1. Theme Group 2- Theory
Elementary Particle Physics, Gravitation Theory and Theoretical Quarks, Hadrons and Nuclei
Theme Group 2
March 2005

2. Theme Group 2 -Theory
Elementary Particles (7 faculty, 2 post docs, 10 students, NSF,DOE)
Supersymmetry, Supergravity and Grand Unification
Neutrino Mass, CP and Flavor Physics
Superstring Theory and Applications
Problems in Cosmology
Gravitation Theory (4 faculty, 6 post docs, 7 students, NSF,..)
Geometry and topology in general relativity
Gravitational wave physics
Quantum, Stochastic and Semiclassical Gravity
Quantum gravity phenomenology
Theoretical Quarks, Hadrons and Nuclei (4 faculty, 2 post docs, 6 students, DOE)
Effective Field Theories
Large N QCD
Hadron Structure, Spin Physics
Lattice QCD
Theme Group 2
March 2005

3. Theme Group-2: Theory
Synergy and interaction Between the different groups
(i) EP/GT: cosmological issues such as black hole physics, cosmological constant etc.
(ii) EP/TQHN: Neutrino physics and QCD
(iii) Theme Group 2: Th/Ex. B-physics, LHC, Neutrino physics.
(iv) B. L. Hu of GT has started the QCI group that interacts with the AMO and superconductivity experimental group at UMCP, the atomic physics theory groups at NIST and Keith Schwab’s group on elecromechanics at LPS
Theme Group 2
March 2005

4. Theme Group 2 Theory Common Issues
Cosmology Initiative proposal
Theme Group 2 –Theory members unanimously feel that there is an urgent need for a dedicated Cosmology Theory Group and recommend that the department initiate one.
Cosmology is exciting and rapidly developing, driven by new observations.
Start with 2 to 3 junior or mid-career faculty (a past attempt to hire a senior “superstar” was not successful).
A new cosmology group should resonate with
Theme Group 2 Theory activities
UMD astronomy program and NASA/Goddard
Theme Group 2
March 2005

5. Theme Group 2 Theory Common Issues
Better Graduate Student Support by the University
TA support for theory research has declined over the years affecting student quality. Theme Group- theory members urge that there be more sustained graduate student (TA/Fellowship) support by the University.
Theme Group 2
March 2005

6. Theme Group 2 Theory Common Issues
Need for both more space and quality space
Present locations of various subgroups of Theme Group 2 (theory) is not conducive to effective interactions .
Quality of both faculty, visitor and student office space needs improvement.
Theme Group 2
March 2005

7. Elementary Particle Physics
Faculty
Melanie Becker– Asst. Professor (String Theory, Flux Compactification)
S. James Gates– Professor, J. S. Toll Chair (Supergravity,string theory, Extra Dimensions)
O. W. Greenberg–Professor (QCD, Quark Model, Particle Statistics, Quantum Field Theory, CPT)
Y. S. Kim– Professor (Lorentz group, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics)
M. Luty– Associate Professor (Supersymmetric Field Theories and SUSY Breaking, Extra Dimensions, Gravity, Cosmology)
R. N. Mohapatra– Professor(Neutrino mass, Grand unification, Supersymmetry, CP violation, Extra dimensions, Cosmology)
J. C. Pati - Professor(Grand unification, Proton decay, Neutrino Oscillations, Flavor physics, CP Violation, Cosmology)
Emeritus: J. Sucher, C. H. Woo
Post-Docs
Axel Krause (String theory)
Salah Nasri (Neutrino physics, cosmology)
Theme Group 2
March 2005

8. Elementary Particle Physics
Graduate Students
Rastogi (Pati); Hsieh (Luty); Yu, Setzer and Spinner (Mohapatra), Linch, Merrill (Gates); Shrihars, Constantin, Anke (Becker)
Other Staff
Amanda Sherwood, student administrative assistant
Faculty History
Greenberg – 1961, Pati-1963, Mohapatra-1983, Gates-1984, Luty-1996, Becker-2000 (leaving in Summer, 2005 for Texas A & M).
Ph.D.s in last 5 years
3 since 2000
Expect 2 in 2005
Theme Group 2
March 2005

