An international team including UC Davis astronomers has observed the first example of a new type of supernova. The discovery, confirming a prediction made four decades ago, could lead to new insights into the life and death of stars.

According to our unofficial total of gifts and pledges to the Opportunity Fellowship Fund we need just over $20K more to reach our goal of raising $200K from department members by the July 1 deadline. Will we make it? It’s an exciting cliff hanger. Stay tuned.

Dr. Brian Lemaux, an Associate Project Scientist in the department, as well as a UCD Physics & Astronomy Ph.D. graduate, has accepted a permanent position on the scientific staff of the Gemini-N telescope in Hilo, Hawai’i. Gemini-N, along with its Chilean twin Gemini-S, are among the largest and most productive telescopes in the world.

Gifts and pledges in response to the Opportunity Fellowship fundraising campaign have come from 12 undergrads, 44 grad students, 1 staff member, 1 researcher, 24 faculty members, 2 emeritii faculty, 1 external advisory board member and 1 alumnus.

A team of three faculty groups in the Department of Physics and Astronomy joined their expertise to study a new type of superconductor in which the Cooper pairs have a s-wave spin-triplet symmetry.

Professor Zhu and Professor Taufour recently demonstrated a Sagnac-interferometry-based magneto-optical microscope for imaging magnetic domains of novel crystalline materials at low temperature.

It was recently discovered that the anomalous Nernst effect is dramatically amplified in magnetic Weyl semimetals.

The results of the inaugural UCD Physics & Astronomy Climate Survey were released on April 20th, 2021! This survey was a joint venture between the departmental climate survey committee, departmental leadership, the UCD Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI), the UCD Office of Budget and Institutional Analysis (BIA), and the entire department community.