Todd Duncan

Department of Physics & Engineering

108 Price Hall

tduncan@pacificu.edu

About Me

I study and teach physics as a way of engaging with the deep questions of existence. I'm interested in understanding the nature of ultimate reality as best I can, while helping others discover their own ways to explore deep questions. I try to follow questions and insights where they lead, without worrying too much about subject area categories. Physics & astronomy have been central to my exploration, but my interests overlap with philosophy, systems science, engineering, music, art, poetry, etc. The common theme is investigating systems that appear complex and disconnected on the surface, looking for their simple underlying essence.

Most of my work is focused on science education and outreach, but whenever possible I carve out a little time to stay active in research. I also direct our new Astrophysics Minor. Here's my CV if you'd like more details.

Teaching

My approach to teaching is well-expressed by the words of Parker Palmer, "To educate is to guide students on an inner journey toward more truthful ways of seeing and being in the world." In my classes I focus on providing a welcoming space for conversation and exploration, a solid foundation in the conceptual principles of the subject we're studying, and opportunities to explore applications of these principles with an emphasis on clear connections to students' individual interests and experiences.

Recent classes I've taught include:

Introductory Physics (Algebra-based. PHY 202/204)
Workshop Physics (Calculus-based. PHY 242)
Thermodynamics & Statistical Mechanics (PHY 384)
Waves & Optics (PHY 332)
Advanced Analysis in Physics (PHY 470)
Introduction to Cosmology (SCI/ASTR 172)
Relativity I (PHY 311)
First Year Seminar (Theme: What is Reality? HUM 100)

Current Projects

The common theme to my research interests is that they all help shed light on the core question, "What is the nature of ultimate reality?" (Including what it even means to ask such a question :-) Here are a few topics I'm currently exploring. If you're a student interested in working with me, you're welcome to get involved in any of these projects, or propose something else you'd like to explore. I suggest starting with your own questions: What are you curious about? Spend some time brainstorming the questions you'd most like to investigate, and I can help you turn one or more of those questions into a manageable project. (Here are some of my core questions as examples.)

Looking for Meaning in the Modern Universe: Exploring the Benefits of an Experience-First Ontology

(with physics student Logan Switzer & English Dept. colleague Jenna Thompson)

For understandable reasons, consideration of conscious experience has generally been excluded from the practice of physics. The exclusion of experience from our models of the natural world has preserved an important level of rigor and solved many problems. But it has also created problems and raised questions that may be impossible to answer without bringing this aspect of reality back into consideration as part of our description of the natural world. In this project we're exploring what it might look like to carefully reintegrate consciousness experience into the fundamental ontology of the patterns we investigate in the practice of doing physics. What might we be able to explain as a result of this reintegration, and how might we go about using this new framework to help answer foundational questions in physics?

Fundamental Physics & Big History: Exploring Perspectives on Ultimate Reality (IBHA conference presentation, July 2023)
Meaningful Mystery (Chapter in Science, Religion, & Deep Time, edited by Gustafson, Rodrique, & Blanks, published by Routledge, 2022)
What Makes a Meaningful Universe? (PSU Systems Science Seminar presentation, 2010)
Untangling the Hard Problem of Consciousness (Metanexus, 2009)

Why is the universe so well suited for life?

(with student Logan Switzer)

I'm particularly interested in exploring this question as a way of shedding light on the nature of explanation in general. (post slides for April 2024 talk on this)

Links to Logan's paper & poster presentation from summer 2022.

Exploring the dark matter problem

(with students Maria Ibrahimkhail and Logan Switzer, NASA Oregon Space Grant STARR program)

Link to Logan's poster and white paper from spring 2023.

Variable star photometry & public outreach

(with former physics student Erika Dunning & math student Justin Hurworth)

Exoplanets for Everyone (AAVSO paper)

Foundations of the second law of thermodynamics

(with former physics student Casper Xallen)

In the same spirit that Fuchs, Zeilinger, and others are seeking a deep, conceptual principle that underlies the mathematical rules of quantum mechanics, I'm trying to identify the simple physical principles underlying the broad unversality and inherent irreversibility of the second law of thermodynamics. The ultimate aim of this project is to formulate a simple, direct answer to the question, "What fundamental property of nature would have to change in order to 'turn off' the second law?" Some ideas in this direction are described in:

T. Duncan & J. Semura, "The Deep Physics Behind the Second Law: Information & Entropy as Independent Forms of Bookkeeping." Entropy, pp. 21-29, March 2004. (https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0501014)
T. Duncan & J. Semura, "Information Loss as a Foundational Principle for the Second Law of Thermodynamics." Foundations of Physics 37: 1767-1773, 2007. (https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0703235)

Student Activities

I'll try to keep this section updated with selected examples of what current and former students are up to, to give a sense of the possibilities for new students.

Logan Switzer - NASA Oregon Space Grant Consortium STARR program white paper on the dark matter problem
Erika's work at Sunriver Observatory and astronomy master's program at SDSU
Justin's work at OHSU

A few publications & presentations that introduce some of the core ideas of my work

TEDx talk - The Value of a Cosmic Perspective. (Start here if you want a quick overview of my philosophy and approach to science.)
- Leadership from a Cosmic Perspective. (An essay version of ideas similar to the TEDx video above. )
What Makes a Meaningful Universe? (An attempt to articulate the context of my research and its starting points.)
Untangling the hard problem of consciousness.
Meaningful Mystery (Chapter in Science, Religion, & Deep Time, edited by Gustafson, Rodrique, & Blanks)
Exoplanets for Everyone (AAVSO paper)
Your Cosmic Context: An Introduction to Modern Cosmology (A college textbook I wrote with Craig Tyler, offering an overview of scientific cosmology for non-specialists, with an emphasis on developing your own view of how you fit within the big picture of the universe.)
An Ordinary World: The Role of Science in Your Search for Personal Meaning
Advisory Board and podcast participant in Journey of the Universe, by Mary Evelyn Tucker & Brian Swimme
T. Duncan, "Why Do We Believe in the Second Law?" in Proc. of "First International Conference on Quantum Limits to the Second Law," July 2002, editor D.P. Sheehan (https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0208291v1)
T. Duncan & J. Semura, "The Deep Physics Behind the Second Law: Information & Entropy as Independent Forms of Bookkeeping." Entropy, pp. 21-29, March 2004. (https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0501014)
T. Duncan & J. Semura, "Information Loss as a Foundational Principle for the Second Law of Thermodynamics." Foundations of Physics 37: 1767-1773, 2007. (https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0703235)