Research

Themes Photos Papers Talks

Themes

I currently focus on using the ATLAS Experiment for novel photon-fusion measurements of the tau-lepton magnetic dipole moment to probe new physics, and building the new Inner Tracker (ITk) Strips detector for the High-Luminosity LHC upgrade. I previously explored LHC dark matter searches and proposed a new axion experiment called BREAD.

Photon collision

Colliding light for dipole mysteries

I am at the forefront of transforming the LHC into a photon collider. I focus on measuring the mysterious tau-lepton magnetic dipole (called g−2). My theory paper initiated the LHC program to measure tau g−2 that proved highly influential in the ATLAS and CMS realization. My recent paper charts the path to precision tau g−2 probes of new physics using LHC proton data. Previously, I spearheaded the first measurement of photon-induced dileptons using novel forward detectors, opening a new class of dark matter searches.

Silicon detectors

ATLAS silicon tracker upgrade

New instruments drive discovery science. My main hardware commitment is the ATLAS Inner Tracker (ITk) Strips upgrade, where I qualified the Cambridge cleanroom for module production. Notably, I solved the sensor fracturing problem by building the world's first Kapton-silicone interposer module, which captured international attention and is adopted for the final detector. Previously, I led ATLAS Forward Proton (AFP) pixel performance for its first physics results, and studied radiation damage of the ATLAS silicon tracker (SCT).

SUSY Dark Matter

Collider dark matter

A startling realisation of physics is that 80% of the matter in our Universe is missing. Searching for new physics that could explain dark matter is a longstanding theme of my research. My PhD identified promising scenarios of weak-scale dark matter involving spin-half partners of the Higgs boson (Higgsino) and charged leptons (sleptons). I then established new ATLAS searches resulting in world-leading sensitivity, and created the canonical Higgsino and slepton summary plots widely shown at international conferences.

Axion dark photon

Axions and dark photons

Dark matter below electronvolt masses such as axions are sought-after targets that complement the collider search program. The rare signals demand creative detection techniques using quantum sensing technology. With US collaborators, I proposed a new experiment called BREAD to directly detect milli-eV mass dark photons and axions with first science results from the GigaBREAD pilot experiment. For this project, I constructed a Fourier transform spectrometer at Chicago to test terahertz and infrared optics.

Higgs self-coupling

Higgs self-interaction

The next major milestone in Higgs boson physics is discovering Higgs pair production to reveal its elusive self-interaction. I led Higgs pair simulations using four bottom-quark signatures that were long thought to be overwhelmed by backgrounds. This paper established analysis and machine learning strategies that are now widely used in ATLAS and CMS. This cornerstone of LHC physics will reveal how particles acquired mass in the early Universe.

Tau pairs Feynman diagram

Phenomenology

My phenomenology research connects particle theory with experiment, opening new directions in collider and dark matter physics. I proposed novel measurements and searches established entirely new LHC research programs, together with non-collider axion experiments. Previously, I interpreted LHC searches in richer scenarios beyond minimal models, and enjoyed pre-PhD projects on continuous-spin particles and jet pileup mitigation.

Multi-muon cosmic ray event

Cosmic ray science

I have growing interests to transform the LHC into a cosmic-ray laboratory. Cosmic rays are the highest energy particles seen on Earth, but their origins are enigmatic. I proposed creative astroparticle initiatives using ATLAS cosmic-ray data to measure striking multi-muon bundles from energetic showers. I also convene the ATLAS SM Soft QCD and LPCC Forward Physics groups measuring strong-force dynamics underpinning cosmic-ray air showers.

