Petr Chaguine serves as Associate Research Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University. His academic journey began with an M.S. in Physics and Mathematics from the Institute for Physics and Technology in Moscow, Russia, in 1982, followed by a Ph.D. in High Energy Physics from the Institute for High Energy Physics in Protvino, Moscow region, Russia, in 1990. Chaguine's research focuses on particle astrophysics, high energy physics, and high energy density physics. He has extensive expertise in direct dark matter search experiments, development of particle detectors including liquid noble gas detectors, gamma/electron/positron spectrometers, and advanced data analysis techniques.

At Rice University, Chaguine has held positions such as Faculty Fellow and progressed to his current role, contributing to prominent international collaborations. He is actively involved in the XENON experiment, currently serving as Run Coordinator for the XENONnT detector, which aims to detect dark matter particles through interactions in ultra-pure liquid xenon. His work with the XENON collaboration includes analysis leading to the first direct observation of two-neutrino double electron capture in xenon-124, a rare nuclear process with implications for nuclear matrix elements and double beta decay searches. Additionally, XENON1T results under his involvement reported hints of solar axions, potentially from the Sun's core. Chaguine has also participated in high-power laser experiments using the Texas Petawatt Laser at the University of Texas at Austin, studying positron and gamma-ray creation, hot electron production, and dense pair creation in solid targets irradiated at intensities up to 10^21 W/cm². These studies advance understanding of relativistic plasmas and potential applications in laboratory astrophysics.

His publication record includes contributions to papers such as "Results from the XENON1T Demonstrator" (2013), "High e+/e- Ratio Dense Pair Creation with 10(21)W.cm(-2) Laser Irradiating Solid Targets" (2015), "Positron and Gamma-Ray Creation using the Texas Petawatt Laser Irradiating Gold Targets" (2012), "Simulation and Characterization of Gamma Ray Production by Petawatt Lasers Irradiating High-Z Solid Targets" (2012), and "Hot Electron and Pair Production from the Texas Petawatt Laser Irradiating Thick Gold Targets" (2012).

Professional Email: pshagin@rice.edu