Dr. H. Fearn

Photograph of Dr. Hal Fearn

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Professor of Physics (1991-present)
California State University Fullerton
800 N. State College Blvd.
Fullerton CA 92831 USA.

B.Sc.(Hons) and Ph.D. University of Essex

Office: McCarthy Hall - MH-688
Phone: (657) 278-2767 or physics dept.(657) 278-3366
FAX: (657) 278-2555
Email: hfearn@fullerton.edu

Estes Park Advanced Propulsion Workshop

Since 2016 I have been an organizer of the Estes Park Advanced Propulsion workshop. This workshop has been sponsored by the Space Studies Institute. An overview of the meetings can be found on the ssi.org webpages. These webpages have video links and a link to the full 2016 pdf proceedings.

Estes Park Advanced Propulsion Workshop 2016.

Advanced Propulsion Workshop, at Aerospace Corporation 2017.
The proceedings for the 2017 workshop was published in JBIS vol 70, in a double issue, Nos. 10-11 in Oct-Nov 2017.

Advanced Propulsion Workshop, Estes Park Sept. 2020

In 2021 we will try again at the Estes Park CO Location. I have prebooked the week mon sept 13 -- fri sept 17th.

Hal's Information:

Null test of a Mach Effect Thruster JSE 2013
Exp tests of a Mach Effect Thruster JSE 2014
Mach 0 paper in JMP Feb 2015
Mach I paper in JMP Sept 2015
Mach II paper in JMP Oct 2015
Delayed Choice QE in FOOP Oct 2015
Radiation Reaction force, arXiv

Research Interests

My speciality is theoretical quantum optics, which is the study of the interaction of light with matter. My research is in a variety of topics which come under that general heading. I am also very interested in quantum field theory and have done work in that area (QED in particular). I am currently interested in gravitation and exotic methods of propulsion.

My thesis advisor was Prof. Rodney Loudon FRS, Essex University (Physics dept. which no longer exists!) I have worked with Prof Marlan Scully at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching Germany and at UNM, and Prof. Willis E. Lamb, Jr. at the Optical Sciences Center, Tucson Arizona. In past years I visited Los Alamos in the summers and worked with Peter Milonni and Daniel James. Peter is now an adjuct Professor at Rochester and Daniel is at the University of Toronto in Canada.

Current Professional Associations

I currently collaborate with Jim Woodward on the Mach effect gravity assist drive. I have been attending conferences regularly every year for the last 8 years. AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference (JPC) and Advanced Space Propulsion Workshop (ASPW). Each of these conferences had a paper presented which can be found in the proceedings online. My most recent work has been published in JSE, Journal of Space Exploration, JMP, Journal of modern physics and FOOP, Foundations of physics and JBIS Journal of the British Interstellar Society. Our work on exotic propulsion is partially supported by the Space Studies Institute. We have also been fortunate to be awarded two grants from NASA, NIAC phase I in 2016 (for 9 months) and NIAC GRANT 2017 Phase I and II selections
NIAC Phase I grant 2016 (9 month)
NIAC Phase II grant 2017 (2 years)

Jim's webpage
Mach drive on BoingBoing
Next Big Future thing... Mach effects
Gravity Gizmo's and a grand theory of interstellar travel 2020.
A real Star Trek impulse engine 2021. Bloomberg Film

www.oclug.org

I host, the Linux Users group at CSU Fullerton once a month on saturdays. For info on the Orange County Linux Users Group, click on the juggling penguin.

KITP Fellowship 2003-05

The KITP fellowship allowed me time to work on string theory and to brush up on quantum field theory. I was also proof reading a manuscript on QFT by Prof. Mark Srednicki and got 2/3 the way through. This is now published.

Distinguished Visiting Professor of Physics USAFA 2007-9

I spent two years at the US Air Force Academy teaching. During those two years, I also joined CAP, Civil Air Patrol, and became a Major in CAP. My duties included, emergency services officer, personnel officer , radio operator, ground team leader and aircrew observer. I also trained as an ARCHER operator. My time at USAFA was a great deal of fun. Working for the air force was a great experience I would encourage others to take advantage of.

Physics Courses: I've taught or am teaching

PHYS 225 , PHYS 226 , PHYS 227 , PHYS 227L

PHYS 320 , PHYS 330A, PHYS 330B , PHYS 340

PHYS 411 , PHYS 416 , PHYS 455 , PHYS 476

PHYS 510 , PHYS 520 , PHYS 530A , PHYS 530B

PHYS 516 , PHYS 555A , PHYS 555B , PHYS 560T

Phys 597 Project , Phys 598 Thesis , PHYS 599, Indep. Study

SPECIAL INTEREST:

Feynman Lectures Online
The Particle Adventure (Standard Model)
CERN accelerator physics

General Interest society webpages:

American Inst. of Physics (AIP)
American Physical Society (APS)
Institute of Physics (IOP))
Space Studies Institute (SSI)
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA))
Optical Society of America (OSA))

Ph.D. Pre-qualifying examinations; what to study??

There are several good question and answer books available for purchase for around $50 a piece. These include Major American University PhD Qualifying Questions and solutions books by World Scientific publishers;

"Problems and solutions on quantum mechanics": Edited by Lim Yung-Kuo, paperback (World Scientific 1991 ?)

"Problems and solutions on Electromagnetism", Ed. Lim Yung-Kuo 2002.

"Problems and solutions on thermodynamics and statistical mechanics", Ed Lim Yung-Kuo 2001.

"Problems and solutions on optics" Ed. Lim Yung-Kuo 1991.

Other titles are available for mechanics, atomic and nuclear theory , quantum field theory and particle physics etc.

Also,

"University of Chicago graduate problems in physics with solutions", (Addison-Wesley, 1967).

"Princeton Problems in Physics with solutions", (Princeton press, 1991).

Feynman's thesis has just been published with a couple of his papers. Very nice, check it out. Feynman Papers

Other interesting sites

www.arXiv.org e-prints Cornel Univ. (previously LANL)