9. Some outstanding students from the past
Sterman (SUNY), Cvetic (Penn), Rothstein (CMU), Chacko (Az), Ponton (Columbia), Raychaudhuri (Calcutta), Kumar (IOP, India),Nelson (SUNY).
Outstanding postdocs with faculty position
M. Creutz (BNL); P. Sikivie (Florida),D. Chang (Director, Theor. Physics. Inst. Taiwan); G. Senjanovic (ICTP faculty), A. Das (Rochester), P. B. Pal (SINP, India) , A. Kagan (Cincinnati), X. M. Zhang (Beijing), K. S. Babu (Oklahoma), N. Okada (KEK), M. Yasue (Japan).
Theme Group 2
March 2005

10. Research Topics: Present and Future
Physics Beyond the Standard Model
Origin of Supersymmetry Breaking
Understanding Neutrino Masses and Mixings
Grand Unification, Proton Decay, N-N-bar Oscillation
Origin of CP Violation, Strong CP problem and Flavor Mixing
-- Cosmological Constraints on New Physics
Superstring Theory and Supergravity
Flux compactification
Manifestly Supersymmetric Effective Actions:
Superstring & SUSY QCD
Higher Spin Supersymmetric Dynamical Systems
Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics
4D Superfields on 3-Branes
Theme Group 2
March 2005

11. Issues in Cosmology
Nature of Dark Matter (Neutralino , mirror matter or axion)
Cosmological Constant
Origin of Matter from Neutrino Mass Physics
Theme Group 2
March 2005

12. Future Hiring Plans Hiring Plans (search is on for)
one junior faculty hire in unified theories and phenomenology; 4 candidates visiting for interview during March; decision by mid-April.
two in the general area of string theory/quantum gravity (one as a replacement for Becker plus a new one ); Candidate interviews are going on and decision by mid-April.
Theme Group 2
March 2005

13. Elementary Particle Physics
Funding
Mohapatra, Gates, Luty, Becker ($320K/year, NSF)
Greenberg ($52K/yr, NSF); $14K/3 yrs Int. Exchange
Program.
Pati ($53K/yr, DOE).
Theme Group 2
March 2005

14. Elementary Particle Physics
Center For Particle and String Theory (Co-Directors: Gates and Mohapatra)
Phenomenology Funding $90 K/yr (2005-) (State)
String Theory Funding ~$120K/yr (State plus Toll Chair); supports students, one post-doc + summer program for undergraduates.
Goal to revamp EP research activities at UMD and have joint activities with Johns Hopkins.
JHU has agreed to put in $45K towards this joint effort.
Plans for student support, joint (with JHU) post-docs, visitors, seminars, workshops currently under way.
Theme Group 2
March 2005

15. Elementary Particle Physics
Awards and Recognition
Gates
APS Fellow, AAAS Fellow, DST-UM, AAPT Klopsteg Award,
Inaugural APS Bouchet Award, Fellow, National Society of Black Physicists, Fellow of the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study
Greenberg
Sloan, APS Fellow, Guggenheim, Wash. Acad. Science award, Fellow, Washington Acad of Sciences
Mohapatra
APS Fellow, Member, Indian National Acad, DST-UM, Dist. Scientist award by the American Chapter Of Indian Phys. Assoc.
Pati
APS Fellow, Dirac Medal, Member, Indian National Academy, DST-UM, Guggenheim, Wash. Acad. Science award
Luty
Sloan
Becker
Theme Group 2
March 2005

16. Other High Lights Impact /visibility of Research by Group
About 15 Invited talks/yr at International conferences
3 papers with > 1000 citations, 6 with 500 to 1000
40 papers with 100 to 500. (From Spires);
- Several members quoted in the Science Press over the years.
Community Activities:
Gates: Undergraduate Research,Talks and Outreach, Summer Student Theoretical Physics, Research Session (SSTPRS, since 1999), Member of the U.S. N.L.C. Steering Comm, Member of the AAPT SPIN-UP Comm.
--Greenberg: Vice Chair, APS Heineman Prize selection selection committee (2005) and Chair (2006); former Assoc. editor of PRL.
Theme Group 2
March 2005

17. Kim: Organizer of Wigner symposium, Feynman Festival and
Squeezed state conference
--Mohapatra : Leader, APS Neutrino Study (Theory)(2004);
Organizing committee, SUSY conference series; NANP series, Dubna,
ICTP workshops, Editorial Board, Prog in Particles and Fields ( );
and New Journal of Physics (2001) .
Pati: Theory Advisory committee “UNO” underground detector;
Advisory committee, NNN-05; Int. Adv. Committee, NANP-2005 (Dubna).
Theme Group 2
March 2005

