Undergraduate Research

Publications of StFX Physics Undergraduate Students Since 2007

At a primarily undergraduate university like StFX, faculty members rely heavily on undergraduate students to perform their research projects. The Physics Department has a very active research program.

Here, it’s very common for undergraduate students to get involved, see how research in physics works, and apply techniques learned in class. Nothing demonstrates this better than a paper co-authored by an undergraduate student. The list below displays all papers since 2007 that represent research done by undergraduate StFX physics students. This includes work done under the supervision of faculty members in and outside of the Department.

If you’re interested in getting involved, have a look at our summer research opportunities or simply email the Chair or the researcher you’d like to work with. 

1. L.M. Farrell, D. Eaton, P. Chitnelawong, K. Bencheikh and B.P. van Zyl
   Preserving the Hermiticity of the one-body density matrix for a non-interacting Fermi gas
   Journal of Physics A 57, 395201 (2024) (link)
2. L.B. Taylor and M.R. Baker
   The general set of Noetherian energy-momentum tensors in linearized gravity: mathematical framework
   Physica Scripta 99, 035258 (2024) (link)
3. K.-P. Marzlin and M.P. Kinach
   Exactly Solvable 2D Model for Photon Propagation in Curved Space: Loss of Interference and Bell Inequality Violation
   Classical and Quantum Gravity 39, 065005 (2022) (link)
4. K.-P. Marzlin, B. Canam and N.R. Agarwal
   Nonlinear atomic force microscopy: Squeezing and skewness of micro-mechanical oscillators interacting with a surface
   Physical Review A 105, 012211 (2022) (link)
5. K. Le Bris, C. MacDougall, P.J. Godin and K. Strong
   Absorption cross-sections, radiative efficiency and global warming potential of HFE-347pcf2 (1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl ether)
   J. Molec. Spectrosc. 379, 111494 (2021) (link)
6. D. Eaton, I. Saika-Voivod, R.K. Bowles, and P.H. Poole
   Free energy surface of two-step nucleation
   J. Chem. Phys. 154, 234507 (2021) (link)
7. N. Callaghan-Patrachar, F. Peyronel, D.A. Pink, A.G. Marangoni, C.P. Adams
   USANS and SANS investigations on the coagulation of commercial bovine milk: Microstructures induced by calf and fungal rennet
   Food Hydrocolloids 116, 106622 (2020) (link)
8. S. Mohandas, R.J. van den Hoogen, D. Winters, and M. Dala
   Kantowski-Sachs Einstein-aether scalar field cosmological models: the sequel
   J. Cosmol. Astroparticle Phys. 21 (2020) (link)
9. K. Le Bris, J. DeZeeuw, P.J. Godin and K. Strong
   Radiative efficiency and global warming potential of the hydrofluoroether HFE-356mec3 (CH₃OCF₂CHFCF₃) from experimental and theoretical infrared absorption cross-sections
   J. Molec. Spectrosc. 367, 111241 (2020) (link)
10. C. P. Adams, N. Callaghan-Patrachar, F. Peyronel, J. Barker, D. A. Pink, and A. G. Marangoni
    Small and ultra-small angle neutron scattering studies of commercial milk
    Food Structure 21, 100120 (2019) (link)
11. P. Chitnelawong, F. Sciortino, and P. H. Poole
    The stability-limit conjecture revisited
    J. Chem. Phys. 150, 234502 (2019)(link)
12. A. Candian, M. Gomes Rachid, H. MacIsaac, V. N. Staroverov, E. Peeters, and J. Cami
    Searching for stable fullerenes in space with computational chemistry
    Monthly Not. Royal Astron. Soc. (2019) (link)
13. D. James, S. Beairsto, C. Hartt, O. Zavalov, I. Saika-Voivod, R.K. Bowles, and P.H. Poole
    Phase transitions in fluctuations and their role in two-step nucleation
    J. Chem. Phys. 150, 074501 (2019) (link)
14. R.J. van den Hoogen, A.A. Coley, B. Alhulaimi, S. Mohandas, E. Knighton and S. O'Neil
    Kantowski-Sachs Einstein-aether scalar field cosmological models
    J. Cosmol. Astrop. Phys. (2018) (link)
15. K. Le Bris, J. DeZeeuw, P. Godin, and K. Strong
    Infrared absorption cross-sections, radiative efficiency and global warming potential of HFC-43-10mee
    J. Mol. Spec., 348, 64 (2018) (link)
16. K.-P. Marzlin and B. Fitzgerald
    Spontaneous emission and atomic line shift in causal perturbation theory
    J. Math. Phys. 59, 042103 (2018) (link)
17. K. Le Bris, J. DeZeeuw, P. Godin, and K. Strong
    Cis- and trans-perfluorodecalin: infrared spectra, radiative efficiency and global warming potential
    J. Quant. Spectrosc. Rad. Transfer, 203, 538 (2017) (link)
18. B. P. van Zyl and W. Ferguson
    Ordered phases in a bilayer system of dipolar fermions
    Phys. Rev. A 993, 053626 (2016) (link)
19. R.K.W. Spencer, P. F. Curry, and R.A. Wickham
    Nucleation of the BCC phase from disorder in a diblock copolymer melt: Testing approximate theories through simulation
    J. Chem. Phys. 145, 144902 (2016) (link)
