Roxanne Springer: Physics Theorist


Biography

    Dr. Roxanne Springer is a professor of physics at Duke University.  She specializes in theoretical nuclear and particle physics.  She always wanted to study physics.  Her father was a nuclear engineer who designed nuclear reactors for rockets.  Although his work was classified and so he could not talk about it, Dr. Springer feels some of her physics interest might have come from this.  She did her undergraduate studies at Rice University and her graduate work at California Institute of Technology.  At CalTech, she began by working on chemical physics, but later switched to theory.  Her senior thesis was about figuring out characteristics of the top quark based on studies of the bottom quark.  She was the only women in her research group at the time and felt a little conspicuous.  She recommends lots of math, because it is a very useful tool in her area of research.  Outside of her career, she owns a cat named Myste and she runs marathons.
 
Her Work
    Dr. Springer studies the fundamental constituents of the world.  She studies various matter fields, force fields, and forces.
 
 
Matter Fields Force Fields Forces
leptons photons electromagnetism
     electron gluons strong
     muon w+, w-, z weak
     tau graviton (this particle has not yet been experimentally detected) gravity
neutrons
      quarks

She discussed the various types of quarks.  The up and down quarks make up protons.  Quarks are paired together in up and down, charm and strange, and top and bottom.  Nutrinos are also paired together into three sets ve and e-, vm and m-, and vt and t-.  It is theorized that there can't be any more than these three pairs because then the mass would cause the universe to collapse back down.
    Dr. Springer discussed the usefulness of atom smashing to discover substructure and look for energy distribution.  She used the analogy of throwing a hair band versus a tennis ball against a wall.  The tennis ball bounces back further and the bounce varies more with the force of the throw than the return bounce of the hair band. Particle physics applies to society in that understanding the interactions of particles might eventually lead to an overall theory of everything, a theory that would explain the universe. This is of interest to any people who wonder about the origin of the cosmos and our own existence. To read more about new discoveries in particle physics relating to the universe and about particle physics in general, visit the website of the Fermi Lab by clicking here. For more information about Dr. Springer's research, click here.

by: Elena Edelman and Jenna Vanliere