Lin Dai obtained his PhD in physics from the University of Pittsburgh in August 2018, and since then he has been a postdoctoral associate at Duke University. He will join Professor Michael Lublinsky’s research group as a postdoctoral researcher at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the fall of 2020.

 

Lin’s main research interest is in the strong interaction of fundamental particles, which is one of the four currently known fundamental forces of nature. The most successful theory of strong interaction is called Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD for short). QCD itself is an elegant theory to study as there are still lots of puzzles to be solved in order to better understand its structure. On the experimental side, understanding QCD is crucial in searching for new physics in particle colliders, such as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

 

In practical applications, the computation of QCD by paper and pen quickly becomes unrealistic. One typical way out is to use Effective Field Theories (EFT for short) of QCD, which make approximations of QCD, focusimg only on the relevant parts of the theory in different cases. Lin has being using EFTs of QCD to study quarkonia and jets, which are particles produced in high-energy colliders. After joining Professor Michael Lublinsky’s research group, he will continue his studies of EFT in general and also work on QCD-related topics that are directly related to experiments to be carried out in future colliders, such as the Electron Ion Collider to be built at the Brookhaven National Laboratory.