Daniel Tapia Takaki

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