18. Gravitation Theory---faculty
Dieter Brill – Professor
Alessandra Buonanno – Associate Professor
Bei-Lok Hu – Professor
Ted Jacobson – Professor
Charles Misner– Emeritus Professor
Hiring timeline:
‘ ’ ’ ’ ’05
Theme Group 2
March 2005

19. Gravitation Theory---research
Geometry and topology in general relativity
Gravitational wave physics
numerical relativity
sources and data analysis
quantum optics of interferometric detector design
gravitational radiation reaction from relativistic particle-field dynamics
Quantum, Stochastic and Semiclassical Gravity
Quantum field theory in curved spacetime
Early Universe
Black hole entropy & Hawking radiation
Quantum gravity phenomenology
Models of Planck scale cutoff
Lorentz violation in gravitation and particle physics
Theme Group 2
March 2005

20. Quantum Coherence and Information (QCI) theory group
Started 2001 by Prof. Hu
Grant support from NSF, NIST, ARDA and LPS (Lab. Physical Sciences)
Profs. A. Dragt and O.W. Greenberg joined in 2004
Research areas Synergy (Theme groups 1 & 2)
AMO groups at UMD & NIST
Superconductivity expt, UMD
Schwab’s Elecro-mechanics group, LPS
Quantum Fields in External & Nonequilibrium Conditions
Gravitation and Cosmology
Atom-Field Interactions, Cavity QED, Optical Lattice
BEC & Correlated Atom Dynamics: Nonequilibrium Quantum Fields
Quantum Decoherence and Error Correction in Quantum Computation
Quantum Control and Feedback
Theme Group 2
March 2005

21. Gravitation theory---postdocs
Dr. Albert Roura, Gravity Theory under Hu-Jacobson NSF grant
Dr. Kazutomu Shiokawa, Non-Markovian Decoherence, ARDA-LPS Grant
Dr. S Y Lin, Relativistic Particle-Field Interaction, Unruh Effect, Gravitational Radiation Reaction
Dr. C H Chou, Quantum Entanglement and Decoherence of Moving Qubits
Dr. Jeremy Schnittman- Fall ‘05: gravitational wave, Buonanno start-up
Dr. Jan Harms - Fall ‘05: gravitational wave, Buonanno start-up
Drs. Lin and Chou are Research Fellows at the Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica Taipei, each spending 4-6 months a year here under an UMCP-IPAS cooperative research program.
8 of 8 most recent postdocs now have permanent
research faculty positions
Theme Group 2
March 2005

22. Gravitation theory---students
Current: 7 grad students, supported by RGA, fellowship, TA;
1 undergrad. research student.
9 Ph. D.’s since 1999: all but two currently in scientific research:
Brill:
Paul Branoff (2000, finance)
Hu:
Nicholas G. Phillips (1999, NASA/Goddard, WMAP)
Philip Johnson (1999, research scientist, NIST neutral atom quantum computing)
Gregory Stephens (2000, research scientist, bioinformatics, Princeton University)
Sanjiv Shresta (2003, National Research Council Fellow, NIST, AMO group)
Ana Maria Rey (2004, with T. Kirkpatrick of IPST and C. Clark of NIST,
research scientist, NIST AMO group)
Jacobson:
David Mattingly (2003, GR postdoc, UC Davis)
Misner:
David Fiske (2004, Senior Engineer, Decisive Analytics Corporation (applied AI))
Conrad Schiff (2005, CTO, a.i.solutions aerospace)
Theme Group 2
March 2005

23. Gravitation theory---funding
NSF (Hu and Jacobson, 3yr, $665K)
“Towards the microscopic structure of spacetime”
ARDA (Hu, 3yr, $300K)
“Decoherence and basic issues in quantum computers”
LPS (Hu, 3yr, $130K)
NIST (Hu, 3yr, $271K)
“Quantum information processing with neutral atoms”
NSF (Rolston, Hu, WIlliams, Orozco, Hill, 5yr, $1.65M)
ITR: Distributive quantum information
Theme Group 2
March 2005

24. Gravitation theory---collaborations
LIGO Scientific Collaboration (Buonanno)
VIRGO Collaboration (Buonanno)
NASA/Goddard numerical relativity (Misner)
AEI-Potsdam (Misner)
NIST (Hu)
LPS (Hu)
UMD AMO and superconductivity group (Hu)
Many individual collaborations
Theme Group 2
March 2005

