Studying and doing research in the Department of Physics and Astronomy
We are delighted to introduce ourselves over the next few pages. Find out more about our institutes, our facilities and units, our degree programs, what our research focuses on and who our partners are as well as the wide range of topics that we present to the general public.
In seeking an explanation to what holds the world together at its core, particle physicists face many unresolved mysteries. The matter and energy we know make up only five percent of the cosmos; but what is the remaining “dark matter” and “dark energy” made of? Why is there so much matter but so little antimatter in the universe? And why do the second most common known particles in the universe, called neutrinos, have such tiny masses? To answer these fundamental questions, the new Clausius Professor Jun.-Prof. Dr. Lena Funcke and her team are developing models beyond the Standard Model of particle physics and applying novel computational methods for calculating model predictions for future experiments. This will be a new research focus at the University of Bonn in the Transdisciplinary Research Area “Building Blocks of Matter and Fundamental Interactions” (TRA “Matter”).
The W boson is the mediator particle of the electroweak force. Discovered in the 1980s at CERN, its properties remain challenging to measure within the Standard Model of particle physics. An international team has now presented a new and improved W-boson mass measurement by the ATLAS experiment at CERN. Physicists from the University of Bonn were involved in the results: Dr. Philipp König and Dr. Oleh Kivernyk are part of the ATLAS team, which has now presented the results at the Moriond electroweak conference. The two young scientists work in the research groups led by Prof. Dr. Klaus Desch and Priv.-Doz. Philip Bechtle and Prof. Dr. Ian Brock at the Physics Institute.
Physicists at the University of Bonn have experimentally proven that an important theorem of statistical physics applies to so-called "Bose-Einstein condensates." Their results now make it possible to measure certain properties of the quantum “superparticles” and deduce system characteristics that would otherwise be difficult to observe. The study has now been published in Physical Review Letters.
The Department of Physics and Astronomy
Below you can find out about our organizational structure and the facilities and units that form part of our department

What’s our setup?
The Department of Physics and Astronomy is made up of four institutes, professors, academic and non-academic staff, and various facilities and units together with their service teams.
Academic affairs
Here you can find details of the teaching and degree programs that we offer.

Degree programs
We run a Bachelor’s degree program in physics, two Master’s degree programs (Physics and Astrophysics) and a teaching degree program (Bsc. and M.ed.) in physics.

Courses
Follow the “Courses” link to find dates for lectures, practical projects/lab courses and preliminary courses.
People
Looking for a particular university professor or member of staff? The links below are bound to help you.

University professors and lecturers
University professors and lecturers guide students through their research and learning.

Staff
You can find our administrative, technical and academic staff at our institutes by following the links below:
at the Argelander Institute for Astronomy, the Institute for Applied Physics, the Institute of Physics and the Helmholtz Institute for Radiation and Nuclear Physics.