About
Professor Aidala works in experimental high-energy physics, on the border between nuclear and particle physics. Her research is focused on quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the theory of the strong force. She has worked for many years on spin-momentum correlations inside the proton, loosely analogous to the quantum electrodynamical spin-orbit couplings in the hydrogen atom. More recently she has been focused on studying mechanisms of hadronization, the formation of new QCD bound states. She currently carries out her QCD research as part of large, international collaborations working at two different facilities. She is a member of the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN and of the PHENIX and sPHENIX experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Lab. She is additionally working toward the realization of a new facility for the study of quantum chromodynamics, the Electron-Ion Collider.
She additionally co-leads a theoretical project on the mathematical foundations of physics, Assumptions of Physics, which aims to identify a handful of physical principles from which the basic laws of various branches of physics can be rigorously rederived.
Professor Aidala has been recognized with a Sloan Research Fellowship, an NSF CAREER Award, and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. She was a 2019-20 U.S. Fulbright Scholar and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
Selected Publications
Multidifferential study of identified charged hadron distributions in Z-tagged jets in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV. LHCb Collaboration. Phys. Rev. D108, L031103 (2023).
Improving constraints on gluon spin-momentum correlations in transversely polarized protons via midrapidity open-heavy-flavor electrons in p+p collisions at 200 GeV. PHENIX Collaboration. Phys. Rev. D107, 052012 (2023).
Geometric and physical interpretation of the action principle. G. Carcassi and C.A. Aidala. Scientific Reports 13, 12138 (2023).
Reverse Physics: From laws to physical assumptions. G. Carcassi and C.A. Aidala. Foundations of Physics 52, 40 (2022).
Four postulates of quantum mechanics are three. G. Carcassi, L. Maccone, C.A. Aidala. Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 110402 (2021).
The asymmetry of antimatter in the proton. SeaQuest Collaboration. Nature 590, 561 (2021).
Variability as a better characterization of Shannon entropy. G. Carcassi, C.A. Aidala, J. Barbour. European J. of Physics 42, 045102 (2021).
Probing gluon spin-momentum correlations in transversely polarized protons through midrapidity isolated direct photons in p+p collisions at 200 GeV. PHENIX Collaboration. Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 162001 (2021).
Measurement of charged hadron production in Z-tagged jets in proton-proton collisions at 8 TeV. LHCb Collaboration. Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 232001 (2019).
