Gertrude Scharff-Goldhaber Prize 2024 Ceremony

Friday 26 Jul 2024, 11:00 → 13:00 US/Eastern

hybrid event - zoom and 510 LSR (Universe)

Jessica Gasparik (Brookhaven National Lab), Marc-Andre Pleier

Gertrude Scharff-Goldhaber Prize 2024 recipient is University of California Los Angeles graduate student Zhiwan Xu.

Zhiwan Xu is a young scientist with a deep passion for studying the properties of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) through high-energy nuclear collisions. Xu earned a bachelor degree in physics at Fudan University in 2018 and then pursued the graduate studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, focusing on the cutting-edge search for the novel QCD phenomenon.

 

In 2019, Xu joined the STAR collaboration at RHIC, an experiment focused on the quark-gluon plasma as a new QCD state that once existed in the early universe. The heavy-ion collisions at RHIC create powerful magnetic fields, providing a unique opportunity to study the Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME). Her enthusiasm in searching for this local strong Parity and Charge-Parity violation drove her to participate in the blind analysis of isobar collision, a DOE major program. Despite the isobar findings showing no predefined signal, her perseverance kept her dedicated to the field.

 

Under the guidance of Prof. Huan Huang, Xu developed an innovative method to minimize the CME background. She then led the CME research at the RHIC Beam Energy Scan (BES) Phase II Program. By suppressing all known backgrounds, the findings of charge separations at several BES-II energies marked a significant achievement in the scientific community. Xu presented these findings at Quark Matter 2023.

 

Her aspiration is to drive major advancements in nuclear physics, and to carry the torch for the next generation of scientists to foster an inclusive and supportive scientific community.

 

Xu recently received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and will continue her academic career at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Outside the lab, Xu is an ardent painter who loves spending time in nature.

 

 

Announcement of the event

Gertrude Scharff-Goldhaber Prize 2023 Ceremony.mp4

Goldhaber-AllSlides2023.pdf

Goldhaber-bbg.pdf

Pictures of the event

1 Welcome

Speakers: Jessica Gasparik (Brookhaven National Lab), Dr Marc-André Pleier (BNL)

2 Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at BNL

Speaker: JoAnne Hewett (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center)

3 Memories of Gertrude Scharff-Goldhaber

Speakers: Prof. Alfred Scharff Goldhaber (SBU), Dr Michael H. Goldhaber

4 Search for the Chiral Magnetic Effect from RHIC Beam Energy Scan-II data with STAR

Parity (left-right) symmetry violation in the weak interaction was discovered in 1956, winning the Nobel Prize in 1957. However, parity violation in strong interactions remains undiscovered. The strong interaction describes how quarks, fundamental constituents of matter, are bound together by gluons. Gluons, carrying color charges, can also interact with each other, causing an imbalance in the chirality (handedness) of quarks, known as chirogenesis. This phenomenon is analogous to baryogenesis (production of matter (baryons)) in the early universe, to which we owe our own existence. At the Relativistic Heavy-ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, a new state of matter is created known as Quark-Gluon-Plasma, where quarks and gluons are unbound. The collisions at RHIC also generate the most powerful magnetic fields on earth, providing an opportunity to study chirogenesis through the Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME). The Beam Energy Scan (BES) program at RHIC explores a variety of magnetic field conditions in terms of strength and decay time length. Scientists aim to detect CME-induced electric charge separation using the STAR detector, employing innovative methods to minimize background. We will present the findings of charge separation at BES-II in search for this local parity and charge-parity violation in strong interactions.

Speaker: Zhiwan Xu (University of California, Los Angeles)