Rate My Professor Junichi Tanaka

Junichi Tanaka is a Professor at the International Center for Elementary Particle Physics (ICEPP) within the Graduate School of Science at The University of Tokyo. He earned his Master of Science in Physics in 1999 and Doctor of Philosophy in Physics in 2002 from The University of Tokyo. Tanaka's career has been dedicated to ICEPP, beginning as a researcher from April 2002 to March 2004, advancing to assistant professor from April 2004 to May 2010, associate professor from June 2010 to March 2018, and professor since April 2018. His research centers on experimental elementary particle physics, with a focus on the ATLAS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Tanaka's contributions include key roles in the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson and extensive searches for physics beyond the Standard Model, such as supersymmetric particles, extra dimensions, axion-like particles, dark photons, and dark matter. His laboratory conducts data analysis using machine learning, develops FPGA firmware for readout electronics in the liquid argon electromagnetic calorimeter, and upgrades trigger systems. In anticipation of the High-Luminosity LHC starting in 2030, Tanaka investigates quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing to manage massive data volumes. Notable publications encompass ATLAS results like "Direct constraint on the Higgs-charm coupling from a search for Higgs boson decays into charm quarks with the ATLAS detector" (2022, European Physical Journal C), "Search for long-lived charginos based on a disappearing-track signature using 136 fb^-1 of pp collisions at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector" (2022, European Physical Journal C), "A search for an unexpected asymmetry in the production of e⁺μ^- and e^-μ⁺ pairs in proton-proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at √s=13 TeV" (2022, Physics Letters B), and earlier B-factory work including "The Physics of the B Factories" (2014, European Physical Journal C). Tanaka belongs to the Physical Society of Japan and participates in outreach via science cafes and lectures on particle physics and quantum technologies.