20. B. P. van Zyl, W. Kirkby, and W. Ferguson
    Density-functional theory for the crystalline phases of a two-dimensional dipolar Fermi gas
    Phys. Rev. A 92, 023614 (2015) (link)
21. J. Towers, B.P. van Zyl, and W. Kirkby
    Testing the nonlocal kinetic energy functional of an inhomogeneous, two-dimensional degenerate Fermi gas within the average density approximation
    Phys. Rev. B 92, 075129 (2015) (link)
22. K.-P. Marzlin and T. Landry
    On the connection between the theorems of Gleason and of Kochen and Specker
    Can. J. Phys. e-publication (2015) (link)
23. Connor R.C. Buhariwalla, R.K. Bowles, I. Saika-Voivod, F. Sciortino, and P.H. Poole
    Free energy of formation of small ice nuclei near the Widom line in simulations of supercooled water
    Eur. Phys. J. E 38, 39 (2015) (link)
24. K.-P. Marzlin and S. Deering
    The Moyal Equation for open quantum systems
    J. Phys. A 48, 205301 (2015) (link)
25. K. Le Bris and L. Graham
    Quantitative comparisons of absorption cross-section spectra and integrated intensities of HFC-143a
    J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer 151, 13 (2015) (link)
26. K.-P. Marzlin and T. Lee
    Interferometry with relativistic electrons
    Phys. Rev. A 89, 062103 (2014) (link)
27. B. Scheifele, I. Saika-Voivod, R.K. Bowles, and P.H. Poole
    Heterogeneous Nucleation in the Low Barrier Regime
    Phys. Rev. E 87, 042407 (2013) (link)
28. Z. MacDonald and B.P. van Zyl
    Finite temperature analytical results for a harmonically confined gas obeying exclusion statistics in d-dimensions
    J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 46, 045001 (2013) (link)
29. J. Roberts, L. L. Graham, B. Quinn, and D. A. Pink
    Modeling the surface of campylobacter fetus: Protein surface layer stability and resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptides
    Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1828, 1143 (2013) (no link given)
30. A. Farrell, Z. MacDonald and B.P. van Zyl
    The Zel'dovich effect in harmonically trapped, ultracold quantum gases
    J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 45, 045303 (2012) (link)
31. A. Farrell, B.P. van Zyl, Z. MacDonald
    Evaluation of inverse integral transforms for undergraduate physics students
    Can. J. Phys. 90, 1 (2012) (link)
32. K. Le Bris, J. McDowell, and K. Strong
    Measurements of the infrared absorption cross-sections of HCFC-141b (CH3CFCl2)
    J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer 113, 1913 (2012) (link)
33. C. J. MacDougall, M. S. Razul, E. Papp-Szabo, F. Peyronel, C. B. Hanna, A. G. Marangoni and D. A. Pink
    Nanoscale characteristics of triacylglycerol oils: phase separation and binding energies of two-component oils to crystalline nanoplatelets
    Faraday Discuss. 158, 425 (2012) (link)
34. D.R. Jackson, A. Mohareb, Jennifer MacNeil, M.S.G. Razul, D.G. Marangoni, and P.H. Poole
    Simulations of a lattice model of two-headed linear amphiphiles: influence of amphiphile asymmetry
    J. Chem. Phys. 134, 204503 (2011) (link)
35. M. J. Cuthbertson and P.H. Poole
    Mixturelike Behavior Near a Liquid-Liquid Phase Transition in Simulations of Supercooled Water
    Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 115706 (2011) (link)
36. B.P. van Zyl, K. Berkane, K. Bencheikh, and A. Farrell
    Gradient corrections to the kinetic energy density functional of a two-dimensional Fermi gas at finite temperature
    Phys. Rev. B 83, 195136 (2011) (link)
37. A. Farrell and B.P. van Zyl
    s-wave scattering and the zero-range limit of the finite square well in arbitrary dimensions
    Can. J. Phys 88, 817 (2010) (link)
38. A. Farrell and B.P. van Zyl
    Universality of the energy spectrum for two interacting harmonically trapped ultra-cold atoms in one and two dimensions
    J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 43, 015302 (2010) (link)
39. M. O. Musa, A. MacDonald, L. Tidswell, J. Holmes and B. Wallbank
    Laser-induced free–free transitions in elastic electron scattering from CO2
    J. Phys. B 43, 175201 (2010) (link)
40. T.D. Hatchard, A.E. George, S.P. Farrell, M.O. Steinitz, C.P. Adams, M. Cormier and R.A. Dunlap
    Production and characterization of 〈1 0 0〉 textured magnetostrictive Fe–Ga rods
    J. Alloys Compd. 494, 420 (2010) (link)
41. P. Shea and B.P. van Zyl
    Thermodynamic properties of a harmonically trapped, two-dimensional charged quantum gas in a magnetic field
    J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 41, 135305 (2008) (link)
42. P. Shea and B.P. van Zyl
    Simple analytical results for harmonically trapped quantum gases
    J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 40, 10589 (2007) (link)