• Focus on Research
  • High Energy and Particle Astrophysics

  • Astrophysical sources such as neutron stars, black holes, supernovae, and even the big-bang itself require a thorough understanding of high-energy and particle physics to interpret.  Likewise, such phenomena can be used as testing arenas for cutting edge-fundamental physics.

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Astronomy Undergraduate Program at UCSC

Astronomy Undergraduate Program at UCSC

In the past few decades, astronomy has undergone an exponential growth thanks to the development of increasingly more sophisticated observational tools, from ground-based telescopes, to space observatories and space missions for the exploration of our solar system's constituents. The UCSC astronomy department's faculty is involved in a wide range of research areas, including extrasolar planetary systems, cosmology, the formation and evolution of stars and galaxies, high-energy astrophysics, active galaxies, supernovae and nucleosynthesis, the motions of stars and galaxies, and all aspects of observational optical and infrared astronomy (link to research pages at http://www.astro.ucsc.edu/research/index.html). Virtually every branch of modern physics must be brought to bear in interpreting new observations: optics, mechanics, relativity, atomic and nuclear physics, applied mathematics, chemistry, geology, and meteorology. We thus maintain strong ties with the Physics Department (link: http://physics.ucsc.edu/), the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department (link: http://www.es.ucsc.edu/) and the Applied Math Department (link: http://www.ams.ucsc.edu/). The interdisciplinary nature of astronomy, including its historical and philosophical elements, makes its study valuable to those planning careers in a variety of related fields. 

Rather than a major in Astronomy, UCSC offers a Physics/Astrophysics Major that includes much of the physics curriculum, plus a selection of astronomy and astrophysics coursework.

UCSC's departments also offer a host of Undergraduate research opportunities; for an incomplete list of other research opportunities outside of UCSC, see here.