Articles from March 2025
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After Tragic Loss, Iowa TRACERS Team Brings NASA Mission to Launch
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
University of Iowa space physicist Craig Kletzing’s life was cut short before he could complete his most ambitious NASA mission. The professor’s colleagues stepped in to bring TRACERS to the launch pad.

Physics and astronomy department partners with engineering student to build 3D Lego model of TRACERS satellites
Monday, March 10, 2025
Ava Reed, a student in the College of Engineering, spent her summer designing and constructing the mini replica of the NASA funded satellite mission.

As Spring Equinox Nears, Look for the Northern Lights
Thursday, March 6, 2025
Associate Professor Allison Jaynes explains to USA Today why there may be more northern lights – or aurora borealis –sightings as we near the spring equinox.
Hammer, Kaufman Win Acevedo Poster Contest
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
The Department of Physics and Astronomy hosted the second annual Acevedo Poster Contest March 4, giving participating students a chance to show how they used computing resources, tools, or techniques in their research.

UI Researchers Study Quantum Floating Phases
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
In a recent article in Nature Communications, University of Iowa Prof. Yannick Meurice and colleagues reported the observation of a new quantum physics phase called the "floating phase," where the crystalline order is not “locked” to an underlying grid. The physical setup is a ladder-shaped array of Rubidium atoms proposed by Meurice as a quantum simulator to study the evolution of charged particles interacting with photons in the context of particle physics. The atoms are prepared in two states and can be interpreted as qubits.

Iowa Researchers Study Ionosphere’s Role in Aurora
Monday, March 3, 2025
Researchers at the University of Iowa, including David Miles, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, have learned more about how Earth’s uppermost atmospheric layer may contribute to aurora, the colorful dance of lights in the skies in the Northern and Southern hemispheres.