Kyle G. Leach
Associate Professor, Department of Physics

Kyle LeachThe development of the Standard Model has been one of the crowning achievements in modern physics, and is the cornerstone of current subatomic studies. Despite its success, the Standard Model is known to be incomplete, and providing limits on possible physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) is crucial to our understanding of the physical universe. Although they are generally complex, unstable nuclear systems provide some of the best venues for these studies through the use of precision decay measurements using novel experimental techniques. These studies are extensive, and include probing CKM unitarity, searching for lepton number violations from neutrinoless double beta decay, and understanding the role neutrinos play in BSM physics using superconducting quantum sensors. My past, present, and future research goals aim to solve some of the major underlying questions that remain in our understanding of the subatomic world.

Kyle LeachThe development of the Standard Model has been one of the crowning achievements in modern physics, and is the cornerstone of current subatomic studies. Despite its success, the Standard Model is known to be incomplete, and providing limits on possible physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) is crucial to our understanding of the physical universe. Although they are generally complex, unstable nuclear systems provide some of the best venues for these studies through the use of precision decay measurements using novel experimental techniques. These studies are extensive, and include probing CKM unitarity, searching for lepton number violations from neutrinoless double beta decay, and understanding the role neutrinos play in BSM physics using superconducting quantum sensors. My past, present, and future research goals aim to solve some of the major underlying questions that remain in our understanding of the subatomic world.

Education

PhD, University of Guelph, Canada

Research Areas

  • High-precision tests of the Standard Model
  • Novel searches for keV-scale sterile neutrinos
  • Neutrinoless double beta decay
  • Radioactive decay of highly charged exotic ions
  • Technical development of radiation detection techniques in nuclear physics

Recent Teaching Assignments

  • PHGN 504: Radiation Detection and Measurement (Spring 2022)
  • PHGN 422: Nuclear Physics (Fall 2021) – Website
  • PHGN 100: Physics-I Mechanics (Spring 2020)

Professional Experience and Activities

After completing his PhD in 2013, Dr. Leach accepted a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at the TRIUMF facility in Vancouver, Canada, performing novel in-trap decay spectroscopy studies on highly charged radioactive ions with the TITAN collaboration.  Dr. Leach is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at the Colorado School of Mines, Head of the Electroweak Interactions (EI) Group, and Spokesperson for the BeEST Experiment.  In addition to work locally at Mines, the EI group’s research is performed at TRIUMF (Canada’s National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics) in Vancouver, Canada, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University.

Dr. Leach is a referee for numerous international research journals, and reviews funding applications for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and National Science Foundation (NSF).  He has served as an ex-officio member on the Advisory Committee on TRIUMF (ACOT) which reports to the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), and recently a member of the TRIUMF 5 year plan (2020-2025) steering committee.  Dr. Leach was also elected Chair of the TRIUMF Users’ Group Executive Committee (TUEC) in 2015, and has served as Chair-Elect (2016), Chair (2017), and Past-Chair (2018).  The research program of Dr. Leach has been recognized with several awards, including the 2020 U.S. Department of Energy Early Career Research Award and being named a 2019 FRIB Visiting Scholar.  From 2016 – 2021 he was the Head of Graduate Admissions in the Department of Physics and in 2021 was a member of the Research Advisory Board at the Colorado School of Mines.

Professional Memberships

  • Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) – Since 2006
  • American Physical Society (APS) – Since 2006
  • TRIUMF Users Group (TUG) – Since 2006
  • ATLAS Users Group (Argonne National Laboratory) – Since 2008
  • Canadian Institute for Nuclear Physics (CINP) – Since 2008
  • Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) Users Group – Since 2012

Professional Collaborations

  • The BeEST (Berylium Electron-capture with Superconducting Tunnel junctions)
  • nEXO Collaboration (Next Generation Enriched Xenon Observatory)
  • Gamma-Ray Infrastructure for the Fundamental Investigation of Nuclei (GRIFFIN) at TRIUMF
  • TRIUMF’s Ion Traps for Atomic and Nuclear Science (TITAN) at TRIUMF
  • Radioactive Decay Station at FRIB
  • SOLenoid spectrometer Apparatus for ReactIon Studies (SOLARIS) at FRIB/Argonne

Funding Sources and Partners

 

Publications