Photos

Silicon cleanroom lab

Glueing
Testing hybrids
Wirebond testing
Hybrid preparation / Photo: B. Hommels
Wirebonder
Module testing
Wirebond testing
Wirebond testing / Photo: W. Fawcett
Wirebonder
Wirebonder
Glueing
Glueing / Photo: B. Hommels

Papers

Phenomenology

Strategy to measure tau g−2 via photon fusion in LHC proton beams
Lydia Beresford, Savannah Clawson and Jesse Liu
Phys. Rev. D 110 (2024) 092016, arXiv:2403.06336

Broadband Solenoidal Haloscope for Terahertz Axion Detection
Jesse Liu, Kristin Dona, Gabe Hoshino, Stefan Knirck, Noah Kurinsky, Matthew Malaker, David W. Miller, Andrew Sonnenschein, Mohamed H. Awida, Peter S. Barry, Karl K. Berggren, Daniel Bowring, Gianpaolo Carosi, Clarence Chang, Aaron Chou, Rakshya Khatiwada, Samantha Lewis, Juliang Li, Sae Woo Nam, Omid Noroozian and Tony X. Zhou
Phys. Rev. Lett. 128 (2022) 131801, arXiv:2111.12103
On The Cover and PRL Editors' Suggestion, UChicago News Release
GigaBREAD first science results on dark photons and axion-like particles

Higgs self-coupling measurements using deep learning in the bb̅bb̅ final state
Jacob Amacker, William Balunas, Lydia Beresford, Daniela Bortoletto, James Frost, Cigdem Issever, Jesse Liu, James McKee, Alessandro Micheli, Santiago Paredes Saenz, Michael Spannowsky and Beojan Stanislaus
JHEP 12 (2020) 115, arXiv:2004.04240

New physics and tau g−2 using LHC heavy ion collisions
Lydia Beresford and Jesse Liu
Phys. Rev. D 102 (2020) 113008, arXiv:1908.05180
ParticleBites feature

Search Strategy for Sleptons and Dark Matter using the LHC as a Photon Collider
Lydia Beresford and Jesse Liu
Phys. Rev. Lett. 123 (2019) 141801, arXiv:1811.06465

Analysing parameter space correlations of recent 13 TeV gluino and squark searches in the pMSSM
Alan Barr and Jesse Liu
Eur. Phys. J. C 77 (2017) 202, arXiv:1608.05379

First interpretation of 13 TeV supersymmetry searches in the pMSSM
Alan Barr and Jesse Liu
arXiv:1605.09502
Oxford physics highlight

Analysis

Observation of the 𝜸𝜸 → 𝝉𝝉 Process in Pb+Pb Collisions and Constraints on the 𝝉-lepton Anomalous Magnetic Moment with the ATLAS Detector
ATLAS Collaboration (JL Editor)
Phys. Rev. Lett. 131 (2023) 151802, arXiv:2204.13478, STDM-2019-19
PRL Editors' Suggestion, ATLAS Physics Briefing
The Conversation news feature

Observation and Measurement of Forward Proton Scattering in Association with Lepton Pairs Produced via the Photon Fusion Mechanism at ATLAS
ATLAS Collaboration (JL Editor and Lead Analyzer)
Phys. Rev. Lett. 125 (2020) 261801, arXiv:2009.14537, STDM-2018-16
ATLAS Physics Briefing, ATLAS ICHEP highlights
CERN Courier feature, Press Release

Search for electroweak production of supersymmetric states in scenarios with compressed mass spectra at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector
ATLAS Collaboration (JL Editor and Lead Analyzer)
Phys. Rev. D 97 (2018) 052010, arXiv:1712.08119, SUSY-2016-25
ATLAS Physics Briefing on Higgsinos, Briefing on sleptons
CERN Courier feature, Oxford physics highlight
Full Run 2 follow-up: Phys. Rev. D 101 (2020) 052005, arXiv:1911.12606

Instrumentation

Design and performance of a multi-terahertz Fourier transform spectrometer for axion dark matter experiments
Kristin Dona, Jesse Liu, Noah Kurinsky, David Miller, Pete Barry, Clarence Chang and Andrew Sonnenschein
JINST 17 (2022) P06014, arXiv:2104.07157

In situ radiation damage studies of optoelectronics in the ATLAS SemiConductor Tracker
Ian Dawson, Bruce Gallop, Jesse Liu, Peter Miyagawa, Peter Phillips, Gavin Pownall, Dave Robinson and Anthony Weidberg
JINST 14 (2019) P07014
Preliminary results: SCT-2018-003, SCT-2017-003, SCT-2016-002

Thesis

Discovery strategies for dark matter and Higgsinos at the LHC
Jesse Liu
CERN-THESIS-2019-088, Oxford Research Archive

I am author on all papers signed 'ATLAS Collaboration' since 2017.
Listed here are public references with leading or major personal contributions.
Particle physics convention lists authors alphabetically.

