Research News

2024

Surprisingly simple model explains how brain cells organize and connect

February 14, 2024

Scientists from UChicago, Harvard, and Yale propose a self-organizing model of connectivity that applies across a wide range of organisms and potentially other types of networks as well.

Story by Matt Wood, Assistant Director of Communications, Biological Sciences Division 


2023

Charles Mark Lewis won the 2024 Mitsuyoshi Tanaka Dissertation Award in Experimental Particle Physics

December 21, 2023

Citation: "For the development of techniques expanding the low-energy reach of new particle detector technologies, with applications in neutrino physics, dark matter searches, and the study of charged-lepton flavor violating modes of muon decay."


Professor Zoe Yan named 2023 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists laureate

August 10, 2023

Professor Zoe Yan


Biophysicists from the Department of Physics and James Franck Institute Make Discovery

July 21, 2023

Image of cells (membranes stained white and nuclei stained magenta)


Professor Cordova featured in Quanta article: A New Kind of Symmetry Shakes Up Physics

April 19, 2023


2022

Professor Abigail Vieregg receives Moore Foundation Experimental Physics Investigators Initiative Award

October 27, 2022

Professor Abigail Vieregg receives Moore Foundation Experimental Physics Investigators Initiative Award


Professor Marcela Carena Named A 2022 DOE Distinguished Scientist

October 27, 2022

Marcela Carena named a 2022 DOE distinguished scientist.

Professor Marcela Carena was Named A 2022 DOE Distinguished Scientist


First demonstration of a new particle beam technology at Fermilab

August 11, 2022

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have announced the first successful demonstration of a new technique that improves particle beams. The team, in collaboration with UChicago, published its findings in a recent edition of Nature.


Grace Chesmore one of two students awarded DOE Office of Science funds

May 4, 2022

Grace Chesmore, a fifth-year PhD student in the Department of Physics, and Celeste Keith, a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago, will conduct research at Fermi National Laboratory as part of the Department of Energy's Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program.


Fifth-year Physics Student Savannah Gowen Wins MRSEC Science Slam

March 13, 2022

Award-winning film presentation by Savannah Gowen demonstrates how training materials can be used to induce desired properties.


UChicago scientists create strange quantum ‘domain walls’ in laboratory

February 12, 2022

University of Chicago researchers at Chin Lab discovered how to create and manipulate a quantum phenomenon known as a "domain wall" - shown in this image as the lighter line between two groups of atoms. (Image adapted and color added from experiment data.)


Nine University of Chicago scholars named 2021 AAAS fellows

February 6, 2022

Nine University of Chicago researchers, including the Physics Department's Prof. Edward Blucher, were named 2021 fellows of the AAAS for their distinguished contributions to the sciences.


An Unexpected Twist Lights Up the Secrets of Turbulence

January 10, 2022

Having solved a central mystery about the “twirliness” of tornadoes and other types of vortices, William Irvine has set his sights on turbulence, the white whale of classical physics.


2021

Kaeli Hughes awarded 2021 Price Prize in Cosmology and Astrophysics

September 9, 2021

The Dr. Pliny A. and Margaret H. Price Prize recognizes research excellence and exceptional promise in areas related to CCAPP initiatives. Two recipients are hosted by CCAPP for a week, during which they give a Price Prize seminar on their research, establish long-term collaborative relationships, and receive a $2,000 honorarium.
Kaeli Hughes' research focuses on the radio detection of astrophysical neutrinos above 10 PeV.


Leading Xenon Researchers unite to build next-generation Dark Matter Detector

July 20, 2021

Grandi in one of the final phases of XENONnT Time Projection Chamber assembly. The next generation detector is expected to feature an active volume from 5 to 10 times larger.


UChicago scientists harness molecules into single quantum state

May 1, 2021

Researchers have big ideas for the potential of quantum technology which all depend on a major technological feat: being able to build and control systems of quantum particles, which are among the smallest objects in the universe.
That goal is now a step closer with the publication of a new method by University of Chicago scientists. Published April 28 in Nature, the paper shows how to bring multiple molecules at once into a single quantum state.


