Field Description
The graduate physics program is designed to give students an adequate background in the concepts and techniques of theoretical and experimental physics in preparation for careers at the most advanced level in research or teaching.
Research and Study Opportunities
Theoretical physics -- condensed matter. Subjects for study include quantum condensed matter (topological phases, unconventional superconductivity, quantum criticality, strange metals, quantum spin liquids, strongly correlated systems); cold atomic gases (collective properties of Bose and Fermi condensates); density functional theory (novel ab initio approaches to electronic and liquid systems, and quantum Monte Carlo methods for electronic structure); quantum information (entanglement dynamics); statistical mechanics and critical phenomena applied to dynamical systems; complex systems, networks, and pattern formation; inverse problems in image reconstruction and phase retrieval algorithms.
Experimental condensed matter physics. Subjects of study include quantum materials & information (including unconventional and high-temperature superconductors, topological materials, two-dimensional materials, artificially engineered heterostructures); nanoscale systems (including nanoscale machines and robotics, atomic-scale kirigami); spintronics (spin torque, spin transport and dynamics in quantum materials); soft condensed matter (complex fluids, colloids, polymer networks); biophysics (single-molecule biophysics, molecular motors, protein crystallography, new x-ray detectors); and low-temperature physics.
Theoretical physics -- particle and astrophysics. Flavor physics and neutrino physics; Higgs physics; physics of the TeV scales and the mechanisms for electroweak symmetry breaking; collider phenomenology; lattice gauge theories; particle astrophysics and cosmology including dark matter physics; string theory and holography; string phenomenology and cosmology; field theories including conformal field theories and conformal bootstrap; astrophysics; black holes, entanglement and quantum information; general relativity, gravitational waves and LIGO physics.
Experimental particle physics. Our research uses the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, which is the first collider to explore the TeV energy scale, where the Standard Model of particle physics must break down unless new phenomena appear. Cornell is a member of CMS, one of two detector collaborations for elementary particle physics at the LHC. Research topics include mechanisms for electroweak symmetry breaking, including the Higgs mechanism and alternatives, scenarios for physics beyond the Standard Model such as dark matter, supersymmetry, extra dimensions and new strong interactions, top quark physics, and dark matter. Cornellians are designing online software for the pixel detector, developing strategies for identifying electrons in the electromagnetic calorimeter, writing analysis software capable of handling petabytes of data distributed world-wide, and ensuring that the trigger will successfully pluck new physics out of the huge background of conventional processes. The group is the lead institution in the construction of hardware for the high-luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) and is currently working on designing, testing and building the upgrades to the innermost tracking detector and the track trigger.
Experimental and observational cosmology. Our research focuses on studying the formation and evolution of the Universe using precision measurements of microwave light. These measurements are helping to address fundamental questions about our Universe, such as the nature of the dark energy and dark matter that dominate our Universe, as we search for evidence of physics beyond the concordance cosmology model. We build novel instrumentation in our laboratories that we deploy on microwave telescopes and analyze the data acquired from years of observations. Our instruments are designed to measure the cosmic microwave background (CMB), characterize emission from early galaxies, improve measurements of galaxy clusters, and enable new searches for time-domain astronomical sources. Cornell researchers are playing significant roles in several microwave observatory projects, including CCAT-prime, Simons Observatory, TIME, Atacama Cosmology Telescope, and CMB-S4.
Accelerator physics. Cornell’s accelerator physics program is a leader in a broad range of accelerator science and technology research areas that are highly interdisciplinary in nature. These include photocathodes and high brightness electron sources, ultra-fast electron diffraction, beam dynamics and controls, accelerator design, as well as superconducting radio-frequency materials and technology R&D. Cornell University is known world-wide for training accelerator physicists with one of the largest graduate programs in accelerator physics in the US. Extensive on-campus research facilities, including the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR), provide graduate students with unrivaled opportunities to be actively and crucially involved in each and every one of the research and accelerator projects being pursued at Cornell. Cornell’s accelerator group is currently deeply involved in the design of the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) and a future linear lepton collider (e.g., the International Linear Collider, ILC), and is also a member of the Center for Bright Beams, an NSF science and technology led by Cornell.
