John Belz's Home Page

John Belz Professor of Physics University of Utah 270 S 1400 E #E2108 Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0830 USA Office: LSSB #W2205 Phone: 801-585-9620 email: belz@physics.utah.edu Physics Department home page

Links:

• Current Course Spring 2026:
  
  
  • PHYS5730: Computational Physics II
• Research Interests:
  
  
  • Numerical Relativity
    
    
  • Gamma ray production in lightning
    
    
  • Particle Astrophysics with the Telescope Array observatory
• Selected Publications:
  
  
  • DISCONTINUOUS GALERKIN METHOD APPLIED TO CRITICAL PHENOMENA IN GRAVITATIONAL COLLAPSE,
    S. Johnson, S. Mesicek and J. Belz, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (2025).
    
    
  • BOUNDARY DYNAMICS IN COMPETING CRITICAL BLACK HOLE FORMATION,
    C. Kelson-Packer and J. Belz, Phys. Rev. D 106 084063 (2022).
    
    
  • OBSERVATION OF THE ORIGIN OF DOWNWARD TERRESTRIAL GAMMA-RAY FLASHES,
    J. Belz et al., J. Geophys. Res. 125 e2019JD031940 (2020).
    
    
  • INVESTIGATION INTO LENGTH SCALE DOMINANCE IN CRITICAL BLACK HOLE FORMATION,
    C. Kelson-Packer and J. Belz, Phys. Rev. D 102 084050 (2020).
    
    
  • GAMMA-RAY SHOWERS OBSERVED AT GROUND LEVEL IN COINCIDENCE WITH DOWNWARD LIGHTNING LEADERS,
    R.U. Abbasi et al., J. Geophys. Res. 123 6864-6879 (2018).
    
    
  • FIRST UPPER LIMITS ON THE RADAR CROSS SECTION OF COSMIC-RAY INDUCED EXTENSIVE AIR SHOWERS,
    R.U. Abbasi et al., Astroparticle Physics 87 p1-17 (2017).
    
    
  • MEASUREMENT OF THE PROTON-AIR CROSS SECTION WITH TELESCOPE ARRAY... IN HYBRID MODE,
    R.U. Abbasi et al., Phys. Rev. D 92 032007 (2015).
    
    
  • TELESCOPE ARRAY RADAR (TARA) OBSERVATORY FOR ULTRA-HIGH ENERGY COSMIC RAYS,
    R. Abbasi et al., Nucl. Inst. Meth. A 767 p. 322 (2014).
    
    
  • INDICATIONS OF PROTON-DOMINATED COSMIC-RAY COMPOSITION ABOVE 1.6 EeV,
    by the HiRes Collaboration, R. Abbasi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104 161101 (2010).
• Other Miscellaneous Scientific Links:
  
  
  • Spark Chamber page
    
    
• Flying Links:
  
  
  • Utah Back Country Pilot's Association
    
    
  • Landing at Upper Trail Lake and touring the glaciers, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.
    
    
  • In and out of the Mexican Mountain airstrip in southern Utah's San Rafael Swell.
    
    
  • Departing Sedona AZ and overflight of Grand Canyon via Zuni Point Corridor
    
    
  • Landing at Temple Mountain (Goblin Valley) Airstrip and viewing the pictographs.
    
    
  • Putting her down at Ryan Field, outside of Glacier National Park.
    
    
  • A lap in the pattern at my home airport, Bountiful Skypark.
    
    
  • 1UT takeoff, 2UT landing, and 2UT takeoff, on Fremont Island in the Great Salt Lake.
    
    
  • Lakeside landing and departure, with overflight of the Spiral Jetty.
    
    
  • 11,500 feet over central Idaho
    
    
  • Air tour of the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness in south-central Montana.
    
    
  • Fall colors air tour of Utah's Wasatch Mountains.