My name is Michael Kline, I'm a Data Scientist at Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, OH.
An unexplained >4σ discrepancy persists between “beam” and “bottle” measurements of the neutron lifetime. A new model proposed that conversions of neutrons n into mirror neutrons n′, part of a dark mirror sector, can increase the apparent neutron lifetime by 1% via a small mass splitting Δm between n and n′ inside the 4.6 T magnetic field of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Beam Lifetime experiment. A search for neutron conversions in a 6.6 T magnetic field was performed at the Spallation Neutron Source which excludes this explanation for the neutron lifetime discrepancy.
I analysed data to see what effect answer format has on the learning and assessment of vector addition in introductory physics. I found that the free response answer format had many benefits for both learning and assessment for online vector addition.
I created a simulation and performed data analysis for the search for mirror neutrons at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. I used CUDA and the Julia programming language to calculate the probability of detecting mirror neutrons in the experiment for tens of millions of points in the parameter space of interest.
I created a simulation tracking the spin of neutrons in the measurement cell for the nEDM@SNS experiment to study systematic effects that could lead to a false EDM measurement. I used Julia and CUDA to create the simulation to run on Graphics Processing Units. I presented this work at the 2020 Fall Meeting of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics.
I created a simulation of transverse photothermal deflection spectroscopy. I used COMSOL Multiphysics to model the heat deposited on the sample by a broadband light source and the temperature dispersion throughout the cuvette. Then, I used Julia to trace light rays through the cuvette to determine the signal on the detector. This work was presented at the COMSOL Conference 2019 Boston.
I used COMSOL Multiphysics and MATLAB to solve for and iteratively refine the windings of electromagnetic coils for the nEDM experiment. The windings were found using the equipotential contours of the magnetic scalar potential along the boundary of the coil. This work was presented at the COMSOL Conference 2019 Boston.