25. Gravitation theory---impact
Impact/visibility of gravitation group members
Numerous invitations as speaker or principal lecturer in international conferences and schools
APS Topical group in gravitation, Executive committee members
NSF Proposal Review Panels
NASA Panel for gravity and relativistic physics
Editorial board members PRD, PRL
Scientific advisory committee, KITP, Santa Barbara
mentioned or quoted in popular press (Nature, Science, The Economist, Scientific American, New Scientist)
Theme Group 2
March 2005

26. Gravitation theory---awards
Awards and Recognition
Brill
G. Budé medal, Collège de France
Humboldt Foundation Senior Scientist award
APS Fellow Hu
Jacobson
Misner
Heineman prize
Am. Acad. Arts & Sci. Fellow
AAAS Fellow
Theme Group 2
March 2005

27. Gravitation theory---future development
Current search (with particle theory) for one or two new faculty in string theory/quantum gravity
gravitational wave related physics
Theme Group 2
March 2005

28. Theoretical Quarks, Hadrons and Nuclei
Faculty
Thomas Cohen, Professor (Effective Field Theory, Large Nc QCD)
Xiangdong Ji, Professor (Effective Field Theory, Hadron Structure, Spin Physics)
Stephen Wallace, Professor (Lattice QCD, phenomenology
James Griffin, Professor (Heavy Ions)
Emeritus Faculty
Manoj Banerjee
Post-Docs
Subhasish Basak, (Lattice QCD)
Joydip Kundu, (Soft Collinear Effective Theory)
Theme Group 2
March 2005

29. Theoretical Quarks Hadrons and Nuclei
Graduate Students
Ikuro Sato (Lattice QCD, Wallace), Dan Dakin (Large Nc QCD, Cohen), Ahmad Idilbi (Perturbative QCD, Ji),
Yinchuan Li, SURA Fellow (Effective field theory,Neutrino physics, Ji), Paul Hohler (Heavy Pentaquarks, Cohen)
Other Staff
Loretta Robinette (administrative assistant)
Faculty History
Griffin – 1966, Wallace – 1974, Cohen – 1989, Ji
Theme Group 2
March 2005

30. TQHN - Research Program
Hadron Structure, e.g.,
Proton’s Spin
Generalized Parton Distributions
Effective Field Theory and Large Nc QCD, e.g.,
Pentaquarks
Baryon Spectrum
Lattice QCD, e.g.,
Excited Baryon Masses
Hadron-Hadron Interactions
Theme Group 2
March 2005

31. QCD / Lattice QCD Faculty Search
Interviews completed Feb. 11
Strong Candidates in:
Soft Collinear Effective Theory/Heavy Quark Physics
Effective Field Theory / Lattice QCD for hadron-hadron interaction.
Lattice QCD – hadron matrix elements.
Faculty discussion March 10
Theme Group 2
March 2005

32. Theoretical Quarks Hadrons and Nuclei
DOE Funding
$640,000/yr. FY05
Continuous funding since 1966
Community Activities
NSAC Long-Range Plan Committee (Ji)
NSAC Subcommittee on Nuclear Theory (Ji)
Chair, SURA Board of Trustees (Wallace)
Ph.D.s in last 5 years
5 since 2000
Expect 3 in 2005
Theme Group 2
March 2005

33. Theoretical Quarks Hadrons and Nuclei
Regular Visitors
John Tjon - Utrecht
Jiunn-Wei Chen – Taiwan
Shmuel Nussinov – Tel Aviv
Regular Collaborators
Rich Lebed – Arizona
Daniel Phillips – Ohio U.
Feng Yuan – Brookhaven
Jiang Ma - China
Theme Group 2
March 2005

34. Theoretical Quarks Hadrons and Nuclei
Cohen
APS Fellow
Distinguished Scholar Teacher (Umd) Ji
Chang Jiang Chair Visiting Prof. Peking Univ.
Outstanding Overseas Chinese Scientist Award
Wallace
Donders Chair Visiting Prof. Univ. Utrecht
Griffin
APS Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, Humboldt Fellow
Theme Group 2
March 2005

35. Theoretical Quarks Hadrons and Nuclei
Recent Postdocs now in Permanent or Tenure-Track Positions
Andrei Belitsky – U. Arizona
Rich Lebed - U. Arizona
Silas Beane – U. New Hampshire
Daniel Phillips – Ohio Univ.
Jiunn-Wei Chen – National Taiwan Univ.
Wally Melnitchouk – Jlab staff member
Theme Group 2
March 2005