Hello everyone! My name is Ethan Simpkins. I am a rising junior in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. I am pursuing a major in Physics and Mathematics. My passion for my major has developed greatly through my life. It is an honor to be studying here at Pittsburgh University. This summer I received the honor of participating in the Brackenridge fellowship. Being able to explore my own research ideas while learning about many others from people in this fellowship has been very enriching. Sometimes I struggle to explain my research to other people outside of my own field, but being part of this group has been very helpful in developing the skills I would need to do this effectively.
The main motivation for my research is thrusted by the fact that modern physics tells us at the time of the Big Bang, equal amounts of matter and antimatter should have been created. However, our observable universe predominantly consists of matter, raising the intriguing question of why antimatter is largely absent. Numerous particle physics projects worldwide are dedicated to unraveling this mystery. Our end goal is to get a grand unified theory of particle physics. Currently, the standard model serves as an exceptionally accurate framework for our understanding of physics, yet it exhibits certain inconsistencies. One notable discrepancy is its prediction that neutrinos are massless, whereas empirical evidence has shown that neutrinos do possess mass
Working under Dr. Vladimir Savinov I have been working with KEKB, Japanese national laboratory for high-energy physics. We work on the Belle II detector, a detector the studies antisymmetric electron-positron (the antimatter equivalent of an electron) collisions. These electron-positron collisions are at high enough energy to create new particles. One of the most important aspects that we study are B mesons. When these are created, they are created in matter-antimatter pairs. Since they are created simultaneously we are able to find distinct differences between the matter and antimatter. The detection of these particles forming and decay takes place extremely fast, so they are accelerated to speeds where special relativity gives us more time in our laboratory frame to detect differences. We measure the energy of these particles with many different systems. Specifically, at the University of Pittsburgh, we work on the Time of Propagation (TOP) Trigger. My objective is to leverage machine learning to develop a better trigger system for this part of the detector. While creating a trigger system, we also get a lot of background data created from interactions of the photons and electrons. Currently, distinguishing this data poses a substantial challenge. However, I aim to harness the power of machine learning to effectively implement a solution within the detector framework.
After graduating from Pitt, I plan to apply to a Physics PhD program with a focus on experimental particle physics. This fellowship will greatly benefit my application by improving my communication and presentation skills. These skills are crucial for explaining complex scientific concepts clearly, which is essential in contributing to the ongoing discoveries in particle physics.