Find a full list of my papers at inspire:


all small author list

Talks

Tau g-2 seminar
City Tech Theory Seminar 2025, NYC
Cambridge ATLAS ITk
Cambridge ATLAS ITk
ATLAS UK SM+BPHY
ATLAS UK SM+BPHY 2024, Oxford
ITk at ATLAS Week
ATLAS Week 2024, Thessaloniki

BREAD at EPS
EPS HEP 2023 Conference, Hamburg
ICHEP 2018, Seoul
ICHEP 2018 Conference, Seoul
Dalitz Seminar, Oxford
Dalitz Seminar, Oxford
LHC Reinterpretation Workshop, CERN
Reinterpretation Workshop, CERN

Invited Seminars

New York City College of Technology, USA, Center for Theoretical Physics Seminar, 27 Mar 2025
New York University, USA, Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics Brown Bag, 10 Mar 2025

University of Cambridge, USA, Cavendish HEP Seminar, 7 May 2024
New York University, USA, Experimental Particle Physics Seminar, 5 Mar 2024
University of California, Irvine, USA, Particle Physics Seminar, 20 Feb 2024

Sorbonne Université, France, LPTHE Phenomenology Seminar, 3 Oct 2023
Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, France, ICAP Seminar, 22 Jun 2023
University of Sydney, Australia, CPPC Seminar, 4 May 2023
Johns Hopkins University, USA, Experimental Particle Physics Seminar, 5 Apr 2023
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, LNS Colloquium, 27 Feb 2023
Brown University, USA, High Energy Experiment Seminar, 15 Feb 2023
University of Edinburgh, UK, Experimental Particle Physics Seminar, 27 Jan 2023

University of Bristol, UK, Particle Physics Seminar, 7 Dec 2022
University of Liverpool, UK, HEP Seminar, 16 Nov 2022
Imperial College London, UK, HEP Seminar, 15 June 2022
University of Warwick, UK, Particle Physics Seminar, 9 June 2022
Cornell University, USA, LEPP Journal Club Seminar, 6 May 2022
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Canada, Particle Physics Seminar, 3 May 2022
Case Western Reserve University, USA, Particle/Astrophysics Seminar, 1 March 2022

University of Cambridge, UK, Cavendish HEP Seminar, 30 Nov 2021
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA, HEP Seminar, 8 Sep 2021

Cornell University, USA, LEPP Journal Club Seminar, 30 Oct 2020
Stony Brook University, USA, Particle Physics Seminar, 19 Oct 2020
University of Pittsburgh, USA, PITT PACC Seminar, 5 Aug 2020
SLAC, Stanford University, USA, Elementary Particle Physics Theory Seminar, 12 Feb 2020

Fermilab, USA, Cosmic Physics Center Chalk Talk, 14 Nov 2019
Fermilab, USA, LHC Physics Center Physics Forum, 31 Oct 2019
University of Cambridge, UK, Cavendish HEP Seminar, 19 Feb 2019

LBNL, University of California, Berkeley, USA, Research Progress Meeting Seminar, 20 Nov 2018
SLAC, Stanford University, USA , Joint Theory–Experiment Seminar, 20 Apr 2018
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Canada, BSM Seminar, 17 Apr 2018
University of California, Santa Cruz, USA, SCIPP Seminar, 10 Apr 2018

University of Oxford, UK, Dalitz Seminar in Fundamental Physics, 19 Jan 2017
University of Cambridge, UK, Joint DAMTP–Cavendish Seminar, 13 Jan 2017

