell motil-

ity downstream of FGF/MAPK, Benazeraf B,

Francois P, Baker R, Denans N, Little C, Pourquie

O, Nature, in Press, (2010)

3. A case study of evolutionary computation of bio-

chemical adaptation, Francois P, Siggia E, Physi-

cal Biology, 5 : 026009 (2008)

51


4. Deriving structure from evolution : metazoan seg-

mentation, Francois P, Hakim V, Siggia E, Na-

ture/EMBOJ Mol. Syst. Biol., 3:154 (2007)

52


Grant, Martin Most of my work has been in nonequilibrium statistical

Ph.D. (Toronto ’82) physics. I am interested in problems at the boundary

James McGill Professor between condensed matter physics and materials sci-

Dean, Faculty of Science ence, such as crystal growth, epitaxy, reaction fronts,

Condensed matter theory spinodal decomposition, and nucleation. By their na-

(514) 398-4211 ture, these problems are multidisciplinary, encompass-

[email protected] ing physics, chemistry, computational research, applied

mathematics, and materials science. With my group, I

am investigating universal phenomena in these far from

equilibrium systems by nonlinear analysis, and by using

the biggest computers we can get our grubby hands on.

My current interests include the growth of a solid

binary alloy within a liquid melt near a eutectic point,

the behavior of flame fronts growing in a random back-

ground of reactants during slow combustion, the mor-

phological instability caused by strain during thin-film

growth, texturing patterns during the extrusion of poly-

mer melts, and the nucleation and growth of droplets

from a supersaturated solution.

53


Guo, Hong The research of my group mostly concentrates in two

Ph.D. (Pittsburgh ’87) main areas: electronic transport theory in mesoscopic

James McGill Professor and nanoscopic systems and materials physics of nan-

Director, CPM otechnology. In nanoelectronics research, our recent

Condensed matter theory work has concentrated on the development of theoreti-

(514) 398-6530 cal and computational formalisms as well as their appli-

[email protected] cations to nanoscale electronic device systems including

molecular electronics and quantum dot systems. The

basic questions we ask are like: how to predict elec-

tric current flowing through a molecule connected to

the outside world by metallic electrodes or by other

molecules? how to find the best operational princi-

ples of molecular scale field effect transistors? what

physics is behind these principles? how to predict the

response of a molecular scale circuit? how to under-

stand strongly interacting electrons in a quantum dot

and its implications to transport? etc.. These and many

other questions are wide open and challenging. On the

technical side, a particularly useful recent development

from our group has been the ab initio technique for

analysing nano-device characteristics including current-

voltage properties, by combining the density functional

theory with the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green’s func-

tions. For more details of these fundamental develop-

ments, please see http://www.physics.mcgill.ca/˜guo. In

materials physics, we use both classical and quantum

molecular dynamics methods to study problems associ-

ated with bulk, surface, and interfaces of solid state sys-

tems. Recently we have focused more on materials prop-

erties of nanoelectronic devices under external bias and

gate potentials. The questions we ask are: how to com-

pute mechanical structure of a nanosystem under exter-

nal fields and during the flow of current? how to predict

current-triggered mechanical phenomena? How to un-

derstand correlations of mechanical structural change

and electrical transport response? These problems are

at the heart of the physics that govern properties of

nanometer electro-mechanical systems.

54


Pereg-Barnea, Tami I’m a condensed mater theorist mostly interested in

Ph.D. correlated electrons systems in two-dimensions. These

(British Columbia ’05) systems exhibit a wealth of phenomena from broken

Assistant Professor symmetry states such as unconventional superconduc-

Condensed matter theory tivity and density waves to topological states like the

[email protected] fractional quantum Hall effect and topological insula-

Starting in Aug. 2011 tors. My research thus far has focused on the following

systems:

•Topological insulators - this new state of matter

has been predicted theoretically several years ago (Kane

and Mele, 2005) and has only recently been observed

experimentally (Hasan group, 2008). A topological in-

sulator is a state in which the bulk of a two or three di-

mensional material is gapped and does not support any

conductivity while the edges are metallic. Moreover, the

edge states are helical (their spin is parallel to the mo-

mentum direction) and a net spin current is observed.

In two dimensions, due to the confinement of conduct-

ing states to the edge their effect can only bee seen

in Hall conductivity (off-diagonal conductivity). This

state is analogous to the quantum Hall effect, however,

no time-reversal symmetry breaking (magnetic field) is

needed.

My own work is concerned with (a) Finding ways to

drive insulating systems into the topological insulating

phase i and (b) Considering the effects of disorder on

topological insulators.

• Graphene - though predicted as early as 1948

graphene, a single layer of graphite, has only been

achieved experimentally in 2006. Due to its honey-

comb lattice structure low energy electrons exhibit con-

ical dispersion E = v|k|. The effective model for low

energy electrons is mathematically equivalent to the de-

scription of relativistic massless Fermions in the Dirac

model. The physical spin of the Dirac model is played

by the sublattice degree of freedom and the helicity is

replaced by chirality. This formal similarity between

graphene and Dirac Fermions has inspired many in

the community. For example, the Klein paradox, the

55


prediction that Dirac Fermions can tunnel through in-

finitely high barriers may be tested in graphene while

high energy experiments are still not feasible.

I study the effects of correlations and disorder and

their implications on experimental measurements.

• High Tc superconductivity in cuprates -

since the discovery of superconductivity in 1911 the

scientific community is striving to find a room tem-

perature superconductor. To date the highest transi-

tion temperature is above 250K (−20oC), (these find-

ings are very recent and not yet widely accepted, see

www.superconductors.org). The highest Tcs are found

in a large family of compounds called cuprates. These

materials are fascinating with multiple phases including

the a superconducting order parameter of d-wave sym-

metry and an enigmatic pseudogap phase. The origin

for superconductivity in these materials as well as the

cause for the pseudogap phase are still unknown (23

years after the cuprates’ discovery). Many interesting

proposals have been made over the years and the topic

is still subject to lively debates.

In my research I contrast different theoretical ideas

with experimental findings in order to make progress in

sorting out different theories.

• Other unconventional superconductors -

there are several other systems which display interesting

superconducting order parameters (in general, not uni-

form). Among them are the cobaltates and iron-based

two dimensional superconductors.

