Xiaoyu Liu

What year are you in?
I am finishing my fourth year.

What group are you in?
Prof. Mike Lisaโ€™s group

Where are you from?
Wuhan, China

Describe your research in 200 words or fewer.
I work at the STAR experiment at RHIC (the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider). The primary physics task of STAR is to study the formation and characteristics of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a state of matter believed to exist at sufficiently high energy densities. For my research, I am measuring an observable called the anisotropic flow (usually denoted by ๐‘ฃ๐‘›) with the โˆš๐‘ ๐‘๐‘=27 GeV Au+Au collision data taken from 2018. ๐‘ฃ๐‘› characterizes the anisotropy of the azimuthal particle distributions in the heavy-ion collision and it can provide unique constraints on the initial conditions and the dynamical evolution of the QGP. Our group is also actively involved in the STAR upgrade, so I had a few chances to go to the Brookhaven National Lab to work on the installation and calibration of the Event Plane Detector (EPD).

What have you done in physics that you are most proud of?
Passing the second candidacy after failing the first one. It was frustrating and stressful but it also gave me the chance to reflect on my working style and the way I deal with pressure. I am proud that I learnt from the โ€œfailureโ€ and became stronger and more confident. Also, during that time, I had great support from many people and being able to work with them is another thing that I am proud of.

What have you done outside of physics that you are most proud of?
I started to work out regularly about 2 years ago and I am fitter now compared to myself two years ago.

What are your future goals?
I donโ€™t have a concrete plan for the long run yet. But for now I want to focus on my research and keep exploring what I want to do after graduation.