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ATLAS award recognizes dissertation work investigating quark-gluon plasma

In the world of particle physics research, the people who study 鈥渘uclear physics鈥� are a minority鈥攁 little bit quark-y, you might say.听

鈥淥ur field is slightly different,鈥� says Kurt Hill, a 2020 PhD graduate in physics from the 精品SM在线影片.

Consider that the at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) near Geneva, Switzerland, reserves 11 months of the year for researchers interested in what happens when protons collide, and just one month for 鈥渘uclear鈥� types who are more interested in colliding 鈥渉eavy ions,鈥澨齮he听nuclei of atoms, such as lead, composing many protons and neutrons, to study the mysterious substance known as .听

During his time at 精品SM在线影片, Hill听was advised by Dennis V. Perepelitsa and Jamie Nagle, professors in the 精品SM在线影片 physics department, whose research is funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Energy. He also conducted research at CERN during the 鈥渘uclear鈥� month of November for three years running, 2016 to 2018. Based on that work, he presented his , 鈥淚nvestigations of p+Pb Collisions at Perturbative and Non-Perturbative QCD Scales,鈥� in April 2020.听

And now, Hill鈥檚 dissertation has been chosen as one of eight recognized by the ATLAS Collaboration鈥攐ne of four major experiments ongoing at CERN鈥攆or its 2020 ATLAS Thesis Awards.听

鈥淥nly Kurt works on the somewhat more exotic 鈥榥uclear physics鈥� side, so it is a big deal for his work to be recognized at this level by the particle physics community,鈥� says Perepelitsa. 鈥淗e鈥檚 also one of only two recipients from a university in the U.S.鈥攖he other is from Berkeley.鈥�

Hill, who grew up in Walnut Creek, California, earned bachelor鈥檚 degrees in physics and mathematics from the University of California, Davis, before taking time off to travel in Europe and Asia. When the time came to apply for graduate school, 精品SM在线影片 was his first choice, based on several factors.

鈥淐U checked all the boxes. I love mountain biking and skiing,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd the (nuclear physics) research group I was eyeing is highly regarded in the field,鈥� he says.

Hill also enjoyed spending time at CERN each fall.

鈥淚t鈥檚 this big central lab where everybody is kind of focused. All the people from different scientific efforts in this one place, the primary place in the world for this type of physics research鈥攊t was really cool,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here is a kind of buzz there. Everybody is doing exciting things.鈥�

What Hill was doing, specifically, was researching what happens when you collide protons with lead to 鈥減robe the nucleus of lead.鈥� Protons are made of quarks, held together by gluons, and mapping out particles emitted from such collisions advances the understanding of what鈥檚 going on inside a nucleus. 听

鈥淭hat sounds like a simple thing, but with these small particles, it鈥檚 highly complicated, due to quantum mechanical effects,鈥� Hill says. 鈥淲hen you make these collisions, small droplets of quark-gluon plasma are generated, and that鈥檚 a primary goal, to study that plasma.鈥�

He uses an analogy to describe quark-gluon plasma as a kind of liquid water, compared to protons and neutrons, which are more like ice鈥斺�淚t鈥檚 so hot and dense that protons and neutrons have melted and can鈥檛 really exist,鈥� he says.

Despite his early success in nuclear-physics research, Hill decided to leave the academic world after graduation to pursue other interests.听

鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 really see myself as a professor as my main job, and even though I liked (nuclear physics), I didn鈥檛 think I should invest the effort in a (postdoctoral fellowship) if I didn鈥檛 see myself going all the way,鈥� he says.听

He now works as a software engineer for , an Oakland-based company that makes fixed-wing, autonomous electric airplanes used for crop-spraying.

鈥淚 do miss getting to collaborate with all these really interesting people from all over the world on a regular basis,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut I had an opportunity to work with cool people on something exciting. To get to do something new is always attractive to me.鈥