56

High Energy Physics All of the phenomena of nature are presently under-

Experiment and Theory stood as being the result of a few species of elementary

particles interacting through four forces. In its broadest

terms, research in particle physics has as its goals the

discovery of the most basic constituents of matter and

the forces through which they interact, and the under-

standing how matter behaves when it is put under very

extreme conditions. These goals are linked because our

knowledge of the motions of matter in extreme condi-

tions often relies on the limits of what we know about

the most elementary particles and forces.

At present, theoretical and experimental research in

high energy physics is dominated by the existence of a

superbly successful theory, the Standard Model (SM).

Because of the dominant role played by the Standard

Model, current research divides into two broad parts.

The first is concerned with obtaining detailed predic-

tions from the Standard Model, comparing these pre-

dictions with measurements and challenging them in ex-

treme kinematic ranges and conditions. The second ap-

proach proposes plausible alternatives to the Standard

Model to try and improve some of its less attractive fea-

tures, and with which to contrast the Standard Model

when comparing to experimental data. Since these al-

ternative theories predict other, hitherto undiscovered,

particles they generally also suggest non-standard phe-

nomena for which one can search.

The McGill High Energy Physics group has vigorous

research programs in both experimental and theoretical

areas as well as efforts in the related areas of cosmology

and astro-particle physics.

Experimental High Energy Physics Elementary particle physics is the investigation of the

structure of matter and the forms of its interactions.

In the search for the basic constituents at the smallest

possible scale, one has to reach with the highest avail-

able energies. Experimental particle physics is usually

the realm of international efforts in large collaborations

of physicists around complex detectors. The McGill

57

Research Activities – High Energy

high energy groups are actively involved in many of

those leading edge ventures. The major experiments

our group members are involved in include the ZEUS

detector at DESY, the BaBar detector at SLAC, the

CDF and D0 detectors at Fermilab, the ATLAS de-

tector at CERN and the International Linear Collider

Project.

Professors

Corriveau, Francois As an experimental physicist, I am especially interested

Ph.D.(ETH Zurich ’84) in high energy collisions to get new insights into the

Professor nature and structure of matter.

Director, CHEP A McGill group is involved in the international

Director, CIPS ZEUS collaboration. Most of our work is related to the

High energy experiment physics of electron-proton collisions. These take place

(514) 398-6515 at the HERA accelerator of the DESY research center

[email protected] in Hamburg, Germany. ZEUS and HERA actually ran

until July 2007. With the realms of data collected, the

physics analyses should be completed in the following

two or three years.

A large number of research topics are accessible with

ZEUS. My main current interests lie in the domain of

deep inelastic scattering of punctual electrons on pro-

tons, thus probing the content of the proton very close

to the attometer (10−18m!) scale. This enables us to

determine the structure function of the proton, which

is basically a description of its parton (quark and gluon)

content. Strange particle production has also been stud-

ied successfully by our group, its overall aim being to

probe the sea quark content of the proton and to un-

derstand the actual mechanisms of the fragmentation

processes. Another current project is the observation

of jets of particles: not only do jets testify of the quark

and gluon content of the proton, but they also repre-

sent a powerful tool to test the Quantum Chromody-

namics (QCD) theory of the strong interaction and to

determine the value of its as coupling constant. The

available kinematic range in ZEUS is even sufficiently

large that the constant’s running properties can even

58


be observed within this measurement.

Photoproduction on proton, by which a quasi-real

photon is exchanged, yields on the other hand a large

amount of very relevant information on the many-sided

and puzzling nature of the photon. Some of the ob-

servables are its vector meson behaviour, its direct in-

teraction signals or evidences of its partonic structure.

Via the observation of jets, I am interested in details

of the hard processes, which should provide essential

informations on the photon parton densities.

In the footsteps of LEP, both the Large Hadron Col-

lider (LHC) and the ATLAS detector at CERN are

being built to investigate further symmetry breaking

and the origin of mass by searching for the Higgs parti-

cle. Canadian groups were very active building part of

the detector and are now preparing for the data taking

starting in the Summer of 2008. The ATLAS/McGill

group, of which I am a member, is contributing to the

trigger and energy measurement optimizations.

The next generation of accelerators can no longer be

circular because of large synchrotron energy losses and

their power demands. The planned International Linear

Collider will ideally complement the LHC and investi-

gate the properties of the Higgs with high precision.

Part of the contributing Canadian groups (McGill and

Regina) joined the CALICE collaboration to work on

innovative calorimetry, R&D projects and challenging

developments of energy flow algorithms. I am commit-

ted to these exciting endeavours for the future.

59


Robertson, Steven Since 1999 the BaBar experiment, located at the PEP-II

Ph.D. (Victoria ’99) asymmetric “B-factory” at the Stanford Linear Accel-

Associate Professor erator Center (SLAC) in California, has recorded the

High energy experiment decays of over 130 million pairs of B-mesons and their

(514) 398-1543 antimatter counterparts (“B-bar” mesons). These ex-

[email protected] otic particles contain a heavy b-quark and their decays

can provide insight into many poorly-understood as-

pects of particle physics. In my research, I utilize this

enormous data sample to search for rare B-meson de-

cays into states containing charged or neutral leptons,

such as electrons and neutrinos. The rates of these de-

cay processes are predicted to be enhanced in theoret-

ical models describing physics beyond the “Standard

Model” of particle interactions, due to contributions

from previously-unobserved exotic particles. Observa-

tion of one of these rare decay processes occurring at

a rate which is significantly in excess of the Standard

Model expectation would therefore provide the first ev-

idence of non-Standard Model physics.

60


Vachon, Brigitte What is as heavy as a gold atom, yet point-like and indi-

Ph.D. (Victoria ’02) visible? The most massive known fundamental particle

Associate Professor of nature: the top quark.

Canada Research Chair The main goal of my research is to study the unique

High energy experiment properties of top quarks in order to understand physics

(514) 398-6478 at the smallest distance scale which ultimately dictates

[email protected] what today’s universe looks like. Specifically, I am

interested in understanding why elementary particles

have the mass they are observed to have; a fundamen-

tal question which has far reaching consequences in de-

scribing the universe as we know it. Part of my re-

search involves precisely measuring known properties of

the top quark to look for small deviations from theo-

retical predictions. I am also interested in searching for

new particles, like the Higgs boson, which could pre-

dominantly interact with the heavy top quarks.

