Data analysis of the experimental results is done both at BNL and on campus using the networking facilities of our data processing equipment and our modern workstation computers. Research in the area of liquid crystals is carried out by one faculty member at facilities both on and off campus. On-campus facilities include a modified nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer and a polarizing microscope with temperature stage and video and regular cameras. Much of the research is done in collaboration with scientists at Kent State University in Ohio and the University of Leeds, England. Recent research topics include molecular dynamics and ordering in various phases, the nature of unknown phases, and practical details regarding phase separation, used to make new kinds of materials with switchable optical properties.
Theoretical research is pursued in a number of areas.
The first is the investigation of the physical properties of very dense matter by means of theoretical models. This study is applicable to the properties of neutron stars in astrophysics as no such high-density matter exists terrestrially even in the most advanced laboratory. Our understanding of the properties of matter from atomic physics, nuclear physics as well as high energy physics is applied to extract useful information and extrapolate the properties of very dense matter. A second study in elementary-particle theory investigates quark confinement based on a perturbative framework with a new concept of fields and quantization. A third study deals with the geometrization of classical electrodynamics and other gauge theories based on a modified Finsler geometry with gauge-symmetry structure.