News from the Physics Department

Science is exciting! These pages keep you up to date on what is happening at the Physics Department: scientists report on research and campus life.

Pretty with a twist

2020-01-16 – Nanoscience can arrange minute molecular entities into nanometric patterns in an orderly manner using self-assembly protocols. Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have functionalized a simple rod-like building block with hydroxamic acids at both ends. They form molecular networks that not only display the complexity and beauty of mono-component self-assembly on surfaces; they also exhibit exceptional properties.

New Hubble constant measurement using cosmic lenses

2020-01-08 – Using cosmic lenses an international team of astrophysicists determined the universe's expansion rate, completely independent of any previous method. The researchers' result further strengthens a troubling discrepancy between the expansion rate calculated from measurements of the local universe and the rate as predicted from background radiation of the early universe. The new study adds evidence to the idea that new theories may be needed to explain the underlying physics.

Ian Sharp receives ERC Consolidator Grant

2019-12-11 – A further research project from the Physics Department of Technical University of Munich (TUM) is to receive funding in the form of Consolidator Grants from the European Research Council (ERC). Prof. Ian Sharp will work on developing new materials for solar cells.

Changjiang Scholar Award for Peter Fierlinger

2019-12-03 – Für seine Arbeiten zur Erzeugung niedrigster Magnetfelder hat Prof. Dr. Peter Fierlinger vom Physik-Department der TUM den Changjiang Scholar Award verliehen bekommen, die höchste offizielle akademische Auszeichnung in China. Peter Fierlinger leitet die internationale PanEDM-Kooperation, an der neben der TUM auch das Institut Laue-Langevin und chinesische Wissenschaftler beteilligt sind.

High award for physicist of the TUM

2019-11-21 – For his outstanding contributions to applied quantum field theory of fundamental interactions, especially in the field of flavor physics and quantum chromodynamics, Prof. Dr. Andrzej J. Buras, theoretical physicist and emeritus of excellence of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), receives the Max Planck Medal awarded by the German Physical Society (DPG).

An interdisciplinary curriculum and excellent career perspectives

2019-11-19 – The first students in the new TUM Master’s degree program “Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics” will begin in summer semester 2020. In this interview, Julia Herzen, professor of Biomedical Imaging and Speaker of the Study Program, explains why interdisciplinarity is decisive in biomedical technology, what is needed to successfully complete the curriculum and why the degree offers excellent career perspectives.

The quantum internet is within reach

2019-10-24 – An international team headed by physicists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has, for the first time ever, experimentally implemented secure quantum communication in the microwave band in a local quantum network. The new architecture represents a crucial step on the road to distributed quantum computing.

Perfectly suited: New ways in battery research

2019-10-17 – In the last years, lithium ion batteries have spread widely, in particular in mobile applications and in the electromobility sector. New concepts and materials emerge rapidly. These need to be characterized and their interplay needs to be understood in order to increase the efficiency and the lifespan of batteries built upon them. A collaboration of the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum together with the Technical University of Munich is implementing a new method at the FRM II in Garching which is perfectly tailored to research on lithium-ion batteries: Neutron Depth Profiling.

More accurate than expected

2019-09-16 – Because of their extremely small mass, neutrinos play a key role in cosmology and particle physics. After evaluation of the first measurement results in the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment (KATRIN), it is now clear: The previously unknown mass of the neutrinos must be less than 1 electron volt. This result is more accurate than previous measurements and raises hopes of discovering new neutrino properties.

How fast is our Universe expanding?

2019-09-12 – The expansion rate of the Universe today is described by the so-called Hubble constant and different techniques have come to inconsistent results about how fast our Universe actually does expand. An international team including Max Planck@TUM professor Sherry Suyu has now used two gravitational lenses as tools to calibrate the distances to hundreds of observed supernovae and thus measure a fairly high value for the Hubble constant. While the uncertainty is still relatively large, this is higher than that inferred from the cosmic microwave background.

David Egger appointed as professor for Theory of Functional Energy Materials

2019-09-06 – Prof. Dr. David Egger joins TUM’s Physics Department with the prestigious Sofja Kovalevskaja Award of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation. His research field in theoretical physics is focused on energy materials that drive devices for energy conversion and storage such as solar cells and batteries.

Closing in on elusive particles

2019-09-05 – Why is there so much more matter than antimatter in the universe? To proof the conjecture that matter can be created without balancing antimatter, the GERDA experiment in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory is the first to have now reached a sensitivity for the half-life beyond 1026 years, 10 000 000 000 000 000 times the age of the Universe. To further maximize the discovery potential, an international collaboration is preparing for LEGEND, a next generation neutrinoless double beta decay experiment whose spokesperson is Prof. Stefan Schönert of TUM.

EU funding for top-level research

2019-09-04 – The European Research Council (ERC) has announced that seven of its prestigious ERC Starting Grants will be awarded to scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) this year, three of those to researchers at the Physics Department.

Temperatures of 800 billion degrees in the cosmic kitchen

2019-08-23 – It is among the most spectacular events in the universe: a merger of neutron stars. An international team of researchers with strong representation from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has completed the first laboratory measurements of thermal electromagnetic radiation arising in such collisions. The resulting data enabled them to calculate the prevailing temperature when such stars merge.

Stardust in the Antarctic snow

2019-08-22 – The rare isotope iron-60 is created in massive stellar explosions. Only a very small amount of this isotope reaches the earth from distant stars. Now, a research team with significant involvement from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has discovered iron-60 in Antarctic snow for the first time. The scientists suggest that the iron isotope comes from the interstellar neighborhood.

Light in the nanoworld

2019-08-01 – An international team headed up by Alexander Holleitner and Jonathan Finley, physicists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has succeeded in placing light sources in atomically thin material layers with an accuracy of just a few nanometers. The new method allows for a multitude of applications in quantum technologies, from quantum sensors and transistors in smartphones through to new encryption technologies for data transmission.

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