Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research
Overview of Faculty Research
Dr. Charles Lane
Dr. Lane studies fundamental symmetries and how they may be broken. His work overlaps with such diverse fields as high-energy physics and atomic physics. Recently his work has focused on tests of Lorentz symmetry, which is the fundamental symmetry of Special Relativity and one of the basic tenets of the Standard Model of Particle Physics. Dr. Lane and his co-workers have proposed experiments using atomic clocks in space that might provide evidence for the violation of Lorentz symmetry. This work has garnered national attention.
Dr. Todd Timberlake
Dr. Timberlake carries out computational studies of simple quantum and classical systems in order to find ways in which quantum and classical mechanics correspond. Specifically, he is interested in finding features of quantum dynamics that correspond to chaos in classical dynamics, an area of research that has come to be known as quantum chaos. To carry out his computational work, Dr. Timberlake has developed a parallel computing cluster at Berry. Dr. Timberlake is also very interested in the history and philosophy of physics. He is particularly interested in reproducing important experiments and creating computer simulations to illustrate key concepts from the history of physics and astronomy.
Student Research Projects
Students interested in doing research with a Berry physics professor should talk to each of the professors to determine what projects might be available.
Publications by Berry Physics Faculty
Recent publications co-authored by Berry physics faculty are listed below. Names of Berry physics faculty are in bold, while names of Berry student co-authors are in italics.
- Todd Timberlake, "Seeing Earth's Orbit in the Stars: Parallax and Aberration," to be published in The Physics Teacher.
- Todd Timberlake, "Modeling the History of Astronomy: Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Tycho," to be published in Astronomy Education Review.
- Todd Timberlake, "Mapping the Milky Way: William Herschel’s Star-Gages," The Physics Teacher 51, 48-51 (2013).
- Todd K. Timberlake and Seth Camp, "Decay of wave packet revivals in the asymmetric infinite square well," American Journal of Physics (2011) 79: 607-614.
- Todd Timberlake, Review of Astronomy Activity and Laboratory Manual by Hirshfeld, in Science & Education (2011) 20: 389-392. This review also appeared in the June 2010 Newsletter of the International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Group, pp. 27-30.
Click here for a list of older publications.
Presentations by Berry Physics Faculty
Recent presentations co-authored by Berry physics faculty are listed below. Names of Berry physics faculty are in bold, while names of Berry student co-authors are in italics.
- T. Timberlake, "Modeling the History of Astronomy: Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Tycho," 2013 Winter Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers, New Orleans, LA, January 2013.
- Todd Timberlake, Ron D. Taylor, and Ken L. Martin, "Transfer of Innovative Teaching Methods Between STEM Disciplines," workshop at the AAC&U Network for Academic Renewal Conference on Next Generation STEM Learning: Investigate, Innovate, Inspire, Kansas City, MO, November 2012.
- T. Timberlake, "A Body Falling Through the Earth: Newton versus Hooke," 2012 Summer Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers, Philadelphia, PA, July 2012
- M. Belloni, W. Christian, and T. Timberlake, "From Ptolemy to Einstein: Using Computer Simulations in Astronomy," workshop at the 2012 Summer Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers, Philadelphia, PA, July 2012.
- Charles Lane, “Nonrelativistic SME fermions and CC
tests,” IUCSS Summer School on the Standard-Model, Indiana University,
Bloomington, IL, June 2012.
- T. Timberlake, "Engaging with the History of Astronomy," invited talk at the 2012 Gordon Research Conference on Physics Research and Education, Waterville, ME, June 2012.
- Aaron Ostrander and Daniel T. Robb, "Full order parameter
and conjugate field in the dynamic phase transition in the mean-field
Ginzburg-Landau model," Conference on Computational Physics, Gatlinburg,
TN, November 2011.
- T. Timberlake, "Turning Quantum Mechanics Course Notes into Tutorials," invited talk at the 2011 Summer Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers, Omaha, NE, August 2011.
- T. Timberlake, "Astronomy, History, and Computer Simulations: An Approach to Teaching the Nature of Science," 2011 Summer Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers, Omaha, NE, August 2011.
- M. Belloni, W. Christian, and T. Timberlake, "EJS and Open Source Physics: Teaching with Interactive Materials Across the Curriculum," 2011 Summer Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers, Omaha, NE, August 2011.
- T. Timberlake, "Astronomy, History, and Computer Simulations: An Approach to Teaching the Nature of Science," Tenth Biennial History of Astronomy Workshop, South Bend, IN July 2011.
- Mario Belloni, Wolfgang Christian, Anne Cox, and Todd Timberlake, "The Evolution of the OSP ComPADRE Collection," 2011 Winter Meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers, Jacksonville, FL, January 2011.
- Click here for a list of older presentations.