NCPP Researchers Invited to J-PARC Expertise Contribution

Dr. Nurfikri Norjoharuddeen and Nurul Hidayah Mohamad Nor from National Centre for Particle Physics (NCPP) were honoured with an invitation by Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) to contribute their expertise for the Phase-a beam testing of Coherent Muon to Electron Transition (COMET) at their research facility in Tokai-mura, Ibaraki, Japan from 27th February – 12th March 2023.

Our NCPP researchers were also joined together with selected Malaysian universities as well as international experts (Photo credits to Prof. Yoshi Uchida of Imperial College London). The trip amounting to GBP 50,000 was fully funded by the United Kingdom Research and Innovation Research Fund (UKRI).

The goal of the COMET experiment is to search for charged lepton flavour violating (CLFV) processes of neutrinoless muon-to-electron (μ-e) conversion. UM’s ardent NCPP members have been contributing to the COMET experiment since 2013 with support from international fundings such as the Newton-STFC: Collaborative Research for Higher Level STEM Skills in Malaysia and UKRI.

NCPP established in 2013 focuses on understanding the most fundamental constituents of our Universe and the forces acting between them. NCPP works for the coordination of particle physics research collaboration in Malaysia with world-class research institutes. NCPP is actively involved in large experimental collaborations involving the high-energy frontier with European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland and the high-intensity frontier with Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Japan.

Photos by Prof Yoshi Uchida of Imperial College

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Dr. Nurfikri Norjoharuddeen is a particle physicist and a member of the CMS experiment in collaboration with CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). He is currently the Director of NCPP. Dr. Nurfikri's interests are in the field of Higgs boson physics, beyond the Standard Model (BSM) on jet reconstruction and identification. Dr. Nurfikri received his DPhil from the University of Oxford in 2018. He worked on the ATLAS experiment in the search of evidence on BSM physics with Higgs boson pair final states as well as the reconstruction and performance of large-radius jets with high momentum and hadronically decaying Higgs boson identification. Excited and curious to know more? Get in touch with Dr. Nurfikri at nurfikri89@um.edu.my.

Nurul Hidayah Mohamad Nor is a Research Officer at NCPP where her research focuses on the development of detector materials for high-energy physics applications that involves simulation and synthesis of materials. Concurrently, she also works on the growth of thin films and 2D materials such as graphene. She graduated from UKM in 2007 with a degree in Microelectronics Engineering and obtained her MSc (Microelectronic Engineering) in 2011. Her work experience includes both research and research management from her previous posting in the UM Research Cluster office. Get in touch with Nurul Hidayah at nurulhidayah@um.edu.my for more details.