Associate Professor of Physics
Bhattacharya is a particle phenomenologist, focusing on the physics of quarks, leptons, the Higgs boson, and dark matter. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Montreal in Canada (2012–2016) and at Wayne State University in Detroit (2016–2017). Bhattacharya joined LTU’s Department of Natural Sciences in 2017, where he is currently an Associate Professor of Physics.
As a theoretical physicist, Bhattacharya is interested in solving a long-standing problem called the “baryon-asymmetry problem.” A simple manifestation of this problem is in the fact that our universe is largely dominated by matter over antimatter, contrary to what the widely accepted theory of particle physics – the Standard Model – predicts. Antimatter is related to matter via a fundamental symmetry of nature, called “Charge-Parity” or CP. Bhattacharya’s research focuses on investigating the interactions of charm and bottom quarks with new hypothetical particles, such as axion-like particles or ALPs, with a keen eye toward violations of CP symmetry as an explanation for the baryon-asymmetry problem.
Bhattacharya’s research has received support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grants No. PHY-2310627 and PHY-2013984. With funding from the NSF, Bhattacharya actively engages undergraduate students in his research activities.
A list of Bhattacharya’s publications is available on InspireHEP.
When not playing with data or exploring theories beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, Bhattacharya enjoys taking road trips with his spouse and hanging out on the couch with his cat.