Physics

Research

Cutting-edge research is a defining feature of Brown's Physics Department. Our program fosters multiple opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to collaborate with faculty members, and interdisciplinary research is encouraged.

Nexus for Collaborative Research

Numerous visiting scholars and postdoctoral fellows enhance the broad scope of our research activities. Physicists from around the country arrive weekly to present seminars and colloquia and discuss their research with students and faculty.

We offer a diverse range of research opportunities in theoretical and experimental physics. Our experimental research encompasses astrophysics and cosmology, biological physics, condensed-matter physics, elementary-particle physics, low-temperature physics, nonlinear optics, and surface physics. The department’s theoretical research efforts include investigations in condensed-matter physics, cosmology and general relativity, elementary-particle physics, and neural science.

Research Areas

Astrophysics and Cosmology involve the study of the physical processes that govern the behavior of astronomical objects, and the study of the origin, evolution, composition, and fate of the Universe as a whole.
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Living systems are characterized by highly organized and coordinated interactions on many levels that range from the molecular to the multi-cellular. At each level, living matter can take advantage of different physical principles to achieve this organization and interacts usefully with the environment.
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Experimental condensed matter physics seeks an understanding of the macroscopic behavior of condensed matter, such as a collection of electrons, atoms or molecules, from their microscopic interactions and symmetries through experiments.
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Condensed matter physics is the study of systems with a large number of interacting degrees of freedom such as a collection of electrons, atoms or molecules.
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The principal focus of the experimental particle physics group is the study of nature at the very highest laboratory energies available. We find the allure of discoveries attendant to experiments at the energy frontier very compelling.
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The grand challenge of High Energy Theory is to develop a self-consistent description of all the microscopic laws of nature.
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