My research involves the study of the highest energy

particle collisions ever produced in a laboratory. Cur-

rently, there is only one place in the world where top

quarks can be directly produced: the Tevatron collider

at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermi-

lab) near Chicago. I study the results of these proton-

antiproton collisions using the DZero experiment.

I am also involved in the next generation of particle

physics experiments, which will open up a completely

new window of high energy physics. The large Hadron

Collider (LHC), under construction at the CERN Lab-

oratory in Switzerland, will collide protons at an un-

precedented energy; seven times higher than the energy

available at the Tevatron. The results of these colli-

sions will be studied using the ATLAS experiment. Cur-

rently, I am involved in the design and commissioning

of the ATLAS experiment’s trigger; a complex system

built to identify, in real-time, potentially interesting col-

lisions out of the millions per second. Operation of the

Large Hadron Collider and the ATLAS experiment at

CERN will begin in 2008.

61


Warburton, Andreas My research engages high-energy matter-antimatter

Ph.D. (Toronto ’98) and matter-matter particle colliders and multipurpose

Associate Professor detector technologies to seek an improved understand-

High energy experiment ing of the basic constituents of our universe and the

(514) 398-6519 forces that govern their interactions. Many of my re-

[email protected] search interests have involved the bottom (b, or beauty)

quark, a unique fundamental particle with an electric

charge of −1/3 and a mass about five times that of a

proton, to further our understanding of Nature through

its strong and electroweak interactions. We study b

quarks by examining how they are created from energy,

how they combine with other quarks to form hadrons,

and how they change flavour to become lighter (charm

or up) quarks. Recently, we’ve been using b quarks as

a means to study much heavier particles like the top (t,

or truth) quark and the still undiscovered and highly

sought-after Higgs boson.

I am currently leading the Canadian Collider De-

tector at Fermilab CDF-II group, which consists of re-

searchers from TRIUMF and four Canadian universi-

ties. We are involved in the intense search for the Higgs

particle and studies of t quarks and quantum chromo-

dynamics. At McGill, we are also investing heavily in

the ATLAS experiment on the Large Hadron Collider

(LHC) at CERN, where our group has responsibilities

related to the high-level jet trigger. It is an exciting

time in experimental particle physics! Enquiries aboutgraduate study opportunities are welcome.

Recent Publications

1. Search for Standard Model Higgs Bosons Produced

in Association with W Bosons, T. Aaltonen et

al. (CDF Collaboration), Physical Review Let-

ters 100, 041801 (2008).

2. Measurement of σχc2Br(χc2 → J/ψγ)/σχc1Br(χc1 →J/ψγ)) in pp Collisions at

√s = 1.96 TeV, A.

Abulencia et al. (CDF Collaboration), Physical

Review Letters, 98 , 232001, (2007)

3. Study of the q2 Dependence of B → π|ν and B →

62


ρ(ω)|ν Decay and Extraction of |Vub|, S.B. Athar

et al. (CLEO Collaboration), Physical Review D

68, 072003 (2003).


See also M. Dobbs, D. Hanna,

and K. Ragan in the As-

troparticle Physics section.

63


Theoretical High Energy Physics Our research interests are diverse, covering most of the

active topics in high-energy theoretical physics. Some

of the topics on which we have worked over the past few

years includes:

Elementary-Particle Physics

• Neutrinos

• Precision Electroweak Physics

• Strong Interactions

Field Theory

• Black Holes

• Duality

• String Theory

• Supersymmetry

Theoretical Cosmology

• Inflationary Cosmology

• Theory of Cosmological Perturbations

• Superstring Cosmology

• Baryogenesis

Interdisciplinary

• Particle Astrophysics

• Condensed-Matter Physics

64


Professors

Brandenberger, Robert Professor Brandenberger’s research interests span a

Ph.D. (Harvard ’83) wide range of topics in theoretical cosmology. A first

Professor research area is inflationary universe cosmology. The

Canada Research Chair inflationary universe scenario has provided a theory of

High energy theory the origin of the small density fluctuations which can be

(514) 398-6512 measured in cosmic microwave background temperature

[email protected] anisotropy maps and galaxy redshift surveys. The orig-

inal predictions for observables have been spectacularly

confirmed in recent experiments. Current research in

this area focuses on looking for imprints of Planck-scale

physics in observables, and on more detailed studies of

inflationary reheating.

The theory of cosmological perturbations has be-

come the cornerstone of modern cosmology since it pro-

vides the bridge which connects the physics of the very

early universe (which is determined by Planck-scale

physics) with observations. In the past, Professor Bran-

denberger has made key contributions to the develop-

ment of this subject, in particular providing an exten-

sion of the analysis to higher-dimensional space-times.

Current research at McGill in this area focuses on the

study of the back-reaction of cosmological perturbations

on the background space-time. Initial calculations indi-

cate that this back-reaction might lead to a dynamical

relaxation of a large initial bare cosmological constant,

leaving behind a remnant cosmological constant which

automatically plays the role of dark energy.

Professor Brandenberger has made key contribu-

tions to the emerging field of superstring cosmology.

The goal of this research is to construct a nonsingu-

lar cosmological model which also explains why there

are only three large spatial dimensions. These results

emerge from the string gas cosmology scenario, a sce-

nario in which string matter (including string momen-

tum and winding modes) is coupled to a classical back-

ground. Recently, the McGill-Harvard group has shown

that string gas cosmology leads to a scenario for the

65


origin of structure in the universe which can provide an

alternative to cosmological inflation and makes specific

predictions for upcoming observations. Two of the goals

of current research are firstly to work out more predic-

tions of string gas cosmology, and secondly to to more

rigorously justify the new framework based on recent

ideas in string theory.

Professor Brandenberger has a long-standing inter-

est in studying the role of topological defects in the early

Universe. Current research includes studies of novel

predictions of models which contain cosmic strings orcosmic superstrings.

