Division of Physics An Overview Joe Dehmer Division of Physics BPA April 27, 2007
TOPICS Strategic Goals Organization and Evolution Budget Trends Intellectual Health of Field Priorities Diversity Facilities 2
An Irreducible Set of Strategic Goals Intellectual Frontiers Broader Impacts Education Stewardship 3
Division of Physics AMOP Physics Theoretical Physics Gravitational Physics Elementary Particle Physics Part. & Nucl. Astrophysics Physics Front. Centers Nuclear Physics Biological Physics Physics @ Inform. Front. Education & Interdisc. Res. Accelerator Phy. & Phy. Instrum.
Budget sectors over time 70 60 Core vs Centers vs Facilities core centers facilities % PHY Budget 50 40 30 20 10 0 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Fiscal Year 6
PHYSICS * FRONTIERS,, circa 2007 Bose-Einstein Condensates, Atom Lasers Dark Matter, Dark Energy,, Cosmology Gravitational Waves (GW), GW Astronomy New Fundamental Particles and Laws > TeV n physics and astrophysics String Theory, Branes,, Duality, Quantum Gravity Quark-Gluon Plasma, Supernova Dynamics Ultra-Fast, Ultra-Intense Laser Fields Cyberscience,, Quantum Information Science Biophysics of Single Molecules, Cells, Networks Complexity, Emergent Behavior * CMP in Division of Materials Research 7
PRIORITIES for FY 2007+ Strong, flexible core programs (GDM, >50% of PHY budget) Physics of the Universe (10%/yr) Increase diversity (10%/yr) Strengthen theory (5%/yr) Stewardship of facilities Cultivate new opportunities, e.g., Biological Physics, Physics at the Information Frontier, DUSEL 8
www.nap.edu http://www.ostp.gov/nstc/html/nstc_home.htm
Research Grants with Female PIs 120 # Active Awards 100 80 60 40 20 0 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Fiscal Year PI PI or co-pi Research Grants
Active Awards with Minority PIs 70 60 # Active awards 50 40 30 20 10 0 PI PI or co-pi 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Fiscal Year Research Grants
% All Active Awards 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 % of All Active Awards Women Minority New 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Fiscal Year
Facilities LIGO/AdvLIGO LHC IceCube RSVP (cancelled in 2005) DUSEL NSCL, CESR Midscale: ACT, Auger, CDMS, Borexino, HiRES, Milagro, Stacey, Veritas, MiniBoone, Numi/MINOS, RHIC-SPIN, university based NP accelerators 1
Important Fitness Indicators for Large Projects Dynamite science goals, vetted/prioritized by community Proven technology (1) Stable scope (2) Stable funding (3) Alignment at each level of government within agency(ies) and between branches, with science policy priorities (ACI, benefit to public), with relevant agency processes Stable partnerships among appropriate entities, with international scope above some cost threshold Strong managing partner Socialization with broader scientific community Adequate understanding and tacit support by public Generally favorable budget climate and some luck
LIGO
AdvLIGO is LIGO s 2nd phase: 10x in Sensitivity Extends Listening Volume By Factor of >1000 (!) AdvLIGO in FY 06 Pres. Request for FY 08 start
IceCube Neutrino Observatory South Pole Station 1450m to 2450m ê International project (272M$ TPC); joint OPP/MPS within NSF 1 km3 of ice instrumented with 4800 optical sensors detect h.e. neutrinos from galactic/extra galactic sources neutrinos interact in ice creating h.e. muons, which carry away original momentum, pointing precision of ½ degree Neutrino Astronomy : point sources, origins of h.e. cosmic rays, astrophysics of quasars, pulsars, gamma-ray bursters,
First String Installed at IceCube
LHC GRID Computing Tier Structure University Regional Tier 2 Center PCs University New York Times : To users [at Universities], thousands of computers and millions of gigabytes of data will look like one single computing engine of unprecedented power.
DUSEL DUSEL = Deep Underground Science and Engineering Lab Interdisciplinary Scope: particle physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, geosciences, engineering, biosciences, industry, defense Physics would benefit from lowest cosmic ray flux possible anywhere Proton decay, neutrinoless double beta decay, dark matter detection, long-baseline neutrino experiments, solar and supersovae neutrinos, low-energy nuclear cross sections for nucleosynthesis research, etc. 2