Assistant Professor, EEP
Office: Knudsen 4-107b
Phone: 310-206-4548
Email:
Research Website
Ph.D in Physics, Queen’s University (Canada), 2015
My research interest is in astroparticle physics, more specifically in dark matter search experiments and in neutrino physics.
During my PhD and postdoc, I worked on various experiments utilizing different detection technologies (e.g. bubble chambers, gaseous spherical proportional counters and noble liquid time projection chambers) to search for the missing matter of the universe, so-called dark matter. Nowadays, I am primarily interested in the dual-phase noble liquid xenon time projection chamber (LXe-TPC) which has emerged in recent decades as the best technology to probe for heavy dark matter particles. I am also interested in exploring new technologies that could be used to probe low mass dark matter candidates which are beyond the reach of LXe-TPCs in order to ensure a full coverage of the dark matter mass parameter space and enhance the probability of dark matter discovery.
My main work at UCLA is on the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment, a LXe-TPC dark matter experiment which has been selected by the Department of Energy (DOE) as the U.S. flagship dark matter experiment. In addition to working on the LZ experiment, my research group also works on different R&D projects geared towards the current and future generation of dark matter experiments. Check my research website for more information and contact me if interested in joining my research group!
As an advocate for science outreach, it is my passion to educate students about science and stir up their interests in scientific disciplines, in and outside of classroom settings. So far, I have taught introductory courses in physics to undergraduates. This has been an opportunity to shape students’ views of physics (and science in general) in these foundational years which are critical in determining their educational and career journeys.
D. Akerib et al., LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Collaboration, “First Dark Matter Search Results from the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment”, arXiv:2207.03764 (2022),
D. Akerib et al., LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Collaboration, “The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) radioactivity and cleanliness control programs”, Eur. Phys. J. C 80, 1044 (2020)
M. Szydagis, C. Knight, C. Levy, A. Kamaha, Y. Huang, “The Snowball Chamber: Neutron-Induced Nucleation in Supercooled Water”, arXiv:1807.09253 (2020)
M. Szydagis, C. Knight, C. Levy, A. Kamaha, GM. Blockinger, GRC Rischbieter, N. Parveen “Investigating theXENON1T Low-Energy Electronic Recoil Excess Using NEST”, Phys. Rev. D 103, 012002 (2021)
D. Akerib et al., LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Collaboration, “The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment”, NIM A953:163047 (2020)
D. Akerib et al., LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Collaboration, “Simulations of Events for the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Dark Matter Experiment”, Astroparticle Physics 125:102480 (2021)
D. Akerib et al., LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Collaboration, “Projected sensitivity of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment to the two-neutrino and neutrinoless double beta decays of Xe-134”, Phys. Rev. C 104(6), 065501 (2021)
D. Akerib et al., LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Collaboration, “Projected sensitivity of the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment to the 0vbb decay of Xe-136”, arXiv:1912.04248, (2020)
D. Akerib et al., LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Collaboration, “Projected sensitivities of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment to new physics via low-energy electron recoils”, Phys. Rev. D, 104(9), 092009 (2021)
D. Akerib et al., LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Collaboration, “Enhancing the sensitivity of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) dark matter experiment to low energy signals”, arXiv:2101.08753, (2021)
D. Akerib et al., LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Collaboration, “Cosmogenic production of 37Ar in the context of the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment”, Phys. Rev. D, 105(8), 082004 (2022)
Q .Arnaud et al., NEWS-G Collaboration, “Precision laser-based measurements of the single electron response of SPCs for the NEWS-G light dark matter search experiment”, Phys. Rev. D 99(10), 102003 (2019)
A. Kamaha, “Status and Prospect of NEWS-SNO Experiment”, Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP2016). https://inspirehep.net/files/34e14258cc6860ad7e4b9b860a1b5f56 (2016)
Q. Arnaud et al., NEWS-G Collaboration, “First results from the NEWS-G direct dark matter search experiment at the LSM”, Astroparticle Physics 97: 54-62 (2018)
S. Archambault et al., PICASSO Collaboration, “Final Results of the PICASSO Dark Matter Search Experiment”, Astroparticle Physics 90: 85-92 (2017)
S. Archambaultet al., PICASSO Collaboration,“Searching for Dark Matter with PICASSO” Phys. Procedia 61:107-111 (2015)
S. Archambaultet al., PICASSO Collaboration, “The PICASSO Dark Matter Physics Program at SNOLAB.” ICRC 33:896 (2013)
S. Archambault et al., PICASSO Collaboration, “Constraint on low-mass WIMP interactions on 19F from PICASSO.” Physics Letters B 711.2: 153-161 (2012)
S. Archambault et al., PICASSO Collaboration, “News Insights into Particle Detection with Superheated Liquids,” New Journal of Physics 13.4: 043006 (2011)