Suyog Shrestha

Faculty
• Assistant Professor of Physics

Suyog Shrestha

Office Hours

Education
• Ph.D, Iowa State University, 2014.
• BA, Grinnell College, 2006.
Professional Experience

Assistant Professor of Physics, Washington College, 2022 -

Adjunct Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University, 2022 -

Postdoctoral Researcher, CERN/The Ohio State University, 2014 - 2021

Teaching

Fall 2022: PHY211 (Modern Physics) and PHY323 (Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics)

Spring 2023: PHY252 (Scientific Modeling and Data Analysis) and PHY324 (Electricity and Magnetism)

Student Supervision

I have immensely enjoyed working with students. In a big collaboration such as ATLAS, there are several self-contained and well-defined projects to which students can make significant contributions. Below is a list of students I have supervised and their subsequent or current positions.

Ms. Sneha Dixit, REU 2021 and AY 2022-23 Toll Fellowship (Washington College)

Mr. Jason Ikenaga, AY 2022-23 Toll Fellowship (Washington College)

Ms. Eniya Jaber, REU 2022 (Washington College) (Graduate student at Washington University in St. Louis)

Mr. Tapas Kumar, REU 2022 (Washington College)

Mr. Xiang Zhang, REU 2021 (Ohio State University) (Graduate student at University of Virginia)

Mr. Jacob Borison, REU 2021 (Ohio State University) (The Aerospace Corporation)

Ms. Shiksha Pandey, CERN Summer Student 2021 (Bryn-Mawr College) (PhD student at Pennsylvania State University)

Mr. Dmitriy Zubov, CERN Summer Student 2021 ( National University of Nuclear Research, Russia)

Mr. Pratik Kafle, REU 2020 and 2021 (Reed College) (PhD student at Michigan State University)

Mr. Peyton Stewart, REU 2020 (Washington College) (PhD student at Clemson University)

Ms. Rasmita Timalsina, CERN Summer Student 2020 (Amrit Science College, Nepal)

Mr. Zhenyu Wu, REU 2019 (Ohio State University) (PhD student at University of Virginia)

Mr. Chaosong Chen,  REU 2019 (PhD student at Pennsylvania State University)

Ms. Caeley Pittman, CERN Summer Student 2019, (PhD student at Boston University)

Mr. Roshan Joshi, CERN Summer Student 2019, (PhD student at Ohio State University)

Ms. Rami Dhungana KC, CERN Summer Student 2018

Ms. Jessica Sydnor, CERN Summer Student 2018, (PhD student at Western Virginia University)

Ms. Stephanie Fouts, REU 2017 (Washington and Lee University)

Mr. Anthony Ciavarella, REU 2017 (Ohio State University) (PhD student at University of Washington)

Ms. Kalpanie Liyanage, CERN Summer Student 2017, (PhD student at University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka)

Mr. Mahesh Thakuri, CERN Summer Student 2016, (Master's student at Tribhuvan University, Nepal)

Mr. Santosh Parajuli, CERN Summer Student 2015,(PhD student at Southern Methodist University)

Research

The discovery of the Higgs boson was a triumph of the Standard Model (SM) of Particle Physics. However, the SM cannot be the final theory of nature because many observed phenomena, such as dark matter, are not explained by the SM. New theories have been proposed to address the shortcomings of the SM, but no evidence for them has been found yet. In this context, the Higgs boson provides a unique opportunity to test the SM, to see when and if it breaks down, and to probe new laws of physics.

The Higgs boson is the only elementary particle that can establish if nature allows particles to interact with themselves. This is one of the most fundamental interactions that elementary particles can have. How does the Higgs boson interact with itself? And is this the only Higgs boson? Both of these most profound questions in physics can be answered by searching for events with pair-produced Higgs boson. In order to achieve this, I have pioneered techniques to analyse proton-proton collision data at the LHC. In the coming years, we will either find an enhancement of the rate of Higgs pair production compared to SM prediction, which will be a tell-tale sign of new laws of physics, or else we will set the world's most stringent constraints on what the new laws of physics should be.

