Berkeley Undergraduate Researchers
Students in the N3AS undergraduate research program are supported directly by N3AS. In addition to a scientific mentor, the students have a non-science mentor and participate in bi-weekly lectures or activities with N3AS members. Learn more about the program.
You will also find recent scientific poster presentations by undergraduates below.
Meet recent participants
Santiago Rodriguez, Former student;
REU Coordinator, Space Sciences Laboratory
Publication on arXiv.org
by Lucas Johns and Santiago Rodriguez:
Collisional flavor pendula and neutrino quantum thermodynamics →
Neutrino flavor oscillation occurs because neutrinos emitted in a certain flavor are composed of a superposition of different neutrino mass states. In a dense enough environment, neutrino self-interactions synchronize flavor on large scales. In the two-flavor approximation, the resulting dynamics show similar behavior to the classical spinning top and inverted pendulum under some conditions. We explore the neutrino flavor pendulum with the addition of charged-current interactions and absorption/emission processes. In addition, investigating their effects in densities and time scales relevant to the isotropic and monochromatic emission of neutrinos from core-collapse supernovae, similar to neutrino the bulb model. We are able to identify the synchronized and bipolar modes of oscillation and constrain the polarization pendulum to a sphere and a circle in flavor space.
In 2023, Santiago has presented this research at the American Physical Society Far West Section, in San Diego.
Malika Golshan, Former student;
SULI intern at LBL
Neutrinos, once thought to be massless according to the standard model, have proven otherwise due to the fascinating observation of neutrino flavor oscillations. In our research project, we take a unique approach by harnessing the power of machine learning to address a crucial question: Can computers aid in distinguishing between mass-bearing and massless neutrinos? By leveraging Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) on simulated weak lensing maps, our goal is to achieve a more accurate measurement of neutrino mass using cosmological methods.
I am deeply grateful to both my mentors. Vanessa, my initial mentor, provided me with a solid foundation and inspiration for this project. Adrian then became my mentor while transitioning to his postdoctoral position at Princeton. His unwavering dedication and expertise guided me through the intricacies of data analysis.
Malika Golshan
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell, Former student;
Intern, NASA Ames Research Center
Publication accepted by Physical Review D (May 2024)
by Henry Purcell, Sherwood Richers, Amol V. Patwardhan, Francois Foucart:
Three-flavor, Full Momentum Space Neutrino Spin Oscillations in Neutron Star Mergers →
In the presence of anisotropic neutrino and antineutrino fluxes, the quantum kinetic equations drive coherent oscillations in neutrino helicity, frequently referred to as spin oscillations. These oscillations depend directly on the absolute mass scale and Majorana phase, but are usually too transient to produce important effects. In this paper we present a full momentum-space analysis of Majorana neutrino spin oscillations in a snapshot of a three-dimensional neutron star merger simulation. We find an interesting angular dependence that allows for that resonant and adiabatic oscillations to occur along specific directions in a large volume of the merger remnant… read more
Daniel Xing
Graduated 2023, currently training in Los Alamos, working with the DUNE team
Discovering the origin of neutrino’s mass and their oscillation parameters could answer the matter antimatter asymmetry in our universe, and allow us to better understand astrophysics phenomena. Currently, multiple flagship experiments exploring neutrinos are underway, and to have full confidence in their results, accurate and precise neutrino nucleus cross sections are required. My project is to analyze data from lattice QCD calculations to determine one of these cross sections.
