Professor Arun Paramekanti elected Fellow of the American Physical Society
Department of Physics Professor Arun Paramekanti has been elected Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) by the APS Council of Representatives at its September meeting upon the recommendation of the APS Division of Condensed Matter Physics (DCMP).

From the Big Bang to the Milky Way Galaxy: Planck scientific collaboration comes to an end
One of the largest collaborations in science has officially come to an end with the release of its final scientific papers this summer.

U of T Physics Faculty Among Experts to Receive Funding for Research Infrastructure
Thirty-three research projects at the University of Toronto, spanning fields from artificial intelligence and smart manufacturing to cancer detection and neurodegeneration, are set to benefit from more than $9.5 million in federal funding that will support research infrastructure needs and expenses.
Among them are U of T Physics faculty, Miriam Diamond and Nikolina Ilic.

Aephraim Steinberg, co-director of CIFAR’s Quantum Information Science Program, led a team that timed atoms’ mysterious quantum behaviour.
How long does it take to do the apparently impossible? Knowing might unlock better quantum computers and a deeper understanding of physics.

From Mars exploration to Earth conservation: alumni mentor Julius Lindsay helps physics students navigate career options
When asked how he developed an interest in physics, Faculty of Arts & Science alumnus Julius Lindsay laughs.
“I was — am— a big Star Trek and Star Wars nerd,” he says. “I’ve always been interested in math and science, but Grade 8 was a watershed year for me.”

2019-2020 Loudon-Hines Gold Medal and Scholarship in Physics
The Loudon-Hines Gold Medal and Scholarship in Physics was established in 2018 through the generosity of two anonymous donors.
The 2019-2020 recipient is: Celina Pasiecznik

Why isn’t there nothing in the universe? Physicists are one step closer to an answer
In a paper published in the journal Nature earlier this year, a team of physicists reported the best evidence yet for an asymmetry between neutrinos and anti-neutrinos that could explain our matter-dominated universe.

Announcing the Natalia Krasnopolskaia Memorial Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship
The Physics Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program has been renamed as the “Natalia Krasnopolskaia Memorial Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship” to honour Lecturer Natalia Krasnopolskaia (July 16, 1955 - January 30, 2020).

Octupolar Art
Image made by graduate student Sreekar Voleti highlighted in Physical Review B.

The Science and Art of Song
In collaboration with Dr. Harlow’s “Physics of Music” class, the Physics Department hosted the Cornell University Chorus in March 2019 for a public concert and informal physics event called the Science and Art of Song, facilitated by Dr. Sealfon.

Do Neutrinos Crack Nature’s Mirror?
Emeritus Professor John Martin, former professor Hiro Tanaka (now at Stanford) and his senior UofT PhD student Trevor Towstego are among the nearly 500 authors of a Nature paper from the T2K experiment published today, which presents results giving the strongest constraint yet on the so-called CP phase governing the breaking of symmetry between matter and antimatter in neutrino oscillations

Magnetic Field Induced Quantum Phases in a Tensor Network Study of Kitaev Magnets
In a recent published article in Nature Communication, a team of researchers from University of Tokyo and University of Toronto led by Prof Yong Baek Kim reported the discovery of a novel quantum ground state in theoretical models designed for the so-called Kitaev magnets in external magnetic field.

Theory of Two-Dimensional Nonlinear Spectroscopy for the Kitaev Spin Liquid
Mr Wonjune Choi and his Ph.D. supervisor Prof Yong Baek Kim proposed a new two-dimensional non-linear spectroscopy method for unambiguous detection of fractionalized particles in quantum spin liquids.

Professor Paramekanti and collaborators discover new octupolar magnets
Magnetic solids derive their properties from the magnetic dipole moment of the electrons in the crystal. However, when many electrons interact, they can lead to new types of ordering arising from higher-rank multipole moments.

A Toronto startup with roots at U of T hopes to catch the next big wave in computing
More than a dozen physicists at Xanadu have links with the Department of Physics. Some are former graduate students, undergraduate students, or postdoctoral fellows. Others are current graduate students involved in Xanadu’s research. And Professor John Sipe is one of the company’s technical advisors.

Canadian Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CCUWiP) January 17-19, 2020
The Canadian Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CCUWiP) is an annual conference that has been running since 2014. This year, it was hosted here at the University of Toronto from January 17-19, gathering participants from all over Canada. With 130 registered delegates, the conference bustled with physics undergraduates of all genders participating in the various panels, lectures, and workshops offered.

U of T Physics Professor Debra Wunch Elected as the Next Chair of the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON)
TCCON is a network of ground-based Fourier Transform Spectrometers that record the spectra of the sun in the near-infrared. Data from the spectra measure the abundance of gases such as CO2, CH4, N2O, HF, CO, H2O, and HDO in the atmosphere.

Professor Stephen Morris Builds an Outdoor Icicle Machine
Professor Morris was featured on the CBC on Jan 28, 2020 for building an outdoor icicle machine in the backyard of artist Ron Wild.

Professor Aephraim Steinberg Explains Quantum Mechanics to Macleans Magazine
Department of Physics Professor Steinberg was interviewed by Macleans magazine this month.

Visualizing Poiseuille flow of hydrodynamic electrons
In a theory-experiment collaboration, Professor Thomas Scaffidi and colleagues observed for the first time a completely new regime of transport in which the electrons behave like a viscous fluid, flowing down the wire. The story was also featured in a News and Views in Nature.

2019 William T. Pecora Team Award
Professor Emeritus James R. Drummond is a member of the Terra satellite team which received the 2019 William T. Pecora Team Award in early October.

Celebrating the Cray Inc. Fellowships in Physics
On October 1st, former and current Cray Inc. Fellows gathered at the Faculty Club to celebrate more than ten years of fellowships at U of T.

Proof-of-Principle Experimental Demonstration of Twin-Field Type Quantum Key Distribution
The groups of Professor Hoi-Kwong Lo (U of T Physics and ECE) and Professor Li Qian (ECE) collaborated on an experiment on Long-Haul Quantum Key Distribution. This work was featured in Physical Review Letters and was selected as the editor's suggestion!

Kimberly Strong named of the Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
U of T Physics Professor and Chair of the Department Kimberly Strong among 11 University of Toronto researchers named fellows of the prestigious Royal Society of Canada – considered a major achievement for scholars in this country.

Unveiling hidden multipolar orders with magnetostriction
Professor YB Kim's group theoretically propose that magnetostriction provides a powerful and novel tool to directly detect higher-order multipolar symmetry breaking. The paper was published today in Nature Communications.
