Joseph M. Izen, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator, Elementary Particle Physics, a Department of Energy grant supporting UTD’s High Energy Physics Group.Education
The Cooper Union, B.S. Physics and Mathematics, Summa Cum Laude, June 1977
Harvard University, A.M. Physics, June 1978
Harvard University, Ph.D. Physics, June 1982
Ph.D. Advisor: Francis M. Pipkin
Postdoctoral Mentor: Sau Lan Wu, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Professional Affiliations
Member, American Physical Society, and APS Division of Particles and Fields
Member, BaBar Collaboration
Overview
Dr. Izen is an high energy particle physics experimentalist exploring the properties of particles that contain charm or bottom quarks. He is Principal Investigator for UTD’s High Energy Physics Group that carries out physics analysis and production computing for the BABAR experiment, supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Research Interests
I study particles containing charm and bottom quarks that are produced in high energy collisions of electrons and positrons the PEP-II storage ring, and measured by the BABAR spectrometer. I use a technique pioneered by the UTD high energy group that selects annihilations with less than the nominal beam energy of 10.6 GeV because of initial state radiation. We discovered an unexpected structure, called the Y(4260) with a mass around 4.26 GeV/c2. I am currently exploring the decays of the Y(4260) to explore whether it might be a conventional charm-anticharm meson, a charm-anticharm-gluon hybrid, or a tetra-quark. I also use events with initial state radiation to measure branching fractions of charm particles, and to study the hadronization of a charm-anticharm quark pair produced in collisions having an energy from 3.1 to 7 GeV.
Before joining BaBar, Dr. Izen collaborated on the Cleo, Tasso, Aleph, Mark III, SLD, SDC, and BES experiments, he also served as the US BES Spokesperson from 1996–1997.
Courses
Quantum Mechanics I
Graduate Quantum Mechanics
Contemporary Physics
Mechanics
Optics
Elementary Particle Physics
Accelerators
Special Interests
I play clawhammer banjo for Squirrelheads in Gravy, an Appalachian string band that plays for contradances in North Texas. If I’m not playing for a contradance, you’re likely to find me on the dance floor, which is how I met my wife Neia. Before we were married, Neia and I co-hosted a weekly folk music radio program.
I am faculty adviser to the UTD Comet Hockey Club, and play defense for UTD-B in the Southwest Collegiate Hockey League, but during academic breaks, I often head for the wilderness where I love to backpack and cross-country ski.
In addition, I amuse myself by tracing my family’s roots in Eastern Europe.
Publications:
Selected Publications:
- Observation of a Broad Structure in the π+ π– J/ψ Mass Spectrum Around 4.26 GeV/c2. BABAR Collaboration (B. Aubert et al.). BABAR-PUB-05-29, SLAC-PUB-11320, hep-ex/0506081, Jun 2005. Accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.Lett
- Observation of CP Violation in the Meson System.
(BABAR Collaboration) B. Aubert, et al., Physical Review Letters, 87, 091801 (2001). - Measurement of the Total Cross Section for Hadronic Production By Annihilation at Energies Between 2.6 GeV – 5.0 GeV.
(BES Collaboration) J.Z. Bai, et al., Physical Review Letters, 84, 594 (2000). - Measurement of the Branching Fractions for and and Determination of |Vcd/Vcs|2.
(Mark III Collaboration) J. Adler, et al., Physical Review Letters 62, 1821 (1989). - Ion Trapping Properties of a Synchronously Gated Time Projection Chamber.
S.R. Amendolia, et al., Nuclear Instruments and Methods A239, 192 (1985). - Experimental Test of the Flavor Independence of the Quark - Gluon Coupling Constant.
(Tasso Collaboration) M. Althoff, et al., Physics Letters 138B, 317 (1984).
- Updated: November 20, 2006
