RAFIQUL RAHAMAN
About Candidate
I obtained my M.Sc. degree with distinctions from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2013 followed by earning Ph.D. from IISER Kolkata in July 2020, with a dissertation titled ”Study of Anomalous Gauge Boson Self-Couplings and the Role of Spin-1 Polarizations.” Following this, I held a three-year postdoctoral position at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI), Prayagraj, India. Since September 2023, I have been a FAPESP Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Physics, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, where I collaborate with Prof. Oscar J. P. Éboli on collider-based new physics searches. This journey has equipped me with a profound understanding of both research and teaching.
My research primarily focuses on exploring new physics at colliders, incorporating both model-dependent and model-independent approaches. I have published 16 peer-reviewed articles, with one preprint under review and several additional papers in preparation. My expertise includes polarization and spin correlation studies, which I have applied to probe new physics scenarios such as Left-Right Symmetric Models and anomalous gauge boson couplings. I have also incorporated machine learning techniques in Monte Carlo simulations to enhance the identification of new physics signatures at colliders. In terms of technical expertise, I am proficient in Monte Carlo event generators, analysis software, helicity amplitude calculations, Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods, and loop calculations. My programming skills span Python, Fortran, C, C++, and Mathematica, as detailed in my CV. My current postdoctoral work has allowed me to expand my research portfolio, collaborate with a diverse academic community, and develop innovative approaches to pressing questions in particle physics.
In recognition of my academic excellence, I have received several honors, including an Honorable Mention for the Rahul Basu Memorial Award for Best Ph.D. Thesis from the Indian Physics Association in 2020. I was also awarded the Bhabesh Gandhi Memorial Prize for the best master’s thesis during my M.Sc. at IIT Bombay. In addition, I received funding from IFCPAR/CEFIPRA for collaborative research at LPT Orsay and was granted the INSPIRE Fellowship for my Ph.D. studies. Furthermore, I received the INSPIRE Scholarship during both my M.Sc. and B.Sc. programs. These recognitions reflect my dedication to academic excellence and my passion for scientific research.
Location
Education
Thesis Title: Study of anomalous gauge boson self-couplings and the role of spin-1 polarizations Advisor: Dr. Ritesh K. Singh Award: Received Honorable Mention for RAHUL BASU MEMORIAL AWARD for BEST THESIS provided by the Indian Physics Association in 2020 Salient features: My Ph.D. research focused on probing anomalous couplings of Standard Model gauge bosons using effective field theory in di-boson production processes at future electron-positron and Large Hadron colliders. We utilized spin polarization of gauge bosons and total cross sections to constrain anomalous couplings through Markov-Chain-Monte-Carlo methods. Polarization asymmetries helped distinguish CP-even and CP-odd couplings, offering tighter constraints. The initial beam polarization at the electron-positron collider improved the signal-to-background ratio, further refining limits on the couplings. These techniques are critical for measuring deviations from the Standard Model.
Master Thesis: Top quark Forward-Backward Asymmetry at the Tevatron Advisor Dr. Kumar Rao CGPA: 7.83 Award: Received Bhabesh Gandhi Memorial Prize for best master thesis in 2013
62.625%, 1st Class
Work & Experience
At my current postdoctoral position at the Institute of Physics, University of Sao Paulo, we are studying quantum entanglement at particle colliders, investigating both bipartite and tripartite entanglement. For bipartite entanglement, we examine various di-boson (WW, WZ, ZZ) and tW production processes within the Standard Model (SM) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and future electron–positron colliders. For tripartite entanglement, our study focuses on the ttZ production process at the LHC, considering both SM and beyond-the-Standard-Model (BSM) scenarios. In addition to this, we are probing dimension-8 effective operators in same-sign vector boson scattering processes using polarization and spin-correlation techniques. We are also investigating dimension-6 effective operators in the top-quark sector using experimental data from the CMS and ATLAS collaborations.
During my postdoctoral tenure at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute, I worked on several projects and published nine papers. We developed a spin-correlation formalism for a general two-body system consisting of fermions and gauge bosons, including the ttZ process, where I investigated anomalous ttZ couplings. Additionally, we probed anomalous couplings in the tW process using polarization and spin-correlation techniques. In another project, we studied the discrimination between beyond-the-Standard-Model (BSM) fermionic and scalar particles as potential dark matter partners at future electron–positron colliders with transverse beam polarization. We also explored collider signatures of a dark-Z boson at future electron–proton colliders using polarization observables. Another line of research focused on measuring the quantum numbers of BSM color-sextet particles using polarization- and spin-correlation-based observables. Furthermore, we investigated fatjet collider signatures in a left-right symmetric model with scalar doublets and heavy fermions within the universal seesaw framework. Finally, we examined multi-lepton collider signatures of a lepto-phobic doubly charged Higgs boson.