Current Students
Student | Research Mentor | Career Mentor |
---|---|---|
Danial Baradaran | Boryana Hadzhiyska | Evan Grohs |
Emilie Cote | Pedro Espino | Anna Suliga |
Sangeeta Kumar | Luca Boccioli | Sanjana Curtis |
Quentin Le Ny | Noah Weaverdyck | Julien Froustey |
Tess Messerer | Evan Rule | Payel Mukhopadhyay |
Nathan Olson | Noah Weaverdyck | Ken McElvain |
Juan Peres | Raul Monsalve | Elena De La Hoz |
Halim Perez Melendez | Malcolm Lazarow | Ivan Burbano |
Pallas Ka’alele Ki’ai Beddow | Satya Gontcho a Gontcho | Tianqi Zhao |
Sophia Risin | Wenbin Lu | Dake Zhou |
Hong Joo Ryoo | Dimitra Pefkou | Evan Rule |
Jorge Sanchez | Sanjana Curtis | Anton Baleato Lizancos |
Sumbal Sharif | Jan Shutte Engel | Ermal Rrapaj |
Samyak Tiwari | Nathaniel Leslie | Lukas Graf |
Shengzhu (Alex) Wang | Anton Baleato Lizancos | Evan Grohs |
Catherine Welch | Mia Kumamoto | Ermal Rrapaj |
Carlin Will | Patrick Cheong | Aaron Meyer |
David Yang | Julien Froustey | Nathaniel Leslie |
Raymond Yum | Manuela Saez | Ermal Rrapaj |
Past Students
Student | Research Mentor | Career Mentor |
---|---|---|
Abhay Agarwal | Manibrata Sen | Xilu Wang |
Tehya Andersen Berkeley Physics PhD program | Luke Johns | Sherwood Richers |
Angela Beatty Great-NS-internship in Nuclear Division, LBNL; San Francisco State Physics MA Program | Anna Suliga | Wick Haxton |
Niranjan Bhatia | Evan Grohs | Xilu Wang |
Yu Hong Chan | Evan Rule | Evan Grohs |
Claire Tianyi Chen | Minas Karamanis | Mengke Li |
Jasmine Crawford | Luke Johns | |
Iman Fahmy UW Seattle Physics PhD program | Ermal Rrapaj | Amol Patwardhan |
Ben Gold | Xilu Wang | Evan Grohs |
Malika Golshan SULI Internship, LBL | Adrian Bayer | Pedro Espino |
Rose Hinson | Joe De Rose | Patrick Cheong |
Vi Hong Berkeley Physics PhD program | Jeff Berryman | Xilu Wang |
Yiran Ke | Baha Balantekin | Manibrata Sen |
Ben Knepper Internship, LBL | Anupam Ray | Ken McElvain |
Kevin Lam | Payel Mukhopadhyay | Anupam Ray |
Brandon Lem FRIB Michigan State PhD Program | Anna Suliga | Nathaniel Leslie |
Terry Li | Wick Haxton | Anna Suliga |
Annie McCutcheon MA, UC Davis | Wick Haxton | Dake Zhou |
Emma McGinness Physics PhD program, U. Chicago | Wick Haxton | Ermal Rrapaj |
Henry Purcell Internship, NASA Ames Research Center | Sherwood Richers | Amol Patwardhan |
Druv Punjabi MS in Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford | Nathaniel Leslie | Aaron Meyer |
Santiago Rodriguez REU Coordinator, Space Sciences Laboratory | Luke Johns | Pedro Espino |
Paul Shin | Amol Patwardhan | Sherwood Richers |
Gabrielle Stewart Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysics Institute Internship | Elena de la Hoz | Noah Sailer |
John Wahlmeier | Ermal Rrapaj | Kenneth McElvain |
Daniel Xing DUNE internship, LANL | Aaron Meyer | Sherwood Richers |
Spring 2024 Talks Schedule
Date | Time | Speakers | Topic | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|
2/6 or 2/14/2024 | 4:00 PM | Raul Monsalve (SSL, LuSee) | Observing the birth of the first stars at the lowest radio frequencies | |
2/22/2024 | TBD | Sanjana Curtis (UC Berkeley Astro Postdoc) | Explosive astrophysical events and the origin of elements | |
3/14/2024 | 2:00 PM | Satya Goncho a Goncho (LBNL, DESI) | Mapping the universe in 3D as a way to learn its evolution and its content | |
3/20/2024 | TBD | Elena De La Hoz (Astrophysics Postdoc) | Detecting primordial gravitational wave signatures within the CMB polarization data | |
