Leendert Hayen
Bio
Dr. Hayen received his M.S. in Physics summa cum laude from KU Leuven University, Belgium, and through the Erasmus program at ETH Zuerich, Switzerland. He went on to earn his PhD in 2018 from KU Leuven under the supervision of Prof. Nathal Severijns, with both an experimental and theoretical focus on understanding beta spectroscopy in search for exotic physics in the electroweak interaction. He also pioneered an accurate treatment of forbidden beta decays in the reactor antineutrino anomaly, and developed Monte Carlo methods to propagate their uncertainty. He then joined Dr. Albert Young’s group as a research assistant professor at North Carolina State University and Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory in 2019.
Area(s) of Expertise
Leendert’s research lies at the overlap between nuclear, neutrino and low-energy particle physics, with a specific focus on fundamental symmetry tests. He developed the most precise description of nuclear beta decay spectra together with open-source software which is being used by experiments over the world, from precision beta spectroscopy to dark matter searches. He is currently involved in several experimental campaigns using novel techniques to measure the beta spectrum shape, and using ultra cold neutrons to measure their lifetime and angular correlations afte decay. Additionally, he is interested in theoretical topics adjecent to beta decay, such as electroweak radiative corrections and atomic interference effects.
Publications
- Projection imaging with ultracold neutrons , NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS & METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH SECTION A-ACCELERATORS SPECTROMETERS DETECTORS AND ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT (2021)
- Standard model O(a) renormalization of g(A) and its impact on new physics searches , PHYSICAL REVIEW D (2021)
- A look into mirrors: A measurement of the $β$-asymmetry in $^{19}$Ne decay and searches for new physics , (2020)
- Consistent description of angular correlations in $β$ decay for Beyond Standard Model physics searches , (2020)
- Detailed $β$ spectrum calculations of $^{214}$Pb for new physics searches in liquid Xenon , (2020)
- Measurement of the Permanent Electric Dipole Moment of the Neutron , Physical Review Letters (2020)
- Optically pumped Cs magnetometers enabling a high-sensitivity search for the neutron electric dipole moment , Physical Review A (2020)
- Standard Model $\mathcal{O}(α)$ renormalization of $g_A$ and its impact on new physics searches , (2020)
- Beta Spectrum Generator: High precision allowed β spectrum shapes , Computer Physics Communications (2019)
- First-forbidden transitions in reactor antineutrino spectra , Physical Review C (2019)