In 2011, with a probing tip functionalized with a CO molecule, internal details of molecular wavefunctions, the nodal structures, was experimentally observed and mapped in real space using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Together with the charge density contours of atomic and molecular wavefunctions directly observed and mapped by STM in the 2000s, wavefunctions are proven to be an observable physical field. A fact is, STM is a non-destructive imaging method, and the measurement process does not disturb the wavefunctions under observation. For many decades, wavefunction has been imagined as an abstract complex subject, not directly observable. The new developments showed that wavefunction is an observable, like electrical and magnetic fields. Those new developments enable a realistic interpretation of quantum mechanics, as advocated by Planck, Einstein, Schrödinger and de Broglie; and enable a significant simplification in teaching and learning quantum mechanics. 

(The original title was **Experimental Observation and Mapping of Atomic and Molecular Wavefunctions: Consequences on the Fundamental Understanding of Quantum Mechanics**). 


Wavefunction Is an Observable Physical Field

According to an elementary concept of Newtonian mechanics, the universe consists of structureless material points, each has an intrinsic mass, representable by a geometrical point and a trajectory r(t) in space. However, it implies an infinite density, that is naïve. In the second half of the 20th century, quantum field theory was established, which correctly describes the universe as consists of continuous fields only. Upon interacting with other fields, mass, energy, and electrical charge are quantized. There are no material points. Nevertheless, in the first half of the 20th century, elementary formulations of quantum mechanics were built upon the naïve concept of material points, where the coordinates r were identified as a dynamic variable or observable, which was the origin of paradoxes in elementary quantum mechanics.  By eliminating the concept of material points and following the modern view that the universe only consists of continuous fields, quantum mechanics becomes free from paradoxes.       
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
References

Frank Wilczek, The Persistence of Ether, Physics Today, January 1999, 11-13. 
Art Hobson. There are no particles, there are only fields, Am. J. Phys, 82 211 (2013).


What the Universe Consists of: Material Points or Continuous Fields?

The Big Astronomy Project released a planetarium show during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. This resulted in a planetarium show that was streamed as a 360-degree YouTube stream and then shown in-person at planetariums after. This provides an opportunity to compare and contrast various aspects of learning across two modalities. One such aspect we can study is the social aspects of learning between the two. Using frameworks such as the contextual model of learning and the Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) we explore through audience interviews and survey responses how social norms and expectations are different and how that impacts audience engagement. Areas of focus include expectations of how much people should or should not talk during a show, who people watch and discuss the show with afterward, and an analysis of the live chat function of a YouTube stream.

Exploring the different social learning environments of online and in-person planetarium shows

In 2017, students from Portland Community College performed the Modern Eddington Experiment during the total eclipse crossing the nation, and became the first students in history to measure the curvature of space by determining the Einstein Coefficient. Now in 2024, with even better equipment, teams are being recruited for performance of the experiment at a wonderful spot in central Mexico in April 2024. With four teams committed already, you to can involve your students in this extraordinary international research experience. We plan to perform the experiment more accurately than ever done before! This talk will show you how to do this. The long range plan is to make the Modern Eddington Experiment a routine experiment in general relativity for the Advanced Lab courses at many schools during the future eclipses in 2026 and 2028 and beyond.

Modern Eddington Experiment

This research focuses on the experiences of three undergraduate white women who are physics and astronomy majors. Specifically we conducted semi-structured, empathetic interviews which reveal how uncomfortable physics environments inside and outside of the classroom exclude undergraduate women. The women give accounts of the behaviors of their male peers and instructors that influenced the physics culture. We use standpoint theory to focus on the experiences of undergraduate women to provide a holistic perspective of physics as well as identify key issues that these women faced in their undergraduate physics program and potential strategies to implement in the future to support undergraduate women in physics and astronomy. Some of their suggestions include providing mentoring for women, holding members of the department accountable, providing feedback for instructors, and training sessions.

Negative impacts of an unwelcoming physics environment on undergraduate women

Most science and engineering degrees at Penn State require that our students transfer to a different campus to complete their degree, so we have targeted first and second-year students and students with non-science majors. We try to provide a meaningful research experience without overwhelming them. The Green Bank Observatory (GBO) has dedicated two smaller telescopes for educational use. Our students have recently studied giant pulses from the Crab pulsar (PSR J0534-3300) and the Vela pulsar (PSR J0835-4510) using the GBO 20-meter telescope remotely. Giant pulses are rare, exceptionally large radio pulses and have only been detected in a small number of pulsars. Interactive Jupyter notebooks were developed to process the telescope data. Text files, produced by the notebooks, listing the detected giant pulses, are downloaded to students' laptops and analyzed using spreadsheet programs.

Radio Astronomy Research Experiences for Undergraduates

Pulsars were discovered in 1967 and quickly identified as highly magnetized, fast rotating neutron stars. They are remnants of the explosion of a star known as a supernova. A neutron star has a diameter of about 7 miles and about twice as much mass as our Sun. Pulsars spin several times per second and have a magnetic field that can be a trillion times stronger than the one on Earth. As they age they emit electromagnetic radiation ranging from radio waves, visible light possibly up to gamma-rays. Their rotation causes their emission to be received in the form of pulses on Earth. The regularity of these pulses is the reason why they are often referred to as clocks in the sky. Some of them are more regular than others.