4/11/2024 | TBD | Dimitra Pefkou (UC Berkeley Postdoc) | Hadron structure from Lattice QCD | |
4/25/2024 | TBD | Students | Poster prep, practice, review | |
5/2/2024 | 9:00AM – 1:00PM | Student presenters | Poster session |
Fall 2023 Talks Schedule
Date | Time | Speakers | Topic | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|
10/6/2023 | 5:00 PM | Wick Haxton; Laura Fantone; new local mentors | Intro/Social/How to… for new students | |
10/19/2023 | 3:00 PM | Noah Sailer and Tehya Andersen | Applying to Grad School | N3AS 3rd Floor / Zoom |
10/26/2023 | 3:30 PM | Ermal Rrapaj / Malcolm Lazarow | Key Research Skills: reading papers and keeping up with publications in your field | N3AS 3rd Floor / Zoom |
11/2/2023 | 3:30 PM | Kaori Fuyuto | The Mystery of Matter in the Universe | N3AS 3rd Floor / Zoom |
11/17/2023 | 12:00 PM | Luca Boccioli | Core-Collapse Supernovae | N3AS 3rd Floor / Zoom |
11/29, 11/30, and 12/1/2023 | Time TBD | Students | Poster prep, practice, review | N3AS 3rd Floor |
12/7/2023 | 9:00AM – 12:00PM | 10-12 student presenters | Presenters + intro Q&A + reception | Room 375 |
Recent Research Presentations
Poster Anderson — Oscillating Neutrinos as Open Quantum Systems |
Poster Baradaran — Predicting the 21 cm Field with a Hybrid Perturbation Theory Approach |
Poster Bhatia — Big Bang Nucleosynthesis: Characterizing Abundances of Light Abundances |
Poster Chan — Quantum Annealing for Many-Body Physics |
Poster Cote — Simulating Differentially Rotating Hybrid Stars; Classifications of Unknown Transients Using ParSNIP (ULab mentor) |
Poster Crawford — Anomalous Diffusion in MRI: Fractional Derivatives versus Relaxation Spectra |
Poster Fahmy — Bayesian Analysis of the Detection of Astrophysical Neutrinos |
Poster Golshan — Neutrino Detection Using Machine Learning |
Poster Hinson — Redshift Calibrations for Next-Generation Surveys |
Poster Hong — Axion Searches from Chandra Observation of Magnetic White Dwarf |
Poster Kumar — Calculation of Neutrino Propagation Through the Sun; Simulating Supernova 1987A Remnants (ULab mentor) |
Poster Lem — Uncertainties of EFT coupling limits from dark matter direct detection experiments stemming from nuclear shell model calculations |
Poster Messerer — Flavor-Violating Axions: From the Lab to the Cosmos |
Poster Purcell — Neutrino Spin Oscillations Catalyzed by the Fast Flavor Instability |
Poster Risin — Likelihood of tidal disruption events as second generation mergers of binary black holes |
Poster Rodriguez — The Flavor Pendulum in Collective Neutrino Oscillations |
Poster Shin — Cosmology and Non-Standard Equations of State |
Poster Sharif — Optimizing Ground-Based Gravitational Wave Detectors—Resonant Spheres |
Poster Stewart — Advancing CMB component separation: HEALPix Parameters’ maps |
Poster Tiwari — Compact Binary Merger Gravitational Wave (GW) Signal Model for a Rotating Earth |
Poster Wang — Delensing the CMB B-Mode with Simulated Galaxy Density |
Poster Will — Mass Ejecta and Magnetic Winding in a Highly Magnetized, Hypermassive Neutron Star; Magnetic Energy Transfer in Kerr Black Holes (ULab mentor) |
Poster Xing — Violation of the Gell-man–Okubo Relation with Lattice QCD |
Poster Yang — Flavor Oscillations and Sterile Neutrino Production in the Early Universe |
Poster Yum — Classifications of Unknown Transients Using ParSNIP; Argon Cross-Sections and Supernovae Neutrinos at the DUNE Experiment (PDF) |