With a pistol program desperate for success, Alexis (Lexi) Lauren Lagan BS'17 physics represents the next generation of athletes ready to take her sport to a new level. This month she heads to Paris. Her second Olympics.
Despite a degree in physics and a law degree in the works, Lexi can’t shake an Olympic dream so enticing she’s put her career on hold to represent her country in Paris this summer.
Lexi started shooting with her dad at a young age and enjoyed going to the range with her family as a bonding activity. While pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Pre-Law Physics, she began shooting international pistol at the University of Utah. At the collegiate level, she won a handful of national titles in women’s, mixed team events, and earned her spot on several All-American Teams.
Lexi participated in pistol for fun and to make friends in college, but as the Rio Games approached, she realized she wanted to pursue her interest in international shooting sports. She won the Olympic Alternate seat in Women’s Air Pistol in 2016, narrowly missing the opportunity to join Team USA in Rio. This only fueled her passion into the Tokyo 2020 Games and now Paris 2024.
In addition to visiting the range with her family, Lexi grew up dancing and singing. At 14, She received a medal and certificate from the White House for singing the National Anthem at more than 150 performances. She enjoys camping and hiking, and has a corgi named Guinevere who is frequently featured on her Instagram.
The Hidden Space Race and Vardeny's Spintronic Revolution
July 19, 2024
Above: Valy Vardeny, Distinguished Professor of Physics & Astronomy, Photo Credit: Dung Hoang
Vardeny was a pioneer of organic spin waves known as “Spintronics.” Spin waves transfer information much faster with far less heat.
When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon fifty years ago, Zeev Valentine Vardeny was a young man living in Israel. The “space race” was palpable at the time. The “race” for ever-increasing technological innovation is profoundly felt in Israel. Putting brain power to work to maintain Israel’s safety is nothing short of a national mission.
Distinguished Professor of Physics & Astronomy Zeev Valentine Vardeny at the University of Utah in is certainly an All-Star of physics. While most Utahns have never heard of him, Vardeny opened up an entirely new branch of physics. He has helped innovate significant advances leading to OLED (organic LEDs), organic spin-wave and technology. If these aren’t familiar then next time you look at your organic LED flat-screen TVs or put your 96 gig flash memory card in your computer, just know that Vardeny and his work are a key part of that technology.
His field of Solid State Physics refers to how electrons behave when traveling through materials. Electrons flow through all of our electrical devices to provide them power. Computers transmit information and energy, but they also produce heat.
Vardeny says, " Using spintronic technology will help pave the way for vast changes in computer abilities that are known as quantum computers. First off. In regular computers the bits of regular computers are either a one or a zero. But if you have a quantum computer the bits can have infinite possibilities. There is an infinite number of numbers between zero and one.”
The Department of Defense is spending a lot of money is in using quantum computers and spin waves to create an entirely new form of communication.
A once-in-a-career discovery: the black hole at Omega Centauri’s core
July 11, 2024
Above: The likely position of Omega Centauri star cluster’s intermediate black hole. Closest panel zooms to the system. PHOTO CREDIT: ESA/HUBBLE & NASA, M. HÄBERLE (MPIA)
Omega Centauri is a spectacular collection of 10 million stars, visible as a smudge in the night sky from Southern latitudes.
Through a small telescope, it looks no different from other so-called globular clusters; a spherical stellar collection so dense towards the center that it becomes impossible to distinguish individual stars. But a new study, led by researchers from the University of Utah and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, confirms what astronomers had argued about for over a decade: Omega Centauri contains a central black hole.The black hole appears to be the missing link between its stellar and supermassive kin—stuck in an intermediate stage of evolution, it is considerably less massive than typical black holes in the centers of galaxies. Omega Centauri seems to be the core of a small, separate galaxy whose evolution was cut short when it was swallowed by the Milky Way.