Publications

I am a member of the ATLAS collaboration, which publishes about 100 papers each year. To many of these, I contribute through data-taking operations, trigger performance studies, detector calibration and simulation, student & postdoc supervision, and executing other responsibilities. However, below is a list of publications where I have made major contributions.

Configuration and performance of the ATLAS b-jet triggers in Run 2," European Physical Journal C, 81, 1087 (2021).

Search for a heavy Higgs boson decaying into a Z boson and another heavy Higgs boson in the $\ell\ell bb$ and $\ell\ell WW$ final states in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector," European Physics Journal C {\bf 81} 396 (2021).

Combination of searches for Higgs boson pairs in $pp$ collisions at $sqrt{s}=13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector,"  Physics Letter B {\bf 800} 135103 (2020).

Higgs boson potential at colliders: Status and perspectives," Reviews in Physics {\bf 5} 100045 (2020).

Search for Higgs boson pair production in the dileptonic WWbb channel with the ATLAS detector in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$~TeV," Phys. Lett. {\bf B801} 135145 (2020).

Search for Higgs boson pair production in the $bbWW^*$ final state at $\sqrt{s} = 13$~TeV with the ATLAS detector," JHEP {\bf 04} 092 (2019).

Search for Higgs boson pair production in the $WW^{(*)}WW^{(*)}$ decay channel using ATLAS data recorded at $\sqrt{s} = 13$~TeV," Journal of High Energy Physics {\bf 05} 124 (2019).

Observation of Higgs boson production in association with a top quark pair at the LHC with the ATLAS detector," Phys. Lett. B 784 (2018) 173-191.

Search for pair production of vector-like top quarks in events with one lepton, jets, and missing transverse momentum in $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV $pp$ collisions with the ATLAS detector," Journal of High Energy Physics {\bf 08} 052 (2017).

Study of the material of the ATLAS inner detector for Run 2 of the LHC,"  JINST {\bf 12} (2017) 12 P12009.

Charged-particle distributions in $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV $pp$ interactions measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC," Phys. Lett. {\bf B758} 67 (2016).

Performance of b-jet identification in the ATLAS experiment," JINST {\bf 11} P04008 (2016).

Luminosity determination in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV using the ATLAS detector at the LHC," EPJ C {\bf 76}  653 (2016).

Search for pair production of new heavy quarks that decay into a $W$ boson and a light quark in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with the ATLAS detector," Phys. Rev. {\bf D92} 112007 (2015).

Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC," Phys. Lett. {\bf B 716} 1-29 (2012).

Search for 4th Generation Quarks with the ATLAS Detector at the LHC," S. Shrestha, AIP Conference Proceedings 1560, 86-89 (2013).

Grants

ICTP Physics Without Frontiers Grant, Italy  (2023)

National Science Foundation US-ATLAS Grant, USA  (2023)

National Science Foundation US-ATLAS Outreach Grant, USA  (2022)

National Science Foundation US-ATLAS Outreach Grant, USA (2019)

ICTP Physics Without Frontiers Outreach Travel Grant, Italy  (2019)

National Science Foundation US-ATLAS Outreach Grant, USA (2018)

Science & Technology Facilities Council Travel Grant, UK (2018)

CERN International Relations Travel Grant, CERN (2017)

International Centre for Theoretical Physics Travel Grant, Italy (2015)

CERN & ICTP Physics Without Frontiers Outreach Grant, CERN & Italy (2015)

CERN & ICTP Physics Without Frontiers Outreach Grant, CERN & Italy (2014)

Honors/Awards

Grinnell College Alumni Award, Grinnell College (2023)

Physics Mentor Award, The Ohio State University (2021)

Graduate College Teaching Excellence Award, Iowa State University (2009)

Richard G. Patrick Outstanding Teaching Award, Iowa State University (2009)

Outstanding First Year Teaching  Award, Iowa State University (2008)

H. George Apostle Outstanding Senior Award in Physics, Grinnell College (2006)

First runner-up, Iowa Collegiate Mathematics Competition (2005)

International Merit Scholarship, Grinnell College (2003)

