HanyuHanyu Wei

Assistant Professor of Physics

Ph.D. 2017 - Tsinghua University

Louisiana State University
Department of Physics & Astronomy
224 Nicholson Hall, Tower Dr.
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-4001
225-578-3605 - Office
hwei2@lsu.edu

Research Interests

Experimental High Energy Physics

My principle research interest is in experimental particle physics. I primarily work on neutrino experiments, exploring the nature of neutrinos and unraveling the mysteries of neutrinos. Studying neutrinos, which are the least understood elementary particles, will play an important role in understanding how the universe works at the most fundamental level.

My present research focuses on the detection and study of neutrinos in several accelerator neutrino experiments, such as MicroBooNE, SBND, and the upcoming leading-edge international neutrino experiment DUNE. One common feature of these experiments is to utilize the advanced liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) to detect neutrinos. In order to maximize the physics capability of this new detector technology, in addition to contributing to the detector instrumentation e.g. the electronics readout, I’ve primarily been committed to developing a novel LArTPC 3D reconstruction paradigm, Wire-Cell, pursuing high performance and high impact physics in LArTPCs. Leveraging the Wire-Cell reconstruction, we did several flagship physics analyses in MicroBooNE in the aspects of neutrino-argon cross section measurements and low energy electron-like or photon-like excess search. The latter analysis is also tied to the question if sterile neutrinos exist.

Integration, upgrade (machine-learning/deep-learning based), and new application of Wire-Cell reconstruction is one of my research thrusts in the following years. Physics such as differential neutrino-argon cross section measurement, short-baseline neutrino oscillation in SNB program, long-baseline neutrino oscillation in DUNE, nucleon decay search, and exotic physics (beyond Standard Model, dark sector, etc.) in LArTPCs are what we will focus on.

I previously worked on a reactor neutrino experiment Daya Bay and contributed to the world-wide most precise measurement of the neutrino mixing angle Ø13  (neutron capture on gadolinium) as well as the second most precise measurement of Ø13  (neutron capture on hydrogen) in multiple liquid scintillator detectors at Daya Bay.

I’m also interested in the neutrino astro-particle physics. I designed and established the supernova online trigger system (integrated in SNEWS) in the Daya Bay neutrino experiment, looking for supernova burst signals in real time. In addition, I initiated the supernova burst neutrino and supernova relic neutrino detection studies at the Jinping neutrino experiment.

Recent and Select Publications

  • “First Constraints on Light Sterile Neutrino Oscillations from Combined Appearance and Disappearance Searches with the MicroBooNE Detector”, MicroBooNE collaboration, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 011801 (2023) 
  • “Search for an Excess of Electron Neutrino Interactions in MicroBooNE using Multiple Final State Topologies”, MicroBooNE collaboration, Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 241801 (2022)
  • “Search for an Anomalous Excess of Inclusive Charged-Current νe Interactions in the MicroBooNE Experiment using Wire-Cell reconstruction”, MicroBooNE collaboration, Phys. Rev. D 105, 112005 (2022)
  • “First Measurement of Energy-dependent Inclusive Muon Neutrino Charged-Current Cross Sections on Argon with the MicroBooNE Detector”, MicroBooNE collaboration, Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 151801 (2022)
  • “Wire-Cell 3D Pattern Recognition Techniques for Neutrino Event Reconstruction in Large LArTPCs: Algorithm Description and Quantitative Evaluation with MicroBooNE simulation”, MicroBooNE collaboration, JINST 17, P01037 (2022)
  • “Cosmic Ray Background Rejection with Wire-Cell LArTPC Event Reconstruction in the MicroBooNE Detector”, MicroBooNE collaboration, Phys. Rev. Applied 15, 064071 (2021) 
  • “Neutrino Event Selection in the MicroBooNE Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber using Wire-Cell 3-D Imaging, Clustering, and Charge-Light Matching”, MicroBooNE collaboration, JINST 16, P06043 (2021) 
  • “Augmented Signal Processing in Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers with a Deep Neural Network”, H. Yu and others, JINST 16, P01036 (2021) 
  • “First results on ProtoDUNE-SP liquid argon time projection chamber performance from a beam test at the CERN Neutrino Platform”, DUNE collaboration, JINST 15, P12004 (2020) 
  • “Ionization Electron Signal processing in Single Phase LArTPCs I. Algorithm Description and Quantitative Evaluation with MicroBooNE Simulation”, MicroBooNE collaboration, JINST 13, P07006 (2018) 
  • “Ionization Electron Signal processing in Single Phase LArTPCs II. Data/Simulation Comparison and Performance in MicroBooNE”, MicroBooNE collaboration, JINST 13, P07007 (2018) 
  • “Data Unfolding with Wiener-SVD Method”, W. Tang, X. Li, X. Qian, H. Wei and C. Zhang, JINST 12, P10002 (2017) 
  • “Discovery potential for supernova relic neutrinos with slow liquid scintillator detectors”, Hanyu Wei et al., Phys. Lett. B 769 (2017) 255-261 
  • “Measurement of electron antineutrino oscillation based on 1230 days of operation of the Daya Bay experiment”, F. P. An et al. (Daya Bay Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 95, 072006 (2017) 
  • “Design, characterization, and sensitivity study of the supernova trigger system at Daya Bay”, Hanyu Wei et al., Astroparticle Physics 75, 38-43 (2016) 
  • “New measurement of θ13 via neutron capture on hydrogen at Daya Bay”, F. P. An et al. (Daya Bay Collaboration), Phys. Rev. D 93, 072011 (2016)