Jak studied at the University of Liverpool, graduating with a Master’s in Physics in July 2024. During his studies, he experienced a wide range of areas within Physics which allowed the ability to develop a passion and interest for particle physics.
His Master’s project focussed on optimising the sensitivity of measurements of the muon Electric Dipole Moment (EDM) using Monte Carlo simulating techniques for an experiment currently in its design stage – the muEDM experiment. The motivation behind the experiment has a direct link to our Universe, such that some charge-parity (CP) violating new physics must exist to explain the matter-anti-matter asymmetry in our Universe. An observation of a non-zero muon EDM would be unequivocal evidence for this CP violating new physics, as the Standard Model prediction of a muon EDM is effectively zero.
The intrigue of discrepancy between theory and experiment continues into his PhD within the field of muon physics, but this time focussing on the Mu3e experiment. The experiment searches for the potential charged lepton flavour-violating decay (CLFV) of an anti-muon to an electron and two positrons, potentially occurring with the equivalent rarity of searching for a singular grain of sand on all of Germany’s beaches. Jak’s specific research will focus on the development of the software on the Mu3e GPU farm by implementing relevant calibration and alignment procedures. As well as performing data analysis on the CLFV muon decay, he will develop data analysis to search for new physics such as potentially long-lived axions and dark photons.