“This is a once-in-a-career kind of finding. I’ve been excited about it for nine straight months. Every time I think about it, I have a hard time sleeping,” said Anil Seth, associate professor of astronomy at the U and co-principal investigator (PI) of the study. “I think that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. This is really, truly extraordinary evidence.” A clear detection of this black hole had eluded astronomers until now. The overall motions of the stars in the cluster showed that there was likely some unseen mass near its center, but it was unclear if this was an intermediate-mass black hole or just a collection of the stellar black holes. Maybe there was no central black hole at all.
A medium Level panel zoom of the Omega Centauri star cluster’s intermediate black hole likely position. PHOTO CREDIT: ESA/HUBBLE & NASA, M. HÄBERLE (MPIA)
“Previous studies had prompted critical questions of ‘So where are the high-speed stars?’ We now have an answer to that, and the confirmation that Omega Centauri contains an intermediate-mass black hole. At about 18,000 light-years, this is the closest known example for a massive black hole,” said Nadine Neumayer, a group leader at the Max Planck Institute and PI of the study. For comparison, the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way is about 27,000 light-years away.
A range of black hole masses
In astronomy, black holes come in different mass ranges. Stellar black holes, between one and a few dozen solar masses, are well known, as are the supermassive black holes with masses of millions or even billions of suns. Our current picture of galaxy evolution suggests that the earliest galaxies should have had intermediate-sized central black holes that would have grown over time, gobbling up smaller galaxies done or merging with larger galaxies.
Such medium-sized black holes are notoriously hard to find. Although there are promising candidates, there has been no definite detection of such an intermediate-mass black hole—until now.
“There are black holes a little heavier than our sun that are like ants or spiders—they’re hard to spot, but kind of everywhere throughout the universe. Then you’ve got supermassive black holes that are like Godzilla in the centers of galaxies tearing things up, and we can see them easily,” said Matthew Whittaker, an undergraduate student at the U and co-author of the study. “Then these intermediate-mass black holes are kind of on the level of Bigfoot. Spotting them is like finding the first evidence for Bigfoot—people are going to freak out.”
July 9, 2024
Above: A Layout of IceCube Lab depth compared to the height of the Eiffel Tower.
In the world of particle physics, electrical charges define the terms. While electrons have a negative charge, the appropriately named “positron" has a positive charge. But then there are neutrinos which have no charge at all.
Neutrinos are also incredibly small and light. They have some mass, but not much and they rarely interact with other matter. They come in three types or "flavors": electron, muon, and tau.
Cosmic rays travel through space then crash into the earth's atmosphere and produceair showers that Include neutrinos and many other types of particles. When neutrinos are produced and start traveling, they can change from one flavor to another. The atmospheric neutrinos are then detected by DeepCore, a denser array of sensors in the center of the IceCube detector at the South Pole.This process is called neutrino oscillation and the IceCube Detector, a massive neutrino detector buried deep in the ice at the South Pole, has a special area called DeepCore that can detect lower-energy neutrinos.
Scientists at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica have made a breakthrough in measuring neutrinos. Using advanced computer techniques, they've achieved the most precise measurements to date of how these particles change as they travel through space, helping us understand fundamental properties of the universe that could lead to new discoveries in physics.
Shiqi Yu
Shiqi Yu, a research assistant professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Utah and others who published their findings recently in Physical Review Letters analyzed data from over 150,000 neutrino events collected over nine years (2012-2021). They used advanced computer programs called convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to process this data. The team made the most precise measurements ever of two important properties related to neutrino oscillation: Delta m²₃₂ and sin²(θ₂₃). These numbers help describe how neutrinos change as they travel.
“We also carefully studied the systematic uncertainties that arise from our imperfect knowledge of our models and chose some to use as free nuisance parameters that fit together with the physics parameters for our data,” says Yu.
Using CNNs, which use three-dimensional data for image classification, Yu and co-lead of the study Jessie Micallef first developed use cases for the CNNs to focus on the DeepCore region and trained them to reconstruct different properties of particle interactions in the detector. They then used the CNN reconstructions to select qualified neutrino interactions that happened in or near the DeepCore region to produce a neutrino-dominated dataset with well-reconstructed energies and zenith angles.
