Not all commencement ceremonies allow the graduate to follow in the footsteps of Isaac Newton. But for Vitaly Vanchurin, the most recent Tufts graduate student to receive a doctorate in the discipline of cosmology, the graduation rite of passage involved a ceremony mimicking the famous Newton scene: Physics Professor Alexander Vilenkin literally dropped an apple on his head.
The ceremony, which took place earlier in October, was a unique one, and so is the subfield of physics in which Vanchurin wrote his thesis: cosmology. According to NASA's Web site, cosmology looks at the large-scale properties of the universe with the aim of understanding its origin, evolution and fate.
Discussion of cosmology is peppered with terms that wouldn't sound out of place in a sci-fi blockbuster: cosmic string, quasar clustering, high-redshift supernovae searches. But for a portion of the physicist community that focuses on the study of cosmology, discussing - and researching - such concepts, all of which are tied to the manner in which the universe developed and continues to unfold, is all in a day's work.
That portion of the physicist community is relatively small. "People who study cosmology study it as a specific interest within physics," Tufts graduate student Delia Perlov said. "Many physicists don't even take cosmology, since it is not required."
Perlov, who is pursuing her doctorate degree and is a member of Tufts' cosmology research group, already has two master's degrees in physics and hopes to earn her cosmology doctorate within the next year.
"I belong to a small group of cosmologists here at Tufts," she said. "Very few students are accepted to this program so, it's very small. Plus, many physics students choose areas of physics to pursue other than cosmology."
Perlov is a member of the graduate cosmology research group at Tufts, which is within the physics and astronomy department. It is led by Vilenkin and Physics Professor Larry Ford.
"The topics currently being studied in the group include cosmic strings, gamma ray bursts from monopoles, and inflationary models of the universe," Ford said.
"We're also interested in the fundamental relationship between quantum theory and Einstein's general theory of relativity," added Ford, who was recently named a Fellow of the American Physical Society for his research on curved and flat spacetime
According to Tufts website, Ford's fellow cosmology research group leader Vilenkin has been at the forefront of particle cosmology research for the last 25 years. He received a five-year grant in 2004 from the National Science Foundation in the amount of $620,000 to further research connecting high-energy physics with observational cosmology. His research looks into areas such as eternal inflation and dark energy physics.
"The goals of our research are to form a better understanding of the physical processes which created our observable universe, and to extend our knowledge of the laws of nature," Ford said.
Perlov hopes the cosmology research group will garner more funds and expand at Tufts in the future. She said that the small group is composed of talented people who, with more resources, would be able to expand their research.
Many undergraduate students are unaware of this research group, however. "I would have never known we had a cosmology research group here at Tufts," freshman Stephanie Kreutz said. "It's not something you often hear about.
Though no concentration in cosmology currently exists for undergraduates, the physics and astronomy department offers some background on the subject in its undergraduate courses.
"There is some cosmology content in the undergraduate astronomy courses offered by the physics and astronomy department," Ford said. He suggested that students interested in the field look into Astronomy 21, which has a focus on cosmology questions, as well as Physics 167, "General Relativity."
According to Ford, interest in cosmology could change the department's offerings. "There are no plans at the moment to add more cosmology-specific courses for undergraduates, but that is a possibility if there is sufficient student interest," Ford said.
The Tufts cosmology research group participates in joint seminars with Harvard and MIT. These seminars occur on Tuesday afternoons, with the location alternating between the three universities. The next seminar at Tufts will be on Nov. 8 at 2:30 p.m., with refreshments served beforehand at 2 p.m.
The cosmology research group also holds lunchtime seminars on Thursday afternoons at 1:15 p.m. in Robinson Hall in room 250 unless otherwise noted. And on Nov. 10, Perlov will be discussing another element of cosmology that sounds like it would be right at home on the big screen: probabilities in the inflationary multiverse (an infinite number of "pocket" universes).
