Kevin Zhou

I’m a postdoctoral researcher at the UC Berkeley Leinweber Institute for Theoretical Physics.

Precision measurement technology is advancing rapidly, and I focus on using it to accelerate the discovery of physics beyond the Standard Model. This involves answering two questions:

How can new, weakly coupled physics appear in the lab?

There are only a few promising signatures compatible with quantum mechanics, relativity, and minimality. For example, I’ve identified the quantum effects of gravitational waves, and found the couplings of axial vector and two-form dark matter. I also resolved a century-old mystery by constructing the first interacting theory with continuous spin, which yields distinctive infrared modifications of electromagnetism and gravity. All these effects involve a single new field or parameter, yet were unappreciated before, because simple physics is subtle.

What is the most effective way to search for each signature?

I have proposed “tabletop” searches for axion dark matter through all of its couplings, focusing on new methods that yield parametric sensitivity enhancements. Collectively, these methods can probe the QCD axion across the full mass range motivated by minimal dark matter production. I work with experimentalists to develop prototypes, and a method I co-proposed involving superconducting cavities is now being built by five separate groups in America, Europe, and Asia.

Beyond research, I’ve spent a lot of energy on physics education and outreach, such as for the USA Physics Olympiad, and I’m always interested in hearing a good physics puzzle.