Research Groups

Hillary Smith's group at the Spallation Neutron Source

Experimental Physics

Cacey Bester studies granular materials. Michael Brown studies magnetic reconnection in his Swarthmore Spheromak eXperiment (SSX). Hillary Smith works on materials physics and energy storage materials. Eva-Maria Collins (Biology, associate of Physics) runs a large lab investigating a variety of biological physics questions; Peter Collings (now emeritus, but still active in his lab) studies the structure and optical properties of liquid crystals. 

Theoretical Physics

Carolyn Raithel studies neutron stars and gravitational waves from merging compact objects. Tristan Smith works on questions in cosmology (the composition and evolution of the universe) and gravitational physics. Amy Graves (now emeritus, but still doing research and in the department) works on simulations of condensed matter systems.

Astrophysics

Swarthmore's emphasis has traditionally been on stellar astrophysics. David Cohen studies the X-rays, winds, and magnetospheres of hot, massive stars. Eric Jensen works on star formation and circumstellar disks, including X-rays from young stars, along with Cohen. Both Jensen and Cohen use the Peter van de Kamp Observatory to study transiting exoplanets. Radio astronomer Jesse Rivera works on dusty star forming galaxies.

Physics Education Research

Catherine Crouch and Ben Geller work together on evaluating the effectiveness of physics instruction, focusing presently on the role of life science examples in the introductory physics curriculum for biochemistry and biology majors. Both also participate in other educational assessment efforts at the College.

Research Facilities

Each faculty member has a lab in the Science Center. Experimentalists Bester, Crouch, and Smith have their labs on the ground level of the Science Center, directly below the Eldridge Commons, while Brown and Collings have theirs on the first floor of the department, down the hall from the department office. The theorists, Smith and Raithel, and astrophysicists, Cohen and Jensen, have computer rooms/labs on the first floor of the department as well. We have a 24-inch telescope (with a large-format CCD camera, two full filter sets and an H-alpha filter, and a high-resolution spectrograph) on the roof of the Science Center - in the Peter van de Kamp Observatory. We are in the process of constructing a radio telescope.