Recent Publications

1. R. Brandenberger, Alternatives to Cosmological

Inflation, Phys. Today 61N3:44-49, 200

2. R. H. Brandenberger, A. Nayeri, S. P. Patil and

C. Vafa, Tensor modes from a primordial Hage-

dorn phase of string cosmology, Phys. Rev. Lett.

98, 231302 (2007).

3. A. Nayeri, R. H. Brandenberger and C. Vafa, Pro-

ducing a scale-invariant spectrum of perturbations

in a Hagedorn phase of string cosmology, Phys.

Rev. Lett. 97, 021302 (2006)

66


Cline, Jim I’m part of the High Energy Theory Group at the

Ph.D. (Caltech ’88) Department of Physics of McGill University. If you

Professor are wondering whether I am interested in advising new

High energy theory M.Sc. or Ph.D. students, the answer is that good stu-

(514) 398-5848 dents are always welcome!

[email protected] My research focuses on the cosmology/particle

physics interface. Recent interests include aspects of

possible dark matter annihilation in the galaxy, brane-

antibrane and other inflation models from string the-

ory, the search for novel features in the inflation power

spectrum, indicating possible signals of new physics in

the CMB, implications of the string theory landscape

for the cosmological constant problem, and models of

electroweak baryogenesis or which strengthen the elec-

troweak phase transition.

67


Dasgupta, Keshav My research has been concentrated on various aspects

Ph.D. (Tata Inst. ’99) of string theory, quantum field theory, mathematical

Associate Professor physics and string cosmologies.

High energy theory In string cosmologies, my interests have been mostly

(514) 398-6498 on embedding inflationary models in string theory. I

[email protected] am also interested in studying standard cosmological

solutions, evolution of the universe etc. directly from

M/string-theory.

In quantum field theory and string theory, I have

studied various aspects of brane constructions for gauge

theories, gauge-gravity dualities for more realistic theo-

ries, M-theory, F-theory and flux compactifications. My

recent interests have been on moduli stabilisations in

string theories in the presence of fluxes.

In mathematics and mathematical-physics, my in-

terests have been on manifolds that are not Calabi-Yau,

i.e non-Kahler manifolds. These manifolds may or may

not even be complex. I have been studying these mani-

folds and their mathematical properties as solutions to

string theory.

68


Maloney, Alexander My research is in the area of theoretical particle physics

Ph.D. (Harvard ’03) and string theory, with an emphasis on problems in

Assistant Professor quantum gravity. Most recently I have focused on two

William Dawson Scholar sets of problems, involving black holes and cosmology,

High energy theory which have the potential to shed light on fundamen-

[email protected] tal questions involving the quantum structure of space-

time.

Black hole physics provides an ideal theoretical labo-

ratory for the study of quantum gravity, since quantum

effects necessarily become important near the singular-

ity at the center of a black hole. Over the past several

years I have used various techniques to study quantum

black holes in string theory, most recently by under-

standing higher order corrections to Einstein’s equa-

tions that arise in the quantum effective action of string

theory. This leads to some surprising insights into the

geometry and thermodynamics of these mysterious ob-

jects.

A second set of questions, motivated by cosmol-

ogy, involves the description of time-dependent uni-

verses in string theory. Perhaps the most interesting

questions involve inflating universes, such as de Sitter

space, which although apparently simple have proven

notoriously difficult to understand in string theory. I

am interested in constructing de Sitter backgrounds of

string theory, and in holographic descriptions of these

inflating cosmologies. I have also studied various simple

time-dependent universes which, although they share

many features with realistic cosmological models, can

be solved exactly. Remarkably, many of these back-

grounds are described by completely unitary quantum

theories, even though they apparently contain big bang

and big crunch singularities.

69


Moore, Guy Besides the familiar electromagnetic interactions, the

Ph.D. (Princeton ’97) Standard Model of Particle Physics says that there are

Associate Professor two other interactions, the strong and weak interac-

High energy theory tions, which are quite similar to electromagnetism. The

(514) 398-4345 strong interactions are like electromagnetism but with

[email protected] 8 ”electromagnetic” fields, which furthermore partici-

pate in interactions with each other. Mostly because of

this self-interaction, the physics the strong interactions

(Quantum Chromodynamics or QCD) is much more

complicated than the theory of electromagnetism. Al-

though we have very strong experimental evidence that

it is correct, we do not always know how to uncover its

predictions.

My work deals with the strong and weak interac-

tions in many-body contexts, in which their physics

is particularly rich (and our understanding is partic-

ularly incomplete). How much like electromagnetism,

and how differently, does QCD behave? One recent

problem I have studied is understanding QCD plasma

instabilities. In electromagnetism, ordinary plasmas of

charged particles display fascinating phenomena when

the distribution of charge carriers is out of equilibrium

and anisotropic. Such a plasma is unstable to spon-

taneous growth of magnetic fields and bunching up of

the charge carriers into current filaments. This insta-

bility dominates the physics of nonequilibrium plasmas.

I have been working to understand the behavior of the

strong interactions under analogous circumstances, an

anisotropic momentum distribution of quarks, the con-

stituents of the protons and neutrons. We expect that

such anisotropic plasmas should be produced during

heavy ion collisions, such as those studied in the RHIC

experiment at Brookhaven Labs in the United States.

We have shown that plasma instabilities, with the

spontaneous development of the strong-electromagnetic

fields, should be a generic feature of nonequilibrium

strong-interaction plasmas. However, the evolution of

the magnetic field is very different than in electro-

magnetism, in ways we do not completely understand

70


yet. I am investigating both the physics of these large

”color”-magnetic fields, and their potential implications

in heavy ion experiments.

Among the tools we use to study plasma instabili-

ties, lattice gauge theory is one I am also interested in

in its own right. This technique allows rigorous investi-

gation of some aspects of QCD even at strong coupling.

I am also interested in developing techniques to use the

lattice for several problems in field theory, in particular

for studying supersymmetric theories and supersymme-

try breaking, as well as improved methods of studying

renormalization using the lattice as a tool.