Jessie Micallef
Yu notes that the CNN-reconstructed analysis-level dataset is already being used for other neutrino oscillation analyses, such as determining the neutrino mass ordering and non-standard neutrino interactions and for atmospheric tau neutrino appearance analyses.
“The atmospheric neutrino dataset from DeepCore exhibits relatively high energies in the oscillation analyses, which is unique compared to existing accelerator-based experiments,” says Yu. “Given our dataset and independent analysis,it is interesting to see agreement and consistency in physics parameter measurements.”
This research helps confirm and refine our understanding of how neutrinos — fundamental particles that can tell us a lot about the universe — behave. The techniques developed here, animated by machine learning, can be used in future studies to learn even more about neutrinos and the universe. Those future studies will be informed by IceCube which is planning an upgrade in 2025-2026 that will allow for even more detailed measurements of neutrinos.
By studying neutrino detection and the phenomenon of neutrino oscillation, scientists like Shiqi Yu hope to answer big questions about the nature of matter, energy and the cosmos.
June 13, 2024
Above: Tony Hawk executing an impressive aerial maneuver on his skateboard.
'Would you consider Tony Hawk a physicist?'
'I would consider Tony Hawk a physicist. If nothing else, he’s an intuitive scientist, right?'
Before you go, watch Kevin Davenport, assistant lecture professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the U, break down the physics that allows vert skaters to huck themselves into the stratosphere—learn why he calls Tony Hawk an intuitive scientist.
Read the rest of the story by Lisa Potter at @The U.
L.S. SKAGGS APPLIED SCIENCE BUILDING NAMED AT THE U
May 28, 2024
Above: Rendering of the new L.S. Skaggs Applied Science Building
The ALSAM Foundation has made a substantial gift toward the latest addition to the science campus at the University of Utah: the L.S. Skaggs Applied Science Building.
The 100,000-square-foot building will include modern classrooms and instruction spaces, cutting-edge physics and atmospheric science research laboratories, and faculty and student spaces. Scientists in the new building will address urgent issues, including energy, air quality, climate change, and drought. The building’s naming honors L.S. “Sam” Skaggs, the philanthropist and businessman whose retail footprint spread across the Mountain West and the U.S.
Building Construction - April 30, 2024
Expressing profound gratitude for the transformative gift, Peter Trapa, Dean of the College of Science, shared, “We deeply appreciate The ASLAM Foundation’s extraordinary generosity. This gift is a testament to the value the organization places on higher education and its transformational impact on students and communities. It continues the Skaggs family's legacy in Utah and at our state’s flagship university. The new L.S. Skaggs Applied Science Building, a beacon of scientific innovation, will play an essential role in educating students in STEM programs throughout the University of Utah. This much-needed building allows the U to expand its STEM capacity and continue to serve our region’s expanding workforce needs.”
The construction of the L.S. Skaggs Applied Science Building is part of the Applied Science Project, which also includes the renovation of the historical William Stewart Building. The overall project is scheduled to be completed by next summer. Combined with the Crocker Science Center and a new outdoor plaza abutting the historic Cottam’s Gulch, the three buildings and outdoor space will comprise the Crocker Science Complex named for Gary and Ann Crocker.
The Skaggs family has a long history of supporting universities through The ALSAM Foundation, including the University of Utah. Other ALSAM Foundation-supported projects at the U include the L.S. Skaggs Pharmacy Research Institute, housed in the Skaggs Pharmacy Building, and the Aline S. Skaggs Biology Building, named after Mr. Skaggs’s wife.
The ALSAM Foundation issued the following statement, “The ALSAM Foundation and the members of the Skaggs family are pleased to continue the legacy of Mr. Skaggs at the University of Utah. The Applied Science Project will benefit STEM education which was one of the goals of Mr. Skaggs.”
April, 2024
Above: Student recipients at the 2024 OUR Awards Ceremony
The University of Utah is one of the top research academic institutions in the Intermountain West, and it’s thanks in major part to the U’s undergraduate student researchers and the faculty who advise and mentor them.
