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Prof. Nikita Blinov
Photonic Structures for Dark Matter Searches
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Supervisor's email nblinov@yorku.ca
Supervisor's lab Web Site https://nblinov.github.io/
Department Physics & Astronomy
Number of positions 1
Project Description
Dark matter (DM) is a key component in our understanding of the universe. Unfortunately, there is no particle within the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics that can serve as DM. As a result, theorists often postulate the existence of additional, yet undiscovered particles that can do the job. Some of these hypotheses involve non-gravitational interactions of DM with SM particles. We will investigate a particular class of models where the DM has very weak interactions with electromagnetism, and as a result can excite electromagnetic fields in the laboratory. The challenge is to maximize the magnitude of these potentially detectable fields. We will investigate DM interactions with photonic devices (micrometer-scale waveguides and resonators that can guide and manipulate light) which have recently been shown to be a promising platform for such searches. Our goal will be to optimize the interaction rate of DM with a photonic detector by varying detector properties (materials, geometry, etc).
Student responsibilities
1) Qualitatively understand the role of dark matter in our understanding of cosmology and structure formation in the universe
2) Develop a working knowledge of simple photonic devices and numerical methods used to study them (as implemented in publicly-available software).
3) Implement and document simulations of photonic structures using publicly-available software (usually written in python) and optimize certain quantities related to the DM-detector interaction rate.
4) Prepare a final report describing findings.
Desired background/skills
- Good working knowledge of electrodynamics at the level of PHYS 3020/4020 (aka Griffiths E&M); experience with quantum mechanics is also helpful
- Experience in Python programming
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Prof. Charles-Édouard Boukaré
Visualization of Geodynamic Simulations using ParaView
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Contact Info: boukare@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 1
Project Description:
Computational power now allows running unprecedented fluid dynamics simulations of planetary interiors. Such calculations are performed on High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities on distant clusters. Fluid dynamic simulations produce a large amount of data. Efficient data visualization tools become inevitable to get the most of the simulations.
The project aims to develop a flexible visualizer for the multiphase fluid dynamics code developed in Prof. Boukaré's group. The student will code python scripts based on the Paraview software infrastructure (https://www.paraview.org). It will be an ideal opportunity to gain more experience in data visualization and data analysis.
Student Responsibilities:
Getting familiar with the format of the raw data produced by the fluid dynamics simulations.
Getting familiar with the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of Paraview.
Learning how to use Paraview in command line using Python.
Writing python scripts to generate various plots and images.
Propose generic Python scripts that could be applied to various projects in our research group with minor tweaks.
Desired Background/Skills:
Strong interest for programming and data visualization. Interest for geophysics and planetary sciences.
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Prof. Deborah Harris
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Lab Website: https://www.yorku.ca/science/profiles/faculty/deborah-harris/
Contact Info: deborahh@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 1
Project Description:
The MINERvA experiment has recorded over million-event samples of neutrino and antineutrino interactions in a fine-grained well-understood detector composed primarily of plastic scintillator augmented by thin passive targets of iron, lead, carbon, and water. The collaboration is preparing a public release of its data and a simulation of the data, and the Undergraduate Research project will be to exercise the prototype version of this "Data Preservation" product to contribute to an antineutrino cross section measurement. These cross section measurements are important inputs to long baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, which need accurate models of both neutrino and antineutrino interactions to correctly interpret their data and measure oscillation probabilities as a function of neutrino energy.
Student Responsibilities:
The student will exercise a new Data Preservation Package that the MINERvA collaboration is assembling for broad use within the field of particle physics. The student will work to extract an antineutrino cross section on hydrocarbon scintillator using this package, and may also contribute to data and simulation processing associated with producing this package.
Desired Background/Skills:
Python, C++, PHYS 4040 or its equivalent.
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Prof. Eric Hessels
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Lab Website: http://edmcubed.com
Contact Info: hessels@gmail.com
Number of Positions: 2
Project Description:
The student will participate in a major initiative at York University (EDMcubed, which stands for Electron Dipole Measurement using Molecules in a Matrix) in which the electric dipole moment of the electron will be measured to unprecedented precision. The measurement takes advantage of the large electric field that an electron experiences inside of a polar molecule (BaF in this case), and takes advantage of the large number of these molecules that can be embedded into a cryogenic sample of solid argon. The electron's electric dipole moment is key to understanding the asymmetry between matter and antimatter in the universe.
Student Responsibilities:
The student’s research will focus around designing, planning and building and optimizing one of the systems needed to make the measurement. Several systems are required, including a cryogenic system, a vacuum system, a molecular ion beam system, a magnetic field system, a radio-frequency system, and an optical detection system. The student will focus on one of these systems, but the choice of which one will be made based on the progress EDMcubed in the intervening months, and in consultation with the student. The student will take away valuable experience in design, building and testing a complex scientific apparatus, as well as being part of a very exciting and high-profile research effort.
Desired Background/Skills:
Successful progress towards an undergraduate degree in physics.