71


Walcher, Johannes My recent research activity has been at the String The-

Ph.D. (ETH Zurich ’01) ory interface between Theoretical High-Energy Physics

Assistant Professor and Mathematics, mostly Algebraic Geometry. More

High energy theory generally, I am interested in String Theory as a can-

[email protected] didate framework for the next unification step in the-

Starting in Jan. 2011 oretical physics, as well as for addressing fundamental

questions about quantum space-time.

The branch of mathematical physics stemming from

string theory is the youngest and one of the most

promising: Efforts of high-energy physicists trying to

understand quantum gravity, and to unify the funda-

mental interactions, have required the use of sophis-

ticated mathematical machinery and, conversely, con-

tributed new results in pure mathematics. The char-

acteristic feature is that the interaction has been with

areas of mathematics, that, for most of the 20th cen-

tury, have been disconnected from developments in the-

oretical physics, in particular algebraic geometry and

low-dimensional topology.

The basic connection between geometry and string

theory arises because of the geometrization of gravity

in Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, and because

string theory is a theory of quantum gravity. Thus,

string theory requires (or provides, depending on the

point of view) a notion of quantum geometry. Although

one is presumably just scratching the surface of this

idea, the fact that that can generate non-trivial state-

ments about ordinary geometry is in itself highly re-

markable.

The projects which I have worked on recently have

to do with mirror symmetry and the topological string

with D-branes. The topological string can be viewed

both as a toy model for ordinary (super)string theory,

and as a truncation of the (compactified) superstring to

the (for phenomenological applications most relevant)

vacuum sector. Mirror symmetry is one basic duality

that relates different string backgrounds, and provides a

powerful tool to manipulate physical and mathematical

data associated with Calabi-Yau manifolds. D-branes

72


(boundary conditions for open strings) are fundamental

players in explaining string dualities. The intersection

of these three topics provides a rich source of fresh prob-

lems to work on. There are also connections with var-

ious other recent developments in mathematical string

theory, which I am also exploring.

73

Nuclear Physics Theory

and Experiment

Experimental Nuclear Physics The current research programs in Experimental Nuclear

Physics at McGill include the investigation of nucleus-

nucleus collisions at ultrarelativistic energies, the study

of nuclear ground state properties of unstable nuclei,

and the use of nuclear techniques in applied physics.

Most of the experiments in both areas are being per-

formed as international collaborations at major accel-

erator centers in Europe, the U.S.A. and Canada. How-

ever, a great deal of the experimental planning and

equipment design, preparation and assembly are carried

out at McGill.

Professors

Barrette, Jean My main research interest is the study of nucleus-

Ph.D. (Montreal ’74) nucleus collisions at relativistic energies. The primary

Professor goal of this research is the search for the new phase

Nuclear experiment of matter, the quark gluon plasma that was the state

(514) 398-7030 of the matter in the Universe in the phase of the Big

[email protected] Bang. Our group has participate in the first experi-

ments using very heavy nuclear beam, a gold beam, at

relativistic energies produced at the Alternating Gradi-

ent Synchrotron (AGS) accelerator at the Brookhaven

National Laboratory. This work has helped to charac-

terize the space-time evolution of the hot nuclear mat-

ter produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Our

effort also included detector development involving the

construction of a new time-of-flight hodoscope and the

development, and prototyping of new gas chambers de-

tectors for the central tracking of one of the detectors

used in these experiments. Our research program has

now moved to RHIC energy where our present effort is

on the understanding of the evolution of some experi-

mental observables as the beam energy is increased to

the energy that are now available at this new heavy-

ion collider. One of our present work is a comparison

74

Research Activities – Nuclear Physics

between model predictions and the new data to help de-

termine the observables that provide the best signature

for new physics at RHIC. One of our studies aims at

understanding the importance of hard process at RHIC

energies including the quenching effect of nuclear matter

on the propagation of jets. Our team is involved in the

OSCAR working group a collaboration that addresses

the lack of standards, documentation and accessibility

in transport codes used to described heavy-ion collisions

at relativistic energies. We contribute in the develop-

ment of this standard and test the implementation of

some new physics in the models relevant to RHIC, in

particular, hard physics related to perturbative QCD

(Quantum Chromodynamics).

75


Buchinger, Fritz Our research is focused on the investigation of funda-

Ph.D. mental nuclear properties, and specifically masses and

(Johannes Gutenberg Uni- radii. The work involves laser spectroscopy experi-

versitat ’81) ments for the determination of isotope shifts and hy-

Faculty Lecturer perfine structures over long isotopic chains, as well as

Nuclear experiment nuclear mass measurements using Penning traps. We

(514) 398-6486 are collaborating in the Canadian Penning Trap experi-

[email protected] ment at Argonne National Laboratory, the TITAN Pen-

ning Trap experiment at TRIUMF and the Collinear

Laser Spectroscopy Experiment at TRIUMF. The ex-

periments determine moments, radii and masses of nu-

clei far from stability and provide data for nuclei of

relevance in stellar processes and for the refinement of

nuclear models in general. In addition, high precision

mass measurements provide an important ingredient for

testing the standard model using results from low en-

ergy experiments. The latter point is also exploited

through an alpha-neutrino angular correlation experi-

ment at Argonne National Laboratory. In house, at

McGill, we are developing experimental methods for ef-

ficiently measuring the low abundant exotic nuclei in

the online experiments at TRIUMF and Argonne. Cur-

rent work concentrates on the development of a collinearlaser spectroscopy set-up using pulsed ion beams.

Recent Publications

1. J. Fallis, J. A. Clark, K. S. Sharma, G. Savard,

F. Buchinger, S. Caldwell, J. E. Crawford, C. M.

Deibel, J. L. Fisker, S. Gulick, A. A. Hecht, D.

Lascar, J. K.P. Lee, A. F. Levand, G. Li, B. F.

Lundgren, A. Parikh, S. Russell, M. Scholte-van

deVorst, N. D. Scielzo, R. E. Segel, H. Sharma,

S. Sinha, M. Sternberg, T. Sun, I. Tanihata, J.

Van Schelt, J. C.Wang, Y.Wang, C.Wrede, and Z.

Zhou, A Determination of the proton separation

energy of 93Rh from Mass Measurements, Phys.

