Andrea Pocar

Andrea Pocar is a Professor of Physics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, affiliated with the College of Natural Sciences. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University (2003) and a Laurea from the University of Milan, Italy (1996). His research focuses on experimental particle and nuclear physics, with expertise in neutrino properties, dark matter detection, and low-background instrumentation. Key collaborations include EXO-200/nEXO, DarkSide, and Borexino. He was elected an APS Fellow in 2024, recognizing his contributions to neutrino and dark matter research.

Education:

• Ph.D., Princeton University, 2003
• Laurea, University of Milan, Italy, 1996

Research Interests:

• Neutrinoless double beta decay (Xe-136)
• Solar and geoneutrinos (Borexino)
• Particle dark matter (DarkSide-20k)
• Radon mitigation and low-background techniques

Recent Work: His group's activities include advancing liquid xenon and argon detector technologies, optimizing SiPM performance in cryogenic environments, and analyzing data from EXO-200, DarkSide-50, and Borexino. Recent publications highlight breakthroughs in CNO solar neutrino detection and dark matter sensitivity.

Advising & Team: Supervises a dynamic group of students and postdocs working on detector R&D, data analysis, and simulations. Notable alumni include Dan Kodroff (Chamberlain Fellow at LBL) and Priyanka Kachru (now at Fondazione Bruno Kessler).

Labs/Teams: Leads UMass's nEXO and DarkSide groups, collaborating internationally on experiments at the Gran Sasso Underground Lab (Italy), SNOLAB (Canada), and WIPP (USA).