MSU PHYSICS DEPARTMENT NEWSLETTER

In this issue...

General News	Awards and Honors	Student and Alumni News	Colloquia
Seminars	Presentations and Talks	Publications	Proposals
Travel and Conferences	Visitors	Upcoming Events

November 2000

Moment
Now, starflake frozen on the windowpane
All of a winter night, the open hearth
Blazing beyond Andromeda, the sea-
Anemone and the downwind seed, O moment
Heastening, halting in a clockwise dust,
The time in all the hospitals is now,
Under the arc-lights where the sentry walks
His lonely wall it never moves from now,
The crying in the cell is also now,
And now is quiet in the tomb as now
Explodes inside the sun, and it is now
In the saddle of space, where argosies of dust
Sail outward blazing, and the mind of God,
The flash across the gap of being, thinks
In the instant absence of forever: now.
Howard Nemerov
Verse & Universe, Poems About Science and Mathematics
Edited by Kurt Brown

GENERAL NEWS

On November 28 Mike Murray with the Montana Space Grant Consortium began a radio interview series called "Space Talk" with George Carter at KMMS-AM radio in Bozeman. A one-hour live talk show, the program will run roughly once a month covering current events in Space Grant, NASA, and astronomy. The next edition is scheduled to run January 2 at 9:00 am. Shorter "impromptu" versions ran with Rob Work on the KMMS-FM station on several occasions, mostly to cover information about the International Space Station.

Look up for the Space Station! The Montana Space Grant Consortium website now carries current information about International Space Station activities, and allows viewers to calculate when and where it will appear in the skies over Bozeman (or any other city). Orbital construction is continuing, which will make the ISS look brighter in the coming months and years. Eyewitness sightings have already put the station as bright as Jupiter.

The Montana Science Olympiad is successful at Montana State University because volunteers work together to bring a fun-filled day to Montana students-making science more meaningful!

Over 1,000 Montana students, from 89 schools participated in various science competitions plus a Library hunt. Students had a full day of science competition and were also invited to visit various science departments and labs!

John Hermanson, Physics, gave the opening speech; while Larry Kirkpatrick, Tim Slater, Elisabeth Swanson and others presented the trophies and medals during the awards ceremony. Science entertainment was enjoyed by all-thanks to the physics demos preformed by Jeff Adams and Greg Francis with set-up by Jerry Dimarco. Score keeping ran smoothly and the trophies were awarded thanks to Deb Chard. Wow! It takes a big effort from everyone.

Valier captured the high school division with Fergus County, second; and Big Sandy, third. Big Timber scored high points to win the junior high trophy, Sacajawea was second and Corvallis third. This was the first year we presented trophies to the top three winning teams in the small school category (100 or less enrollment).

Again, thank you for making the Science Olympiad a fun, Montana science competition! SMRC appreciates the Physics department's commitment to making the Science Olympiad a success.

Physics faculty, staff, and students assisting with events and those opening up their labs include: Chija Skala, Sytil Murphy,Anna Hagenston, and George Tuthill - Get Your Bearings; Jeff Adams and Greg Francis - Mission Possible; John Belz, Mike Murray, Janelle Bailey - Reach for the Stars; Jack Dostal, John Chesbrough, Lewis Fox, Mike Obland, Joseph Plowman, Nathan Seldomridge - Wright Stuff/Flight; Dick Smith, Steve Hill, Andy Stephenson - Physics Lab; Kevin Repasky, Elizabeth Noonan, Cyndi Tripp, Sufia West - Scrambler; Tim Slater - Arbitration; Larry Kirkpatrick - Awards Ceremony, Tim Slater, others . . . Deb Chard - Score Keeping, Laurie Howell - Registration. Lab visits: Nancy Equall and Recep Avci; Jil Hallenberg; and Randy Babbitt

AWARDS AND HONORS

The Board of Regents approved President Roark's recommendation that Alex Rebane be granted tenure. Roark concluded his congratulatory letter with the words "The University needs committed, qualified, and productive faculty like you to provide the level of education, research, and service that is the backbone of the institution." Congratulations, Alex. Best wishes for continued success.

Stephen Hill was elected secretary of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory users' advisory committee.

