Dr. Keith Veenhuizen, assistant professor of physics and director of cooperative engineering, Olivia Magneson ’23, and Jacob Franklin ’23 presented results of their research at the virtual Glass and Optical Materials Division (GOMD) 2021 Annual Meeting in December. Veenhuizen presented the talk, “Effect of glass composition on the laser-induced nucleation and growth of lithium niobate crystals in lithium niobosilicate glass.” Magneson gave a poster presentation titled, “Phase-selective laser-induced crystallization of lead bismuth gallate glass,” and Franklin gave a poster presentation titled, “Formation of continuous lithium niobate single crystals in lithium niobosilicate glass via femtosecond laser irradiation.” GOMD 2021 brings together researchers in industry and academia to share findings about glass science and technology.

Dr. Daniel Pitonyak, assistant professor of physics, gave a remote invited talk at the Institute for Nuclear Theory Workshop on Fragmentation Functions on Nov. 2, 2021. Dr. Pitonyak presented “Multi-Parton Fragmentation Functions in a QCD Global Analysis of Single-Spin Asymmetries.”

Dr. Daniel Pitonyak, assistant professor of physics, recently gave three invited or contributed talks, and two physics majors—Michel Malda ’22 and Ben Gordon ’22—gave talks at major conferences. On Oct. 13, Malda presented “Updated QCD Global Analysis of Single Transverse-Spin Asymmetries” and Gordon spoke about “Analysis of the cos(2φ) Modulation in Semi-Inclusive Deep-Inelastic Scattering” at the American Physical Society Division of Nuclear Physics Fall Meeting, where Dr. Pitonyak gave a contributed talk, “Update on the Jefferson Lab Angular Momentum Collaboration’s Global Analysis of SSAs.”  

Dr. Pitonyak also gave an invited talk, “Status of Phenomenology for the Transversity Distribution,” at the 5th Workshop on the QCD Structure of the Nucleon on Oct. 4, followed by “Small-x Helicity Evolution and the Proton Spin Puzzle” at the 24th International Spin Symposium on Oct. 22.

Dr. Daniel Pitonyak, assistant professor of physics, gave a contributed talk, “Global Analysis of SSAs from Current and Future Data,” at the 22nd Particles and Nuclei International Conference on Sept. 5. Dr. Pitonyak participated virtually in the tri-annual conference featuring plenary speakers from throughout the U.S. and world.  

Dr. Daniel Pitonyak, assistant professor of physics, gave a contributed talk, “Impact Study of Future Data on the Tensor Charge from a QCD Global Analysis,” at the 19th International Conference on Hadron Spectroscopy and Structure on July 28. Dr. Pitonyak also gave an invited talk, “Proton Spin at Small x,” at the Electron-Ion Collider Users Group Summer Meeting on August 6. Both presentations were virtual.

Dr. Daniel Pitonyak, assistant professor of physics, co-authored “First analysis of world polarized DIS data with small-x helicity evolution” for the August issue of Physical Review D. The results will help in understanding how the spin of quarks and gluons contribute to the overall spin of the proton. Dr. Pitonyak’s co-authors are from The Ohio State University, New Mexico State University, and the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The authors are members of the Jefferson Lab Angular Momentum Collaboration.

Dr. Keith Veenhuizen, assistant professor of physics, is the third author on an article published in July 2021 in the journal Crystal Growth and Design. The article, “Polarization and Surface Effects on the Seed Orientation of Laser-Induced Sb₂S₃ crystals on Sb-S-I glass crystals on Sb-S-I glass,” is about using different fields (electric field polarization, temperature distribution, and light intensity distribution) to control the orientation of crystals formed on the glass surface with a laser.

Dr. Daniel Pitonyak, assistant professor of physics, presented remotely for the QCD Evolution Workshop, hosted by the University of California at Los Angeles. His invited talk was titled, “Phenomenological Study of the Origin of SSAs and Extraction of the Tensor Charge.” Dr. Pitonyak discussed his team’s results on the first global fit of single-spin asymmetry data from SIDIS, Drell-Yan, e+e− annihilation into hadron pairs, and proton-proton collisions, which will help provide insight on the 3-dimensional structure of hadrons.

Dr. Daniel Pitonyak, assistant professor of physics, gave the invited opening talk at a Mini-Symposium on Transverse Momentum Dependent Phenomena at the American Physical Society April Meeting. He presented an overview of the current status of transverse momentum dependent physics and related phenomena that give us insight into the 3-dimensional structure of hadrons. 

Dr. Daniel Pitonyak, assistant professor of physics, co-authored “Electron-Ion collider impact study on the tensor charge of the nucleon,” which was published in Physics Letter B. He and his co-authors studied the impact of the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), a future high-energy collider to be built at Brookhaven National Lab, on the phenomenological extraction of the tensor charge, a fundamental charge of the nucleon, from a QCD global analysis of single transverse-spin asymmetries.