BIO

Astrid is a research associate at the SLAC National Accelerator Lab working in the Fundamental Physics Directorate. She earned her PhD from UC Irvine in 2023, working on implementing a real-time machine learning filter for a neutrino detector. Now at SLAC, she works on an ultra-low background neutrino experiment called nEXO, which is trying to understand the difference between matter and antimatter in the universe. In addition to research, Astrid is passionate about STEM outreach and mentoring, and enjoys learning new crafts.

ABSTRACT

In the early formation of the universe, an equal amount of matter and antimatter should have been created. However, since matter dominates almost everything we see and interact with, some unknown process has tipped the scale. The nEXO experiment is trying to understand this difference by observing a theorized rare decay event. To confidently measure this decay, we would need precise knowledge of the amount of radioactive material present in the detector we are building. This is difficult because radioactivity exists in all materials due to the long lifetime of radioactive elements compared to the age of Earth. My research focuses on developing extremely sensitive detectors to measure the radioactive element radon to “shrink” the radioactive haystack. Screening materials for radon will inform the material selection for detector construction and allow us to answer one of the crucial open questions in physics.