Research Groups and Networks

Faculty : Pierre Bastien, Pierre Bergeron, Claude Carignan, René Doyon, Paul Charbonneau, Gilles Fontaine, Daniel Nadeau, Nicole St-Louis, Alain Vincent and François Wesemael

The professors and researchers of the Group of astronomy and astrophysics examine questions related to the many phases of stellar evolution, from the formation of stars from the protostellar gas to their death as degenerate stars (white dwarfs, neutron stars). They are also interested in the study of brown dwarfs and exoplanets. The phenomena of scattering and of the stellar wind of stars are also of particular interest to the group. This research involves both theoretical and observational studies. Extragalactic astrophysics is done following two principal axes: the stellar content of galaxies, and the internal structure and dynamics of galaxies. Many innovative projects in instrumentation have been done or are in the process of being realized, for subjects as varied as the study of galaxies and the detection of exoplanets by direct imagery. Theoretical calculational tools, numerical modeling, the analysis and the treatment of digital images have also been developed.

With their colleagues at Laval University and at McGill University, the researchers of this group are in the Research Center of Québec Astrophysics (Centre de recherche en astrophysique du Québec — CRAQ), funded by the FQRNT within the context of their Strategic Cluster program. Apart from the Mont Mégantic Observatory, the researchers also use other installations around the world, notably the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, the Gemini telescope, the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the Hubble space telescope, instruments of the national American observatories at Kitt Peak (Arizona), Cerro Tololo (Chili), the radio interferometer of the Very Large Array (New Mexico), and various astronomical satellites, such as FUSE, which detects radiation in the far ultraviolet coming from the cosmos. Three FQRNT teams are included in the group.

The group has also started the Laboratory of experimental astrophysics (Laboratoire d'astrophysique expérimentale — LAE), whose activities aim to promote the conception and construction of groundbreaking astronomical instrumentation in the three-member universities of the CRAQ. The LAE is also active in the construction of instrumentation for other observatories (the CFHT, for example), and in the improvement of all of the equipment in the Mont Mégantic Observatory. This is made possible by major grants from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Ministry of Education of Québec, and other partners.

Group of Biophysics

Faculty: Rikard Blunck and Jean-Yves Lapointe

The biophysics group is involved in the study of fundamental transport mechanisms of ions and organic substances through biological membranes. This transport, which is vital for the cell, is found in a very large number of physiological functions, and the projects analyzed by the group cover a large spectrum, both fundamental and applied. The projects are mainly at the molecular scale and concentrate on the dynamics of membrane proteins and their structure-function relations, the mechanisms of action of the canals, and biological transporters and toxins. The experimental approaches use modern techniques of molecular biology, of electrophysiology, of microspectrofluorescence, of quantitative imaging, and of atomic-force microscopy.

The two biophysicists in the Department of Physics work within the Group of membrane protein functions (Groupe d'étude des protéines membranaires — GéPROM), where other colleagues, notably those in the Department of Physiology, also work on research projects appropriate for physics students.

Group of Condensed Matter Physics

Faculty : Andrea Bianchi, Michel Côté, Richard Leonelli, Yves Lépine, Laurent Lewis, Normand Mousseau, Sjoerd Roorda, François Schiettekatte and Carlos Silva

The research activities of the professors in the group of condensed matter physics involve the study of the physical properties and the technologies of thin films, of surfaces and interfaces in the area of materials, and procedures for micro-electronics and nano-electronics, photonics, and functional coverings. The aim of this research is to understand, at a fundamental level, physical systems which offer an important potential for technological developments. With a solid experimental and theoretical background, the researchers are members of the Research group of thin-film physics and technology (Groupe de recherche en physique et technologie des couches minces — GCM), of considerable resources. The research subjects are varied and complementary, and include the physics of semiconductors and heterostructures of quantum confinement, metallic nanostructured multilayers and their electric and magnetic properties, high-energy ion implantation for the modification and analysis of materials, defects and atomic transport processes in materials, disordered systems and relaxation, etc. These systems are studied using a variety of techniques, both experimental (optical spectroscopy, ionic implantation, etc.) and theoretical ({\it ab initio} calculations coming from the theory of the density functional, molecular dynamics, relaxation algorithms, Monte Carlo kinematics, etc.).

The Group of condensed matter physics enjoys important research grants. The GCM has been recognized as an FCAR Centre of Research for almost 20 years. Along with the centers of materials at McGill and Sherbrooke, it is one of the three poles of the Québec network of Advanced Materials (Réseau québécois sur les matériaux de pointe — RQMP), a Strategic Cluster program of FQRNT. This network is the largest collection of materials researchers in the country, and has significant importance in the area of the latest materials. The GCM is also financed by the network NanoQuébec and receives an important infrastructure grant from NSERC. The theorists are members of the Québec network of high-performance calculations (Réseau québécois de calcul de haute performance — RQCHP) and profit by the very-strong calculational infrastructure, as well as the substantial funds for the development and optimization of computational tools. Three research teams of FQRNT are included in the group..

