Department of Physics & Astronomy | College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences

Neutron Star Merger

Welcome to the Department of Physics and Astronomy

Research Areas

Research Areas

World leaders in physics & astronomy

Dr. Jing Shi (c) UCR

Multidisciplinary Research

Expertise across disciplines

Nobel Laureate Dr. Barry Barish

Distinguished Faculty

Including Nobel laureate Barry Barrish

UCR PA Diversity

Equity

Committed to diversity and inclusion in science

NGC 2014 and NGC 2020 (c) NASA

Videos

Recordings of recent colloquia, currently held over Zoom

Virtual telescope viewing, moon (YouTube)

Community Outreach

Including Cosmic Thursdays (now via YouTube)

W.M. Keck twin telescopes on Maunakea, Hawai'i (c) Laurie Hatch)

Major in Physics

We are leaders in several subfields of physics & astronomy. We infuse that leadership into education and service. Our research foci include the origin and structure of the universe, the microscopic and macroscopic description of condensed matter and biological systems, and the physics of the environment.

Chair's Welcome

Undergrad Program

Graduate Program

Outreach

January 23, 2025

Dark Matter Helped Solve This Milky Way Mystery

One of the most extensively studied stellar streams within the galactic halo of the Milky Way is the GD-1 stellar stream. It is known for its long, thin structure and distinctive features. It exhibits spur and gap features that have...

January 23, 2025

How we might finally find black holes from the cosmic dawn

Primordial black holes may have been born just after the Big Bang—and might explain dark matter

January 23, 2025

Study: GD-1 Stellar Stream’s Distinctive Features Caused by Self-Interacting Dark Matter Subhalo

A core-collapsing self-interacting dark matter subhalo is responsible for the peculiar spur and gap features observed in GD-1, a stellar stream within the Galactic halo of the Milky Way, according to a new study led by University of California, Riverside...

January 15, 2025

ACS funding supports research with photocatalytic applications

Andrew Joe, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy who joined UC Riverside last year, has received a two-year Doctoral New Investigator, or DNI, grant of $110,000 from the American Chemical Society’s Petroleum Research Fund.

Astronomy square

Atomic square

Atomic, Molecular, and Optical

Particle Theory

Graphene square

Condensed Matter Experiment

Graphene

Condensed Matter Theory

Large Hadron Collider

High-Energy Experiment

Electron-Ion Collider square

Heavy Ion & Spin Physics

Optics square

Physics 2000, courtesy of Ming-Feng Ho

Physics Education Research

Gravitational Waves

Experimental Gravity & Cosmology

Black Holes and the Universe

SHINES is a new Energy Frontier Research Center

Living Histories: Tom Kuhlman