I am an experimental physicist with expertise in high energy nuclear physics. I want to understand the inner working of the matter all around us.

Research Interests

My research utilizes the universe's strongest electromagnetic field - produced by accerating highly charged atomic nuclei to near the speed of light - as probes to better understand the inner dynamics of nuclear matter. High energy photons can be used as a 'femtoscope' to study the distribution of matter at the sub-femtoscale.

  • QCD and diffractive process
  • Spin states of the Gluon
  • Entanglement in nucleons and nuclei
  • QED and Light-by-Light scattering

Education

  • 2018 : Ph.D. in Physics, Rice University
  • 2015 : M.S. in Physics, Rice University
  • 2013 : B.S. in Physics, University of Florida

Research Appointments

  • 2023-Current : Assistant Professor, Ohio State University
  • 2020-2022 : Goldhaber Distinguished Fellowship, Brookhaven National Laboratory
  • 2018-2020 : Postdoctoral Research Associate, Brookhaven National Laboratory

Leadership & Service

  • 2018-Current : Software Coordinator, STAR Forward Upgrade
  • 2018-2023 : Convener, STAR Physics Working Group, Light Flavor and Ultra-peripheral Colisions
  • 2018-2023 : Convener, STAR Machine Learning Focus Group

Awards & Honors

  • 2022 : Blavatnik Regional Award for Young Scientist
  • 2019 : Nuclear Physics A Young Scientist Award, Quark Matter
  • 2018 : RHIC & AGS Thesis Award runner-up, RHIC & AGS Users Meeting
  • 2016 : Chuoke Award, Rice University
  • 2014 : Sam & Helen Worden Fellowship, Rice University
  • 2013 : Scholarship, Naval Office of Advance Research
  • 2009 : Congressional Medal of Merit, US Congressman Bill Posey
  • 2009 : 4 Under 40 Finalist, Community Leadership, LEAD Brevard
  • 2009 : Ying Grand Award & Ying Scholar

Selected Publications

Selected publications for which I am a primary author for an exhaustive list of publications see my Google Scholar profile

  • Wangmei Zha, J. D. Brandenburg, Lijuan Ruan, Zebo Tang Exploring the double-slit interference with linearly polarized photons arXiv:2006.12099 [hep-ph]
  • J. D. Brandenburg, Wei Li, Lijuan Ruan, et al. Acoplanarity of QED pairs accompanied by nuclear dissociation in ultra-peripheral heavy ion collisions Submitted arXiv:2006.07365 [hep-ph]
  • J. D. Brandenburg, STAR Collaboration, et al. Observation of the Breit-Wheeler Process :Converting Light into Matter" Submitted, [arXiv:1910.12400 [nucl-ex]](https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.12400)
  • J. D. Brandenburg, STAR Collaboration,et al. "Flow and Interferometry results from Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 4.5 GeV" Submitted to Physical Review C [arXiv:2007.14005 [nucl-ex]](https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.14005)
  • Wangmei Zha, J. D. Brandenburg, Zebo Tang, Zhangbu Xu"Initial transverse-momentum broadening of Breit-Wheeler process in relativistic heavy-ion collisions" Physics Letters B800, (2020) 135089 [doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2019.135089](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2019.135089)
  • J. D. Brandenburg, STAR Collaboration"Measurements of inclusive $J/\psi$ suppression in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV through the dimuon channel at STAR" Physics Letters B 797 (2019) 134917, [doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2019.134917](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2019.134917)
  • J.D. Brandenburg"Muon Identification using Neural Networks With the Muon TelescopeDetector at STAR" Nuclear Physics A 982 (2019) 192–94 [doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2018.10.036](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2018.10.036)
  • J.D. Brandenburg, STAR Collaboration, et al. (Corresponding Author)"Beam Energy Dependence of Jet-Quenching Effects in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 7.7, 11.5, 14.5, 19.6,27, 39, and 62.4 GeV" Phys. Rev. Lett 121 (2018) 032301 [doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.032301](https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.032301)
  • J.D. Brandenburg"Measurement of the mu+mu- Invariant Mass Spectra in p+p and p+Au Collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV with the Muon Telescope Detector at STAR". Proceedings of Science, 345 (2019), 177 [doi:10.22323/1.345.0177](https://doi.org/10.22323/1.345.0177)
  • J.D. Brandenburg, STAR Collaboration, et al. "Spectra results from Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 4.5 GeV" In preparation for submission to Physical Review C
  • J.D. Brandenburg, STAR collaboration,"Dilepton Production in p+p, Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV and U+U collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 193 GeV" Nucl. Phys. A967 (2017) 676 [doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2017.05.093](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2017.05.093)
  • J.D. Brandenburg, STAR collaboration,"Identified Light and Strange Hadron Spectra at sqrt(s_NN) = 14.5 GeV with STAR at RHIC BES I" Journal of Physics: Conference Series 736 (2016) [doi:10.1088/1742-6596/736/1/012005](https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/736/1/012005)
  • J.D. Brandenburg, STAR collaboration,"Identified Light and Strange Hadron Spectra at sqrt(s_NN) = 14.5 and Systematic Study of Baryon/Meson Effect at Intermediate Transverse Momentum with STAR at RHIC BES I" Nucl. Phys. A956 (2016) 445 [doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2016.02.068](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2016.02.068)
  • W.J. Llope, J.D. Brandenburg et al.,"The STAR Vertex Position Detector" Nuclear Instruments and Methods A759 (2014) 23 [doi:10.1016/j.nima.2014.04.080](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2014.04.080) [arxiv:1403.6855](https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.6855)
  • J. D. Brandenburg, for the STAR Collaboration,"Exploring QCD Matter at High Baryon Density" Journal of Physics : Conference Series, [arxiv:2005.12682](https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.12682)
  • J. D. Brandenburg, for the STAR Collaboration,"Measurement of the $\mu^+\mu^-$ Invariant Mass Spectra in p+p and p+Au Collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV with the Muon Telescope Detector at STAR" Journal of Physics : Conference Series 345 [doi:10.22323/1.345.0177](https://doi.org/10.22323/1.345.0177) arxiv:???