Provakar joined the group in 2018 as a Ph.D. thesis student. He got his bachelors and masters degrees in physics from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras respectively. In the first one and a half years after joining the group, Provakar worked on several simulation projects which helped with the preparation for the running of several Super BigBite Spectrometer (SBS) collaboration experiments, as well as the testing of photomultiplier tubes for the Ring Imaging Cherenkov Detector for SBS. Then in January 2021, after finishing all required classes in the Ph.D. program, he relocated to Virginia and got involved in hardware work at Jefferson Lab. Provakar took a lead role in the testing, commissioning and calibration of the electron calorimeter, A.K.A the BigBite Calorimeter or BBCAL, which is an integral part of the electron arm spectrometer that is going to be used in almost all SBS experiments, scheduled to run in Jefferson Lab’s Hall A. One of these several SBS experiments is E12-09-019, which aims to measure the neutron’s magnetic form factor, GMn, up to Q^2=13.6 GeV^2. The data taking of E12-09-019 was finished recently and, as a thesis student on E12-09-019, Provakar’s primary focus right now is leading the analysis of the data collected during the GMN run from Fall 2021-February 2022.
Sebastian joined the group in 2018 as a PhD student interested in experimental nuclear
physics. He earned his Bachelor’s degree double-majoring in Physics and Philosophy from the
University of Colorado, Boulder in 2014 where he graduated Magna cum Laude for his work in
the Nagle experimental nuclear group and sPHENIX located at RHIC, Brookhaven National Lab.
Between undergraduate and graduate studies (2014-2018), Sebastian worked in plastics and
metal injection molding and manufacturing as a Quality Engineer and Analyst specializing in
quality control systems.
Sebastian’s primary work in the Puckett group includes Monte-Carlo simulations, installation,
commissioning, experimental running, and data analysis for the GMn experiment (precision measurement of the
neutron magnetic form factor at Jefferson National Laboratory – part of the Super BigBite (SBS)
family of experiments). Additionally, Sebastian has worked on quantum efficiency
measurements characterizing the Ring Imaging CHerenkov (RICH) detector and is a primary
expert for the Hadronic Calorimeter detector and subsystem (HCal) employed throughout SBS.
Beyond professional interests, Sebastian is an accomplished hiker and cook and enjoys both.