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Use your online GPA Calculator to determine your TRUE GPA, up to and including end of Fall Term 2025.
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Prof. Ananthraman Kumarakrishnan
Precision Metrology with Homebuilt Laser Systems
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Lab Website: http://datamac.phys.yorku.ca
Contact Info: akumar@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 1
Project Description:
My group has developed a new class of low cost, homebuilt, vacuum-sealed, auto- locking laser systems that can be frequency stabilized with respect to atomic, molecular, and temperature tunable solid state frequency markers without human intervention.
Summer research projects will focus on the applications of these laser systems in several exciting experiments that include:
1. Ultra cold atom sensors that measure gravitational acceleration with high precision
2. Optical lattices that can realize the most accurate measurement of a diffusion coefficient-a parameter that is required to model the performance of the most sensitive magnetometers
3. Coherent transient experiments that are capable of realizing the most precise measurements of atomic lifetimes
4. Free space optical tweezers that trap dielectric particles, and rapidly determine their masses by investigating kinematics on fast time scales
Student Responsibilities:
Development of individual research projects, assistance to graduate students
Desired Background/Skills:
Aptitude for experimental physics, willingness to take on challenging problems, hands on skills, computer interfacing.
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Prof. Patrick Hall
Analysis of exceptional quasar outflows
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Lab Website: https://www.yorku.ca/phall/HOME/astro.html
Contact Info: phall@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 1
Project Description:
Quasars are disks of matter around supermassive black holes in galaxy cores which host inflows through the disk and outflows above and below the disk. My research group has access to a large database of spectroscopy and photometry of quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We have found quasars with exceptional emission and absorption properties related to outflows of matter from the quasars. We are modelling those properties to compare to the predictions of models of disks and their outflows. The specific quasar(s) to be studied in the project will be determined during the application project.
Student Responsibilities:
The student will learn about quasars through textbooks and lectures both online and in person. The student will work with Prof. Hall and his group on identifying, recognizing, and reporting unusual quasars and analyzing them using scientific programming, primarily in python. The student is expected to contribute significantly to analyzing spectra and photometry and to writing up scientific results for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Desired Background/Skills:
High marks in all courses, especially in astronomy courses and in computational courses involving python (at minimum EECS 1541 or equivalent, and preferably PHYS 2030 or equivalent).
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Prof. Paul Scholz
Studying Fast Radio Bursts with CHIME
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Contact Info: pscholz@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 2
Project Description:
The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) is a revolutionary radio telescope, located in British Columbia. In its first five years of operation, CHIME has discovered hundreds of new Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), and this discovery rate is expected to keep course if not further increase. FRBs are millisecond-long pulses of radio waves from far outside of our Galaxy of unknown origin. CHIME has brought about a new landscape in the FRB field; for the first time we are able to study FRB as a population. There are several potential projects using CHIME/FRB data including software and signal processing pipelines, data analysis and visualization. The student will have opportunities to develop skills in radio signal processing, Python programming, statistics, simulations, and machine learning.
Student Responsibilities:
The student will work with Prof. Scholz and the wider CHIME/FRB team analyzing CHIME/FRB data and helping to develop/improve CHIME/FRB software pipelines using Python. Students will work in a collaborative and vibrant research environment through interactions with CHIME/FRB members at several other institutions. The student will give presentations and share results with the team.
Desired Background/Skills:
Interest in astrophysics.
Experience with programming, particularly in Python.
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Prof. Sean Tulin
Production of new dark forces at particle accelerators
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Contact Info: stulin@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 2
Project Description:
Dark matter constitutes the most abundant form of matter in the Universe, shaping the evolution of cosmic structures through its gravitational influence. However, its fundamental nature remains elusive, as it cannot be explained within the current framework of fundamental physics. A key open question is whether dark matter interacts solely via gravity or if it experiences additional fundamental forces, analogous to electromagnetism and the nuclear interactions of ordinary matter. If dark matter possesses new fundamental forces, dark force bosons may be discovered in particle accelerator facilities, opening a window toward exploring dark matter physics in the laboratory.
