Research

ALICE Run 3 jets, photon-tagged observables, calorimetry.

ALICE Run 3 inclusive charged-particle jet measurements, PWG-JE tracking-efficiency systematics, ePIC Barrel Imaging Calorimeter R&D, and central-framework engineering in ALICE O²Physics. Forward program centered on bias-robust radial and photon-tagged observables in O+O and Pb+Pb.

§1 Doctoral analysis · ALICE Run 3 charged-particle jets

Built end-to-end.

I am the primary analyzer of the first ALICE Run 3 inclusive charged-particle jet cross-section measurement, R-dependent charged-particle jet production in pp at √s = 13.6 TeV with ALICE (in preparation, target 2026; paper proposal August 2026). The analysis spans the full chain — detector-level QA on continuous-readout data, jet reconstruction in O²Physics, response-matrix construction, Bayesian and SVD unfolding, and a complete systematic-uncertainty program covering tracking effects and unfolding stability. Preliminary results are PWG-JE-approved; presented on behalf of ALICE at EPS-HEP 2025 as the PWG-JE merge talk.

The physics motivation behind varying the jet radius R from 0.2 to 0.6: probing the balance between collinear (small-R) and large-angle / non-perturbative (large-R) emissions across the p_T range where modern parton-shower MC tunes disagree, and providing the pp baseline for the 2025 O+O / Ne+Ne running where energy-loss searches in small systems become accessible.

I established the Run 3-specific cross-section normalization based on the TVX visible cross section under continuous readout, and authored the PWG-JE cross-section normalization framework now used by the SKKU Run 3 charged-jet analyses (pp 13.6 TeV and O+O).

§2 Tracking-efficiency systematics · Hard Probes 2026

Owned the pp 13.6 TeV tracking budget.

I contributed the pp √s = 13.6 TeV total charged-particle tracking-efficiency systematic (~1.5% across the dominant p_T range; p_T-binned) for the PWG-JE Hard Probes 2026 preparation, including extension to the 2022, 2023, and 2024 periods. My ITS-TPC matching code was reused by a PWG-JE colleague as a starting point for PbPb tracking studies.

Related Run 3 understanding: trigger-level inefficiencies introduced by the continuous-readout TPC and asynchronous reconstruction; track-p_T resolution studies (covariance-matrix propagation, MC residuals, V0 mass resolution) feeding a p_T-dependent track momentum-resolution smearing used for charged-jet systematic studies in Run 3.

§3 Detector R&D · ePIC Barrel Imaging Calorimeter

Pb/scintillating-fiber prototype, two 2025 beam tests.

CERN PS T10 (July 2025) — lead offline analyst, paper in preparation 2026, covering energy response, resolution, and linearity. KEK AF–AR (March 2025) — on-site DAQ shifter, equalization, prompt analysis, co-author on the KEK paper in preparation. Co-author on the first beam-test paper, submitted to Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A (NIMA-D-26-00482); arXiv preprint posted; companion JKPS submission.

Earlier hardware work: PMT–module QA prior to the test beams — signal characterization with cosmic-ray and radioactive-source data, timing-coincidence checks, optical-coupling stability, applied per-module acceptance criteria. On the simulation/reconstruction side I contribute energy- and η-dependent sampling-fraction studies in JANA2 / EIC-recon and Geant4 prototype modeling for the Korea-BIC software effort.

§4 Software & infrastructure · ALICE O²Physics

Made shared infrastructure.

37 pull requests to AliceO2Group/O2Physics (18 merged) since 2023 covering jet finding, response matrices, systematic-uncertainty pipelines, hadronic-rate fixes, and central reconstruction.

Authored the PWG-JE cross-section normalization framework used by the SKKU Run 3 charged-jet analyses (pp 13.6 TeV and O+O; merged).
Merged a central-framework fix to the track momentum-resolution smearing methodology shared across analyses.

§5 Mentoring & community

Brought others along.

Co-mentor of two MSc co-analyzers on the ALICE Run 3 O+O charged-jet measurement (SKKU, 2025–present): O²Physics onboarding, jet reconstruction methodology, response-matrix workflow, and systematic-uncertainty estimation; co-author with W. Ham on the corresponding PWG-JE Analysis Note.
Co-organizer and instructor, KoALICE O²Physics Tutorial (SKKU, January 2024; with H. Lee) — two-day Run 3 analysis-framework tutorial for the Korean ALICE community (~22 participants from SKKU, Inha University, and other Korean institutes); instructor on Running O²Physics with Hyperloop (solo) and on Practical PWG-JE tasks.

§6 What I am thinking about

Open questions on my desk.

Whether jet quenching is present in small systems — an open question the 2025 O+O / Ne+Ne running can now address directly.
Radial, bias-robust substructure (jet shape ρ(r), fragmentation function D(z)) as observables that make selection bias directly testable, rather than groomed substructure which remains hard to interpret as a medium signature.
Photon-tagged jets as a cleaner recoil probe — γ-tagged ρ(r) in small systems and γ+jet Δφ acoplanarity / γ+jet correlations in Pb+Pb for medium-induced k_T broadening and the diffusion-wake search.
ML methods (OmniFold-style unfolding) that preserve correlations and control bias when extracting weak high-dimensional signals.
Detector R&D and performance characterization through test-beam data and simulation, including the ePIC Barrel Imaging Calorimeter.

Selected publications, talks, and the CV.

Full publication record on INSPIRE-HEP; talks history at Talks; CV downloads at CV.

Publications ↗ Talks ↗ CV ↗ jbae@cern.ch