picture

Juan I. Collar

Professor

Ph.D., University of South Carolina, 1992
 
Contact Information
Phone: 773-702-4253
Location: ERC 489
Email: collarkicp.uchicago.edu
WWW: Web Site

 
Research
Picture: Research
A prototype bubble chamber sensitive to Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs).
My main interest is in the development of innovative methods for the detection for hypothetical astroparticles (WIMPs, axions, magnetic monopoles, any yet-to-be-discovered component of cosmic rays that might constitute a fraction of the 'dark matter'). Needless to say, this is a risky business, but I am equally interested in the journey and the destination: the extreme levels of sensitivity required in some of these experiments force us to devise new detection technologies, in an endless quest for the 'better mouse-trap'. It is a very enjoyable challenge. I am also attracted to other exotica such as double-beta decay and some 'hard' problems in neutrino detection (coherent neutrino scattering, detection of the relic neutrino sea). I enjoy the condensed-matter aspects of detector development and anything having to do with the interactions between radiation and matter. I get easily excited about cross-disciplinary endeavors and real-life applications of detectors that might otherwise be chasing ghost particles.

Together with collaborators at the Groupe de Physique des Solides (Universite Paris VII), University of Lisbon, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, I developed large-mass, low-background superheated droplet detectors (SDDs) dedicated to WIMP (Weakly Interacting Massive Particle) searches (The SIMPLE dark matter search). On my arrival to Chicago I started investigating the possibility of making large bubble chambers stable enough for the same goal, using CF3I, a target ideal for WIMP detection. Our collaboration with FNAL and Indiana University (The Chicago Observatory for Underground Particle Physics, COUPP) has already led to the best sensitivity to spin-dependent WIMP interactions. We presently work on a 60 kg and 500 kg CF3I chamber. We expect the first, to be installed in SNOlab during 2010, to provide a similar leading sensitivity also to spin-independent WIMP couplings. At CERN I am involved in CAST, a search for solar axions using a decommissioned LHC test magnet, an interesting astroparticle spin-off from the Large Hadron Collider effort. More recently, I have worked on the application of P-type Point Contact germanium detectors to coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering, double beta decay and searches for light dark matter candidates. These devices have already produced some very interesting results within the CoGeNT and MAJORANA experiments.

Ongoing Scientific Projects:

 
KICP Highlights & News

 
Talks, Lectures, & Workshops

 
Students
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Past Students

GRADUATE: Alexander Kavner (2021), Bjorn Scholz (2017), Alan Robinson (2015), Nicole Fields (2015), Drew Fustin (2012), Matthew Szydagis (2010), Phil Barbeau (2009), Nathan Riley (2008), Dante Nakazawa (2006)

UNDERGRADUATE: Kevin Baker (2014), William Tahoe Schrader (2014), Vivek Sarma (2014), Berk Diler (2014), Alan Salkanovic (2013), Eli Byers Barrows (2012), Natalie Harrison (2012), Songkiat Nutalaya (2012), Steven Bogacz (2012), Muneeb Hai (2010), Hannes Schimmelpfennig (2009), Jacob Claussen (2008), Adrian Culver (2008), Luke Goetzke (2008), Charles Greenberg (2008), Keith Crum (2007), Smriti Mishra (2007), Julia Rasmussen (2006), Kevin O'Sullivan (2005), Aza Raskin (2005), Taylor Aune (2004)