Student Responsibilities:
This research will employ theoretical modeling, data analysis, and numerical simulations to predict experimental signatures of novel dark force bosons. Student tasks will include:
(1) learning particle physics models of dark matter and dark forces, (2) performing numerical fits to experimental data to determine key inputs needed to calculate the dark force production rate, and (3) performing numerical Monte Carlo simulations to model experimental signatures and detection rates for new physics signals at accelerator facilities.
Desired Background/Skills:
Completion of PHYS 2030 or equivalent familiarity in Python.
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Prof. Bruce Howard
Data Processing for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Near Detector
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Contact Info: blhoward@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 1
Project Description:
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a large, international collaboration which will study the nature of a subatomic particle called the neutrino. DUNE will send a beam of neutrinos through two different detectors, one at the origin of the beam near Chicago (Near Detector) and one 1300 km away (Far Detector). The Near Detector will comprise of a modularized liquid argon (LAr) detector, with 35 LAr modules each approximately 1 m (length) x 1 m (width) x 3 m (height) in size. Sensitive elements along the walls provide a fine-grained view of the interactions.
The modules for the DUNE Near Detector will be constructed in the coming years, with the modules ultimately being installed underground. During this process, a program of testing will need to be performed on the modules, at minimum providing quality assurance and control testing, ensuring that the detector systems are seeing signals. However, there is an opportunity to potentially use data from cosmic rays on the surface to better characterize the performance of the detector before installation.
This project seeks to demonstrate aspects of such testing with Canadian computing resources. Data was previously collected for a single full scale prototype module. Testing and development of the data pipeline will involve transferring module data to Digital Research Alliance clusters for further processing. Software for reconstructing neutrino interactions from DUNE Near Detector signals is also under study within our group, and this demonstration will involve running the software over transferred demonstrator data and ideally performing analysis on the data. This would serve as development and preparation for possible contributions to the module testing that will be taking place.
Student Role:
The student will work to develop a pipeline to transfer module data to Digital Research Alliance clusters, process the data there, and inspect this workflow and analyze outputs. They would meet and discuss the project with other members of the York group and collaborators, and they will present their progress at minimum within the group. They would receive training (tutorials, discussions, examples) toward working with relevant computing and code (Linux, shell scripting, Python, etc.).
Desired Background/Skills:
Physics Undergraduate Courses and Laboratories.
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Prof. Ozzy Mermut
Biophotonics measurements and modulation of living systems
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Lab Website: https://omermut.lab.yorku.ca/
Contact Info: omermut@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 2
Project Description:
How do we manipulate bioluminescence? Pyrocystis fusiformis is bioluminescent alga found in coastal waters. The species is known for emitting a beautiful blue light when mechanically disturbed by its water environment and predators. This bioluminescence is produced by a chemical reaction involving luciferin-luciferase catalysis within scintillon organelles in the cell’s cytoplasm. This reaction is triggered by mechanical stress on the cell, however, the complete signaling mechanism is not well understood. What if we can control these organism’s bioluminescence behaviour with light stimulus? Thus, the goal of this project is to study the time-resolved bioluminescence behavior under different stimulator conditions with our novel fast an ultra-sensitive home-built photon-counting device. Ultimately, we aim to incorporate molecular optical photoswitches to photonically biomodulate the photosynthetic and bioluminescent behaviour of these fascinating single cell organisms.
Student Responsibilities:
In this highly trans-disciplinary project, conducted collaboration with Chemistry and Physics collaborators, the biophysicist will learn development of biophotonics single photon counting setup to measure bioluminescence kinetics. The student will prepare and integrate optical photo-switching chromophores (azobenzenes) into the dinoflagellates and conduct biomodulation experiments with pump-probe spectroscopy, determining the energetic and kinetic properties.
Desired Background/Skills:
The received training will be in biophysics, physics, photonics, and molecular time-domain spectroscopy instrumentation in a highly interdisciplinary team of physicists, chemists, computational scientists, and opto-electronic engineers. The student is expected to present at group meetings throughout the project for training and development of scientific communication skills. Students will be supported by the supervisor through weekly meetings.
