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Physics News

2016 CAP University Prize Exam Results
U of T takes 2nd, 7th and 10th of the top 10 Spots in Canada!
April 18, 2016
by UT Physics
Prof. Thywissen's Group Discovers New Laws Governing the “Developmental Biology of Materials”
When one atom first meets another, the precise nature of that interaction can determine much about what kinds of physical properties and behaviours will emerge. In a paper published today in Nature Physics, a team led by U of T physicist Joseph Thywissen reported their discovery of a new set of rules related to one particular type of atomic-pair interaction. The researchers study interactions between atoms that have been cooled close to absolute zero.
Feb. 23, 2016
by UT Physics
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Researchers demonstrate 'quantum surrealism'
New research demonstrates that particles at the quantum level can in fact be seen as behaving something like billiard balls rolling along a table, and not merely as the probabilistic smears that the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics suggests. But there's a catch - the tracks the particles follow do not always behave as one would expect from "realistic" trajectories, but often in a fashion that has been termed "surrealistic."
Feb. 22, 2016
by UT Physics
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Steven Schramm recipient of 2015 ATLAS Thesis Award
ATLAS Thesis Awards Committee is pleased to announce the four winners of the 2015 ATLAS Thesis Awards for outstanding contributions to ATLAS in the context of a Ph.D. thesis.
Feb. 19, 2016
by UT Physics
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Gravitational waves detected for 1st time by LIGO and U of T astrophysicists
Gravitational waves, ripples in space-time predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity 100 years ago, have finally been detected. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have detected gravitational waves. We did it," announced Dave Reitze, executive director of the U.S.-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) at a news conference Thursday morning. Scientists said gravitational waves open a door for a new way to observe the universe and gain knowledge about enigmatic objects like black holes and neutron stars. By studying gravitational waves they also hope to gain insight into the nature of the very early universe, which has remained mysterious.
Feb. 16, 2016
by UT Physics
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Celestica, CERN, and the University of Toronto Collaborate on Enabling Advanced Research for the Large Hadron Collider
Celestica Inc. (NYSE, TSX: CLS), a global leader in the delivery of end-to-end product lifecycle solutions, today announced that in collaboration with international researchers from the ATLAS experiment at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research and the University of Toronto, they have produced a radiation-hard sensor for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest and most powerful particle collider.
Nov. 12, 2015
by UT Physics
Prof. Hirohisa Tanaka and Prof. John Martin Share Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
University of Toronto physicists are on two of the five teams receiving the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics tonight for major insights into the deepest questions of the Universe.
Nov. 9, 2015
by UT Physics
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Fingerprinting: quantum beats classical
Researchers demonstrate the first quantum fingerprinting system that transmits less information than the best known classical protocol.
Oct. 28, 2015
by UT Physics
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2015 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Canadian Arthur McDonald
Arthur McDonald, a professor emeritus at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., is the co-winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in physics. McDonald will share the prize with Takaaki Kajita of the University of Tokyo.
Oct. 6, 2015
by UT Physics
Climate Change: One of the Grand Challenge Problems in All of Science - Interview with Dick Peltier
Usually the problem of climate change is solely described as the increase in temperature since the beginning of the industrialization of the Northern Hemisphere. People discuss the impact of rising temperatures on the Arctic, but how does climate change affect us on a regional scale, where we actually live?
Aug. 27, 2015
by UT Physics
Written in Light - Interview with Aephraim Steinberg
Do you remember tin can telephones? You and a friend would each be holding an empty can, connected by a string stretched out tightly. You could speak to one another, with the string carrying the sound waves from one end to the other.
Aug. 19, 2015
by UT Physics
New CIFAR research program co-directed by R.J. Dwayne Miller and Oliver P. Ernst advertised in The Globe and Mail.
