Ujwal Konissery Santhosh M.Sc.
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Ujwal Konissery Santhosh M.Sc.
Contact:
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Education
- 2021-2023, M.Sc. Physics
Central University of South Bihar, India
Thesis: Determination of Radionuclides in Soil using HPGe - 2018-2021, B.Sc. Physics
Madras Christian College, India
Research Activity
JUNO (present)
My research in the JUNO experiment focuses on detector performance studies, data validation, calibration, and the characterisation of internal radioactive backgrounds in the liquid scintillator detector.
I contribute to the validation of offline data-processing and reconstruction campaigns by comparing detector observables across different software releases and data-taking periods. This includes studies of detector stability, event reconstruction performance, and data-quality monitoring to ensure reliable physics analyses.
I am also involved in calibration and detector-response studies, including investigations of energy reconstruction, detector uniformity, and time-dependent detector effects. These studies are important for understanding systematic uncertainties and achieving the precision required for JUNO's physics programme.
A major component of my work focuses on measuring the radiopurity of the liquid scintillator using delayed-coincidence signatures from the uranium and thorium decay chains. I develop and optimise event-selection algorithms for BiPo-214 and BiPo-212 candidates, evaluate detection efficiencies and systematic uncertainties, and extract contamination levels from physics data.
My recent analyses include studies of intrinsic U-238 and Th-232 contamination, investigations of transient Rn-222 ingress events, measurements of detector non-uniformities, and assessments of the spatial and temporal evolution of radioactive backgrounds. These studies contribute directly to JUNO's low-background physics programme, including solar neutrino measurements and other rare-event searches.
Internship (November 2023 – December 2023)
During a research internship at IFIRSE under the supervision of Dr. Son Cao, I investigated neutrino oscillation phenomenology by studying the dependence of muon-neutrino survival probabilities on the oscillation parameters θ23 and δCP. The analysis was performed for several current and future long-baseline neutrino experiments, including NOvA, DUNE, and ESSνSB.
MSc Thesis (January 2023 – May 2023)
My MSc thesis focused on measuring environmental radioactivity in soil samples using a High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector. The study involved detector operation, lead-shielding design, background characterization, data acquisition using a PXI-based system, and data analysis with the ROOT framework to identify radioactive isotopes from their characteristic gamma-ray spectra. The results contributed to assessing local radioactivity levels and support future environmental radioactivity mapping efforts. In parallel, I participated in the development and testing of a muon detection system based on plastic scintillators and a muon-veto setup, gaining experience in detector instrumentation, signal processing, and data acquisition techniques commonly used in particle and nuclear physics experiments.
Events
Talk: "Characterisation of Internal Backgrounds in JUNO using BiPo-214 Decays"
Poster: "Solar Neutrino Analysis in JUNO"
Poster: "Determination of Radionuclides in Soil Samples using HPGe"
Demonstration: Active detection of muons using cosmic ray telescope
Schools