Some of the university’s up-and-coming researchers and mentors were honored at the 2024 Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) Awards, held virtually on April 1.
Every year, OUR recognizes one undergraduate student researcher from each college/school with the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award, according to the office’s website. Partnering colleges and schools are responsible for selecting the awardee.
This year, 18 undergraduate researchers were honored with the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award, twoof them from the College of Science / College of Mines & Earth Sciences:
Autumn Hartley (Mentor: Professor Sarah Lambart)
Dua Azhar (Mentor: Professor Sophie Caron)
Autumn Hartley
Autumn Hartley (she/they) is also a College of Science ambassador and has a passion for science and learning as geology and geophysics major. Originally from Midway, Utah, she moved to Salt Lake City when she started school at the U where she became involved in many different organizations including oSTEM, which connects LGBTQ+ students in STEM. Outside of academia, she loves all things artistic. “I’m a writer, graphic designer, and a character designer when I’m not in the lab!” she says.
Dua Azhar
Born and raised a Utahn in Draper, Dua Azhar (she/her) is an honors physics student with a biomedical emphasis. During her undergraduate years here at the U, she says, “I intend to tie my education and research together towards an MD/PhD, in order to specialize in neurology.” Along with the sciences, she love the arts, especially film and photography. “So if you don’t see me in the lab, you’ll most likely see me making something with a camera!”
Opening remarks at the event were made by Associate Dean Annie Fukushima, followed by Provost Mitzi Montoya and VP Research Erin Rothwell. They were followed by the presentation of Undergraduate Research Scholarship recipients which included the 2023 – 2024 recipients of the Francis Family Fund Scholarships, Dee Scholarship, and Parent Fund Scholarship.
The Monson Essay Prize winner, Pablo Cruz-Ayala, was then acknowledged followed by the 18 OUR & Research Mentor Awards by college.
At the ceremony event, award recipients were able to thank their mentors, family and others for their support.
More information and criteria for both awards can be found on the OUR’s website Watch video of OUR awards 2024 program below:
Above: Dua Azhar (left) with Swoop (Buteo jamaicensis) dressed appropriately for the lab in PPE.
On May 2 physics graduate Dua Azhar spoke at the College of Science's 2024 convocation ceremony staged at the Huntsman Center. Her complete remarks are below.
Thank you, Dean Bandarian for the introduction. I am honored to speak today before the deans, faculty, family and friends, and of course Class of 2024, congratulations!
We’re all here today because of our love for the sciences. I know I've always been drawn to the mysteries of the natural world, from the universe to the human brain, all the way down to quantum mechanics. That rush of excitement and ideas that comes when reaching towards that you don’t understand keeps me motivated. So, it would make sense that I am here today graduating with a degree in physics. But if you told high school me I’d be doing that, I’d probably burst out laughing.
What I’ve learned these past few years is that there is a caveat to deciphering these mysteries because, as Cillian Murphy’s character says in the film Oppenheimer, “theory will take you only so far.” You see, in quantum mechanics, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle states that it’s impossible to know all information about a particle. If you think this drives scientists crazy, you’re absolutely right. The past four years for all of us have also been filled with uncertainty, and I don’t know about you, but I also went a bit crazy. Yet, I and all of you are here today to celebrate the chances we took and the perseverance through the uncertainties that have come with this journey.
Dua Azhar gives student speech at 2024 Convocation.
For many of us here today, this is our first proper graduation – the last time we gathered for graduation, it was on Zoom and in parking lots. The global pandemic also didn’t stop after those make-do send-offs. However, we all decided to continue our educational journeys despite that uncertainty. Like many of you, I struggled during that time. Despite the difficulties, it was also beautiful because we came together to help each other push through it all. I know for a fact that I would not have been able to go through that time without the mentorship and support of the faculty, who went out of their way to not only accommodate all of us but also provide individual support, in and outside of classes. For example, while I was uncertain about my studies, it was because of the faculty and the college’s resources that I was able to forge my educational path, combining my interests in neuroscience with physics. I know many of you could share similar stories, because together, we persevered through uncertain times to reach this day.
And we didn’t get here alone. We all have loved ones that have supported us and set us on our paths. In my case, I cannot take credit for any of this without acknowledging the uncertainties my parents faced as immigrants. Exactly 30 years ago, being one of the few Pakistanis in Utah at the time, my father graduated from the U in mechanical engineering. His studies and career path influenced my own, and it was through both of my parent’s sacrifices in adapting to a new country that I am here today.
Watching my parents and the talented individuals around me, I have learned the value of taking chances amidst uncertainty. My parents took a chance for a better opportunity for our family. WE all took the crazy chance to go to college during a pandemic! And I took a chance on the sublime complexity that is physics.
As we leave here today, we’ll be entering anew into a world that is now especially uncertain and scary. But we can come together again to push through it. Some of us graduates might not know where we will go next, but there is a beauty to that uncertainty. It will bring the excitement, the collaboration, and the knowledge needed for us, together, to solve the problems and mysteries that keep us up at night. So sure, theory might only take you so far, but theorize anyway. Then take a chance, because you won’t know until you try.
The collapse and explosion of a massive star: B.O.A.T.
April 19, 2024
Above: Artist’s visualization of GRB 221009A showing the narrow relativistic jets (emerging from a central black hole) that gave rise to the gamma-ray burst and the expanding remains of the original star ejected via the supernova explosion. CREDIT: AARON M. GELLER / NORTHWESTERN / CIERA / IT RESEARCH COMPUTING AND DATA SERVICES
In October 2022, an international team of researchers, including University of Utah astrophysicist Tanmoy Laskar, observed the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever recorded, GRB 221009A. Now, physicists have confirmed that the phenomenon responsible for the historic burst — dubbed the B.O.A.T. (“brightest of all time”) — is the collapse and subsequent explosion of a massive star.
Tanmoy Laskar, assistant professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Utah
The team discovered the explosion, or supernova, using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
While this discovery solves one mystery, another mystery deepens. The researchers speculated that evidence of heavy elements, such as platinum and gold, might reside within the newly uncovered supernova. The extensive search, however, did not find the signature that accompanies such elements. The origin of heavy elements in the universe continues to remain as one of astronomy’s biggest open questions.
Tanmoy Laskar, coauthor on the study that published in Nature Astronomy on April 12, spoke with AtTheU about why GRB 221009A was the B.O.A.T.
We have seen gamma-ray bursts before, but this one was so bright that its light blinded our gamma-ray telescopes in space and even shook the Earth’s upper atmosphere! Several dedicated people worked very hard to reconstruct the original gamma-ray signal and found that this gamma-ray burst was by far the brightest of all time (B.O.A.T) we have ever recorded. It has been exciting to study the B.O.A.T. over the last couple of years to try to figure two big mysteries: What kind of star is responsible for this powerful light display, and what produces the heavy elements in the universe?
How can finding a supernova help in solving these mysteries?
There are two theories to what makes these powerful, gamma-ray bursts—one is the collapse of massive stars at the ends of their lives (which also results in an explosion of the star as a supernova), and the other is a merger of two neutron stars, which are dense remnants of dead stars. We looked for the signature of a supernova, which would definitively tell us which theory was responsible for the B.O.A.T. explosion.
The other reason we wanted to search for the supernova was to solve the mystery of what produces heavy metals. Supernovae are factories that manufacture many elements in the universe—could a supernova powerful enough to create the gamma-ray burst also produce heavy elements in the explosion, like platinum and gold?
Read the entire interview conducted by Lisa Potter in AtTheU.
Watch a video about BOAT by Astrum below:
This collaborative cosmic ray project connects refugee youth to science
On April 9, 2024, a community of refugee students and their families, scientists, educators and policymakers will celebrate an event three years in the making—the installation of five cosmic ray detectors atop the Department of Workforce Services Refugee Services Office (also known as the Utah Refugee Center) in downtown Salt Lake City. The detectors, which measure echoes of cosmic particles bombarding Earth’s atmosphere, were built by nearly 60 participants in a program called “Investigating the Development of STEM-Positive Identities of Refugee Teens in a Physics Out of School Time Experience (InSPIRE)”, which brings science research—in this case particle physics—to teenagers and contributes to a worldwide effort to measure cosmic ray activity on Earth.
