Haiyan Gao

Gao

Henry W. Newson Distinguished Professor of Physics

Prof. Gao's research focuses on understanding the structure of the nucleon in terms of quark and gluon degrees of freedom of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), search for QCD exotics, and fundamental symmetry studies at low energy to search for new physics beyond the Standard Model of electroweak interactions. Most recently, her group's studies of the structure of the nucleon have been focusing on a precision measurement of the proton (see her group's 2019 Nature paper on this topic) and deuteron charge radii to elucidate on the proton and the deuteron charge radius puzzles, and on imaging the three-dimensional structure of the nucleon in momentum space through the extraction of transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs), employing polarized semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering processes. The nucleon tomography provided by TMDs will uncover the rich QCD dynamics, and provide quantitative information about the quark orbital angular momentum contribution to the proton spin. TMDs will also provide information on fundamental quantities such as the tensor charge of the nucleon, a quantity not only important for testing lattice QCD predictions, but also important for searches of new physics beyond the Standard Model together with the next generation of nucleon electric dipole moment experiments. Her group is playing leading roles in the Solenoidal Large Intensity Device (SoLID) project at Jefferson Lab, a high profile program which will make major impact on TMD physics, proton mass puzzle through precision measurement of J/psi production near threshold, and search for new physics beyond the Standard Model using parity-violating deep inelastic scattering. Most of her work utilizes the novel experimental technique of scattering polarized electrons or photons from polarized gas targets. Her group has built a number of state-of-the-art polarized gas targets including H/D internal gas target and a high-pressure polarized 3He target for photon experiments using the High Intensity Gamma Source (HIGS) facility at the Duke Free Electron Laser Laboratory (DFELL). Her research is being carried out mostly at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) in Newport News, Virginia, and the HIGS facility at DFELL.

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Henry W. Newson Distinguished Professor of Physics
  • Professor of Physics

Contact Information

  • Office Location: Ffsc 2313, Science Drive, Durham, NC 27708
  • Office Phone: (919) 660-2622
  • Email Address: haiyan.gao@duke.edu
  • Websites:

Education

  • Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, 1994
  • B.S. Tsinghua University (China), 1988

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

  • Henry Newson Professor of Physics. Duke. 2012
  • Fellow. American Physical Society. 2007
  • The Outstanding Junior faculty Investigator (OJI) Award. The US Department of Energy. 2000

Courses Taught

  • PHYSICS 791: Special Readings
  • PHYSICS 805: Electromagnetic and Weak Interactions in Nuclear Physics

