Program Overview

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Physics and Astronomy (PhD)

The Department of Physics and Astronomy offers a graduate program of study in physics focused on several experimental and theoretical fields of contemporary interest.

Program Details

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and the Faculty of Science offer a four-year program of study leading to a Doctor of Philosophy degree.

• Expected duration: 4-6 years
• Tuition and fees: Tuition fees are charged for terms one and two and terms four and five. A continuing fee is paid for term three, term six and each subsequent term.

Admission Requirements

To be considered for admission into the Physics and Astronomy (PhD) program, you must have:

• A master's degree or equivalent from a recognized university with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 in the last two years of full-time university study
• In addition to the admission requirements described here, all applicants must meet the minimum admission and English language proficiency requirements of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

Research Areas

The Department of Physics and Astronomy has active research projects in the following areas:

• Astronomy and astrophysics
• Biophysics and the physics of soft matter
• Condensed matter physics
• Mathematical and theoretical physics
• Medical Physics
• Subatomic and particle physics

Facilities and Equipment

Our students have access to our on-site planetarium and research laboratories with state-of-the-art equipment including:

• Manitoba Quantum Institute (MQI)
• Maker Space
• Ewen Campus Observatory
• Glenlea Observatory
• Lockhart Planetarium
• Manitoba Institute for Materials
• MALDI Mass Spectrometry Facility
• Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility Students also have access to International research facilities such as: TRIUMF (Canada's national sub-atomic physics lab), Compute Canada, National high-performance computing system, Jefferson National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory in the United States.

Course Offerings

Here are some examples of the courses offered for this program:

• PHYS 7260: Mass Spectroscopy
• PHYS 7360: Medical Radiation Physics
• PHYS 7390: Radiation Protection
• PHYS 7500: Condensed Matter Physics 1
• PHYS 7530: Physics of Magnetism
• PHYS 7560: Relativistic Quantum Mechanics
• PHYS 7590: Electromagnetic Theory
• PHYS 7630: Particle Physics
• PHYS 7660: Astronomy 1: The Phenomenology of Galaxies

Application Deadlines

Applications are reviewed on a committee basis. The Admissions committee for Physics and Astronomy reviews applications in March.

• Canadian and US applicants:
  • Term: Fall (September)
  • Annual application deadline: January 15
• International applicants:
  • Term: Fall (September)
  • Annual application deadline: December 1

Faculty and Staff

The Department of Physics and Astronomy was established in 1904, making it one of the oldest departments in the Faculty of Science. We are a medium-sized, research-intensive department. The expertise of our 24 full-time faculty members is recognized by the role they play in numerous committees of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) and the granting arm of NATO, and those of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP).