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Department of Physics and Astronomy

Souvik Das

Souvik Das

Engineering Physicist (P.I.) / Lead Research Scholar, Life and Physical Sciences
Office: PHYS 344
Phone: (765) 494-5518
Email: souvik@purdue.edu

Education

  • M.S., Ph.D. Experimental High Energy Physics. Cornell University. August 2003 - August 2010
  • B.Sc. Honours Physics. University of Delhi, St. Stephen's College. June 2000 - July 2003

Positions

  • Graduate Faculty by Special Appointment at the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Purdue University. March 2023 - Present
  • Graduate Faculty by Special Appointment at the School for Industrial Engineering. Purdue University. August 2020 - Present
  • Purdue Quantum Informatics and Data Analytics Team. Invited member. November 2019 - Present
  • Engineering Physicist (Principal Investigator). Purdue University. July 2017 - Present
  • Postdoctoral Research Associate. Purdue University. March 2017 - July 2017
  • Postdoctoral Associate. University of Florida. April 2011 - March 2017
  • Visiting Fellow. Cornell University. August 2010 - February 2011

Awards

  • Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute Seed Research Grant Award 2020
  • Fermilab Large Hadron Collider Physics Center Distinguished Researcher 2015
  • Fermilab Large Hadron Collider Physics Center Distinguished Researcher 2014
  • American Physical Society Student Travel Grant Award 2010
  • Compact Muon Solenoid experiment Achievement Award 2008
  • Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana Fellowship 2001 - 2003

Current Research

High Energy Physics
A silicon-based detector called the Inner Tracker lies at the center of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment and is closest to the proton-proton collision point at Point 5 of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The LHC is being upgraded to deliver significantly higher rates of proton-proton collisions. Consequently, we are rebuilding the CMS detector to handle these rates in an effort called the Phase II Upgrade. At Purdue, I am deeply involved in the design, fabrication and assembly of electronic modules and structural parts for the Phase II Inner Tracker. If you are interested in joining our research group, as an undergraduate or a graduate student, or simply want a tour of our labs, please email Andy Jung (anjung@purdue.edu), Matthew Jones (jones105@purdue.edu) or me (souvik@purdue.edu).
Quantum Computing
I lead the development of quantum annealing algorithms for high energy physics on D-Wave processors at Purdue. I also teach universal quantum computing through a hands-on approach on IBM-Q devices.
Artificial Intelligence
I study evolutionary strategies to train Spiking Neural Networks for robotics in collaboration with Vaneet Aggarwal at the School of Industrial Engineering. This grew out of a pet project to explore the interplay of evolutionary and lifetime learning in the development of natural intelligence.

Other Selected Research

  • Search for Resonant Higgs Pair Production at CMS. October 2012 - current. Led the search for resonant Higgs pair production in the bbbb final state and served as Main Contact for the analysis in Run I of the LHC. Conducting the same search in Run II.
  • Contributions to the discovery of the Higgs boson. March 2006 - October 2012. Lead developer for online data acquisition applications suite used to operate the Pixel Detector of the CMS experiment that was critical to the discovery of the Higgs boson. Developed, maintained and characterized new triggers for the ZH channel of the H→bb analysis through 2011 and 2012 of Run I data taking.
  • Track-Triggering at CMS. January 2014 - March 2017. Leading role in the US CMS software development effort to simulate track-triggering with Associative Memories for CMS Phase II Upgrades at the Large Hadron Collider. Developed a new algorithm for track fitting wit h low latency on FPGAs. Developed two software packages to model latencies in the full hardware system.
  • First Observation of a Dalitz decay in the heavy quark sector. July 2009 -- August 2010. Theoretically predicted and observed with 5.3 sigma significance the first Dalitz decay in the charm sector at CLEO. Also measured the branching fraction and found it to be consistent with our theoretical prediction. Results published as my Ph.D. dissertation.
  • Heat Conduction in a One-Dimensional Gas of Elastically Colliding Particles of Unequal Masses. May 2001 -- November 2002. Developed computer simulations of atomistic models of heat conduction in one dimension to address fundamental questions about the relation between Fourier's Law of Heat Conduction and the underlying microscopic dynamics. Also studied ratchet-like mechanisms of energy transport in such systems.

Selected talks

  • "Track Clustering with a Quantum Annealer for Primary Vertexing". April 20, 2020. Connecting the Dots 2020. Princeton University, NJ
  • "Reconstructing proton-proton collision positions at the Large Hadron Collider with Quantum Annealing". January 27, 2019. Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute seminar. Purdue University, IN
  • "Reconstructing proton-proton collision positions at the Large Hadron Collider with D-Wave". September 26, 2019. QUBITS 2019. Newport, RI
  • "Heat Extraction through structural components of the CMS Phase II Tracker Forward Pixel Detector". June 17, 2019. Forum on Tracking Detector Mechanics 2019. Cornell University, NY
  • "The Large Hadron Collider and particle physics. Discovering the Higgs boson and looking beyond". November 8, 2018. Coe College. Cedar Rapids, IA
  • "Structure and cooling for the CMS Phase II Tracker Forward Pixel Detector". June 27, 2018. Forum on Tracking Detector Mechanics 2018. IFIC, Valencia, Spain
  • "Searches for pair production of Higgs bosons using the CMS detector". February 24, 2017. Purdue University, IN
  • "Searches for double Higgs production using the CMS detector". November 9, 2016. Higgs Couplings 2016, SLAC
  • "The Di-Higgs Effort in Run II". December 4, 2015. Higgs Exotics Workshop, CERN
  • "Searches for resonant pair production of Higgs bosons using the CMS detector". May 4, 2015. Phenomenology 2015 Symposium, University of Pittsburgh
  • "Searches for Higgs pair production at the CMS Experiment". April 27, 2015. Higgs Pair Production for Colliders 2015. Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics, Germany
  • "Searches for the production of two Higgs bosons using the CMS detector". August 26, 2014. Particles and Nuclei International Conference 2014, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Hamburg, Germany
  • "H → bb Tools for Supersymmetry Searches". June 13, 2013. Electroweak Supersymmetry with the Higgs, Fermilab, IL
  • "Search for Ds*+ → Ds+ e+ e- ''. February 13, 2010. American Physical Society April 2010 Meeting. Washington D.C
  • "The Status and Performance of the CMS Pixel Detector''. March 12, 2009. Technology and Instrumentation in Particle Physics 2009. Tsukuba, Japan

Selected publications

Full list of publications (1,052 papers, 117,862 citations): https://old.inspirehep.net/author/profile/Souvik.Das.
hHEP index = 155
Last Updated: May 15, 2023 11:36 PM

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