Physics and Astronomy

Dustin Swarm, a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, is part of the 2025 Dare to Discover banner campaign, showcasing 80 undergraduate, graduate student, and postdoctoral scholars engaged in promising research, scholarship, and creative activities.

In this Scientific American article, Associate Professor Allison Jaynes discusses peculiar bursts of energy called chorus waves detected in deep space far from our planet. These waves could pose problems for long-distance space travel.

In this article from the Associated Press, Associate Professor Allison Jaynes comments on chorus waves, which ripple at the same frequency as human hearing. When converted to audio signals, their sharp notes mimic high-pitched bird calls. Researchers have captured such sounds in space before, but now they have sensed the chirping waves from much farther away: over 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) from Earth, where they’ve never been measured before.