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Prof. Rahul Kannan
The role of Population III stars in high redshift galaxies
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Lab Website: https://www.yorku.ca/science/profiles/faculty/rahul-kannan/
Contact Info: kannanr@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 1
Project Description:
New JWST results show an abundance of luminous massive galaxies that seem to be in tension with current models of galaxy formation. One possible solution to this problem is the idea that these high-redshift galaxies are dominated by metal free Population III stars that have Initial mass functions skewed to the high mass end. This reduces the mass to light ratio, providing a possible solution to this tension. In this project we will look at simulations that model Population III stars in a cosmological setting and try to understand how prevalent these stars are and evaluate if their contribution can be large enough to modify the UV luminosities of the observed high-redshift galaxies.
Student Responsibilities:
The student will be responsible for analyzing data from state-of-the-art large-scale cosmological simulations, writing simple code to plot the results and write up them up.
Desired Background/Skills:
Background in Physics, some experience with Python and an interest in Astrophysics.
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Prof. Ananthraman Kumarakrishnan
Precision Metrology with Homebuilt Laser Systems
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Lab Website: http://datamac.phys.yorku.ca
Contact Info: akumar@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 2
Project Description:
My group has developed a new class of low cost, homebuilt, vacuum-sealed, auto- locking laser systems that can be frequency stabilized with respect to atomic, molecular, and temperature tunable solid state frequency markers without human intervention.
Summer research projects will focus on the applications of these laser systems in several exciting experiments that include:
Ultra cold atom sensors that measure gravitational acceleration with high precision
Optical lattices that can realize the most accurate measurement of a diffusion coefficient-a parameter that is required to model the performance of the most sensitive magnetometers
Coherent transient experiments that are capable of realizing the most precise measurements of atomic lifetimes
Free space optical tweezers that trap dielectric particles, and rapidly determine their masses by investigating kinematics on fast time scales
Student Responsibilities:
Development of individual research projects, assistance to graduate students
Desired Background/Skills:
Aptitude for experimental physics, willingness to take on challenging problems, hands on skills, computer interfacing.
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Prof. Randy Lewis
Theoretical particle physics on quantum computers
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Lab Website: https://www.yorku.ca/lewisr/
Contact Info: randy.lewis@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 2
Project Description:
The standard model of elementary particle physics is a quantum field theory. Strongly interacting quantum field theories can only be solved by computer simulation. There is a hope that quantum computers will bring new opportunities in this research area. Various possibilities are being explored.
Student Responsibilities:
Practical studies will be performed by writing computer codes and running them on IBM quantum computers. Because today's quantum hardware is noisy, emphasis will be placed on methods of error mitigation.
Desired Background/Skills:
Previous experience with quantum physics and quantum computing. The ability to write programs in Python.
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Prof. Ozzy Mermut
Molecular photo-acoustic biomodulation of single cell organisms
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Lab Website: https://omermut.lab.yorku.ca/
Contact Info: omermut@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 1
Project Description:
How do we manipulate bioluminescent aquatic dinoflagellates to control their light emission? How can we develop an artificial muscle based on a molecular photo-switch? How do we discover and develop molecular-scale diagnostic biomarkers for cancer? Interested in studying biomimicry and sensing in living systems with biophotonics? Our project involves using light-activated molecular switches to perturb and probe biological systems using ultra-sensitive single photon counting optical experiments.
Student Responsibilities:
This project is highly trans-disciplinary and will be conducted in close collaborations with Prof. William Pietro (Chemistry) and Prof. Christopher Barrett (McGill, York U Physics). The student is ideally a biophysicist (physicist or chemist), comfortable in learning and developing upon our optical systems. The USRA candidate will prepare optical solutions based on photo-switching chromophores, known as azobenzenes, isolating and integrating the photo-switches into the dinoflagellates, and conduct experiments on biomodulation and investigate pump-probe energetically/kinetics with a new in-house developed photon counting setup. For the more computationally-oriented, the project may involve Density Functional Theory calculations of azobenzene photo-switching energies.
Desired Background/Skills:
The physicist, chemist, or alike, will be comfortable with aqueous and or biological preparations for optical biophysics experiments and be excited to develop/expand upon our optical instrumentation. For computation enthusiasts, the project may be tailored for density functional theory calculations of one of our azobenzene photo-modulation/optical biosensing systems.
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Prof. Balint Radics
Search for Dark Matter and Beyond-Standard-Model physics at CERN
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Contact Info: bradics@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 1
Project Description:
Despite a decade-long search at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and at other frontiers, the nature of Dark Matter remains a puzzle. However, the recently measured deviation between the experimental and theoretical value of the muon anomalous magnetic moment indicates that the muon particle might have non-standard interactions with matter. One interesting possibility recently proposed is that new Beyond-Standard-Model Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) interactions of muons could involve charged lepton flavor violation that manifests at low energy via effective dimension-6 operators. In this project, the unique high-intensity and high-energy muon beam at CERN is used to study the experimental sensitivity of a fixed-target experiment to these proposed effective interactions when high-energy muons undergo scattering on nuclei.