Rev. C78 022801 (2008)

2. J.A. Clark, K.S. Sharma, G. Savard, A.F. Levand,

J. C. Wang, Z. Zhou, B. Blank, F. Buchinger, J.E.

76


Crawford, S. Gulick, J.K.P. Lee, D. Seweryniak,

and W. Trimble, Precise measurement of the 64Ge

mass and its implications on the rp-process, Phys.

Rev C75, 032801 (R) 2007

3. H. Iimura, F. Buchinger, Charge Radii in Macroscopic-

microscopic Mass Models of Reflection Asymme-

try, Phys. Rev. C 78, 067301 (2008)

77


Theoretical Nuclear Physics Modern theoretical nuclear physics can be summarized

as the study of strongly interacting many body systems.

The 20th century is filled with many breakthroughs in

physics. One of such break-through was the discov-

ery of accurate theory of strong interactions – quantum

chromodynamics (QCD). This theory predicts that the

quarks and gluons which make up the nuclear matter

can’t exist as free particles. However under extreme

conditions such as one existed a few micro-second af-

ter the big-bang, a deconfinement phase transition will

take place and quarks and gluons can be freed to form

a Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP).

The advent of high energy heavy ion colliders in Eu-

rope and North America caused a remarkable advance

in this field. New and surprising experimental results

and exciting new theoretical insights and predictions

are continuously being published while large number of

puzzles still remain to be investigated. This is an excit-

ing time to be a nuclear physicist.

Our group includes:

78


Professors

Gale, Charles My current research mostly deals with the theoretical

Ph.D. (McGill ’86) study of matter under extreme conditions of tempera-

James McGill Professor ture and density. This general area straddles nuclear

Chair, Department of Physics and particle physics, but also involves aspects of con-

Nuclear theory densed matter and astrophysics. Put another way, we

(514) 398-6483 are trying to explore and understand the phase diagram

[email protected] of QCD, the theory of the strong interaction. These

studies eventually lead to a better understanding of the

nuclear equation of state and this is relevant for the

physics of the early Universe, the theoretical modeling

of neutron stars, and for the understanding of nuclear

collision dynamics.

79


Jeon, Sangyong My current research interest lies primarily in contempo-

Ph.D. (Washington ’94) rary nuclear theory as applied to relativistic heavy ion

Associate Professor collisions. I can identify my field of research as the inter-

Nuclear theory section between phenomenology and formal theory. In

(514) 398-6516 current high-energy nuclear physics, we have many in-

[email protected] teresting phenomena uncovered at facilities such as SPS

and RHIC. We also have an accurate theory of strong in-

teraction, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), which in

principle should be able to describe and explain all nu-

clear phenomena. However, there is a long distance be-

tween formal perturbative QCD and the observed phe-

nomena. My research goal is to continue to fill in that

gap using techniques of non-equilibrium quantum field

theory and numerical simulations of many-body QCD.

The long term objective of my research is a compre-

hensive theoretical understanding of current and future

heavy ion collision phenomenology. In order to obtain

this goal, I employ classical and quantum chromody-

namics for the initial stages and effective field theory of

hadrons and their constituent quarks in the later stages.

Eventually, these theoretical consideration will become

a foundation for a comprehensive simulation model.

80

Other Research Areas

Nonlinear Physics Nonlinear physics with applications in geophysics is

done in the Group for the Analysis of Nonlinear Vari-

ability in Geophysics (GANG), led by S. Lovejoy.

Professor

Lovejoy, Shaun My research has been directly linked to a series of new

Ph.D. (McGill ’81) geophysical paradigms. A particularly exciting one is

Professor the idea that atmospheric dynamics repeat scale after

Nonlinear dynamics scale from large to small scales in a cascade-like way.

(514) 398-6537 The key is recognizing that as the scales get smaller, the

[email protected] horizontal gets squashed much more than the vertical

so that the stratification which starts out being ex-

treme (structures very flat at planetary scales) become

rounder and rounder at small scales. This has been di-

rectly verified using nearly 1000 satellite photographs,

and more recently by state of the art lidar using pol-

lution as an atmospheric tracer. While the pollution

data is at scales larger than 3m, we have shown us-

ing rain as tracers (stereophotography) that the scaling

continues down to much smaller scales. We also discov-

ered that aircraft can have fractal trajectories and have

thus been able to explain previously published aircraft

wind and temperature data showing that they support

this unified scaling model. In the area of solid earth

geophysics, we have shown that the surface topography

is a multifractal, showing that - contrary to prevail-

ing wisdom - the earths surface also has a fundamental

scale symmetry. Similarly, the variability of the earths

surface magnetic field can be explained by a scaling

stratification of the rock susceptibility. Other appli-

cations include the analysis and simulation of scaling

properties of ocean and ice surfaces, biodiversity, chem-

ical pollution, low frequency human speech, hadron jets

and the large scale structure of the universe. As dis-

parate as some of these applications may seem, they are

linked by the common theme of (nonlinear, dynamical)

scale invariance, a symmetry principle whose generality

81

Research Activities – Other Areas

and significance is great. Many of these fields can be

modeled using multifractals; such modeling is an active

area of research.


1. S. Lovejoy, D. Schertzer, V. Allaire, T. Bour-

geois, S. King, J. Pinel, J. Stolle, 2009: At-

mospheric complexity or scale by scale sim-

plicity? Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L01801,

doi:10.1029/2008GL035863.

2. S. Lovejoy, D. Schertzer, , M. Lilley, K. Straw-

bridge, A. Radkevitch , 2008: Scaling turbulent

atmospheric stratification, Part I: turbulence and

waves, Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 134, 277-

300.

3. Lovejoy, S. D. Schertzer, 2007: Scaling and mul-

tifractal fields in the solid earth and topography,

Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 14 , 465-502.

82


Medical Physics In addition to teaching, service, and clinical work, mem-

bers of the Medical Physics Unit (MPU) are involved

in basic and applied research. The research is generally

done under the auspices of major clinical departments

at McGill, such as Oncology, Radiology, or Neurology-

Neurosurgery, and is supported by McGill teaching hos-

pitals, hospital foundations, outside agencies or indus-

try which through grants supports special interest med-

ical physics projects developed by MPU staff.