Conference & Workshop Presentations

Lepton Photon Symposium, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, 25 Aug 2025
'QCD studies at the LHC' (Invited Plenary)

Phenomenology Symposium, Pittsburgh, USA, 19 May 2025
'Colliding light to measure tau g-2'

Cavendish HEP Extravaganza, Cambridge, UK, 6 Dec 2023
'ATLAS Inner Tracker upgrade cleanroom highlights'

CADEx Collaboration Meeting, Spain, Online, 16 Nov 2023
EPS HEP 2023, Hamburg, Germany, 24 Aug 2023
'BREAD: Broadband Reflector Experiment for Axion Detection'

BREAD Collaboration Meeting, Chicago, USA, 5 Oct 2023
'Primer: Sensitivity of Dish Antennas - Why we need more'

Dark Matter beyond the Weak Scale, Liverpool, UK, 28 Mar 2023
'Terahertz axion detection with BREAD'

Photon-induced Processes, Durham, UK, 3 Nov 2022
'Forward physics and colliding light at the HL-LHC'

Dark Matter UK, London, UK, 22 Sep 2022
ICHEP 2022, Bologna, Italy, 8 Jul 2022
'BREAD: Broadband Reflector Experiment for Axion Detection'

IoP Joint APP HEPP Conference 2022, Harwell, UK, 5 Apr 2022
'Colliding light, tau g-2, and axion detectors'

Snowmass CF2 Wavelike Dark Matter Meeting, Online, 8 Oct 2021
'BREAD: Broadband Reflector Experiment for Axion Detection'

APS DPF Meeting, Florida State, Online, 14 Jul 2021
'Colliding light: photon fusion production at ATLAS'

Phenomenology Symposium, Pittsburgh, Online, 25 May 2021
'New spin 0 physics from TeV to THz'

APS April Meeting, Online, 20 Apr 2021
'Turning Light Into Matter: First Physics Results Using ATLAS Forward Proton'

DIS 2021, Stony Brook, USA, Online, 14 Apr 2021
'Measurements of diffractive physics and soft QCD at ATLAS'

LHC Forward Physics Meeting, CERN, Online, 4 Mar 2021
'Exclusive dilepton production in ATLAS'

Workshop on Forward Physics and QCD with LHC, EIC and Cosmic Rays, Jefferson Lab, Online, 23 Jan 2021
'ATLAS Forward Proton'

Snowmass EF09 meeting, Online, 4 Sep 2020
'Colliding light to search for BSM phenomena'

ICHEP 2020, Online, 31 Jul 2020
'Colliding light to make dark matter at the LHC'
ICHEP 2020, Online, 30 Jul 2020
'The Alignment of the ATLAS Forward Proton Detector'

Snowmass Energy Frontier "Open questions and new ideas", Online, 8 Jul 2020
'Dark matter and tau g-2 using the LHC as a photon collider'

Higgs Couplings 2019, Oxford, UK, 2 Oct 2019
'Colliding light to measure tau g–2'

Young Experimentalists and Theorists Institute, Durham, UK, 8 Jan 2019
LHC Forward Physics Workshop, CERN, Switzerland, 18 Dec 2018
'Photon collider opportunities for new physics: SUSY and dark matter'

SUSY 2018, Barcelona, Spain, 23 Jul 2018
'Reconstruction techniques in ATLAS SUSY searches'

ICHEP 2018, Seoul, South Korea, 6 Jul 2018
ICHEP Prize Talk, 11 Jul 2018
'Innovative strategies in compressed electroweak SUSY searches'

DM@LHC 2018, Heidelberg, Germany, 5 Apr 2018
Institute of Physics Conference 2018, Bristol, UK, 27 Mar 2018
Young Theorists Forum 2018, Durham, UK, 10 Jan 2018
'Opening the soft lepton frontier for new physics at the LHC'

