Professor David Tytler:

Our group works in observational cosmology. We use the Keck 10-m telescopes in Hawaii, and the Lick 3-m in Santa Cruz, CA, to obtain spectra of quasars, which are giant black holes in distant galaxies. The spectra contain absorption lines which describe the amount of matter in the universe and its distribution. A few percent of QSOs show absorption from primordial deuterium, which was made in the first few minutes of the universe during big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). We measure the ratio of the number of D to H atoms, which tells us the density of ordinary matter (baryons) in the universe. When standard physics is used in BBN, the measurement of D/H determines the last free paramater, and gives predictions accurate to a few percent for the abundance of the other light nuclei which are made in BBN. Most matter in the space between galaxies is called the intergalactic medium. The H in this gas causes strong H absorption in quasar spectra. The amount of absorption tells us the amount of gas, its ionization, and temperature, while the distribution along the lines of sight to the quasars tells us the amplitude of the primordial perturbations in the distribution of matter. Gravity causes these perturbations to grow in amplitude over time.

Professor Art Wolfe and Dr. Eric Gawiser:

Our group works on observational cosmology using the 10m Keck telescopes in Hawaii. We study clouds of hydrogen gas called Damped Lyman alpha systems that existed when the universe was one-tenth its present age. These hydrogen clouds are believed to be the precursors of galaxies like the Milky Way. A summer project with our group would involve analyzing spectra of distant quasars and looking for these hydrogen clouds in that data and /or simulating the feasibility of finding these hydrogen clouds in the many spectra of dimmer quasars seen by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Basic programming ability in either fortran, C, or IDL is needed. Familiarity with IRAF would be helpful but can be developed over the summer.

Professor Nguyen-Huu Xuong:

A summer REU student would be involved in a project dealing with the building of a new automatic detector for Cryo-Electron Microscopy. This is a new and exciting project that would allow the determination of 3D structure protein complex without the need to grow large crystals. A good background in electronic or computer programming is preferred.

Professor David Kleinfeld:

We are interested in integrative aspects of brain function--in particular the algorithm used by animals to extract a stable picture of the world based on input through their actively moving sensors and sense organs. A variety of experimental approaches, involving trained rats, direct electrical probes, optical based probes, and advanced signal analysis, are brought to bear on this issue.

Professor Jose Onuchic:

The research in my group centers on theoretical and computational methods for molecular biophysics and chemical reactions in condensed matter. In protein folding, we introduced the concept of protein folding funnels as a mechanism for the folding of small fast folding proteins. Energy landscape theory and the funnel concept provide the theoretical framework needed to address the questions of protein folding mechanisms. A second effort of my group focuses on the theory of chemical reactions in condensed matter with emphasis on understanding biological electron transfer reactions. These reactions are central to the bioenergetic pathways of both animals and plants on earth, such as the early steps of photosynthesis.

Professor Dr. Wouter-Jan Rappel:

Sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of death in the industrialized world, killing approximately 350,000 people in the US each year. In the vast majority of cases the cause of sudden cardiac death is ventricular fibrillation. During ventricular fibrillation the electrical activity of the heart is disorganized resulting in the inability of the ventricles to pump blood through the body. Our group investigates the possible mechanisms for the onset of ventricular fibrillation using numerical and theoretical techniques. As the research typically involves large-scale computations a strong computational background is required.

Elementary Particles and Quantum Field Theory

Professor James Branson:

The UCSD Elementary Particle Physics group is developing a Data Acquisition system for the very high energy, high luminosity Large Hadron Collider. We are testing systems that will enable us to build events at a data rate of up to 100 GBytes per second. After the events are built we must reduce the rate of data to be stored to just 100 MByte per second. To make this reduction, trigger algorithms must be developed. This final step of the trigger will take place in a large "farm" of standard computers (about 4 TIPS). We are looking for students interested in either the hardware development or the Higher Level Trigger event selection development. The LHC should finally tell us about the origin of mass and the spontaneous breaking of symmetries in the vacuum. It may also find other interesting phenomena such as supersymmetry or quantum gravity effects.

Professor George Fuller:

An REU student working with my group would likely be involved with our effort to understand the neutrino physics/astrophysics of the early universe and stellar collapse. For example, we are trying to understand how lepton number could be generated from neutrino oscillations in the early universe. This work is likely to be numerically intensive. C and Fortran programming skills are desirable, but not required, as these can be learned "on the job".

Professor Dimitri Bassov:

Our research involves infrared spectroscopy of novel materials which exhibit exotic electronic properties. One of the possible projects is devoted to the study of high-T_c superconductors using infrared methods. This includes taking measurements of the low-temperature reflectance of (Y-Pr)BaCuO microcrystals using state-of-the-art Fourier-transform interfermoeter, and analysis of the results. Another project involves construction of a set-up for grazing incidence infrared reflectometry. This apparatus will be use d for the survey of the anisotropy of the electronic transport in novel superconducting and magnetic materials.

Professor Robert Dynes:

Spin electronics, an idea that uses both the charge of an electron and the spin of the electron as pieces of information is attracting attention in the physics and engineering community. We are launcing a program to study the effect of injection of spin polarized electrons into silicon through a schottkey barrier from a ferromagnet metal. The envisioned scheme uses Fe-silicide as the ferromagnet and the barrier is the natural barrier between this metal and silicon. Investigations for the summer will be in collaboration with Professor Hellman's lab and will involve growing the structures and characterizing the resultant tunnel barriers.

Professor Frances Hellman:

The project is in experimental condensed matter/materials physics. Details will be arrived at depending on interest and expertise of the student, but will likely be in the area of research on novel magnetic materials. A potential project is to look at the properties of a magnetic semiconductor; specifically amorphous Silicon doped with magnetic ions. We are interested in understanding the effects of the local magnetic moments on the conductivity, which can be extremely large, and how the magnetic ions interact with each other. The student will be involved in the preparation, characterization or measurements of these materials, using, for example, an ultra-high vacuum multi-source deposition system, various magnetometers for magnetic measurements, and/or a conductivity and magnetoresistance measurement apparatus.

Professor Brian Maple:

Our group performs experimental investigations of superconductivity, magnetism, and the interplay of these two phenomena. We are especially interested in novel types of superconductivity that occur within, or in the vicinity of, magnetic phases and appear to be produced by magnetic interactions, in contrast to conventional superconductivity that arises from the electron phonon interaction. In this project, single crystal specimens of copper oxide and rare earth intermetallic compounds that display novel types of superconductivity will be prepared and characterized. Superconductivity, magnetism, and other phenomena exhibited by these materials will be studied by means of electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, and specific heat measurements at low temperatures, at high pressures and in high magnetic fields.

Professor Ivan Schuller:

Our group is involved in a variety of problems in complex materials in reduced dimensionality. We are trying to bridge the gap between the three dimensional infinite solid and the atoms. This is a largely unexplored area in solid state physics, in which much of the current solid state activity concentrates. The type of phenomena explored include high and low temperature superconductivity and magnetism in a variety of configurations. This is done by using a large number of sophisticated materials preparation, state of the art vacuum and lithographic techniques, combined with sophisticated structural determination probes and a variety of physical property measurements such as magnetotransport, photoconductivity, magnetic and thermodynamic measurements in a wide range of temperature and magnetic field. Many of the above mentioned techniques are directly applicable in industrial processes. For further information please access http://ischuller.ucsd.edu