Potential gravitational PhD Projects

For information regarding the admission process, please see our group's PhD admissions page.

Fundamental-Physics

Project: Newton's Inverse Square Law of Gravitation

Supervisor: Prof C.C.Speake

Arguably the deepest mystery in modern physics lies in the relationship between gravitation and the other known interactions. Experimental tests of Isaac Newton's laws of gravitation in the laboratory can play an important role in testing new theoretical ideas that may help resolve this mystery. In Birmingham we have a world leading group that follows in the footsteps of J.H.Poynting who famously weighed the Earth in the 1890's and was our first professor of physics. We are developing an experimental test of the inverse square law for separations of matter at a range down to 15 micrometers. A violation, if detected, could imply that our Universe contains 5 spatial dimensions and not 3! We will be effectively searching for new interactions at energies that are higher than those attained at the Large Hadron Collider. Our project, which is reaching its final stages is pioneering new methods of measuring weak forces that will have applications in other research fields, such as the Casimir effect. A research student would learn practical skills in low temperature physics, optics, electronics and mechanics as well as addressing one of the most fundamental questions in Nature.

For more information please contact Prof. Clive Speake (c.c.speake[at]bham.ac.uk)

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Gravitational Waves: Sources, Observation and Astrophysics

Project: Gravitational Wave Astrophysics and Observations

Supervisors: Prof. Alberto Vecchio, Dr. Ilya Mandel, Dr. John Veitch (starting 2014)

Please see the web pages of the for research projects.

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Gravitational Waves: Experimental Detection

Project: Gravitational Wave Interferometry and Technology Development

Supervisor: Dr Andreas Freise

Please see the web pages of the for research projects.

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