Bill Hiscock has been elected to a second term as Chairman of the Board of the National Space Grant Alliance.

STUDENT and ALUMNI NEWS

Gary Bohannan successfully defended his Ph.D. Thesis, "Application of fractional calculus to polarization dynamics in solid dielectric materials," on Nov. 6, 2000.

COLLOQUIA

"Order and chaos in low dimensional dynamics of coupled oscillators", Jaroslaw Kwapisz, Mathematics Department, Montana State University, Nov. 3.

SEMINARS

Relativity Astrophysics and Solar Seminars
"Chaos and colliding black holes", Neil Cornish, Nov. 1.

"Unequal Arm Gravitational Wave Interferometers", Shane L. Larson, Nov. 9.

"Radiation Reaction Revived And Solved(?)", Louis Rubbo, Nov. 15.

"Modeling Hard X-ray Emission from Flares in 3d Magnetic Geometry", Dana Longcope, Elizabeth Noonan & Piet Martens, Nov. 30.

Condensed Matter Physics
"Application of ToFSIMS to Studying Surface Diffusion: Are we observing a 2-D gas?" Recep Avci, Nov. 1.

"Millimeter and submillimeter wave spectroscopy: opportunities for high magnetic field users", Stephen Hill, Nov. 15.

"Using multidimensional NMR to investigate nonexponential relaxation", Gary Bohannan, Nov. 29.

PRESENTATIONS AND TALKS

Invited Talks
"Application of MeV ion channeling and backscattering to the study of metal/metal epitaxial growth", R.J. Smith, 16th International Conference on the Application of Accelerators in Research and Industry, Nov. 1-4, 2000, Denton TX.

"The Nobel Laboratory Experiments Revisited", R.J. Smith, 16th International Conference on the Application of Accelerators in Research and Industry, Nov. 1-4, 2000, Denton TX.

"The Dark Side of the Galaxy: Investigating the Nature of the Galactic Halo", Shane L. Larson Physics Colloquium, Eastern Washington University.

"Ripples on a Cosmic Sea: Seeing the Universe in Gravitational Waves", Shane L. Larson Spokane Astronomical Society.

"In a Golden Age of Solar Physics: Results from Yohkoh, SOHO, and TRACE", Piet Martens, Memphis State University, Nov. 6.

"Millimeter and Submillimeter Wave Spectroscopy: Opportunities for High Magnetic Field Users", Stephen Hill, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory topical meeting on spectroscopy at high magnetic fields, Nov. 18.

. "Phases in relaxor ferroelectric crystals," by V.H. Schmidt, C.-S. Tu, and B.-C. Cheng, International Symposium on Applications of Ferroelectrics in Honolulu, July 2000.

"Atomic structure of surface atoms: Photoelectron diffraction," Jerry Lapeyre, Polarization Effects on Semiconductors Workshop in East Glacier, Aug. 2000.

"Comparison of piezoelectricity in wurtzite crystals with that in other materials." Hugo Schmidt, Polarization Effects on Semiconductors Workshop in East Glacier, Aug. 2000.

Contributed Talks

Poster Sessions

Abstracts
"Melting of the vortex lattice in k-(ET)2Cu(NCS)2" S. Hill, M.M. Mola, J. S. Brooks and J. S. Qualls, March APS meeting. "Bound charge diffusion and polar nanocluster dynamics in proton glass crystals," V.H. Schmidt; Abstracts Submitted for Ferroelectrics Workshop, February 2001, Williamsburg.

"Nonexponential response in piezoelectric PVDF," G. Bohannan. Abstracts Submitted for Ferroelectrics Workshop, February 2001, Williamsburg.

"First principles calculations for KDP-type ferroelectric crystals," R.A. Stern, B. Tikalsky, and G.F. Tuthill, APS Meeting, March 2001, Seattle.

"Analysis of nonlinear dielectric permittivity of PVDF," P. Shah and V.H. Schmidt, APS Meeting, March 2001, Seattle.

"2D 31P NMR study of Takagi group diffusion in Rb0.50(ND4)0.50D2PO4 deuteron glass," R. Kind, Ch. Jeitziner, P.M. Cereghetti, J. Dolinšek, R. Blinc, and V.H. Schmidt, APS Meeting, March 2001, Seattle.

