Sereres Johnston
Argonne researcher Sereres Johnston will discuss her Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) sponsored work at the LDRD Seminar Series presentation Tuesday, April 23, 2019, at 12:30 p.m. in Building 212, Room A157. All are welcome to attend.
Visit the LDRD website to view upcoming seminars.
“Gaseous Xenon Detector Development for Next Generation Double Beta Decay Searches,” by Postdoctoral Appointee Sereres Johnston (PHY)
Abstract
Detection of neutrinoless double beta decay (NLDBD) would prove neutrinos are their own antiparticles, which could be related to the mechanism that generated an excess of matter over antimatter in the early universe. Several detection methods and candidate decay isotopes could be used in the search for NLDBD, including 136Xenon. High Pressure Gaseous Xenon Time Projection Chambers (HPGXeTPCs) offer a compelling technology capable of modular, scalable deployment. This LDRD project focuses on developing expertise at Argonne related to gaseous xenon based detectors suitable for future ultra-sensitive double beta decay searches.
Biography
Sereres Johnston graduated from Andrews University in 2009 with degrees in physics and mathematics. She then attended the University of Massachusetts where she worked with MOLLER and PREX before joining the EXO-200 collaboration for her thesis work in neutrinoless double-beta decay (NLDBD). She received her Ph.D. in February 2017 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with a dissertation entitled “A Search for Double Beta Decay of 136Xenon to Excited States of Barium.”
Johnston now works at Argonne in the Physics division as a postdoctoral appointee, leading the division’s program for xenon-based NLDBD searches. Her program focuses on developing next generation high pressure gaseous xenon time projection chambers with the NEXT collaboration, including efforts to design and construct components for the 100kg scale NEXT-100 detector currently under design and near construction.