PHYSICS HIGHLIGHTS 2021 Letter from the Chair Dear Alumni, Parents and Friends of HMC Physics, It is my very great pleasure to be back this year after a wonderfully timed sabbatical and to share with you some of the events that have marked 2021 in the HMC Physics Department. First and foremost, I am delighted to be sitting in my office as I write, listening to snatches of student-faculty conversations once again drifting down the hall and through my open door. This afternoon I chatted with several colleagues passing by in the hallway, stepped out to talk with a tour group, and enjoyed an impromptu sit-down with a student to work through a paper we discussed last week. After a year and a half of “Zoom college,” these in-person and unscheduled interactions seem especially precious whenever they occur. My first day back in the lab with research students this fall left me energized and excited about the year ahead. (It certainly helped that our entangledphoton apparatus functioned better than I had dared to hope after a year and a half!) We are still navigating the global pandemic. Should you visit campus in the near future, here are some of the signs you will see: weekly student testing and occasional quarantine; some classes and office hours under tent canopies outdoors; and masks worn by all, throughout the day. This fall, we welcomed half of the student body to campus for the first time, and only the current seniors have experienced a full academic year at Harvey Mudd; several small traditions usually passed on informally from one class to the next have to be consciously propagated this year if they are to continue. Though, for the most part, we are gradually shedding pandemic practices with sighs of relief, a few innovations triggered by COVID
Professor Sahakian teaches the Physics 151 class in a Jacobs-Keck courtyard outdoor classroom.
are actually positive developments overall and are here to stay. For instance, last year’s Core lab instructors introduced experimental skills in a more deliberately sequenced way that continues to inform the course even as we move from home-based experiments back to the greater range possible in the lab. Hosting colloquium speakers over Zoom creates an opportunity to invite dynamic speakers on a range of research topics without the limitations of travel logistics and expense. Professional collaborations across distance are also easier than ever before; while on sabbatical I organized and attended several workshops on quantum education and forged new collaborative relationships, all quite literally from home. Meanwhile, department members have been busy in the last year. Modern Classical
Mechanics by Professor Vatche Sahakian and Professor Emeritus Tom Helliwell, featured in last fall’s newsletter, was officially available from booksellers starting late in 2020. Several faculty members have new and renewed grant funding for a diverse array of projects, from quantum gravity to drone-based radio surveys. Physics faculty members taught several courses in Harvey Mudd’s new summer session in 2020 and 2021, bringing courses like Special Relativity, Gravitation, Quantum Information, and Climate and Energy not just to HMC and Claremont Colleges students, but also to students from other universities as well as some motivated