Anyone know where I can borrow a Geiger counter?
I am a postdoc at the University of Chicago using machine learning and numerical techniques to solve problems in cosmological and astrophysical data analysis.
Previously, I was working on particle phenomenology, focusing especially on the search for dark matter. I defended my graduate thesis at the University of Michigan as the student of Kathryn M. Zurek in April of 2014. For my final year in grad school, I was a theory student fellow at Fermilab, working with Dan Hooper and the particle group. I went on to a postdoc at the C. N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics at Stony Brook University on Long Island. After that, and most recently before starting my current position, I was the Schramm Fellow in the theoretical astrophysics group on the 6th floor at Fermilab. For undergrad I attended the University of Pennsylvania, where I was a member of the student radio station, WQHS.
My email address is formed by appending uchicago dot (or period) edu to sammcd. And in case it matters to you, my ORC-ID is 0000-0001-5513-1938.
Curriculum Vitae
Here is a current CV
Current Projects
Publications from my Particle Physics Life
48. A Phantom Menace: On the Morphology of the Galactic Center Excess
arXiv:2209.00006 [astro-ph],
with Yi-Ming Zhong and Ilias Cholis. Accepted as a MNRAS Letter.
Publicly🧐available🧐code is provided at this🥳github🥳repository.
47. Axion Instability Supernovae
arXiv:2203.06160,
with Djuna Croon and Jeremy Sakstein. Published in PRD.
46. The Return of the Templates: Revisiting the Galactic Center Excess with Multi-Messenger Observations
arXiv:2112.09706 [astro-ph],
with Ilias Cholis, Yi-Ming Zhong, and Osip Surdutovich. Published in PRD.
Publicly🧐available🧐templates are provided at this🥳Zenodo🥳link.
45. Cosmologically Degenerate Fermions.
arXiv:2108.02785,
with Marcela Carena, Nina Coyle, Yingying Li, and Yuhsin Tsai. Published in PRD.
44. The Milky Way, Coming into Focus: Precision Astrometry Probes its Evolution, and its Dark Matter
arXiv:2106.13284 [astro-ph],
with Susan Gardner and Brian Yanny. Published in PPNP.
43. Neutron Star Quantum Death by Small Black Holes
arXiv:2105.06504,
with Pierce Giffin, John Lloyd, and Stefano Profumo. Published in PRD.
42. Find the Gap: Black Hole Population Analysis with an Astrophysically Motivated Mass Function
arXiv:2104.02685 [astro-ph],
with Eric Baxter, Djuna Croon, and Jeremy Sakstein. Published in ApJL.
41. Dark Matter Daily Modulation With Anisotropic Organic Crystals
arXiv:2103.08601,
with Carlos Blanco, Yonatan Kahn, and Benjamin Lillard. Published in PRD.
40. Late-Time Dark Matter Oscillations and the Core-Cusp Problem
arXiv:2010.12583,
with Jim Cline, Guillermo Gambini, and Matteo Puel. Published in JHEP.
39. Beyond the Standard Model Explanations of GW190521
arXiv:2009.01213 [gr-qc],
with Jeremy Sakstein, Djuna Croon, Maria Straight, and Eric Baxter. Published in PRL.
38. Missing in Action: New Physics and the Black Hole Mass Gap
arXiv:2007.07889 [gr-qc],
with Djuna Croon and Jeremy Sakstein. Published in PRD. Selected as an Editor's Choice.
37. Missing in Axion: Where are XENON1T's Big Black Holes?
arXiv:2007.00650,
with Djuna Croon and Jeremy Sakstein. Published in PotDU.
36. Supernova Muons: New Constraints on Z' Bosons, Axions, and ALPs
arXiv:2006.13942,
with Djuna Croon, Gilly Elor, and Rebecca Leane. Published in JHEP.
35. Constraints on Primordial Black Holes From Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Revisited
arXiv:2006.03608 [astro-ph],
with Celeste Keith, Dan Hooper, and Nikita Blinov. Published in PRD.
34. Hot Gravitons and Gravitational Waves From Kerr Black Holes in the Early Universe
arXiv:2004.00618 [astro-ph],
with Dan Hooper, Gordan Krnjaic, John March-Russell, and Rudin Petrossian-Byrne.
