Postdoctoral Reasearcher
KICP Fellow
- Address:
- Eckhardt Research Center
Room 487
5640 South Ellis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
- Email:
- sokolenko@uchicago.edu
Background
Ph.D., University of Oslo, 2019
Research
Anastasia received her Ph.D. from the University of Oslo. Her scientific career began in particle physics, first data analysis, and then phenomenology, both for the LHC and non-collider experiments. During Anastasia's Ph.D., her interests have expanded towards the astroparticle approach. The main focus of her research program is to find new ways to constrain physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics using astronomical observations. She was working on projects aiming to constrain the self-interaction cross-section of dark matter particles. Combining astronomical observations and accelerator data allowed her to exclude a significant parameter space for direct detection experiments. Another direction of her research is towards indirect searches for dark matter.
She was working on the instrument's sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array for a dark matter annihilation signal from the Galactic Center. Anastasia studied the properties of the Intergalactic Medium (IGM) using simulations and demonstrated that violent processes that accompany galaxy formation could significantly affect the magnetization of the IGM. Modeling the propagation of light through the IGM can be used not only to detect cosmic magnetic fields but also to constrain different models of new physics.
Anastasia is a cat lover, and she enjoys doing sports, playing piano, and listening to audiobooks. In pre-Covid times, you can find her in the theater for ballet, opera, or classical music performances.