{{Short description|Greek physicist}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Yannis K. Semertzidis | image = Yannis K. Semertzidis 2017 IBS Conference on Dark World.jpg | fields = Dark matter, cold dark matter, axions, magnetic dipole moment, electric dipole moment, particle physics, nuclear physics | birth_date = September 16, 1961 | birth_place = Katerini, Greece<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.kathimerini.gr/964813/article/epikairothta/episthmh/ellhnas-kynhgos--ths-skoteinhs-ylhs |title= Ελληνας κυνηγός της σκοτεινής ύλης |last= Charitos |first= Panos |date= 20 May 2018 |website= Kathimerini |language= el |access-date= 18 December 2018 }}</ref> | death_date = | death_place = | citizenship = | nationality = | workplaces = Institute for Basic Science, KAIST, Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of Rochester | alma_mater = University of Rochester, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki | native_name = Ιωάννης Σεμερτζίδης | native_name_lang = Greek | thesis_title = Coherent production of light pseudoscalars (axions) inside a magnetic field with a polarized laser beam | thesis_url = http://hdl.handle.net/1802/8571 | thesis_year = 1989 | academic_advisors = Konstantin Zioutas | doctoral_advisor = Adrian C. Melissinos | notable_students = | known_for = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = Brookhaven National Laboratory Science and Technology Award | footnotes = | website = [http://capp.ibs.re.kr IBS Center for Axion and Precision Physics Research] }} '''Yannis K. Semertzidis''' is a physicist exploring axions as a dark matter candidate, precision physics in storage rings including muon ''g''-2 and proton electric dipole moment (pEDM).<ref name=":bnl"/> The axion and the pEDM are intimately connected through the strong CP problem. Furthermore, if the pEDM is found to be non-zero, it can help resolve the matter anti-matter asymmetry mystery of our universe. During his research career, he held a number of positions in the Department of Physics in Brookhaven National Laboratory, including initiator and co-spokesperson of the Storage Ring Electric Dipole Moment Collaboration. He is the founding director of the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) Center for Axion and Precision Physics,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://capp.ibs.re.kr/html/capp_en/people/people_0201.html |title= Director Yannis K. Semertzidis |author=<!--Not stated--> |website= Center for Axion and Percision Physics Research |publisher= Institute for Basic Science |access-date= 20 June 2018 |quote=Director Yannis K. Semertzidis, a fellow of the American Physics Society and a tenured, senior physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, was appointed as director of the IBS research center in October 2013 in recognition of his experiments in precision particle physics and his experimental plan to search for the dark-matter axion.}}</ref> is a professor in the Physics Department of KAIST, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=110404 |title= Brookhaven Lab's Yannis Semertzidis Named American Physical Society Fellow |last= Greenberg |first= Diane |date= 5 January 2006 |website= Brookhaven National Laboratory |access-date= 20 June 2018 |quote= Yannis Semertzidis, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), a professional organization with about 43,000 members.}}</ref>
== Education == Semertzidis received a Bachelor of Science in physics from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece in 1984. He then moved to New York and studied at the University of Rochester, obtaining Master of Science and Ph.D in physics in 1987 and 1989, respectively.
== Career== From 1990 until 1992, he worked as a research associate in the University of Rochester. Staying in New York, he next worked as an assistant physicist in the Department of Physics in Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) from 1992. The next year he took a leave of absence to work as a Fellow in the PPE Division at CERN from 1993 to 1995. He returned to BNL and worked as a physicist in 1997, became a tenured physicist in March 2000, and finally a tenured senior scientist in September 2012. While at BNL he primarily focused on two experimental projects: a number of precision physics experiments related to axions as a candidate for dark matter, and precision physics in storage rings, which included muons, and looking for the electric dipole moment of protons with increased sensitivity.<ref name=":bnl">{{cite web |url= https://www.bnl.gov/edm |title= Storage Ring Electric Dipole Moment Collaboration |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= 31 May 2013 |website= Brookhaven National Laboratory |access-date= 20 June 2018 }}</ref> If the electric dipole moment of protons is non-zero, it would violate the discrete symmetries of T-time and P-parity reversal symmetries in quantum mechanics. These symmetries are connected to the matter-antimatter asymmetry problem and observing the proton electric dipole moment could help solve that mystery. While working at BNL, Semertzidis also mentored a number of students with multiple of them going on to win awards.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=22348 |title= Yannis Semertzidis Mentors Award-Winning Students |last= Greenberg |first=Diane |date= 5 May 2011 |website= Brookhaven National Laboratory|access-date= 7 June 2018 |quote=The students credit physicist Yannis Semertzidis, Physics Department, for making their success possible. Semertzidis mentored them in physics theory, experimental methods, and statistics.