Colloquia/Seminars

Higgs at 10! Ten Years of Measurements of the Most Recently Discovered Elementary Particle & Contribution of Nepali Researchers," Physics Colloquium, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, May 2022

Unraveling the mysteries of the Universe one particle at a time ," Physics Colloquium, The College of the Holy Cross, MA, USA, October 2020

Higgs Boson as a Tool in the Search for New Physics," Physics Seminar, Washington College, MD, USA, January 2020

Final Test of the Standard Model," High Energy Physics Seminar, Ohio State University, OH, USA, January 2020

Higgs Boson as a Probe in the Search for New Physics," Physics Seminar, Marietta College, OH, USA, January 2020

Higgs Boson as a Probe in the Search for New Physics," Physics Seminar, University of Sussex, UK, April 2019

Higgs Boson as a Tool to Discover New Physics and New Physicists," Physics Seminar, Grinnell College, Iowa, September 2018

Arresting God Particle in Kathmandu," Public Seminar, Oxford University, UK, March 2018

Pushing the Frontiers of Knowledge at CERN's Large Hadron Collider," Physics Colloquium, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, USA, September 2017

Borders and Their Human Impacts Colloquium Series: Science Without Borders at CERN," Public Colloquium, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA, USA, September 2017

Search for Pair Production and Rare Decay of the Higgs Boson With the ATLAS Detector," High Energy Physics Seminar, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA, September 2017

Higgs Boson as a Probe in the Search for Physics Beyond the Standard Model," High Energy Physics Seminar, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA, September 2017

Get Inspired: Pushing the Frontiers of Knowledge at CERN," Public Talk, United States Education Fund, Nepal, June 2017

Taking High Energy Physics to Higher Altitudes," Public Seminar, ETH Zurich, April 2017

Voyage to the Heart of Matter," Public Colloquium, Kathmandu University, Nepal, January 2016

Search for New Heavy Quarks at ATLAS," University of Maryland, MD, USA, May 2014

Search for  a heavy, vector-like top-quarks decaying into W-boson and light quark," University of Texas-Dallas, USA, May 2014

Invited Talks

ATLAS results on Di-Higgs," Higgs Hunting, Orsay-Paris, France, July 2019

Overview of ATLAS Results on Di-Higgs Search in bbVV Channel," Di-Higgs Workshop, G\"ottingen, Germany, May 2019

B-tagging trigger signature for Run3," Trigger Workshop 2019, Elba, Italy, May 2019

Status and Prospect of Run2 Di-Higgs Analyses in $bbWW$ and $WWWW$ Channels," DBL-HBSM Workshop, Annecy, France, November 2017

Search for Rare and Exotic Higgs Boson Decay Modes and Higgs Boson Pair Production With the ATLAS Detector," ICNFP2017, Crete, Greece, August 2017

Prospects for the Search of Higgs Boson Pair Production in $pp$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV With the ATLAS Detector," HH Orsay Workshop, Orsay, France, January 2016

Analysis of Events With $b$-jets and a Pair of Leptons of the Same Charge in $pp$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV With the ATLAS Detector," PASCOS 2015, Trieste, Italy, June 2015

Understanding material distribution in the ATLAS inner detector with Run2 data," ATLAS Tracking Plenary, CERN, Switzerland April 2015

Search for new heavy quarks that decay into a $W$ boson and a light quark," U.S. ATLAS Workshop, Chicago, July 2013

Search for new heavy quarks that decay into a $W$ boson and a light quark," ATLAS Physics and Performance Week (Exotics Plenary), CERN, May 2013

Search for New Heavy Quarks at ATLAS," CIPANP 2012, St. Petersburg, FL, USA, May 2012

Measurement of $W$ boson helicity in top quark decay," APS Prairie, Iowa, November 2009

Public Article/Interviews

Grinnell College Alumni Award 2023

Physicists work to bring more undergrads into research

Voice of America Science Edition: CERN's Large Hadron Collider

Sharing CERN with Nepal, Symmetry Magazine

From Nepal to Grinnell to Switzerland and beyond

The Internship Must Go On

A Career in Quantum Physics

Representatives from CERN to Visit W&L, The Columns

Physics Diplomacy