Prof Jonathan Hays

Jonathan Hays

Professor of Physics
Director Particle Physics Research Centre, Science Director STFC IRIS

School of Physical and Chemical Sciences
Queen Mary University of London
www.qmul.ac.uk/spcs/staff/academics/profiles/jhays.html
Centre for Fundamental Physics
Centre for Experimental and Applied Physics
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Research

Particle Physics, Higgs boson, neutrino oscillations, research computing, sustainability, AI and Machine Learning

Interests

I am interested in the fundamental nature of the universe - the fundamental particles and the forces by which they interact. Most recently I am leading on sustainability for the next generation dark matter search experiment XLZD. I also work on the measurement of the properties of neutrinos as a member of the NOvA experiment as well as contributing to the development of the data acquisition system for the next generation DUNE experiment.

Before working on the physics of neutrinos I was involved in the search for the Higgs boson. Most recently this took place with the ATLAS detector at CERN, making measurements of the Higgs boson properties and its decay into b-quarks. However, this work began with my PhD in 1996 where I worked on the design of the CMS Endcap Calorimeter - a critical component for measuring the Higgs boson in its decays to photons. From 2000 until 2012 I worked on the DZero experiment at Fermilab making measurements of the production of W and Z bosons as well as searching for evidence of Higgs boson production in both those modes predicted by the standard model of particle physics as well as more exotic models beyond the standard model. From 2006 until 2012 I rejoined the CMS experiment that I helped design and worked again on the search for the Higgs Boson in its decay to photons - culminating with its discovery in 2012.

Another key area of activity is my work on research computing. Since 2021 I have been the science director of the STFC IRIS project. IRIS provides and coordinates access to large-scale computing resources for particle physics, nuclear physics, astronomy, astrophysics, and for the large national facilities such as the Diamond Light Source, Central Laser Facility, and the ISIS Muon and Neutron source. I also lead on a national project - the National Federate Compute Service Network Plus that aims to build a national network of users of large-scale computing, and produce a roadmap for a future nation federated compute service for research.