Balraj Menon Faculty Page

Balraj Menon

Assistant Professor
Office: Lewis Science Center, Rm. 167
Telephone: 501-450-3678
FAX: 501-852-2286

E-Mail: menonb@uca.edu

Education
Ph.D., Physics, Utah State University (2003)

Publications

Personal Home Page

Member
American Association of Physics Teachers
American Physical Society
American Mathematical Society

Research
My research focuses on the application of differential geometry and group-theoretic methods to physics; in particular the investigation of symmetry groups and conservation laws in classical field theories like electromagnetism and general relativity and in quantum mechanics. In the past I have also investigated the Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity coupled to Yang-Mills fields. Yang-Mills fields describe the strong and electro-weak interactions in particle physics.
Over the past thirty years symmetry methods have played a significant role in advancing our understanding of a wide range non-linear physical phenomena. Interestingly, however, the application of these methods to elementary physical systems mechanics, electromagnetism and quantum mechanics remain partially unexplored. Undergraduates interested in pursuing these theoretical/mathematical issues in physics could actively participate and make significant contributions to my projects. Furthermore, my research projects will provide the student ample programming experience with the symbolic computation software Maple®.