Research, teaching and public engagement in Physics at UW–Madison
Condensed matter theorist Ben Woods joined the department as an assistant professor this fall. Originally from a small town in North Dakota, Woods studied physics at the University of North Dakota and earned a PhD in physics from West Virginia University. He first came to UW–Madison for a postdoc with Mark Friesen in 2021, and now moves …
When Lake Mendota freezes over in the winter and thaws in the spring, those water/ice phase transitions might seem mundane. But, says new assistant professor of physics Ilya Esterlis, interesting things happen during phase transitions, and commonalities exist between phase transitions of any matter. “That’s very surprising and strange sounding, but it turns out that …
This story was originally published by the Chicago Quantum Exchange Qubits are the building blocks of quantum computers, which have the potential to revolutionize many fields of research by solving problems that classical computers can’t. But creating qubits that have the perfect quality necessary for quantum computing can be challenging. Researchers at the University of …
This past winter, Katie Harrison, then a junior physics major at UW–Madison, started thinking about which areas of physics she was interested in studying more in-depth. “Physics is in general so broad, saying you want to research physics doesn’t really cut it,” Harrison says. She thought about which classes she enjoyed the most and talked …
This story was originally published by the Chicago Quantum Exchange The Open Quantum Initiative (OQI), a working group of students, researchers, educators, and leaders across the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE), announced the launch of the OQI Undergraduate Fellowship as part of their effort to advocate for and contribute to the development of a diverse and inclusive quantum …
Three UW–Madison physics professors and their colleagues have been awarded a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) High Energy Physics Quantum Information Science award for an interdisciplinary collaboration between theoretical and experimental physicists and experts on quantum algorithms. The grant, entitled “Detection of dark matter and neutrinos enhanced through quantum information,” will bring a total of …
A well-known quantum algorithm that is useful in studying and solving problems in quantum physics can be applied to problems in classical physics, according to a new study in the journal Physical Review A from University of Wisconsin–Madison assistant professor of physics Jeff Parker. Quantum algorithms – a set of calculations that are run on …