 
Currently in Committees
  • Wednesday Colloquium committee

 
KICP Publications
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001


Latest Journal Publications
  1. "First Constraint on Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering in Argon", arXiv:1909.05913 (Sep 2019)
  2. "Response of CsI[Na] to nuclear recoils: Impact on coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering", Physical Review D, Volume 100, Issue 3, id.033003 (Aug 2019)
  3. "Dark matter search results from the complete exposure of the PICO-60 C3F8 bubble chamber", Physical Review D, Volume 100, Issue 2, id.022001 (Jul 2019)
  4. "Response of CsI[Na] to Nuclear Recoils: Impact on Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CE$
    u$NS)
    ", arXiv:1907.04828 (Jul 2019)
  5. "Velocity independent constraints on spin-dependent DM-nucleon interactions from IceCube and PICO", arXiv:1907.12509 (Jul 2019)
  6. "Data-Driven Modeling of Electron Recoil Nucleation in PICO C$_3$F$_8$ Bubble Chambers", arXiv:1905.12522 (May 2019)
  7. "Developing a Bubble Chamber Particle Discriminator Using Semi-Supervised Learning", arXiv:1811.11308 (Nov 2018)
  8. "Liquid scintillator response to proton recoils in the 10-100 keV range", Physical Review C, Volume 98, Issue 4, id.045802 (Oct 2018)
  9. "Search for a nonrelativistic component in the spectrum of cosmic rays at Earth", Physical Review D, Volume 98, Issue 2, id.023005 (Jul 2018)
  10. "COHERENT Collaboration data release from the first observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering", arXiv:1804.09459 (Apr 2018)
  11. "COHERENT 2018 at the Spallation Neutron Source", arXiv:1803.09183 (Mar 2018)
  12. "Observation of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering", arXiv:1708.01294 (Aug 2017)
  13. "Dark Matter Search Results from the PICO -60 C 3F8 Bubble Chamber", Physical Review Letters, Volume 118, Issue 25, id.251301 (Jun 2017)
  14. "New CAST limit on the axion-photon interaction", Nature Physics, Volume 13, Issue 6, pp. 584-590 (2017) (Jun 2017)
  15. "Measurement of the low-energy quenching factor in germanium using an 88Y/Be photoneutron source", Physical Review D, Volume 94, Issue 12, id.122003 (Dec 2016)
  16. "A Low-Noise Germanium Ionization Spectrometer for Low-Background Science", IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, vol. 63, issue 6, pp. 2782-2792 (Dec 2016)
  17. "Dark matter search results from the PICO-60 CF3 I bubble chamber", Physical Review D, Volume 93, Issue 5, id.052014 (Mar 2016)
  18. "New solar axion search using the CERN Axion Solar Telescope with 4He filling", Physical Review D, Volume 92, Issue 2, id.021101 (Jul 2015)
  19. "Dark Matter Search Results from the PICO-2L C3F8 Bubble Chamber", Physical Review Letters, Volume 114, Issue 23, id.231302 (Jun 2015)
  20. "Coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering detection with a CsI[Na] scintillator at the SNS spallation source", Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A, Volume 773, p. 56-65 (Feb 2015)

Latest Conference Proceedings
  1. "A search for WIMPs with the CoGeNT public dataset", APS April Meeting 2016, abstract id. D1.034 (Mar 2016)
  2. "Monte Carlo studies of the CoGeNT detector for a variety of dark matter candidates", APS April Meeting 2015, abstract id. T1.029 (Apr 2015)
  3. "A search for WIMPs and tests of local dark matter velocity distributions with the CoGeNT public dataset", APS April Meeting 2014, abstract #R12.008 (Mar 2014)
  4. "CosI: Coherent Neutrino Scattering with Cesium Iodide", APS April Meeting 2014, abstract #J7.009 (Mar 2014)
  5. "A measurement of the K-shell decays in the CoGeNT public dataset", American Physical Society, APS April Meeting 2013, April 13-16, 2013, abstract #E2.021 (Apr 2013)
  6. "The MAJORANA experiment: an ultra-low background search for neutrinoless double-beta decay", Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 381, Issue 1, article id. 012044, 6 pp. (2012) (Sep 2012)
  7. "The Majorana Demonstrator: A Search for Neutrinoless Double-beta Decay of Germanium-76", Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 375, Issue 4, id. 042010 (2012) (Jul 2012)
  8. "Dark matter sensitivities of the Majorana Demonstrator", Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 375, Issue 1, id. 012014 (2012) (Jul 2012)
  9. "Status and perspectives of the CAST experiment", Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Volume 375, Issue 2, id. 022001 (2012) (Jul 2012)
  10. "The Majorana Demonstrator: A search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of germanium-76", 19TH PARTICLES AND NUCLEI INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE (PANIC11). AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 1441, pp. 480-482 (2012) (Apr 2012)

 
Visitors
Past Visitors:
  1. Laura Newburgh, Yale University (2019)
  2. Brian Nord, Fermilab and UChicago (2019)
  3. Andrew Sonnenschein, Fermilab (2016)
  4. Miguel Ardid, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (2014)
  5. Dipak Rimal, University of Florida (2014)
  6. Manuel Bou, Polytechnic University of Valencia (2012)
  7. Alvaro Chavarria, Princeton University (2012)
  8. Rafael Lang, Purdue University (2012)
  9. María Luisa Sarsa, University of Zaragoza (2012)
  10. Miguel Ardid, Universitat Politècnica de València (2011)
  11. Manuel Bou, UPV - IGIC (2011)
  12. Todd Hossbach, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (2011)
  13. Paolo Gondolo, University of Utah (2010)
  14. Sam Waldman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2010)
  15. Juan Gomez-Cadenas, IFIC (CSIC-UV) SPAIN (2009)
  16. Carl Dahl, Princeton University (2008)
  17. Richard Gaitskell, Brown University (2007)
  18. Andrea Pocar, Stanford University (2007)
  19. William Wester, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (2007)
  20. Silvia Borghi, CERN (2006)
  21. Dan Akerib, Case Western Reserve University (2004)
  22. Frank Avignone, University of South Carolina (2003)
  23. Robynne Hooper, University of Texas, Austin (2003)
  24. Peter Gorham, University of Hawaii (2002)
  25. Harry Miley, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (2002)
  26. Andre Sonnenschein, Princeton University (2002)