33. Dark Photon Dark Matter in the Presence of Inhomogeneous Structure
arXiv:2003.13698 [astro-ph],
with Samuel J. Witte, Salvador Rosauro-Alcaraz, and Vivian Poulin. Published in JHEP.
32. A New Mask for An Old Suspect: Testing the Sensitivity of the Galactic Center Excess to the Point Source Mask
arXiv:1911.12369 [astro-ph],
with Yi-Ming Zhong, Ilias Cholis, and Patrick J. Fox. Published in PRL.
31. The Cosmological Evolution of Light Dark Photon Dark Matter
arXiv:1911.05086,
with Samuel J. Witte. Published in PRD.
30. Implications of BBN Bounds for Cosmic Ray Upscattered Dark Matter
arXiv:1908.00007,
with Gordan Krnjaic. Published in PRD.
29. Constraining the Self-Interacting Neutrino Interpretation of the Hubble Tension
arXiv:1905.02727 [astro-ph],
with Nikita Blinov, Kevin J. Kelly, and Gordan Krnjaic. Published in PRL.
28. Dark Radiation and Superheavy Dark Matter from Black Hole Domination
arXiv:1905.01301,
with Dan Hooper and Gordan Krnjaic. Published in JHEP.
27. Nuclear Kinetic Equilibrium During Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
arXiv:1811.04932,
with Michael Turner.
26. A Deeply Bound Dibaryon is Incompatible with Neutron Stars and Supernovae
arXiv:1809.06765,
with Sanjay Reddy and Srimoyee Sen. Published in PRD.
25. Constraining Dissipative Dark Matter Self-Interactions
arXiv:1809.01144,
with Rouven Essig, Hai-Bo Yu, and Yi-Ming Zhong. Published in PRL.
24. WIMPflation
arXiv:1807.03308,
with Dan Hooper, Gordan Krnjaic, and Andrew J. Long. Published in PRL.
23. Severely Constraining Dark Matter Interpretations of the 21-cm Anomaly
arXiv:1803.02804,
with Asher Berlin, Dan Hooper, and Gordan Krnjaic. Published in PRL. Selected as an Editor's Choice.
22. Analyzing the Gamma-ray Sky with Wavelets
arXiv:1803.01952 [astro-ph],
with Bhaskaran Balaji, Ilias Cholis, and Patrick J. Fox. Published in PRD.
21. Supernova 1987A Constraints on Sub-GeV Dark Sectors, Millicharged Particles, the QCD Axion, and an Axion-like Particle
arXiv:1803.00993,
with Jae Hyeok Chang and Rouven Essig. Published in JHEP.
20. Robust Constraints and Novel Gamma-Ray Signatures of Dark Matter That Interacts Strongly With Nucleons
arXiv:1802.03025,
with Dan Hooper. Published in PRD.
19. Is Self-Interacting Dark Matter Undergoing Dark Fusion?
arXiv:1711.00857,
fully aware of Hinchliffe's Rule. Published in PRL. Selected as an Editor's Choice.
18. Dark Photon Decay Beyond the Euler-Heisenberg Limit.
arXiv:1705.00619,
with Hiren H. Patel and Harikrishnan Ramani. Published in PRD.
17. Prospects for Distinguishing Dark Matter Models Using Annual Modulation.
arXiv:1612.07808,
with Samuel J. Witte and Vera Gluscevic. Published in JCAP.
16. Revisiting Supernova 1987A Bounds on Dark Photons.
arXiv:1611.03864,
with Jae Hyeok Chang and Rouven Essig. Published in JHEP.
15. Singlet Scalar Resonances and the Diphoton Excess.
arXiv:1512.05326,
with Patrick Meade and Harikrishnan Ramani. Published in PLB.
14. Wavelet-Based Techniques for the Gamma-Ray Sky.
arXiv:1512.00012 [astro-ph],
(first author) with Paddy Fox, Ilias Cholis, and Samuel K. Lee. Published in JCAP.
13. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Dark Matter Elastic Scattering Through Higgs Loops But Were Afraid to Ask.
arXiv:1508.05390,
with Asher Berlin and Dan Hooper. Published in PRD.
12. Inflatable Dark Matter
arXiv:1507.08660,
with Hooman Davoudiasl and Dan Hooper. Published in PRL. Selected as an Editor's Choice.