Data and Statistics
Field Manual
Faculty
James Paul Alexander
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental high-energy physics
Nozomi Ando
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
- Research Interests: Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Tomas Alberto Arias
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: condensed-matter theory
Youn Jue Bae
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
- Research Interests: Condensed matter physics, chemistry
Ivan Bazarov
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental particle physics
Rachel Bean
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: astrophysics
Eberhard Bodenschatz
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental condensed-matter physics
Judy Cha
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
Debanjan Chowdhury
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: theoretical condensed matter physics
Itai Cohen
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental condensed matter physics
Abigail T. Crites
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: Astrophysics
Csaba Csaki
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: theoretical particle physics
Anil Damle
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
- Research Interests: Theoretical Condensed-Matter Physics
James C. Seamus Davis
- Campus: Ithaca - (Graduate School Professor)
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental solid-state physics
Nils Deppe
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: Astrophysics
Jennet Elizabeth Dickinson
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: Experimental Elementary Particle Physics
Ankit S Disa
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
- Research Interests: Condensed Matter and Material Physics; Optical Physics and Quantum Information Science
Eric Robert Dufresne
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: Biophysics
Christopher J. Earls
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
- Research Interests: quantum process tomography
Veit Elser
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: theoretical condensed-matter physics
Valla Fatemi
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
- Research Interests: Hybrid Quantum Systems with Quantum Materials
Craig J. Fennie
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
- Research Interests: Advanced Materials Processing, advanced materials, condensed matter and material physics.
Eanna E Flanagan
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: general relativity; theoretical astrophysics; gravitational wave astronomy
Carl Peter Franck
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental liquid physics; x-ray physics
Gregory Fuchs
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
Lawrence K Gibbons
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental elementary-particle physics
Paul H. Ginsparg
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: theoretical particle physics
Yuval Grossman
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: theoretical particle physics
Sol Michael Gruner
- Campus: Ithaca - (Graduate School Professor)
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: structure and properties of soft matter; biomaterials; x-ray instrumentation and methods
Thomas Hartman
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: theoretical physics
- Research Interests: theoretical particle physics
Georg Hoffstaetter
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental accelerator particle physics
Natasha Grace Holmes
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: physics and science education
Chaoming Jian
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: theoretical condensed matter physics
Larry Kidder
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: Astrophysics
Eun-Ah Kim
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: theoretical physics; condensed matter physics
René Kizilcec
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
- Research Interests: Physics Education Research
Michael J. Lawler
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: theoretical physics; condensed matter theory
Andre Roger Leclair
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: high-energy theory
Matthias U. Liepe
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: accelerator physics
Xiaomeng Liu
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: condensed matter physics
Natalie M. Mahowald
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
- Research Interests: Global interactions between aerosols, climate and biogeochemistry
Kin Fai Mak
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental condensed matter physics
Jared Michael Maxson
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: accelerator physics
Liam McAllister
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: theoretical particle physics
Paul L. McEuen
- Campus: Ithaca - (Graduate School Professor)
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experiment solid-state physics
Peter McMahon
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
Karan Kartik Mehta
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
- Research Interests: optics and photonics, atomic physics and technology, and quantum technologies
Jeffrey Andrew Moses
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
- Research Interests: Optical Physics and Quantum Information Science Biophysics
Erich Mueller
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: condensed matter physics
Christopher R. Myers
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: theoretical physics
Matthias Neubert
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: theoretical high-energy particle physics
Michael Niemack
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: Experimental physics
Katja C. Nowack
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental condensed matter physics
Juliet Ritchie Patterson
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental high-energy physics
Maxim Perelstein
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: theoretical particle physics
Daniel C Ralph
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental nanoscale physics
Brad Jared Ramshaw
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental condensed matter physics
Chris Roh
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
- Research Interests: aeroacoustics, fluid mechanics
David L Rubin
- Campus: Ithaca - (Graduate School Professor)
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: high-energy particle accelerators
Anders Ryd
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental article physics
James Patarasp Sethna
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: plasticity and fracture of materials; dislocation dynamics; crack growth laws and stochastic fracture models; crackling noise and avalanche behavior in magnets, plastic flow and other systems; multiparameter fits to data; statistical mechanics; material science; dynamical systems and quantum physics
Jie Shan
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
Kyle Shen
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental condensed matter physics
Eric D. Siggia
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: evolution of antibiotic resistance, evolution of biological networks, evo-devo, bioinformatics of gene regulation
Andrej Singer
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
- Research Interests: experimental condensed matter physics
Steven H Strogatz
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
Saul A Teukolsky
- Campus: Ithaca - (Graduate School Professor)
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: relativity and astrophysics
Julia Thom-Levy
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental particle physics
Robert Edward Thorne
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental condensed-matter physics; biological physics
Michelle D Wang
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: biological physics
Zheng Jane Wang
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: theoretical physics
Ira M Wasserman
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics; theoretical physics
- Research Interests: theoretical astrophysics
Hannsjorg Artur Weber
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: Experimental Elementary Particle Physics
Peter Wittich
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: experimental physics; physics
- Research Interests: experimental particle physics
Huili (Grace) Xing
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
- Research Interests: molecular beam epitaxy, temperature-dependent magnetoresistance, device nanofabrication and characterization.
Kenji Yasuda
- Campus: Ithaca
- Concentrations: Physics: physics
- Research Interests: condensed matter physics, nanotechnology, and quantum science