The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) aims to tackle some of the most fundamental questions in nuclear physics, such as understanding the origin of nucleon spin, nucleon mass, internal structure of nucleons and nuclei, and the properties of dense gluon systems. The physics goals of the EIC present unique and challenging requirements for the design of the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter.
Accurate measurement of electron energy and shower profiles plays a crucial role in distinguishing electrons from background pions in Deep Inelastic Scattering processes. Additionally, the calorimeter must be capable of measuring photon energy and coordinates, as well as identifying single photons originating from processes like Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering and photon pairs from π0 decays.
I am leading the design and physics simulations of the imaging calorimeter optimized for the barrel region of the EIC ePIC detector. This advanced calorimeter combines energy profiles obtained from lead/scintillating fiber layers 1 with precise particle positions from interleaved layers of AstroPix MAPS sensors 2. By providing detailed 3-D images of particle showers, this design offers significantly more information compared to traditional 2-D calorimeters. The synergy between the 3-D nature of the images and AI-based event reconstruction approaches is particularly noteworthy. For instance, our AI-based electron-pion separation using 3-D cluster profiles achieves exceptional performance at lower particle energies, while delivering comparable results to state-of-the-art crystal calorimeters at higher energies, all at a significantly lower cost. Moreover, the excellent position resolution and the ability to measure longitudinal shower profiles enable the separation of $\gamma$s from $\pi^0$ decays at very high momenta above ~10 GeV/c, as well as precise position reconstruction of $\gamma$s, which is crucial for photon physics.
My research focuses on various aspects of detector development, prototyping, modern reconstruction algorithms, and physics simulations. In addition, I serve as a deputy Detector Subsystem Lead for the Barrel Electromagnetic Subsystem Collaboration within the ePIC detector.
Schematic view of the Barrel Electromagnetic Calorimeter (Barrel ECAL) for the ePIC detector.