Most of the research by MPU members is of an

applied nature, generally done in collaboration with

McGill medical staff, and related to patient care

through improvements in diagnostic and therapeutic

procedures involving radiation. The research collab-

oration between members of the MPU and McGill

medical staff is excellent and results in important ad-

vances in the field of medical physics, radiology, oncol-

ogy and neurosurgery. Graduate students working on

their M.Sc. or Ph.D. thesis projects form an important

component in the research effort of the MPU mem-

bers. Students are encouraged to present their research

findings at national and international medical physics

meetings and often the research presented in their the-

ses is summarized in the form of articles in the scientific

literature.

Both the imaging division and the clinical division

of the MPU have an excellent reputation worldwide for

innovative and interesting research projects. The imag-

ing division is well known for the development of new

computerized image processing techniques based on CT,

DSA, MRI, and PET images. Members of the division

developed software systems for 3-D vascular reconstruc-

tion and for stereotactic intracranial target localization.

They also developed a 3-D treatment planning software

program for stereotactic radiosurgery, new techniques

for cerebral blood flow measurements, and new detec-

tors for use with PET scanners.

The clinical division is known for the development

of new radiotherapy techniques, such as total body ir-

83


radiation with a sweeping photon beam in the treat-

ment of leukemia, rotational electron beam therapy in

the treatment of mycosis fungoides, electron arc therapy

with the angle-β concept in the treatment of large su-

perficial lesions, and stereotactic dynamic radiosurgery

in the treatment of vascular, metastatic and primary

intracranial lesions. Members of the division have de-

veloped a fast and user friendly software package for

treatment planning in brachytherapy and stereotactic

radiosurgery.

The group is also working on increasing the basic

understanding of radiation dosimeters for clinical ra-

diation therapy. New dosimeters and dosimetry tech-

niques are optimized and protocol procedures and data

are calculated using Monte Carlo techniques and mea-

surements. Research in this area translates into clin-

ical applicability by recommendations put forward by

task groups (through European, Canadian and Ameri-

can medical physics organizations). In addition, Monte

Carlo transport simulation procedures are used to calcu-

late dose distributions in patients to evaluate the accu-

racy of clinically used radiotherapy treatment planning

systems. This research also involves dose calculations in

deforming patient structures imaged with 4D-computed

tomography. Finally, the clinical implementation of a

novel radiation treatment delivery device, the few-leaf

electron collimator, that allows for the clinical use of

energy modulated electron radiation therapy (EMET)

is being investigated. This technique has the potential

to be of significant advantage for certain head and neck

cancers as well as breast cancers.

People Director:

J. Seuntjens, Ph.D., FAAPM, MCCPM (Associate Pro-

fessor)

Medical Physicists:

W. Abdel-Rahman, Ph.D., MCCPM (Assistant Profes-

sor)

M. Brodeur, M.Sc., DABR (Lecturer)

84


F. DeBlois, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor)

S. Devic, Ph.D., FCCPM (Assistant Professor)

M.D.C. Evans, M.Sc., FCCPM (Assistant Professor)

A. Gauvin, M.Sc., MCCPM, DABR, DABMP (Lec-

turer)

G. Hegyi, Ph.D. (Lecturer)

C. Janicki, Ph.D. (Lecturer)

P. Leger, B.Eng. (Lecturer)

S. Lehnert, Ph.D. (Professor)

E. Meyer, Ph.D., FCCPM (Assistant Professor)

W. Parker, M.Sc., FCCPM (Assistant Professor)

H.J. Patrocinio, M.Sc., FCCPM, DABR (Assistant Pro-

fessor)

G.B. Pike, Ph.D. (Professor)

A. Reader, Ph.D. (Associate Professor)

R. Richardson, Ph.D. (Adjunct Professor) (home insti-

tution: AECL, Chalk River)

R. Ruo, M.Sc., MCCPM, DABR (Lecturer)

G. Stroian, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor)

W. Wierzbick, Ph.D., (Lecturer) (home institution:

Hopital Maisonneuve-Rosemont)

85

Emeritus Professors in

the Department

Altounian, Zaven My research interests are centered on metallic glasses,

Ph.D. (McMaster ’76) thin films, and magnetic materials.

Post-retirement Metallic glasses have physical properties dis-

Faculty Lecturer tinctly different from those of the corresponding crys-

Condensed matter exp. talline alloys, arising from the structure of the glassy

(514) 398-6535 state. Although glasses have no long range order they

[email protected] do possess short range order. The nature of the short

range order depends on the composition as well as the

relaxation state of the glass. We study the structure and

relaxation using a combination of X-ray and neutron

scattering techniques. Some of the physical properties

that we study are electrical resistivity, spin-fluctuations,

and superconductivity.

We manufacture thin films and magnetic multi-

layers using a multitarget DC and RF magnetron sput-

tering system. In particular we study films which con-

sist of alternating layers of magnetic and non-magnetic

metals which exhibit giant magnetoresistance and for

small saturation fields, the films can be used as mag-

netoresistance sensors. Identifying simple multilayer

systems with appropriate characteristics still remains

a problem in this field. Apart from transport property

measurements we use polarized neutron reflectometry

and X-ray scattering techniques, both wide and small

angle, to study the magnetic as well as the crystal struc-

ture of the multilayers and to characterize the interlayer

roughness as well as the overall roughness.

Giant magnetocaloric materials (GMC) un-

dergo a large change in magnetic entropy upon the

application of a magnetic field. GMC materials that

exhibit this effect near room temperature, are prime

candidates for use as refrigerants in magnetic refriger-

ation. GMC is observed when a structural transition

is coupled to a magnetic transition. We have studied

R5M4 compounds, where R is a rare-earth element and

M is Si, Ge, or Sn. At present we are interested in

86

Emeritus Professors in the Dept.

other compounds that exhibit the GMC effect, such as

Laves phases and La Fe13 based compounds.

Crawford, John Our spectroscopy group at McGill studies fundamen-

Ph.D. tal nuclear properties nuclear masses, radii, spins and

Emeritus Professor moments. Very accurate mass measurements are es-

Nuclear experiment sential for testing symmetries in nuclear and particle

(514) 398-7029 physics and for understanding the various processes of

[email protected] element building in astrophysics. These studies are car-

ried out at the Canadian Penning Trap facility located

at the Argonne National Laboratory. Beams from Ar-

gonne’s ATLAS accelerator bombard targets to produce

proton-rich nuclei of importance in the rapid-proton

capture astrophysical rp-process. An intense 252Cf fis-

sion source also produces neutron-rich isotopes: mass

measurements on these nuclides are needed for the un-

derstanding of the astrophysical r-process in which el-

ements are produced in type II supernova explosions.

