Reina Maruyama mentoring two grad students at tabletop experiment RAY.

Research

Reina Maruyama develops technologies and carries out experiments to probe the underlying physics of fundamental symmetries, origins of the Universe, and nature of neutrinos and dark matter. The Maruyama group uses techniques being developed in the fields of quantum sensors, atomic, nuclear, particle, and astrophysics to solve some of the greatest mysteries of the evolution of the Universe.

A list of experiments with Maruyama group involvement is below; please go to the experiment webpages linked within each entry for more detailed information.

Axion Dark Matter @ Yale

ALPHA, HAYSTAC, & RAY

Science Goal: Search for axion dark matter using quantum and microwave technologies.

Group Involvement: Yale is responsible for systems engineering, cryogenics, and magnetics. Maruyama and Steve Lamoreaux are PIs of HAYSTAC, Maruyama is spokesperson of ALPHA and PI of RAY.

Axion Dark Matter @ Yale Website
Close up of hands holding HAYSTAC experiment inner cryostat structure.

Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

CUORE & CUPID

Science goal: Search for neutrinoless double beta decay, which could answer why we live in a Universe of matter, not antimatter.

Group involvement: Yale is responsible for detector calibration, the study of cosmogenic backgrounds, double beta decay analysis, & the search for solar axions. Maruyama and Karsten Heeger are CO-PIs of CUORE & CUPID.

CUORE Website CUPID Website
Close up of faces of people working on the CUORE cryostat in clean room garb.

WIMP Dark Matter

COSINE-100, DM-ICE

Science goal: Search for direct detection of dark matter, probing for an annual modulation in the signal reported by the DAMA/ LIBRA collaboration.

Group involvement: Maruyama is the PI and scientific co-spokesperson of COSINE-100.

COSINE-100 DM-ICE
COSINE-100 crystals close-up.

Neutrino Astrophysics

IceCube

Science goal: Search for neutrinos by studying exploding stars, gamma-ray bursts, black holes, and neutron stars.

Group involvement: The Maruyama group studies how supernovae explode, as well as fundamental properties of neutrinos.

IceCube Website
IceCube Neutrino Observatory in an aurora.

Quantum Sensing

The axion’s low mass and wave-like properties require novel approaches in quantum sensing. The Maruyama group has an established record of success in quantum sensor development and axion dark matter searches in ALPHA, HAYSTAC, and RAY. In particular, HAYSTAC demonstrated for the first time the use of squeezed-state quantum sensors for axion searches. The group is also developing quantum sensors to search for neutrinoless double beta decay.

HAYSTAC quantum sensor.

AI & Machine Learning

The Maruyama group uses AI & Machine Learning for handling large amounts of data, categorization and validation for data selection, pattern recognition, noise reduction, and data processing in the Axion Dark Matter experiments. The group also uses AI and ML for data analysis and event reconstruction in its neutrino experiments.

Experimental Setup for HAYSTAC in 2025.

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge support from the Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Nuclear Physics; DOE QuantiSED; National Science Foundation; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; John Templeton Foundation; Knut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation; Simons Foundation; Swedish National Space Agency; Swedish Research Council; Yale Wright Laboratory; and Yale University.