Graduate Student Ihar Lobach: Using Fluctuations to Measure Beam Properties

April 1, 2021

Scientists planning future particle accelerators and synchrotron light sources strive for tighter, more powerful electron beams. But as beams get narrower, it becomes harder to measure important properties. Now, Ihar Lobach of the University of Chicago and colleagues have demonstrated a new way to measure a beam’s vertical emittance more precisely than existing methods.

See also from Fermilab


2020

Michel Fruchart Receives Suzuki Postdoctoral Fellowship Award

December 21, 2020

Michel Fruchart has been named one of four recipients of the 2020-2021 Suzuki Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, which recognizes outstanding postdoctoral researchers. He was nominated by his supervisor, Vincenzo Vitelli, and will be recieve a $10,000 prize.


Search of a lifetime’ for supersymmetric particles at CERN

December 8, 2020

A team of researchers at the University of Chicago recently embarked on the search of a lifetime—or rather, a search for the lifetime of long-lived supersymmetric particles, proposed particles that could explain quirks of the universe.


XENON1T Dark matter detector picks up unexplained new signal

June 17, 2020

The XENON1T detector, tucked into an Italian mountainside to search for signs of a mysterious substance in the universe called dark matter, has picked up a new bump in the data that cannot be explained by current models.
On June 17, Evan Shockley, graduate student in the group of Professor Grandi, presented the results of a new analysis of XENON1T data searching for anomalies in the electron recoil channels.


2019

Congratulations to Young-Kee Kim

August 27, 2019

Professor Kim has been named the 2019 Scientist of the Year jointly by the Korean Scientists and Engineers Association (US) and the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies (Korea). Congratulations!


The Michelson Center for Physics

August 23, 2019

The Michelson Center for Physics


Parker Solar Probe: 1 Year Later

August 13, 2019

Professor Parker looks back over the first year of the Parker Solar Probe mission.


New Collaborations with National Laboratories

August 13, 2019

University of Chicago Phoenix shield

Chicago Quantum Exchange Forges New Partnerships

July 10, 2019

University of Chicago Phoenix shield

Another Breakthrough in photon-photon Interactions

July 10, 2019

A new quasi-particle partly made of light


Prof. Awschalom on Quantum Technology

June 26, 2019

Professor Awschalom on quantum technology


Professor Chin’s Group Explore the Unruh Effect

June 24, 2019

Professor Chin's group performs an experiment to simulate Unruh radiation


Launch of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

June 14, 2019

Professor Awschalom discussed the new Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering


Physics Girl Features William Irvine

May 30, 2019

Professor Irvine's work featured by Physics Girl


A New Strategy to Search for Dark Matter

May 29, 2019

Professor Wang discusses his new proposal for Searching for Dark Matter.


Rarest Process Ever Observed

April 26, 2019

Professor Grandi's Xenon 1 Ton collaboration observes the decay of Xe-124.


Mediated Interactions in Cold Atom Physics

April 5, 2019

Professor Chin's group make first observation of mediated interactions with cold atoms


Gravitational Waves and the Expansion of the Universe

April 2, 2019

Professor Daniel Holz on gravity waves and the universe.


A Breakthrough with Infrared Camera Technology

March 23, 2019

Quantum dots improve infrared camera technology


Connecting Quantum States with Sound

March 23, 2019

Professor Awschalom's group couple sound waves and spins to get quantum states to communicate


Acoustic Levitation

March 23, 2019

Professor Jaeger's lab defies gravity with sound waves.


Fermilab Breaks Ground on PIP-II

March 21, 2019

PIP-II facility for DUNE


Quantum Correlations in Bose Condensates

February 22, 2019

This research, led by graduate student Lei Feng, showed a new correlation pattern in the k space that emerge from quantum fluctuations in a uniform Bose condensate. They amplified the fluctuations parametrically which gave rise to cascaded scatterings that ejected atoms in all directions. Using pattern recognition, they observed the hidden correlation.


The Search for a Fourth Neutrino

January 2, 2019

Professor Dave Schmitz comments on the upcoming neutrino experiment.