Group of Particle Physics

Faculty : Louis-André Hamel, Claude Leroy, David London, Richard MacKenzie, Manu Paranjape, Paul Taras and Viktor Zacek

The aim of the Group of particle physics (Groupe de physique des particules — GPP) is to verify the "standard model'' of particle physics and to study possible extensions in various dynamical situations and energy regimes.

The experimental members of the group participate in the ATLAS experiment at the "Large Hadron Collider'' (LHC) at CERN Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. The goal of ATLAS is to search for the Higgs boson, which explains the origin of mass, and to find supersymmetric particles, in particular the neutralino, which can explain the quantity of dark matter in the universe. The group also participates in the PICASSO experiment at SNOLAB Laboratory in Sudbury, Ontario. PICASSO's aim is also to search for candidate particles for dark matter, in particular the neutralino.

The group has a research activity at the national laboratory TRIUMF in Vancouver, where it is involved in particular in the TIGRESS experiment, which uses the radioactive beams of ISAC, re-creating, among other things, the conditions allowing one to study nuclear reactions at the origin of stars. The research of the experimentalists also involves the development of semiconductor detectors for particle detection and imagery. In addition, the group studies irradiation, in particular, the behavior of detectors in strong irradiation. The group is recognized for its expertise in electronics and systems of data acquisition. Many experiments in Canada, in Europe, and in the United States use this expertise regularly. The experimentalists are involved in the FCI project (Fondation Canadienne pour l'Innovation), LADD (Laboratory for Advanced Detector Development), in collaboration with colleagues at UBC. Thanks to financing from the FCI, the GPP has an electronics laboratory and a mechanics workshop which are the "state of the art'' in technology. The GPP also has access to the accelerators (Tandem and Tandetron) of the René-J.-A.-Lévesque Laboratory.

The theory research of the group can be divided in two categories: the phenomenology of the "standard model'' and beyond, on the one hand, and field theory, on the other. The phenomenological studies, which address CP violation, collider physics, and exotic particles, among other things, overlap the activities of the experimentalists. The study of field theory is of fundamental importance for the development of the "standard model,'' and also finds applications in many other branches of physics. The theorists in the group are very active in this field and their research covers a large array of subjects: e.g.\ conformal gravity, superconductivity, field theory in non-commutative space-time, and applications of field theory to cosmology.

Group of Plasma Physics

Faculty : Joëlle Margot, Michel Moisan and Luc Stafford

The professors of the Group of plasma physics work both in the area of fundamental studies, and in the applications of plasmas. In particular, their research activities include the conception, the modeling, and the application of sources of cold plasmas, in particular plasmas produced by electromagnetic fields at high frequency and plasmas created by lasers in the low-flux region. The group also has activities in the area of plasma-surface interactions, more particularly in the synthesis and treatment of micro-materials and nanostructures. To the experimental studies one adds the development of plasma models and plasma-surface interactions, which are essential to the interpretation of the experimental results, and allow one, in some cases, to optimize the sources for a given application. Current projects include, for example, the synthesis and nanometric engraving of complex oxides for electronic applications, the latest optoelectronics and photonics, the study of plasmas produced by lasers in the context of thin films and nanomaterials, as well as the spectroscopy of plasmas produced by lasers, and sterilization of medical objects by plasmas. This research is at the cutting-edge of the area of cold plasmas, and yields major results for which the group is known internationally. This research activity is funded by sources coming both from the government and from industrial contracts. The group plays an important role within the the strategic inter-university network Plasma-Québec, where the scientific direction is currently held at the Université de Montréal.

Group of research in Medical Physics

Faculty : Gilles Beaudoin, Jean-François Carrier, Philippe Després and Frédéric Lacroix

he work of the professors in the medical-physics research group is at the intersection of engineering, physics, and medicine. The two main areas of research in medical physics are instrumentation and algorithm development, which lead to many applications of imaging and therapy. At the CHUM, the research in magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI) plays an important role in the development of acquisition sequences, specialized antennas, and algorithms of image treatment. In radiology, the CHUM equipment includes an X-ray machine based on gas microstrip detectors, which is the basis of a low-dose X-ray imaging program. In radio oncology, the research is concerned principally with planning and treatments. Many research projects involve the modeling of dosage deposit by deterministic or stochastic methods, which is applied both to external radiotherapy and to Curie therapy. Molecular imaging using positron-emission tomography (PET) has become an important subject in medical physics. The CHUM is heavily involved in this activity, with two PET cameras, of which one is dedicated to research.

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Page mise à jour le 18-fév-09