Susan Gardner

Research Interests:
Nuclear Physics
Particle Physics
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Research

Theoretical Nuclear and Particle Physics

 

My research lies at the boundaries of nuclear and particle physics, with some projects overlapping with astrophysics as well.

 

In order to expose the mechanisms that could help explain the vast preponderance of baryonic matter over antimatter in the cosmos, and possibly its dark matter, members of my research group and I are working towards new paths of identifying new sources of matter-antimatter (CP) symmetry violation as well as of baryon number nonconservation, also using astrophysical observables. 

 

I am also interested in new ways by which terrestrial experiments can probe the nature of dark matter. This interest has spawned "data mining" projects to investigate the local structure and symmetries of the Milky Way and concomitant astrophysical constraints on its dark matter.

 

One long-standing interest has been the study of the discrete symmetries C, P, T -- and the manifestations of their violation -- in the structure and interactions of hadrons. 

 

The interpretation of precision, low-energy measurements of hadronic processes to infer the existence of emergent, high-energy phenomena can require quantitative assessment of the Standard Model contributions. Thus I am also interested in improving our understanding of the non-perturbative dynamics of the strong interaction, particularly as it impacts the reliability of such predictions. 

 

Education

  • B.S., Physics and Chemistry, Caltech (1982)
  • M.A., Chemical Physics, Columbia University (1983)
  • Ph.D., Theoretical Nuclear Physics, M.I.T. (1988)

Postdoctoral Fellows

  • Jeff Berryman [N3AS; INT, U. Washington; now at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]
  • Xinshuai Yan [Ph.D., 2017; CCNU, Wuhan; now at Henan Normal U.]
  • Mohammadreza Zakeri

Graduate Students

  • Josh Harry [M.S., 2022; now at Northwestern U.]
  • Austin Hinkel [Ph.D., 2021; now at Colorado College]
  • Girish Muralidhara
  • Jun Shi [Ph.D., 2020; now at SCNU, Guangzhou]

Undergraduate Student

Selected Publications: