Physics (Graduate Field)

Program Website

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