Christopher Hearty, Professor/IPP Principal Research Scientist

B.Sc. Simon Fraser University (82)
Ph.D. University of Washington (87)
Postdoctoral Researcher, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (87-94)

Hennings 268
604 822 9163
hearty@physics.ubc.ca

Experimental Particle Physics Research

My research is primarily focused on direct searches for new physics with the Belle II experiment, including dark photons and axion-like particles. I also work on calorimeter calibration and reconstruction, and am responsible for developing trigger algorithms. Belle II provides excellent opportunities for students to gain experience on a cutting edge particle physics detector in the analysis of large data sets, including machine learning techniques; development of reconstruction and calibration algorithms; associated coding skills; and the soft skills that come from working in a large international collaboration.

Students

Here are the students I have worked with recently. I am looking for a new graduate student, and occasionally supervise undergraduate theses; a few possible projects are listed below. Please contact me for additional information.

Thesis Topics

Search for dark photon
Search for axion-like particles
Strongly interacting dark matter
Development of triggers for low-multiplicity physics
Systematic uncertainties on single crystal calibration of a CsI(Tl) calorimeter
Calorimeter calibration using pi0 decays
Timing calibration using hadronic events
Adjusting simulated timing resolution to match data

Selected Publications

F. Wemmer and 24 others, inc. C. Hearty. (2023). Photon Reconstruction in the Belle II Calorimeter Using Graph Neural Networks. Computing and Software for Big Science. 7: 13.
Belle II collaboration. (2023). Search for an invisible Z' in a final state with two muons and missing energy at Belle II. Phys. Rev. Lett.130: 231801.
M. Graham, C. Hearty, and M. Williams, Searches for Dark Photons at Accelerators, Ann. Rev of Nuclear and Particle Science 71 (2021).
M. Duerr, T. Ferber, C. Garcia-Cely, C. Hearty, and K. Schmidt-Hoberg, Long-lived Dark Higgs and Inelastic Dark Matter at Belle II, arXiv:2012.08595 [hep-ph] (2020).
Belle II collab., Search for Axion-like particles in e+e- collisions at Belle II, Phys. Rev. Lett. 125 (2020) 161806.
M. Duerr, T. Ferber, C. Hearty, F. Kahlhoefer, K. Schmidt-Hoberg and P. Tunney. Invisible and displaced dark matter signatures at Belle II. J. High Energy Physics (2020). 2020: 39.
M. J. Dolan, T. Ferber, C. Hearty, F. Kahlhoefer, K. Schmidt-Hoberg, Revised constraints and Belle II sensitivity for visible and invisible axion-like particles. J. High Energy Phys. (2017) 2017: 94.
BaBar collab., Search for invisible decays of a dark photon produced in e+e- collisions at BaBar, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 131804 (2017).
BaBar collab., Search for a dark photon in e+e- collisions at BaBar, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113 (2014) 201801.
J.F. Caron et al, Improved particle identification using cluster counting in a full-length drift chamber prototype, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A 735 (2014) 169.
BaBar collab., Observation of Time-reversal violation in the B0 meson system, Phys. Rev. Lett 109 (2012) 211801.
BaBar collab., Search for hadronic decays of a light Higgs boson in the radiative decay Upsilon --> gamma A0, Phys.Rev.Lett. 107 (2011) 221803.
N. Abgrall et al, Time Projection Chambers for the T2K Near Detectors, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A637 (2011) 25-46.
BaBar collab., Observation of CP violation in the B0 meson system, B. Aubert et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 091801 (2001).