Young Theorists Forum 2017, Durham, UK, 11 Jan 2017
2nd LHC BSM Reinterpretation Workshop, CERN, Switzerland, 14 Dec 2016
'Parameter space correlations of 13 TeV SUSY searches'

BUSSTEPP 2016, Manchester, UK, 31 Aug 2016
1st LHC BSM Reinterpretation Workshop, CERN, Switzerland, 17 Jun 2016
'Phenomenological interpretations of strong SUSY searches'

Collaboration Plenaries

ATLAS SM Electroweak Plenary, CERN, Switzerland, 4 Oct 2024
ATLAS UK Standard Model Meeting, Oxford, UK, 2 Oct 2024
'𝜸𝜸 → 𝝉𝝉'

ATLAS Standard Model Workshop, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 3 Sep 2024
'Future directions in Soft QCD'

ATLAS Week, Thessaloniki, Greece, 20 Jun 2024
'Inner Tracker Strips upgrade'

ATLAS ITk Strips HV Breakdown Task Force, 12 Apr 2024
'Interposer module quality control results at Cambridge'

ATLAS ITk Strips HV Breakdown Task Force, 16 Feb 2024
ATLAS ITk Strips HV Breakdown Task Force, 28 Jul 2023
ATLAS ITk Strips Module Meeting, Online, 18 Jul 2023
'HV breakdown behaviour vs thermal cycling temperature'

ATLAS Standard Model Workshop, Prague, Czechia, 12 Sep 2023
ATLAS UK Meeting, Manchester, UK, 9 Jan 2023
'Cosmic ray science in ATLAS'

ATLAS SUSY Workshop, CERN, Switzerland, 19 Sep 2022
'Photon fusion'

ATLAS ITk WP12 Meeting, Birmingham, 31 Mar 2022
'Towards production: procedures and reporting'

ATLAS Upgrade Physics, Online, 22 Apr 2021
'AFP at HL-LHC'

ATLAS SM Group Plenary, Online, 15 Apr 2021
'Cosmic ray physics at ATLAS'

ATLAS Run 4 Roman Pot Meeting, Online, 26 Mar 2021
'AFP at HL-LHC: Physics and experimental overview'

ATLAS Idea Day, Online, 20 Jan 2021
'Cosmic ray physics at ATLAS'

ATLAS Roman Pot General Meeting, Online, 7 Oct 2020
'Lessons learned from dilepton AFP analysis'

ATLAS SM Jamboree, Online, 30 Sep 2020
'Summary of ATLAS Roman Pot exploitation opportunities'

ATLAS SM Group Plenary, Online, 2 Jul 2020
'Exclusive dilepton production with AFP'

ATLAS Week Plenary, Online, 24 Jun 2020
'Photon fusion production with and without ATLAS Forward Proton'

ATLAS Roman Pot General Meeting, CERN, Switzerland, 23 Jan 2020
'Exclusive dilepton production with proton tag'

ATLAS UK Exotics SUSY Meeting, Cambridge, UK, 11 Apr 2019
'Photon collider SUSY/DM searches with forward proton detectors'

ATLAS SUSY Group Plenary, CERN, Switzerland, 19 Jul 2018
'Physics highlights at recent international conferences'

ATLAS Exotics Workshop, Rome, Italy, 29 May 2018
'Opening the monojet + soft lepton frontier for dark matter' (poster)

ATLAS Week Plenary, CERN, Switzerland, 21 Feb 2018
'Latest SUSY results'

ATLAS Analysis Open Presentation, CERN, Switzerland, 1 Nov 2017
'Search for Higgsinos and compressed sleptons'

ATLAS Joint Exotics-SUSY Workshop, Bucharest, Romania, 12 May 2017
'Phenomenological studies of ATLAS SUSY searches'

ATLAS UK Meeting, University of Liverpool, UK, 5 Jan 2017
'New innovative ideas and analyses in supersymmetry'

ATLAS Week Plenary, CERN, Switzerland, 17 Oct 2016
'Semiconductor tracker: status report'