Experiments Involved
My experimental work has ranged from the WA98 fixed-target program at CERN, to STAR at RHIC, ALICE at the LHC, SuperCDMS rare-event searches, and participation in future programs such as CBM at FAIR and the ePIC experiment at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC).
WA98 Experiment
WA98 was a CERN-SPS heavy-ion experiment devoted to high-statistics studies of photons, neutral hadrons, charged particles, and their correlations in Pb–Pb collisions. The experiment combined photon measurements, charged-particle multiplicity, calorimetry, particle identification, and correlation measurements to study the hot and dense matter created in relativistic nuclear collisions.
It provided a rich platform for event-by-event studies, photon physics, hadron spectra, correlations, and signatures connected to the QCD phase transition.
Major contribution: Search for disoriented chiral condensates and studies of event-by-event multiplicity fluctuations as signatures of the QCD phase transition.
STAR Experiment
STAR has been one of the major experiments at RHIC, dedicated to understanding strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions and to studying the properties of quark-gluon plasma through a broad set of complementary observables.
Through its large-acceptance detector and wide-ranging particle-identification capabilities, STAR has enabled programmatic studies of the QCD phase diagram, collectivity, jet quenching, strangeness, fluctuations, antimatter production, resonances, and many other aspects of heavy-ion collisions.
STAR took its last data in 2026, marking the close of a long and scientifically transformative phase of RHIC heavy-ion measurements.
Major contribution: RHIC Beam Energy Scan program, QCD critical point and phase diagram, partonic collectivity, jet quenching, anti-matter and nuclei production, strangeness and ϕ-meson studies, resonance production, relativistic dE/dx particle identification at high momentum, longitudinal scaling of photon multiplicity, identified-particle spectra, and all aspects of the STAR Photon Multiplicity Detector design and performance.
ALICE Experiment
ALICE is the dedicated heavy-ion experiment at the CERN LHC, designed to study strongly interacting matter at the highest energy densities available in the laboratory. It explores hadrons, electrons, muons, photons, and nuclei produced in heavy-ion collisions, as well as relevant proton-proton and proton-nucleus reference measurements.
The experiment addresses the physics of quark-gluon plasma, confinement, chiral symmetry restoration, resonance dynamics, spin phenomena, nuclei and antimatter production, and multiple aspects of QCD matter evolution.
Major contribution: Resonance production, spin alignment of vector mesons, photon multiplicity, and all aspects of the ALICE Photon Multiplicity Detector, including test beam work, GEANT studies, simulations, and detector design contributions.
Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS)
SuperCDMS is a leading rare-event search experiment aimed at detecting dark matter using ultra-sensitive cryogenic germanium and silicon detectors. These detectors operate at extremely low temperatures and are designed to identify rare nuclear-recoil signals while rejecting backgrounds from radioactivity and other sources.
This program connects rare-event detector development, background understanding, low-threshold analysis, and broader questions in particle astrophysics and neutrino-related backgrounds.
Major contribution so far: Photo-neutron analysis, lightly ionizing particle searches, background studies from 32Si, feasibility studies for dark-matter searches at DINO and Jaduguda, and dilution-refrigerator-related detector efforts.
Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) Experiment
CBM at FAIR is designed to study strongly interacting matter at high baryon density and to explore regions of the QCD phase diagram complementary to those accessed at RHIC and the LHC. It is particularly relevant for understanding dense nuclear matter, the equation of state, the onset of deconfinement, and critical phenomena.
I joined CBM as an associate member in March 2018 and became a full member in October 2018.
Expected contribution: Critical-point search and spin-alignment studies.
Future Direction
ePIC Experiment at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC)
The Electron-Ion Collider will be the next major facility for precision studies of the quark and gluon structure of nucleons and nuclei. The ePIC experiment is the flagship detector concept for the EIC physics program and will explore the spin, flavor, spatial structure, and emergent dynamics of QCD matter with unprecedented precision.
This program will address precision imaging of sea quarks and gluons, the spin structure of the nucleon, and the universal nature of strong gluon fields in nuclei. It also provides an exciting long-term opportunity to connect heavy-ion and hadronic-structure physics with advanced detector development.
Future possibility being explored: participation in the ePIC experiment at the EIC.