Ions produced by these sources are cooled and guided

into the Penning trap. Here the ions orbit in the high

magnetic field of a superconducting magnet; measure-

ment of the orbital cyclotron frequency then gives a pre-

cise measurement of the mass. For long-lived isotopes,

mass measurements of the order of parts per billion have

been made.

We are currently also collaborating in the construc-

tion of the TITAN ion trap at the TRIUMF facility in

Vancouver. To make measurements of high precision

on isotopes with very short lifetimes it is necessary to

boost the ions to very high charge states prior to injec-

tion into the measurement trap. TITAN does this by

bombarding the ions with the intense beam of an EBIT

(Electron-Beam Ion Trap). With charge states of the

order of q=20, it will be possible to make measurements

better than δm/m = 10−8 on isotopes with half-lives as

short as 20 milliseconds. TITAN is the first of this new

generation of EBIT-coupled mass spectrometers. It is

now in its final construction stages and should make its

initial mass measurements in 2007.

87


To measure nuclear radii and nuclear shapes, we bor-

row techniques from atomic physics. In an atomic spec-

trum, a transition line splits into a number of compo-

nents (the hyperfine structure), whose wavelengths de-

pend on the size, shape, and spin of the nucleus. Many

of the really interesting phenomena (sudden changes of

nuclear shape, for example) occur in exotic nuclei lying

far from nuclear stability. At TRIUMF we make these

measurements by collinear laser spectroscopy, overlap-

ping the fast ion beam with a co-propagating laser

beam. Here TITAN will also play an important role. In

the TITAN cooling stages, sets of ion traps bunch the

ions to produce pulses. Overlapping the beam pulses

with the laser, and gating the detection system to col-

lect data only during the beam overlap permits mea-

surements on ion beams with very low intensity. The

improved signal:noise ratio of this system and the high

isotope production yield at TRIUMF will permit mea-

surements on hitherto unavailable chains of exotic iso-

topes.

Das Gupta, Subal My primary interest is heavy ion collision theory in the

Ph.D. (McMaster ’63) intermediate energy range. In this energy range the

Emeritus important questions to ask are:

Macdonald Professor • Can we extract information about the nuclear

equation of state ?

• Do we see a liquid-gas phase transition in the

lower beam energy experiments?

• What is the proper theoretical framework which

can be used to describe intermediate energy heavy

ion collisions?

Nuclear theory

(514) 398-6499

[email protected]

Much progress in these areas has been made and

McGill has been a solid contributor. I am also inter-

ested in studies of symmetry energy in nuclear physics

at densities away from normal nuclear density.

88


de Takacsy, Nicholas My current research interests include the effect of a tem-

Ph.D. (McGill ’66) perature dependent equation of state on the evolution

Emeritus Professor of nuclear collisions. Far on the back burner, there still

Nuclear theory simmers an interest in nuclear structure and pion in-

(514) 398-6497 duced nuclear reactions.

[email protected]

89


Moore, Robert My present research interests include: Electromagnetic

Ph.D. (McGill ’62) Trapping and intertrap transfer, ion beam cooling, high

Emeritus Professor accuracy nuclear mass measurements, high sensitivity

Nuclear experiment detection of high mass biomolecules and the evolution of

(514) 398-7028 liquid surfaces under high electric fields (electrospray).

[email protected] Recently, a technique for “catching” and storing ions

from isotope separators in a radio frequency quadrupole

trap has been developed by our group and is now be-

ing adapted for ion collection in a system designed to

measure nuclear masses at CERN (Geneva). The same

technique also appears to be very promising one for the

capture and bunching of ion beams for use in laser spec-

troscopic measurements on nuclei. A new collinear spec-

troscopy beam line has been constructed at McGill as

a pilot project to test this technique.

Patel, Popat My current research activities include: Past (and con-

Ph.D. (Harvard ’62) tinuing) interests include the ARGUS and ZEUS exper-

Emeritus Professor iments at DESY, Hamburg; specifically, gamma-gamma

High energy experiment interactions and exotic multi-quark states, and photon

(514) 398-6513 and pomeron sub-structure as revealed in hard photo-

[email protected] production.

• CLEO Experiment at CESR, Cornell Uni-

versity: charmed baryon production in elec-

tron positron annihilation at ∼ 10 GeV/c,

charmless B meson decays, mixing in the

beauty quark sector; drift chamber calibra-

tion.

• BaBar Experiment at SLAC, Stanford Uni-

versity: CKM Matrix, CP violation, drift

chamber prototyping and building.

90


Stairs, Douglas My scientific activity is in the field of particle physics.

Ph.D. (Harvard ’61) With my colleagues Profs. Corriveau and Hanna, I have

Emeritus been engaged for some years in research at HERA, a

Macdonald Professor high energy electron-proton colliding beam facility at

High energy experiment the DESY laboratory in Hamburg. The centre-of-mass

(514) 398-6517 energy of HERA is high enough to permit a broad spec-

[email protected] trum of studies in both the hadronic and electroweak

sectors of particle physics.

Our experiments are carried out with the ZEUS de-

tector, a large and complex installation with many so-

phisticated sub-systems. The principal focus of most

ZEUS research is the sub-structure of the proton, as ex-

pressed in the momentum distributions of its quarks and

gluons. However, the richness of the physics at HERA,

combined with the excellent capabilities of ZEUS, en-

ables us to investigate a remarkable range of interesting

topics including, for example, hard photoproduction,

the nature of diffractive processes at high energy , the

production of states containing heavy quarks and the

search for exotic particles and possible manifestations

of quark sub-structure. My current research interests

are in hard photoproduction and the determination of

the pion structure function using the Forward Neutron

Calorimeter.

91

Documents

Graduate Studies in PhysicsThis brochure familiarizes prospective graduate stu-dents with the many facets of the Department. Short descriptions of research activities are provided,