Pulsars -The Story of the Stellar Clocks in the Sky

QuarkNet's Cosmic Ray e-Lab provides an online environment in which students experience the excitement of scientific collaboration in this series of investigations into high-energy cosmic rays. Schools with cosmic ray muon detectors upload data and use the eLab for data analysis. The format allows schools that do not have detectors to participate in research by analyzing shared data. A brief overview of different analysis tools will be presented.</p>

Classroom Tool for High Energy Physics Analysis: QuarkNet e-Lab

This talk describes a two-week module on astrodynamics developed for incoming STEM students. The goal of the module is for students to design and simulate a mission from Earth to Venus using the Hohmann transfer---a space maneuver used to travel between two planetary orbits. This application was selected because it utilizes a variety of introductory physics topics. The participants were all low-income, Pell-eligible college students; most were Black, Hispanic, and/or first-generation college students. This group is most at risk of leaving STEM, yet 80% of students who took this course were retained in STEM. In this talk we will present the course learning objectives, details of the Hohmann transfer simulation in VPython, and student outcomes including grades, retention rates, and survey results. This module could be replicated at the high school or college levels to help students achieve proficiency in programming while learning basic physics and astronomy content.</p>

Summer Short Course on Astrodynamics for Incoming STEM Majors

One advantage of using Open Education Resources is increased flexibility in pedagogical strategies. If learning materials are restricted to publisher-derived content, instructors are forced to model their teaching methodologies around those resources. Thus,instructors are unable to utilize alternative resources if they “compete” with publisher content or would overwhelm students. This is especially true with respect to institutions that standardize content across course sections, and any deviation is considered inappropriate. OER allows instructors at community colleges&nbsp;to tailor learning materials to the local demographics and state-wide observations.&nbsp;This project's OER laboratories will allow faculty to choose and customize their learning materials. Many of Chattanooga State's students are from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds (e.g. Pell-eligible, minority race, non-traditional/returning students, and academically underprepared), many introductory astronomy students will benefit from decreased course costs. This presentation is our flagship laboratory on Expansion of the Universe and utilizes coding, spectroscopy and mathematical methods.</p>

Expansion of the Universe: an OER approach to Hubble's Constant

This research focuses on data collected from Canvas on grades, participation, page views and student activity with the course material from one synchronous section and one asynchronous section of an introductory astronomy course. The course was participation based with chapter quizzes, tutorials, tutorial quizzes and written assignments. No exams were given. The analysis of the correlation between participation per week and grades per week was made, showing that engagement with the course material and canvas did not impact grades. There was no established relationship made. Students that interacted the most or the least, still received grades that were scattered. For the synchronous and asynchronous sections, as the semester progressed, the average page views decreased. However, when studying the average participation per week, the synchronous class had no specific correlation but the asynchronous section had a steady, linear increase.</p>

Trends Seen In an Introductory Astronomy Course Graded on Participation

Reflectance spectra properties are one of the most important information we can acquire from different bodies in the Solar System to classify them. A natural sampling of extraterrestrial material is represented by meteorites that can provide crucial information on the origin and evolution of their parent bodies. At present, sample return missions are one of the primary goals of the Solar System exploration.(e.g. Hayabusa 1 and 2; OSIRIS-REx). In particular, these missions are addressing asteroids formed by chondritic material, however among the minor bodies some have experienced process of differentiation and magmatic evolution and for these bodies the only sampling is provided by achondritic meteorites. These can span from primitive to highly differentiated and they are mainly composed of mafic minerals, feldspars and other minor compounds. These mineral phases can be investigated by VNIR spectroscopy to associate them to their parental bodies. In particular, within mafic minerals olivine is considered a paradox, as being a mineral forming the mantle of differentiated bodies, it would be expected to be present in a larger number of asteroids than it has been observed. Here we present preliminary spectroscopic results of a set of ungrouped achondrites (e.g. Al Huwaysah 010, NWA 5400, NWA 6704, NWA 6112, A 881548) with different amounts of olivine and variable Fe-Mg composition. These samples are studied by means of the VNIR reflectance spectroscopy to compare their spectra with available ones from literature. This procedure allowed us  to study the olivine composition in this spectral range and also the olivine amounts with respect the other main phases. From these samples we evidence how the olivine is clearly present in NWA 5400, Al Hawaysah 010, and NWA 6116. These meteorites are also the darker samples, with the first two samples showing a weak 2 mm band, indicative of the presence of pyroxene. The NWA 6704 and A 88548 are brighter and spectrally dominated by pyroxene, even if an asymmetry in the 1 mm band is present, suggesting the presence of olivine in lower abundance. These results are supported by detailed petrographic and mineralogical analysis of the selected samples. These achondrites are investigated both as powders and slab of rocks to show also the different effects due to the presence of a powdered regolith or a bedrock exposure. VNIR reflectance spectroscopy results will be also compared against possible parental bodies. Moreover, we characterized also the MidIR (i.e. 7-14 mm) range, where vibrational absorptions associated to the silicates are present. These analyses allowed us to detect mineralogical variation for these materials and they could be used as a  tool for future  planetary exploration of small bodies and planetary surfaces.

Underline digital video library

Wavefunction Is an Observable Physical Field

What the Universe Consists of: Material Points or Continuous Fields?

Exploring the different social learning environments of online and in-person planetarium shows

Modern Eddington Experiment

Negative impacts of an unwelcoming physics environment on undergraduate women

Radio Astronomy Research Experiences for Undergraduates

Pulsars -The Story of the Stellar Clocks in the Sky

Classroom Tool for High Energy Physics Analysis: QuarkNet e-Lab

Summer Short Course on Astrodynamics for Incoming STEM Majors

Expansion of the Universe: an OER approach to Hubble's Constant

Trends Seen In an Introductory Astronomy Course Graded on Participation

VNIR spectral properties of olivine bearing Ungrouped Achondrites

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