Daniel Tapia Takaki


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Biography

2023 - present: Professor of Physics 

2022- 2023: Patrick Malone University Honors Faculty Fellow

2022 - present: Affiliated professor. Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies 

2020-2021: Visiting professor, UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab, USA

2019-present: Associate Professor, University of Kansas, USA

2013-2019: Assistant Professor, University of Kansas, USA

2010-2013: CNRS researcher. IPN Orsay, University Paris-Sud, France

2008-2010: P2I postdoctoral fellow. IPN Orsay, University Paris-Sud, France

2008: Research Associate, University of Birmingham, UK

Education

Ph.D. in Physics, University of Birmingham, 2008, UK
M.S. in Physics, University of Sonora, 2004, Mexico
B.S. in Physics, University of Sonora, 2003, Mexico

Research

Prof. Tapia Takaki studies gluon dynamics in the proton and lead nuclei to understand fundamental properties and emergent phenomena of hadronic matter at high energies. Instead of using ordinary hadronic collisions, he utilizes the strong electromagnetic fields produced in multiperipheral interactions: photon-induced collisions.

 

He is also developing applications of quantum tomography in collider physics, measuring quantum entanglement and other quantum mechanical effects with a new perspective.

 

He has worked in a wide variety of experimental particle and nuclear physics projects at CERN, spearheading both small and large group of researchers and students. He has worked for the ALICE collaboration (2002-2014, and 2020-present), and for the CMS collaboration (2014-2020). He is also participating in the Electron-Ion Collider project.

 

At KU, Prof. Tapia Takaki participates in various programs at the Spencer Museum of Art. He also collaborates with the Biodiversity Institute, the Department of Mathematics, and the Instrumentation Design Laboratory.

Research leadership

  • Program Lead. Inter-American Network of Networks of QCD challenges, 2021-present
  • Convener of the CMS forward heavy-ion physics group, 2015-2019
  • Convener of the ALICE UPC group, 2012-2014
  • Conference convener at various high-profile conferences (QM, DIS, MPI, APS, etc)
  • Editorial board/committee member of various particle/nuclear physics projects, including CERN yellow reports, and community-driven white papers

Research interests:

  • Photon-induced processes
  • Ultra-peripheral collisions
  • Heavy-ion physics
  • Matter under extreme conditions
  • Color interactions in nuclei
  • R&D for particle detectors
  • Quantum tomography, entanglement
  • Art-Science research

Teaching

Classes taught at KU 

HNRS 190: Art x Science and the Quantum Renaissance (Honors)

PHSX 213: General Physics I (Honors)

PHSX 313: General Physics III  

PHSX 501: Honors Research

PHSX 503: Undergraduate Research

PHSX 521: Classical Mechanics I 

PHSX 536: Electronic Circuit Measurement and Design

PHSX 601: Design of physical and electronic systems 

PHSX 711: Quantum Mechanics I 

PHSX 721: Chaotic Dynamics

PHSX 811: Quantum Mechanics II

PHSX 947: Nuclear Physics seminar

Selected Publications

Awards & Honors

IARI Faculty Fellow. Spencer Museum of Art

Profesor Extraordinario. Universidad de Sonora

Featured in the UNO+UNO book: 30 Mexicans born in the 1970s, early 1980s

INFN Postdoctoral fellowship

Physique des deux infinis P2I postdoctoral fellowship

Richard Dalitz and Victor Weisskopf prizes, Erice School of subnuclear physics

Best poster. Annual High Energy Particle Physics IoP conference

Sonora’s Youth Award for Academic Achievements

United Kingdom ORSAS award

European Commission AlBan Award for Latin Americans

Grants & Other Funded Activity

Principal Investigator. DOE EPSCoR . 2022-present

Principal Investigator. DOE, Office of Science, Nuclear Physics Program. 2015-present

Principal Investigator. NSF AccelNet Program. 2021-present

Service

Advisory Board of the Spencer Museum of Art

Dean Search committee for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

College Sabbatical Leave Committee

Academic Director of the KU-Sonora Summer Research program

Ad-hoc committee for Chancellor’s trip visit to Mexico

Founding president, KU Squash Club

Treasurer, Latino Faculty and Staff Council

Memberships

DOE/NSF Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (NSAC)

US LHC Users Association Executive Committee 

American Physical Society

National Society of Hispanic Physicists

Inter-American Network of Networks of QCD Challenges

France’s GDR QCD network