July 7, 2015
by UT Physics
Retreating sea ice could mean a colder Europe
Professor G.W.K. Moore and his colleagues in Great Britain, Norway and the United States have published a paper in Nature.com raising awareness of the fact that retreating sea ice in the Iceland and Greenland seas may be changing the circulation of warm and cold water in the Atlantic Ocean and could ultimately affect the climate in Europe.
June 30, 2015
by UT Physics
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What’s the easiest tool to explain the most complex ideas in physics? Lego
Professor A.W. Peet featured in the National Post on May 6, 2015 in advance of her lecture at the Perimeter Institute.
May 7, 2015
by UT Physics
U of T Physics Rises to the WxChallenge
Congratulations to members of our Department for their achievements during this year's WxChallenge weather forecast competition.
April 27, 2015
by UT Physics
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Jake Klamka who did his Masters and Undergraduate degree at U of T Physics mentioned in Nature
Industry allure: PhD holders with quantitative skills are landing posts at technology companies.
April 20, 2015
by UT Physics
Quantum cryptography at the speed of light
Department of Physics Professor Hoi-Kwong Lo in collaboration with Dr. Azuma and Dr. Tamaki of the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation in Japan design first all-photonic repeaters
April 15, 2015
by UT Physics
2015 CAP University Prize Exam Results
U of T takes 1st, 7th, 8th and 9th of the top 10 Spots in Canada!
April 14, 2015
by UT Physics
Mr. Yige Chen under the supervision of Prof. Hae-Young Kee has identified a new class of metal in Iridium oxides. Read all about it in Nature Communications
We used to think that different phases such as liquid, solid, and magnets are classified by broken symmetries, however, it was recently found that distinct phases without any broken symmetry are found due to their non-trivial topological nature.
March 17, 2015
by UT Physics
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Prof. Pierre Savard receives the 2015 CAP-TRIUMF Vogt Medal for Contributions to Subatomic Physics
March 10, 2015
by UT Physics
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Awards and Honours, Our Faculty
Prof. John Martin receives the 2015 CAP Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Physics
March 10, 2015
by UT Physics
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Professor Stephen Morris' Icicle Atlas featured in the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star
Rejoice icicle lovers. Dr. Freeze has delivered his magnum opus. For the record, Stephen Morris, a professor of physics at the University of Toronto, does not call himself Dr. Freeze. But by his own admission, he is obsessed with icicles. He has observed them in the environment and grown them in his lab. He has accumulated thousands of photos and hundreds of videos of icicles forming under different conditions.
March 3, 2015
by UT Physics
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Compressed-format compared to regular-format in a first-year university physics course
Jason Harlow, David Harrison and Eli Honig compared student performance in two sessions of a large first-year university physics course, one with a normal 12-week term and the other with a compressed 6-week term. Student performance was measured by the normalized gain on the Force Concept Inventory. They found that the gains for the regular-format course are better than the gains for the compressed-format course, and while the differences in gains are small they are statistically significant. Not accounted for are the differences in effectiveness of the different instructors in the two versions of the course.
Feb. 24, 2015
by UT Physics
Global warming research: strong storms to become stronger, weak storms to become weaker
A study led by atmospheric physicists at the University of Toronto finds that global warming will not lead to an overall increasingly stormy atmosphere, a topic debated by scientists for decades. Instead, strong storms will become stronger while weak storms become weaker, and the cumulative result of the number of storms will remain unchanged.
Jan. 30, 2015
by UT Physics
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UofT Physicist selected as part of team to lead major marine Arctic ecosystem study
The University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), as a part of the Stantec Team, has been selected by an interagency scientific review panel to lead a long-term scientific study of the Arctic marine ecosystem along the Beaufort Sea shelf from Barrow, Alaska to the Mackenzie River delta in Canadian waters. The Marine Arctic Ecosystem Study (MARES) stems from increased attention to climate change, energy development, and sustainability in the Arctic region. Information gained will aid government, industry, and communities in making decisions related to regulations, resource management, economic development and environmental protection issues.
Nov. 26, 2014
by UT Physics