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Department of Physics and Astronomy News

The Department of Physics and Astronomy offers comprehensive programs on two of the most basic and fundamental sciences–physics and astronomy. Physics is the study of matter, energy, motion, and force. Its concepts help us understand how the universe behaves. Astronomy studies the universe beyond the earth’s atmosphere, including celestial objects and the formation and development of the universe.

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Current Physics and Astronomy News

UNLV Newsmakers 2026: May
undergraduates
Campus News |

A collection of top headlines featuring UNLV faculty and students.

International Network of Observatories Highlights New Level of Precision Gravitational Wave Astronomy
artist depiction of collision of black holes in deep space
Research |

Updated LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA catalog features 161 gravitational wave events between April 2024 and January 2025, including evidence of second-generation black holes and the clearest-ever gravitational wave signal.

The Fountain of Youth for Lithium Batteries
Pravica and his X-ray device.
Research |

UNLV physics lab works on new research harnessing the power of X-rays to extend the lifespan of batteries in electric cars and cell phones.

UNLV Newsmakers 2026: April
springtime bees
Campus News |

A flowery collection of top headlines featuring UNLV faculty and students.

UNLV Newsmakers 2026: March
spring campus
Campus News |

Some of the most vibrant headlines featuring UNLV faculty and students.

Study: New Explanation for Unique ‘Negative Superhump’ Features of Deep-Space Binary Star Systems
Artist depiction of cataclysmic variable star system
Research |

UNLV-led team of astrophysicists resolves decades-old conundrum with new theory on mechanisms driving periodic brightness variations in cataclysmic variable star systems. 
 

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Physics and Astronomy In The News

Summer is not warm because Earth nears the Sun — in truth we sit closest to it every January
Science Blog

Ask people why summer is hot, and a lot of them give the same answer: Earth must be closer to the Sun.The truth runs exactly backwards from the hunch.

Gravitational Wave Catalog Reaches 390 Detections With 161 New Black Hole Collisions
The Eastern Herald

The new GWTC-5.0 catalog adds 161 black hole collision events, confirming Hawking's theorem and identifying second-generation black holes for the first time.

U.S. News & World ranks UNLV strongly in multiple categories
Las Vegas Sun

UNLV appears several times on U.S. News & World’s Report’s new Best Global Universities rankings.

UNLV physicists test X-ray method to regenerate lithium-ion batteries
KVVU-TV: Fox 5

Researchers aim to extend battery life in electric vehicles, phones and laptops instead of sending packs to landfills

Quantum ‘Fingerprints’ May Be Shaping Your Decisions—And Ultimately Your Free Will, Scientist Says
Popular Mechanics

New research suggests that fleeting quantum forces leave lasting imprints on the brain, subtly influencing thought, intuition, and the choices we make.

Can X-rays save your EV battery? A UNLV professor is extending the life of tech
Las Vegas Sun

A UNLV professor is looking to an unlikely source to extend the life of the lithium-ion batteries that have become a part of everyday life: X-rays.

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Physics and Astronomy Experts

Jason Steffen
An expert in astronomy, dark matter, and general physics.
Bing Zhang
An internationally recognized expert in astrophysics.
Ashkan Salamat
An expert in physics and chemistry.
Michael Pravica
A physics professor, whose specialties include high pressure science, explosives, and high radiation flux.
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Recent Physics and Astronomy Accomplishments

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Nevada Center for Astrophysics, Ali Kheirandish
The Nevada Center for Astrophysics (Sciences) is one of many collaborators working to develop a new obeservatory which will expand the field of neutrino astronomy. The Tau Air-shower Mountain-Based Observatory (TAMBO) is the next step in being able to more fully map the high-energy neutrino sky. The project is in the process of site selection for…
Bernard Zygelman
Bernard Zygelman (Physics and Astronomy) attended the San Diego Quantum Convening, held at the Qualcomm Institute on the Campus of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) on May 18-19. An invitation-only event, "The Quantum San Diego Convening (QSDC) is a 1.5-day gathering bringing together leaders from industry, academia, national…
Fabian Vargas Rowan
Fabian Vargas Rowan, a prospective Ph.D. student at UNLV, has been awarded the 2026 U.S. National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Beginning in fall 2026, he will join Yan Zhou’s group in the Department of Physics and Astronomy to work on developing novel quantum sensors aimed at probing fundamental symmetry breaking and exploring…
Yan Zhou
Yan Zhou (Physics and Astronomy) received a five-year Early Career Award from the Department of Energy in the amount of $875,000. By integrating techniques from trapped-ion quantum information processing with the exceptional sensitivity of molecules, Zhou’s team will develop a tabletop experiment capable of probing combined Charge and Parity (CP)…
Jason Steffen
Jason Steffen (Physics and Astronomy) gave a public lecture as part of the science series for the Goettingen Literary Festival in Germany. This invitation was for his book "Hidden in the Heavens" about NASA's Kepler mission. The festival spans two weeks in October and November. Several dozen speakers, including journalists, athletes, authors,…
Jason Steffen
Jason Steffen (Physics and Astronomy) published a book, Hidden in the Heavens, with Princeton University Press. The book is about the NASA Kepler mission, which was instrumental in the discovery of over 5000 planets that orbit distant stars. Steffen was a member of the science team for that mission and was co-chair of one of the working groups.
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