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Prof. Deborah Harris
Neutrino Interaction Studies with MINERvA Data for DUNE
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Contact Info: deborahh@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 1
Project Description:
This job will involve analysis of data that was recorded by the MINERvA detector which operated at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. The MINERvA experiment is designed to study the interactions of neutrinos in a variety of different nuclei in order to understand those interactions and how the nuclear environment modifies the particles that emerge from those interactions. This understanding is critical for neutrino experiments like DUNE and T2K, which measure the probability of neutrinos changing from one kind to another over time. Those measurements require experiments to simulate how neutrino energy is translated into energy that can be measured in a detector, since "time" for a particle changes depending on that particle's energy (known as "time dilation" in special relativity).
Student Responsibilities:
Part of the work will involve developing new analysis code to extract measurements of the probability that neutrinos interact as a function of the momentum of the outgoing particles from the interaction. Since neutrinos are neutral they leave no trace in the detector until they interact with a nucleus (or electron) in the detector to create or boost charged particles which then leave signals as they cross different detector elements. Another part of this job involves contributing to the efforts of the collaboration to run simulations of the experiment which allow uncertainties on the measurements to be evaluated. Those simulations are often more CPU time-consuming than analyzing data because the experiment relies on simulations that are many times the statistics of the data samples. The job will also involve preparing or improving documentation on how to use the collaboration's computing infrasturcture, and possibly documentation for undergraduates on how the MINERvA detector and associated neutrino beamline works.
Desired Background/Skills:
The successful applicant will be able to program in C++, Python, and ROOT (or be willing to develop their skills with online tutorials), and will be able to work effectively in a linux environment. The job will involve using the software infrastructure that is being written by the collaboration, and contributing to that infrastructure. The successful applicant will be able to work independently, and to present their results clearly at occasional meetings with the MINERvA and DUNE Collaborations. Since many presentations will have to be through zoom, the successful applicant will also have access to reasonably good internet to allow effective communication through online platforms (mostly by being on the York campus but some amount of remote work is also an option depending on the independence and coding skill of the successful applicant).
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Prof. Eric Hessels
The EDM cubed Experiment
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Contact Info: Hessels@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 2
Project Description:
We are beginning a new project to measure the electric dipole moment of the electron. The measurement uses a new technique which we refer to as EDM cubed (Electric Dipole Measurements using Molecules in a Matrix). The EDM cubed method has the potential to improve the measurement accuracy of the electric dipole moment of the electron by several orders of magnitude. The Standard Model (SM) predicts a very small value for the electron electric dipole moment. Extensions to the SM are needed to deal with the SM's failure to predict both the asymmetry between matter and antimatter in the universe and the presence of Dark Matter. These extensions also predict a much larger value for the electron electric dipole moment, and therefore the EDM cubed measurements will provide direct tests for the theories of antimatter and Dark Matter. Because of the extreme accuracy of the EDM cubed measurements, they will be sensitive to physics at energies higher than that which can be probed at the CERN large hadron collider. The measurement will use barium monofluoride molecules embedded in a solid argon matrix. The first steps of this research will be to assemble the vacuum system and cryogenic system needed to freeze argon. An ion beam will produce the barium monofluoride positive ions, and this beam will be resonantly neutralized by grazing collisions with a single-crystal tungsten surface. The resulting neutral molecules will be combined with a flow of argon to embed it into the argon solid. Exciting these molecules with green light will lead to fluorescence which will be analysed with a grating monochromator to assess the shifts caused by the matrix.
Student Responsibility:
This research involves modelling, design, building, testing, data collection and analysis. The experiment involves vacuum equipment, lasers, optics, microwave equipment and test and measurement equipment. The student will work with a team that includes three undergraduate students, four graduate students, one postdoctoral fellow and the P.I. to embed BaF molecules into an Ar matrix and to study the spectrum of these molecules.
Desired Background/Skills:
Physics Undergraduate Courses and Laboratories.
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