"Nonexponential response in piezoelectric PVDF," G. Bohannan, APS Meeting, March 2001, Seattle.

PUBLICATIONS

Publications Submitted
"Active region Transient Brightenings. A simultaneous view by SXT, EIT and TRACE", D. Berghmans, D. McKenzie and F. Clette, submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Publications Accepted
"Determination of meteor showers on other planets using comet ephemerides" Shane L. Larson, accepted in Astronomical Journal.

"Closure on Mesospheric/Thermospheric Nitric Oxide Abundance" P. K. Swaminathan, D. F. Strobel, L. Acton and L. J. Paxton, Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, in press.

"Supra-arcade Down-flows in Long-duration Solar Flare Events", D. E. McKenzie and H. S. Hudson, in the book "Magnetic Reconnection in Space and Laboratory Plasmas", a special issue of the journal "Earth, Planets and Space (EPS)".

"Solar Magnetic Fields and Geomagnetic Events", A. A. Pevtsov and R. C. Canfield, JGR, accepted, 2000.

"Phase transitions in the 16-vertex model," R.A. Stern and G.F. Tuthill, to appear in Proc. 48th Midwest Solid State Conf., J. Mod. Phys. B (2000).

"Light scattering from (K0.5Na0.5)0.2(Sr0.75Ba0.25)0.9Nb2O6 with the tungsten bronze structure: An analogy with relaxor ferroelectrics," I.G. Siny, S.G. Lushnikov, S.I. Siny, V.H. Schmidt, A.A. Savvinov, and R.S. Katiyar, J. Appl. Phys. 89 (15 Feb. 2000).

Publications
Online Journey Through Astronomy, David M. Caditz, Bruce W. Harper and Deborah Gale, Published by: Brooks/Cole Thomson Learning, ISBN 0-534-37411-5. "Temperature dependence of the generalized vibrational density of states of sodium bismuth titanate in the ferroelectric phase," S.G. Lushnikov, S.N. Gvasaliya, I.G. Siny, I.L. Sashin, V.H. Schmidt, and Y. Uesu, Solid State Commun. 116, 41 (2000).

"Brillouin and Raman spectra anomalies in KNSBN with the tungsten bronze structure," I.G. Siny, S.G. Lushnikov, S.I. Siny, V.H. Schmidt, A.A. Savvinov, and R.S. Katiyar, Integrated Ferroelectrics 28, 95 (2000).

"Dielectric, NMR, and x-ray diffraction study of pseudo-one-dimensional Cs1-x(NH4)xH2PO4," S. Meschia, S. Lanceros-Méndez, A. Zidanšek, V.H. Schmidt, and R. Larsen, Ferroelectrics 226, 159 (1999).

"Piezoelectric polymer actuators in a vibration isolation application," by G.W. Bohannan, V.H. Schmidt, R.J. Conant, J. Hallenberg, C. Nelson, A. Childs, C. Lukes, J. Ballensky, J. Wehri, B. Tikalsky, and E. McKenzie, Proc. SPIE Smart Structures and Materials 2000, Vol. 3987, 331 (2000).

"Dielectric and relaxational behaviors of (PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3)0.67(PbTiO3)0.33 single crystal," C.-S. Tu , V.H. Schmidt, H. Luo, and F.-C. Chao, Ferroelectrics Lett. 27, 49 (2000).

"Interpretation of complex permittivity in pure and mixed crystals," G.W. Bohannan, AIP Conf. Proc. 535, Fundamental Physics of Ferroelectrics 2000, Aspen Workshop, 250 (2000).

"Light scattering and dielectric measure-ments in (PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3)0.67(PbTiO3)0.33 single crystal," V.H. Schmidt, C.-S. Tu, C.-H. Yeh, H. Luo, and F.-C. Chao, AIP Conf. Proc. 535, Fundamental Physics of Ferroelectrics 2000, Aspen Workshop, 240 (2000).

"Pressure-induced crossover from long-to-short-range order in [Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3O3]0.905(PbTiO3)0.095 single crystal," G.A. Samara, E.L. Venturini, and V.H. Schmidt, Appl. Phys. Lett. 76, 1327 (2000).

