Shirley Li
University of California-Irvine, CA·Physics·Early-career
Neutrinos are among the most abundant particles in the universe, yet many of their basic properties remain unknown. Physicists want to know whether neutrinos break fundamental symmetries of nature or point to particles not yet discovered.
- Fields
Physics
Astronomy & Astrophysics
- Topics
neutrino physics
neutrino oscillations
neutrino-nucleus interactions
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2031
What they work on
- Develop machine-learning frameworks that reduce the dominant theoretical uncertainties in neutrino-nucleus interaction models, improving long-baseline experiments that search for leptonic charge-parity (CP) violation.
- Establish first-principles calculations of quantum decoherence in neutrino oscillations, so that predictions of standard signals are robust and decoherence does not mimic or obscure new physics.
- Construct theoretically controlled observables, with quantified uncertainties, for neutrinos from a future galactic supernova, to probe neutrino properties and physics beyond the Standard Model.
- Combine source, propagation and detection modeling into a unified precision framework for interpreting neutrino experiments.
More about the research
Major US-led experiments will collect huge amounts of neutrino data over the next decade. Turning that data into reliable answers, however, requires better theory for how neutrinos are produced, how they travel and how they interact with matter. This project aims to build precision theoretical tools so that neutrino measurements can be interpreted as rigorously as the data are collected.
Why it matters
This is basic physics research. Sharper theory could let upcoming large neutrino experiments make more reliable tests of fundamental symmetries and more trustworthy searches for new particles, so that the experiments get the most out of their data. A supernova analysis framework would be ready to use when a galactic supernova occurs. The planned quantum information science training could also help prepare students for STEM careers.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Bhubanjyoti Bhattacharya
Lawrence Technological University, MI·Physics
Use flavor-SU(3) and isospin symmetry, approximate symmetries among light quarks, to identify new observables in hadronic B and D meson decays and predict future measurements.
Christopher Crawford
University of Kentucky, KY·Physics
Search for time-reversal symmetry violation by sending polarized neutrons through polarized nuclei, using low-energy neutron–nucleus resonances to amplify the effect, within the NOPTREX collaboration.
Andrea Shindler
University of California-Berkeley, CA·Physics
Calculate the electric dipole moments of protons and neutrons induced by theories beyond the Standard Model, to probe the source of the universe's matter-antimatter asymmetry.
The school
University of California-Irvine: 46 labs on PI Pages, $645M a year on research, 524 research doctorates a year.
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