Adam Molnar

Solid state detector instrumentation for use in precision nuclear physics and high energy physics applications. In particular, developing a Low Gain Avalanche Detector based Active Target for PIONEER that will serve as the world’s first 4D tracking system.

The standard model is the most successful model of particle physics, but it is known to be incomplete. Despite this, it is remarkably successful in matching experimental values to high precision. Thus, looking for mismatches in experimental data when compared to the standard model is one such way that physicists probe the standard model and search for new physics. One such upcoming precision experiment is PIONEER. PIONEER is a next generation Pion Decay Experiment that will probe a phenomenon known as Lepton Flavor Universality. PIONEER plans to measure the charged pion branching ratio to world leading precision, an order of magnitude higher than the current best measurement. In order to do this, an Active Target (ATAR) will be developed that will be the world’s first 4 dimensional tracking apparatus providing measurements of x, y, z, and time. My work focuses on research and development of the ATAR. In particular, we highlight the use of an xray beam to characterize and determine the degradation of the nominal ATAR readout scheme.