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=23622 |title=Two Intel Semifinalists Completed Research at Brookhaven Lab |last=Gettler |first= Joe |date= 18 January 2013 |website=Brookhaven National Laboratory |access-date=7 June 2018 |quote=Working with his mentor Yannis Semertzidis of the Lab's Physics Department, Patil made contributions for the proposed Proton Electric Dipole Moment experiment.}}</ref> From summer 2015, his Center hosts an annual summer science program (KUSP) aimed at young physics students.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://kusp.ibs.re.kr/ |title= Korea Undergraduate Graduate High School Science Program |author= <!--Not stated--> |publisher= Institute for Basic Science |access-date= 18 December 2018 |archive-date= 18 December 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181218102209/http://kusp.ibs.re.kr/ |url-status= dead }}</ref>
In October 2013, Semertzidis became the director of the Institute for Basic Science Center for Axion and Precision Physics and a physics professor at KAIST, where the Center is located. The dark matter research is focusing on the axion; a hypothetical elementary particle as a result of the Peccei–Quinn theory in 1977 to resolve the strong CP problem in quantum chromodynamics. As the mass of the axion is unknown, they are searching in the mass range of 0.001 meV to 1 meV by converting axions into microwave photons inside a large volume, with a high magnetic field, and inside a microwave cavity; a technique invented by Pierre Sikivie. If it is within this range, it is possible it will be discovered within the next ten years. Utilizing techniques created for the muon ''g''-2 experiment and elsewhere, they are working towards improving the accuracy of electric dipole moment experiments to better than 10<sup>−29</sup>e-cm.<ref>{{cite conference |url= https://indico.cern.ch/event/686555/contributions/2962551/contribution.pdf |title= Storage ring proton Electric Dipole Moment Experiment with 10−29 e·cm sensitivity |first= Yannis |last= Semertzidis |date= 6 July 2018 |conference= ICHEP2018 SEOUL |conference-url= https://www.ichep2018.org/ |location= COEX, Seoul, Korea }}</ref>
In 2023, the Center for Axion and Precision Physics utilized a 12T magnet to search for axions in the Dine-Fischler-Srednicki-Zhitnitsky sensitivity, becoming only the second group in the world to do so. The first group is the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX) which uses a 8T magnet.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.azoquantum.com/News.aspx?newsID=9446 |title= Most Advanced Experimental Setup Yet to Search DFSZ Axion Dark Matter |author= <!--Not stated--> |date=21 February 2023 |website=AZO Quantum |publisher= |access-date= 22 February 2023 |quote= |language= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://phys.org/news/2023-02-south-korea-debuts-dfsz-axion.html |title= South Korea debuts first search for DFSZ axion dark matter |author= <!--Not stated--> |date= 20 February 2023 |website= |publisher= Phys.org |access-date= 22 February 2023 |quote= |language= }}</ref>
== Honors and awards == * 2005: Fellow of the American Physical Society<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=1404 |title=Brookhaven Lab's Yannis Semertzidis Named American Physical Society Fellow |last= Greenberg |first=Diane |date= 5 January 2006 |website= Internet Archive |publisher= Brookhaven National Laboratory |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010012114/https://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=1404 |access-date= 7 June 2018 |archive-date=2012-10-10 |quote=Yannis Semertzidis, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), a professional organization with about 43,000 members.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=S&year=&unit_id=&institution= |title=APS Fellow Archive |author=<!--Not stated--> |website= American Physical Society |access-date= 7 June 2018 |quote=Citation: For leadership in the development of electrostatic quadrupoles and transient magnetic field measurements and for analysis of the muon g-2 experiment. }}</ref> * 2003: Brookhaven National Laboratory Science and Technology Award
==References== {{reflist|2}}
== External links == * [https://www.ibs.re.kr/eng/sub02_03_06.do Institute for Basic Science - Yannis Semertzidis] * [https://ibs.re.kr/capp/ IBS Center for Axion and Precision Physics Research] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723160930/https://www.ibs.re.kr/capp/ |date=2021-07-23 }} * [https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_AYoNMYAAAAJ&hl Yannis Semertzidis - Google Scholar] * [http://www.ibs.re.kr Institute for Basic Science]
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Semertzidis}} Category:21st-century Greek physicists Category:Institute for Basic Science Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society Category:Brookhaven National Laboratory staff Category:University of Rochester alumni Category:University of Rochester faculty Category:Aristotle University of Thessaloniki alumni Category:Academic staff of KAIST Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:People associated with CERN Category:People from Katerini Category:Greek Macedonians