The Department offers and M.S. and a Ph.D. in Physics. These degrees are awarded in recognition of demonstrated knowledge of the basic facts and theories of physics and of a demonstrated capacity for independent research. Active programs of research are underway in particle physics, nanophysics, biophysics, medical physics, condensed matter physics, low-temperature physics, plasma physics, gravitational physics, astrophysics, and cosmology.<br><br>In general, graduate study in the physics Ph.D. program is expected to be a full-time activity. Other proposed arrangements should be approved by the Graduate Committee. The normative time for completion of the Ph.D. is six years of full-time study, and the maximum time permitted is seven years. Students may pursue the M.S. on either a full-time or part-time basis.<br>The experimental group, founded by Frederick Reines, who won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the neutrino, currently conducts research at the energy, intensity, and cosmic frontiers. UCI experimentalists play leading roles in collaborations that are searching for new particles and interactions at the Large Hadron Collider, exploring neutrino masses and mixings, looking for new signals of flavor violation, searching for ultra-high energy cosmic neutrinos and dark matter, and probing the nature of cosmic acceleration and dark energy through astronomical surveys of the large-scale structure of the Universe.<br><br>Particle theorists at UC Irvine exploit innovative ideas in particle physics, astroparticle physics, and cosmology, and at the interfaces of these areas to address outstanding problems in a wide variety of fields. These include searches for new particles and forces at colliders, dark matter particle candidates and their observable signatures, neutrino physics, particle cosmology, and quantum gravity.