11. Identifying the Theory of Dark Matter with Direct Detection
arXiv:1506.04454. Associated code available here.
With Vera Gluscevic, Moira Gresham, Annika H. G. Peter, and Kathryn M. Zurek. Published in JCAP.
10. Lining up the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess
arXiv:1406.6408.
Published in Physics of the Dark Universe.
9. Hidden Sector Dark Matter Models for the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess
arXiv:1405.5204,
with Asher Berlin, Pierre Gratia and Dan Hooper. Published in PRD.
8. Simplified Dark Matter Models for the Galactic Center Gamma-Ray Excess
arXiv:1404.0022,
with Asher Berlin and Dan Hooper. Published in PRD.
7. Dissecting the Gamma-Ray Background in Search of Dark Matter
arXiv:1312.0608 [astro-ph],
with Ilias Cholis and Dan Hooper. Published in JCAP.
6. Constraining Light Dark Matter with Diffuse X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Observations
arXiv:1309.4091,
with Rouven Essig, Eric Kuflik, Tomer Volansky, and Kathryn M. Zurek. Published in JHEP.
5. Inspecting the Higgs for New Weakly Interacting Particles
arXiv:1302.0314,
with Cliff Cheung and Kathryn M. Zurek. Published in JHEP.
4. Neutrino Phenomenology in a 3+1+1 Framework
arXiv:1205.1791,
with Eric Kuflik and Kathryn M. Zurek. Published in PRD.
3. The Dark Matter Inverse Problem: Extracting Particle Physics from Scattering Events
arXiv:1110.4281,
with Hai-Bo Yu and Kathryn M. Zurek. Published in PRD.
2. Constraints on Scalar Asymmetric Dark Matter from Black Hole Formation in Neutron Stars
arXiv:1103.5472,
with Hai-Bo Yu and Kathryn M. Zurek. Published in PRD.
1. Turning off the Lights: How Dark is Dark Matter?
arXiv:1011.2907,
with Hai-Bo Yu and Kathryn M. Zurek. Published in PRD.
Code
dmdd is a python package that enables simple simulation and Bayesian posterior analysis of nuclear-recoil data from dark matter direct detection experiments for a wide variety of theories of dark matter-nucleon interactions. dmdd was developed in collaboration with Vera Gluscevic for use in arXiv:1506.04454, additionally with Moira Gresham, Annika H. G. Peter, and Kathryn M. Zurek.
Particles for Justice
I am very pleased to have collaborated with some extraordinary colleagues to craft calls for justice and dignity within physics via the ad hoc group Particles for Justice .
Publicity
Physics at Tiniest Scale Could Explain ‘Impossible’ Black Holes, by Scott Hershberger for Symmetry Magazine.
If Betelgeuse goes boom: How DUNE would respond to a nearby supernova, by Scott Hershberger for Fermilab News.
Beyond the Standard Model Explanations of GW190521, by myself with Djuna Croon and Jeremy Sakstein in the Newsletter of the CERN Experimental Physics Department. Based on arXiv:2007.07889, arXiv:2007.00650, and arXiv:2009.01213.
Overschot straling centrum Melkweg niet te verklaren met donkere materie (Dutch) by Ans Hekkenberg at newscientist.nl. Based on arXiv:1911.12369.
Could recently spotted dim point sources explain the galactic center excess (GCE)? by Ingrid Fadelli at Phys.org. Based on arXiv:1911.12369.
The First Stars May Shed Light on Dark Matter>, by Julian Munoz and Abraham Loeb for APS Physics. Based on arXiv:1803.02804.
"If real, dark fusion could help demystify this physics puzzle", by Emily Conover of Science News. Based on arXiv:1711.00857.
"Inflatable Dark Matter" Could Explain Why We See Less Than Many Theories Predict. by Esther Inglis-Arkell for Gizmodo. Based on arXiv:1507.08660.
Wine
Anyone know where I can borrow a Geiger counter?
The Dark Matter Inverse Problem: Extracting Particle Physics from Scattering Events
Additional plots for a paper with my advisor, Kathryn Zurek, and Hai-Bo Yu, arXiv:1110.4281, are available upon request.
Random
some collected references on Phil Anderson for a memoriam "chalk talk" at FNAL