Haiyan Gao Takes Your Questions on Particle Physics Thursday at Noon
a new force of nature. Credit: Megan Morr, Duke Photography.
Tiny particles can hold big secrets. Haiyan Gao, chair of Duke's physics department, probes inside atoms to study the structure and spin of neutrons. One aim of her research is to design experiments that test for the existence of a new fifth fundamental force of nature, in addition to the strong, weak, electromagnetic and gravitational forces.
Gao will answer viewer questions about her research during a live "Office Hours" webcast interview at noon Thursday, March 15, on the Duke University Ustream channel. To pose a question for Gao, send an email to live@duke.edu, post to the Duke University Facebook page, or Tweet with the hashtag #dukelive.
In her research, Gao uses the Helium-3, a rare-Earth isotope of helium, to study the properties of neutrons because it has a single neutron that does not decay quickly the way a free neutron does.
"I knew that to make new discoveries I would have to work with the spin of the neutron," Gao says. "The neutron could be a wonderful laboratory where physicists discover new physics and new forces of nature."
When Gao was a girl growing up in Shanghai, her father encouraged her to pursue physics by recounting stories of female Chinese physicist Chien-Shiung Wu, who came to the U.S. in the 1930s and helped scientists unravel the chain of reactions needed to build the atomic bomb. Gao studied physics at Tsinghua University, graduating first in her class. She came to the U.S. in 1989 and earned a Ph.D. from Caltech five years later.