“Refugee youth often encounter many challenges related to STEM, including restricted exposure to STEM education, language barriers, cultural adjustments and a history of interrupted schooling, resulting in a low rate of high school completion and college matriculation among refugee students,” said Tino Nyawelo, principal investigator of InSPIRE and professor of physics and astronomy at the U. “The project conducts research to better understand these challenges and how to best broaden access to and engagement in STEM for refugee youth and other historically disenfranchised populations.”
Tino Nyawelo kicks off the cosmic ray detector installation celebration at the Utah Refugee Services Center on April 9, 2024. (Photo: Todd Anderson)
InSPIRE brings together the University of Utah, Utah State University, Utah Department of Workforce Services Refugee Services Office, as well as the Dutch National Institute for Subatomic Physics (Nikhef) in Amsterdam, to involve teens in real science. Data from the students’ cosmic rays detectors helps us understand the origins of the universe. The celebration is on Tuesday, April 9, at 1:30 p.m. at the Refugee Services Office at 150 N. 1950 W., Salt Lake City, UT 84116. A short ceremony will include speakers from the U, USU and the Refugee Services Office, and two student-participants will be available with research posters to talk about their cosmic ray detection projects.
Funded by a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation in 2020, InSPIRE explores how refugee teenagers identify with STEM subjects while they participate in a cosmic ray detector-building and research project. Fifty-seven refugee teens spent one-to two-days a week for nearly three years building the detectors while learning the principles of particle physics and computer programming. The students designed their own research projects, posing questions such as whether the moon impacts cosmic rays. While some participants focused on the detectors, others focused on crafting short films on their fellow students’ research journeys. These students are working on a documentary, in partnership with the ArtsBridge America program at the U’s College of Fine Arts.
Neriman (left) and Lina Al Samaray with a poster of their research project, Effect of the Moon on Cosmic Ray Detectors. The high highschoolers used data from existing HiSPARC detectors to investigate whether the moon’s position from the horizon impacted the rate of cosmic rays hitting Earth’s surface.(Photo: Lisa Potter)
InSPIRE is embedded within Refugees Exploring the Foundations of Undergraduate Education In Science (REFUGES), an after school program that Nyawelo founded to support refugee youth in Utah’s school system, who are placed in grade levels corresponding to their ages despite going long periods without formal education. The U’s Center for Science and Mathematics Education (CSME) has housed the REFUGES program since 2012, where it has expanded to include non-refugee students who are underrepresented in STEM fields. Since then, REFUGES has worked closely with the state of Utah’s Department of Workforce Services Refugee Services Office, which serves as a critical link to the refugee community by coordinating comprehensive services to refugees resettled in our state.
“For the past 12 years, the Refugee Services Office has collaborated with the REFUGES program to identify refugee students and their families who need academic assistance and support. Participation in REFUGES keeps these students engaged in their community while also promoting their access to educational opportunities,” said Mario Kligago, director of the Utah RSO. “It’s amazing—what started as a small project funded by a Refugee Services Office grant has grown into a multi-million dollar endeavor backed by national organizations.”
The detector technology is adapted from HiSPARC (High School Project on Astrophysics Research with Cosmics), a collaboration between science institutions that started in the Netherlands, aimed at improving high schoolers’ interest in particle physics. There are now more than 140 student-built detectors on buildings in the Netherlands, Namibia, and the United Kingdom that upload their data 24/7 to publicly available databases. Nikhef in Amsterdam coordinated the project from 2003-2023 and created the initial worldwide network of cosmic ray detection data. Starting in 2024, data on extensive cosmic air showers and the digital HiSPARC infrastructure will be hosted and maintained by the U’s Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC), led by professor Nyawelo.
