Physics (PhD)
Graduate School
Graduate Field
Program Description
The graduate physics program is designed to give students a strong background in the concepts and techniques of theoretical and experimental physics in preparation for careers at the most advanced level, including in research, teaching, and applications.
Research and Study Opportunities
Accelerator Physics
Cornell’s accelerator physics program is a leader in a broad range of accelerator science and technology research areas that are highly interdisciplinary in nature. These include photocathodes and high brightness electron sources, ultra-fast electron diffraction, beam dynamics and controls, accelerator design, as well as superconducting radio-frequency materials and technology R&D. Cornell University is known worldwide for training accelerator physicists with one of the largest graduate programs in accelerator physics in the U.S. Extensive on-campus research facilities, including the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR). This program provides graduate students with unrivaled opportunities to be actively and crucially involved in each and every one of the research and accelerator projects being pursued at Cornell. Cornell’s accelerator group is currently deeply involved in the design of the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) and a future linear lepton collider (e.g., the International Linear Collider, ILC), and is also a member of the Center for Bright Beams, an NSF science and technology led by Cornell.
Biological Physics
Biological physics bridges the gap between the physical sciences and the mysteries of living organisms. Our researchers pioneer innovative techniques and theoretical frameworks that drive new discoveries in biology. We design and build cutting-edge instruments, including angular optical traps for probing the rotational dynamics of single molecules, droplet-based systems for studying biomolecular condensates, cryogenic tools for macromolecular crystallography, and high-speed imaging for capturing insect flight. In parallel, we investigate biological processes from first principles, employing rigorous modeling and simulation to uncover the physical laws that govern life at every scale. Together, these experimental and theoretical advances reveal how fundamental physics shapes the living world.
Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
Experimental condensed matter physics at Cornell combines a strong tradition of collaboration with world‑class experimental infrastructure to address fundamental problems in quantum materials science. Research groups work closely together within physics and engage broadly across the university, drawing on shared expertise in materials growth, nanofabrication, spectroscopy, and advanced measurement techniques. Faculty and students make extensive use of Cornell’s exceptional local facilities - including the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR), the Cornell NanoScale Facility (CNF), and the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) - to develop new experimental capabilities and explore emerging quantum phenomena. Current research spans scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) of two‑dimensional materials; transport and thermodynamic studies of bulk and low‑dimensional systems; scanning SQUID microscopy; spintronics; nanostructures and mesoscopic quantum transport; angle‑resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES); and X‑ray scattering.
Experimental and Observational Cosmology
Our research focuses on studying the formation and evolution of the universe using precision measurements of microwave light. These measurements are helping to address fundamental questions about our universe, such as the nature of the dark energy and dark matter that dominate our universe, as we search for evidence of physics beyond the concordance cosmology model. We build novel instrumentation in our laboratories that we deploy on microwave telescopes and analyze the data acquired from years of observations. Our instruments are designed to measure the cosmic microwave background (CMB), characterize emission from early galaxies, improve measurements of galaxy clusters, and enable new searches for time-domain astronomical sources. Cornell researchers are playing significant roles in several microwave observatory projects, including CCAT Observatory, Simons Observatory, TIME, and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope.
Experimental Particle Physics
Our research uses the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, which is the first collider to explore the TeV energy scale, where the Standard Model of particle physics must break down unless new phenomena appear. Cornell is a member of CMS, one of two detector collaborations for elementary particle physics at the LHC. Research topics include mechanisms for electroweak symmetry breaking, including the Higgs mechanism and the study of the shape of the Higgs potential, scenarios for physics beyond the Standard Model such as dark matter, supersymmetry, extra dimensions and new strong interactions, and top quark physics. Cornellians are leading the way in the construction of the innermost tracking detector (TFPX) for the HL-LHC and the brand-new hardware track trigger to be used in the Level-1 hardware trigger, and the installation and commissioning of these systems. Cornell is also investigating the use of ‘smart pixels’ to use machine-learning in the readout of a future collider such as the FCC. We are also involved in precision measurements at Fermilab and Paul Scherrer Institut involving muons and pions that provide stringent tests of the Standard Model. In those efforts, Cornell has provided cutting-edge electronics for triggering and data acquisition.
Physics Education Research
Physics Education Research (PER) is the study of how people learn physics and how to improve the quality of physics education. Researchers use the tools and methods of physics to answer questions about physics teaching and learning that involve knowledge of physics. The Cornell Physics Education Research Lab has a particular focus on studying student learning and experiences in lab courses. They are designing and evaluating innovative teaching methods to harness the affordances of lab courses, namely, working with messy data, getting hands on materials, troubleshooting equipment, and connecting physical models to the real world and data.
Theoretical Physics - Condensed Matter
Modeling all aspects of the physical world, including: novel materials (strongly correlations, unconventional superconductors, topological phases, classification, control), artificial quantum systems (ultracold atoms, analog quantum computers, moiré materials, Floquet quantum matter), quantum information science and its connections with many-body physics, Machine learning and its applications to physics, density functional theory (technical development and novel applications), image reconstruction, statistical mechanics, insect flight (fluid dynamics, neural control, and evolution), physical models of infectious diseases in plants, and their spread.
Theoretical Physics - Particle Physics and Astrophysics
Physics of the standard model and beyond; physics of electroweak symmetry breaking and the TeV scale, Higgs physics; collider phenomenology; flavor physics and neutrino physics; the strong interactions; the physics of dark matter; axion physics; quantum field theory, strongly coupled theories, instantons and monopoles; supersymmetry and extra dimensions; particle astrophysics and cosmology; string theory and its application to cosmology; string compactifications; holography and the AdS/CFT correspondence; conformal field theories; black holes and quantum gravity; quantum information science. Theoretical astrophysics research focuses on modeling gravitational waves generated by binary systems containing neutron stars and black holes using both analytical and numerical techniques, waveform modeling, data analysis, and MHD and neutrino radiation for electromagnetic counterpart signatures.
Concentrations
- Experimental physics
- Physics
- Theoretical physics