PROPOSALS

Proposals Submitted
"Visualization of the microscopic structure at the interface between thin metal films for magnetic sensors", R.J. Smith, to support a high school teacher for two summers in the Partners in Science Program M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust $14,000 for two years.

"Thermal, Chemical and Domain Characterization of High-Strain Piezoelectric Crystals," V.H. Schmidt, PI, Dept. of Defense EPSCoR, $218,953 for period 4/1/01 to 3/31/04.

"Nonlinear, Memory and Transition Phenomena in Ferroelectrics," V.H. Schmidt, PI, and G.F. Tuthill, Co-PI, NSF, $399,112 for period 11/1/01 to 10/31/04.

"Montana NASA EPSCoR Program", William A. Hiscock, P.I., Apr.1, 01-Mar. 31, 04, $2,100,000.

"Operation and Analysis of Data from the High-Resolution Fly's Eye", Murdock Charitable Trust, $14,000, John Belz and Sandra Shutey (Butte High School):

"A Cosmic Ray Spark Chamber for Astronomy Education and Public Display", Montana Space Grant Consortium, $29,298, John Belz.

Proposals Funded

TRAVEL AND CONFERENCES

Canfield participated in the Third Whole Sun Month workshop at Goddard, November 13-15, working on the analysis of coordinated Yohkoh/SoHO/TRACE/GBO observations of the sigmoidal active region AR 8668.

Dick Smith attended 16th International Conference of the Applications of Accelerators in Research and Industry, held Nov 1-4, 2000 at North Texas State University in Denton TX.

Randy Babbitt, Mingzhen Tian, and Randy Reibel traveled to Boulder, CO, for collaboration with Kelvin Wagner, Nov. 1-3.

Bill Hiscock traveled to the University of Montana on November 3rd, where he visited the Physics and Astronomy Department and gave a colloquium "Using theoretical physics to place ultimate bounds on technology: from wormholes to the warp drive". Bill Hiscock also traveled to Utah State University on November 13-15, where he gave the same colloquium, and visited the relativity group at USU, the Rocky Mountain Space Grant Consortium, and the Space Dynamics Laboratory.

Dana Longcope traveled to Boulder, CO, for collaboration with Dr. K.D. Lena, Nov. 3-8.

Larry Kirkpatrick attended an AIP Governing Board meeting to the Industrial Physics Forum, Nov. 4-7, held in San Diego, CA. Larry then traveled to Baltimore, MD, Nov. 15-19, to serve as program organizer of a special AAPT program for the NSTA regional meeting.

Piet Martens presented a seminar in the Physics Department at Memphis State University, Memphis, TN, and also to interact with prospective solar graduate students, Nov. 5-7.

Yves Idzerda traveled to Seattle, WA, to attend EXAFS Symposium at University of Washington, Nov. 9-12.

Randy Babbitt traveled to Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, for LEOS 2000, Nov. 12-16.

Loren Acton attended the XVI Planetary Congress of the Association of Space Explorers in Madrid, Spain, 13-17 November.

Stephen Hill traveled to Los Alamos, NM, to attend National High Magnetic Field Laboratory users advisory board meeting, Nov. 16-19.

Tim Slater gave a Colloquium at the University of Toronto Astronomy Department, Nov. 23-26.

Jerry Lapeyre traveled to NYC, NY, and Boston, MA, for MRS Conference and visit labs, Nov. 25 - Dec. 1.

Shane and Michelle Larson travelled to Washington Nov 29 - Dec 1 to visit Washington State University, Eastern Washington University, and the Spokane Astronomical Society.

Monty Mola traveled to Los Alamos, NM, for a presentation at the National Lab, Nov. 29 - Dec. 3.

Richard Canfield traveled to Baltimore, MD, for collaborative research, Nov. 12-19, and also attended an Air Force Science Advisory Board Meeting and presented a paper, Nov. 29 - Dec. 3.

John Belz traveled to Salt Lake City, UT, for Cosmic Ray Observatory operations, Nov. 30 - Dec. 5.

Kris Merkel traveled to Boulder, CO, for the Third Annual MURI Review, Oct. 10-15.