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Arrington, J; Benesch, J; Camsonne, A; Caylor, J; Chen, JP; Covrig Dusa, S; Emmert, A; Evans, G; Gao, H; Hansen, JO; Huber, GM; Joosten, S; Khachatryan, V; Liyanage, N; Meziani, ZE; Nycz, M; Peng, C; Paolone, M; Seay, W; Souder, PA; Sparveris, N; Spiesberger, H; Tian, Y; Voutier, E; Xie, J; Xiong, W; Ye, ZY; Ye, Z; Zhang, J; Zhao, ZW; Zheng, X, The solenoidal large intensity device (SoLID) for JLab 12 GeV, Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, vol 50 no. 11 (2023) [10.1088/1361-6471/acda21] [abs].
  • Zhou, J; Khachatryan, V; Akushevich, I; Gao, H; Ilyichev, A; Peng, C; Srednyak, S; Xiong, W, Lowest-order QED radiative corrections in unpolarized elastic electron–deuteron scattering beyond the ultra-relativistic limit for the proposed deuteron charge radius measurement at Jefferson laboratory, The European Physical Journal A, vol 59 no. 11 (2023) [10.1140/epja/s10050-023-01174-6] [abs].
  • Adhikari, S; Afzal, F; Akondi, CS; Albrecht, M; Amaryan, M; Arroyave, V; Asaturyan, A; Austregesilo, A; Baldwin, Z; Barbosa, F; Barlow, J; Barriga, E; Barsotti, R; Beattie, TD; Berdnikov, VV; Black, T; Boeglin, W; Briscoe, WJ; Britton, T; Brooks, WK; Byer, D; Chudakov, E; Cole, PL; Cortes, O; Crede, V; Dalton, MM; Darulis, D; Deur, A; Dobbs, S; Dolgolenko, A; Dotel, R; Dugger, M; Dzhygadlo, R; Ebersole, D; Egiyan, H; Erbora, T; Eugenio, P; Fabrizi, A; Fanelli, C; Fang, S; Fegan, S; Fitches, J; Foda, AM; Furletov, S; Gan, L; Gao, H; Gardner, A; Gasparian, A; Gleason, C; Goetzen, K; Goryachev, VS; Grube, B; Guo, J; Guo, L; Hague, TJ; Hakobyan, H; Hernandez, J; Hoffman, ND; Hornidge, D; Hou, G; Huber, GM; Hurck, P; Hurley, A; Imoehl, W; Ireland, DG; Ito, MM; Jaegle, I; Jarvis, NS; Jeske, T; Jones, RT; Kakoyan, V; Kalicy, G; Khachatryan, V; Khatchatryan, M; Kourkoumelis, C; Laduke, A; Larin, I; Lawrence, D; Lersch, DI; Li, H; Li, WB; Liu, B; Livingston, K; Lolos, GJ; Lorenti, L; Lyubovitskij, V; Mack, D; Mahmood, A; Martel, PP; Marukyan, H; Matveev, V; McCaughan, M; McCracken, M; Meyer, CA; Miskimen, R; Mitchell, RE; Mizutani, K; Neelamana, V; Ng, L; Nissen, E, Measurement of the J / ψ photoproduction cross section over the full near-threshold kinematic region, Physical Review C, vol 108 no. 2 (2023) [10.1103/PhysRevC.108.025201] [abs].
  • Ablikim, M; Achasov, MN; Adlarson, P; Ai, XC; Aliberti, R; Amoroso, A; An, MR; An, Q; Bai, Y; Bakina, O; Balossino, I; Ban, Y; Batozskaya, V; Begzsuren, K; Berger, N; Berlowski, M; Bertani, M; Bettoni, D; Bianchi, F; Bianco, E; Bloms, J; Bortone, A; Boyko, I; Briere, RA; Brueggemann, A; Cai, H; Cai, X; Calcaterra, A; Cao, GF; Cao, N; Cetin, SA; Chang, JF; Chang, TT; Chang, WL; Che, GR; Chelkov, G; Chen, C; Chen, G; Chen, HS; Chen, ML; Chen, SJ; Chen, SM; Chen, T; Chen, XR; Chen, XT; Chen, YB; Chen, YQ; Chen, ZJ; Cheng, WS; Choi, SK; Chu, X; Cibinetto, G; Coen, SC; Cossio, F; Cui, JJ; Dai, HL; Dai, JP; Dbeyssi, A; De Boer, RE; Dedovich, D; Deng, ZY; Denig, A; Denysenko, I; Destefanis, M; De Mori, F; Ding, B; Ding, XX; Ding, Y; Dong, J; Dong, LY; Dong, MY; Dong, X; Du, SX; Duan, ZH; Egorov, P; Fan, YHY; Fan, YL; Fang, J; Fang, SS; Fang, WX; Fang, Y; Farinelli, R; Fava, L; Feldbauer, F; Felici, G; Feng, CQ; Feng, JH; Fischer, K; Fritsch, M; Fritzsch, C; Fu, CD; Fu, JL; Fu, YW; Gao, H; Gao, YN; Gao, Y; Garbolino, S; Garzia, I, Cross-section measurements of e+e- →φK+K- and e+e- →φ KS0 KS0 at center-of-mass energies between 3.7730 GeV and 4.7008 GeV, Physical Review D, vol 108 no. 3 (2023) [10.1103/PhysRevD.108.032004] [abs].
  • Ablikim, M; Achasov, MN; Adlarson, P; Albrecht, M; Aliberti, R; Amoroso, A; An, MR; An, Q; Bai, Y; Bakina, O; Baldini Ferroli, R; Balossino, I; Ban, Y; Batozskaya, V; Becker, D; Begzsuren, K; Berger, N; Bertani, M; Bettoni, D; Bianchi, F; Bianco, E; Bloms, J; Bortone, A; Boyko, I; Briere, RA; Brueggemann, A; Cai, H; Cai, X; Calcaterra, A; Cao, GF; Cao, N; Cetin, SA; Chang, JF; Chang, WL; Che, GR; Chelkov, G; Chen, C; Chen, G; Chen, HS; Chen, ML; Chen, SJ; Chen, SM; Chen, T; Chen, XR; Chen, XT; Chen, YB; Chen, ZJ; Cheng, WS; Choi, SK; Chu, X; Cibinetto, G; Cossio, F; Cui, JJ; Dai, HL; Dai, JP; Dbeyssi, A; de Boer, RE; Dedovich, D; Deng, ZY; Denig, A; Denysenko, I; Destefanis, M; De Mori, F; Ding, Y; Dong, J; Dong, LY; Dong, MY; Dong, X; Du, SX; Duan, ZH; Egorov, P; Fan, YL; Fang, J; Fang, SS; Fang, WX; Fang, Y; Farinelli, R; Fava, L; Feldbauer, F; Felici, G; Feng, CQ; Feng, JH; Fischer, K; Fritsch, M; Fritzsch, C; Fu, CD; Gao, H; Gao, YN; Gao, Y; Garbolino, S; Garzia, I; Ge, PT; Ge, ZW; Geng, C; Gersabeck, EM; Gilman, A; Goetzen, K; Gong, L, Study of the e+e − → π + π − ω process at center-of-mass energies between 4.0 and 4.6 GeV, Journal of High Energy Physics, vol 2023 no. 8 (2023) [10.1007/JHEP08(2023)159] [abs].