Student Responsibilities:
The student will implement the proposed DIS charged lepton flavor violating signal model and make a simplified event generator to simulate the final state particles of the new interactions in the fixed-target experiment. Then discriminator variables will be introduced to simulate the experimental acceptance and trigger conditions. The student will then produce predictions on the experimental signal features and yield of the hypothetical new muon-nucleon DIS interactions. If there is time, a similar charged lepton flavor violating Dark Matter candidate model will also be studied using the same techniques.
Desired Background/Skills:
Knowledge of special relativity and relativistic kinematics, and some experience in programming in C++ (or Python) and compiling and executing codes on Unix/Linux systems is desired.
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Prof. Sarah Rugheimer
Modeling abiotic oxygen
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Lab Website: https://www.sarahrugheimer.com
Contact Info: srugheim@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 1
Project Description:
The nature of the research project is to model the atmospheres of Earth-like exoplanets in different geological conditions and under different stellar radiation with a goal to understand how terrestrial planets evolve in other star systems to prepare for future observations with JWST and ELT. This project is an interdisciplinary project linking astrophysics, geology, atmospheric chemistry, and biology. The research theme focuses on assessing the habitability of planets along with the detection of biosignatures and potential mechanisms for false positives. The student will be modelling an Earth-sized exoplanet with a lower atmospheric pressure to see if we can trigger false positive mechanisms for oxygen generation. By considering the plausible geological fluxes and redox states of the planet, the student will look at plausible ways of generating gases and their detectability in the atmosphere.
The student will have weekly or bi-weekly meetings with Prof. Rugheimer to learn the coding skills required and training in how to run the models. Prof. Rugheimer also will mentor the student in academic writing and public speaking skills through extra training sessions toward the end of the project. In addition to scientific mentoring, Prof. Rugheimer will also provide general career mentorship to prepare the student for their chosen career path post their undergraduate education.
Student Responsibilities:
The student responsibilities are to keep track of their hours, have a mix of on site working and remote working practices, and show weekly progress by email and/or at group or individual meetings. The student will gain research experience in astrophysics and climate science by modelling the photochemistry and climate of exoplanet atmospheres. The student will gain coding experience in Python and Fortran and experience in using Linux systems. At the conclusion of the project, the student will also gain experience in academic writing and public speaking skills to present their work to the community.
Desired Background/Skills:
Some background in coding and python is required. A familiarity with linux is preferred.
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Prof. Paul Scholz
Studying Fast Radio Bursts with CHIME
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Supervisor's email pscholz@yorku.ca
Supervisor's lab Web Site https://www.yorku.ca/science/profiles/faculty/paul-scholz/
Number of positions 2
Project Description
The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) is a revolutionary radio telescope, located in British Columbia. In its first five years of operation, CHIME has discovered hundreds of new Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), and this discovery rate is expected to continue. FRBs are millisecond-long pulses of radio waves from far outside of our Galaxy of unknown origin. CHIME has brought about a new landscape in the FRB field; for the first time we are able to study FRBs as a population. There are several potential projects using CHIME/FRB data including software and signal processing pipelines, data analysis and visualization. The student will have opportunities to develop skills in radio signal processing, Python programming, statistics, simulations, and machine learning.
Student responsibilities
The student will work with Prof. Scholz and the wider CHIME/FRB team analyzing CHIME/FRB data and helping to develop/improve CHIME/FRB software pipelines using Python. The student will work in a collaborative and vibrant research environment through interactions with CHIME/FRB members at several other institutions. The student will give presentations and share results with the team.
Desired background/skills
Experience with programming, particularly in Python. Interest in Astrophysics.
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Prof. Sean Tulin
Dark matter and the First Stars
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Lab Website: http://www.yorku.ca/stulin
Contact Info: stulin@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 2
Project Description:
Small dark matter structures (minihalos) provided the gravitational seeds for the first stars in the Universe to collapse and ignite. This research will study how dark matter's microphysical properties, such as its possible interactions and forces, can impact the structure of minihalos and the formation of the first stars. A goal of this research, which is theoretical and computational in nature, will be to perform simplified simulations of star-forming gas collapsing in minihalos.
Student Responsibilities:
Student will assist with developing theoretical ideas related to hydrodynamical equations for gas and dark matter evolution in the early Universe. Student will write, run, and debug Python code for implementing these ideas, based on an existing codebase. Student will work in a collaborative and vibrant team environment and will be expected to contribute to group activities, such as giving presentations and sharing results with the team.
Desired Background/Skills:
Prior experience in Python, or enthusiasm for learning Python if no previous experience.
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Prof. William van Wijngaarden
Studies of How Clouds Affect Radiative Transfer through Earth's Atmosphere
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Lab Website: https://www.yorku.ca/science/profiles/faculty/william-van-wijngaarden/
Contact Info: wavw@yorku.ca
Number of Positions: 1
Project Description:
This study will look at how radiation is transferred from the Earth's surface through a cloudy atmosphere to space. The effect of changing greenhouse gases, most notably carbon dioxide, has been calculated for the case of a clear sky. Work is underway to extend these calculations to consider scattering by clouds.
Student Responsibilities:
The student would be exposed to extensive programming using MATLAB and gain background in various numerical approximations.
Desired Background/Skills:
A background in computer programming is essential.
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