About

Krishna S. Kumar is the Gluckstern Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, specializing in Experimental Nuclear and Particle Physics. His research addresses fundamental questions about the forces and particles that shaped the early universe, including the search for super-weak forces at sub-attometer length scales. He investigates the structure of neutrons within heavy nuclei, demonstrating that neutrons occupy a slightly larger volume than protons, thereby forming a "neutron skin." Kumar also explores whether neutrinos are their own anti-particles and examines the conservation of lepton number. Additionally, his work delves into the properties of protons by studying the motion and self-interactions of quarks and gluons. His main research projects involve parity-violating electron scattering experiments using the 11 GeV Electron Beam at Jefferson Lab, specifically the MOLLER and SOLID experiments. Kumar has contributed to teaching courses such as Electricity and Magnetism Lab and Nuclei and Elementary Particles, reflecting his commitment to both research and education in physics.

Research topics

• Physics
• Nuclear physics
• Optics
• Particle physics
• Computer Science
• Atomic physics
• Engineering
• Chemistry
• Quantum mechanics
• Artificial Intelligence
• Systems engineering
• Combinatorics
• Algorithm
• Astronomy
• Materials science
• Mathematics
• Electronic engineering
• Condensed matter physics
• Engineering physics

Selected publications

• Sensitivity of nEXO to <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mmultiscripts> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>Xe</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mprescripts/> <mml:none/> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>136</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:mmultiscripts> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> charged-current interactions: Background-free searches for solar neutrinos and fermionic dark matter

  Physical review. D/Physical review. D. · 2025-11-06 · 1 citations

  article

  We study the sensitivity of nEXO to solar neutrino charged-current interactions, ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{e}+^{136}\mathrm{Xe}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}{^{136}\mathrm{Cs}}^{*}+{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}$, as well as analogous interactions predicted by models of fermionic dark matter. Due to the recently observed low-lying isomeric states of $^{136}\mathrm{Cs}$, these interactions will create a time-delayed coincident signal observable in the scintillation channel. Here we develop a detailed Monte Carlo simulation of scintillation emission, propagation, and detection in the nEXO detector to model these signals under different assumptions about the timing resolution of the photosensor readout. We show this correlated signal can be used to achieve background discrimination on the order of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}9}$, enabling nEXO to make background-free measurements of solar neutrinos above the reaction threshold of 0.668 MeV. We project that nEXO could measure the flux of neutrinos from the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle with a statistical uncertainty of 25%, thus contributing a novel and competitive measurement toward addressing the solar metallicity problem. Additionally, nEXO could measure the mean energy of the $^{7}\mathrm{Be}$ neutrinos with a precision of $\ensuremath{\sigma}\ensuremath{\le}1.5\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{keV}$ and could determine the survival probability of $^{7}\mathrm{Be}$ and pep solar ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{e}$ with precision comparable to the state of the art. These quantities are sensitive to the Sun's core temperature and to nonstandard neutrino interactions, respectively. Furthermore, the strong background suppression would allow nEXO to search for charged-current interactions of fermionic dark matter in the mass range ${m}_{\ensuremath{\chi}}=0.668--7\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}$ with a sensitivity up to three orders of magnitude better than current limits.

  PublisherDOI

• Role of Osmoprotectants on Alleviation of Elevated CO2 and Temperature Stress

  Climate Change · 2025-08-27 · 1 citations

  book-chapterSenior author

  Climate change increases the detrimental effect of various abiotic stresses, mainly increasing temperature and elevation of CO2 concentration, resulting in reduction of food production worldwide. It alters plants’ metabolism through increased production of reactive species, disturbing membrane integrity and electron chain in cell compartments. To cope with such unfavorable conditions, plants have developed various antioxidants and osmotic adjustment mechanisms etc. Plants have an important strategy of osmolyte accumulation to reduce the effect of toxic compound synthesis under stress conditions. Osmolytes differ from inorganic ions as nontoxic compounds even at higher concentrations. There are certain specific osmolytes found in stress tolerance plants including proline, polyamines, trehalose, mannitol, glycine betaine etc. Plant responses to elevated CO2 and temperature stress are often associated with stress perception which subsequently regulates signal transduction modulating the accumulation of osmolytes. The accumulation of these molecules also plays various roles such as maintaining turgor pressure of the cell, detoxifying reactive species, and stabilizing membrane integrity. Accumulation of these compounds consists of the most important strategies in agriculture to produce stress tolerance lines with high concentration of osmolyte production. In this chapter, we explain the role and accumulation of osmoprotectants in plants, mainly in elevation of CO2 and temperature stress conditions.

  PublisherDOI

• A decade of DesignSafe: enabling open science in natural hazards

  Frontiers in Built Environment · 2025-07-30 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  DesignSafe ( www.designsafe-ci.org ) is the leading cyberinfrastructure for engineering and social science research related to natural hazards. It provides tools for managing, analyzing, and sharing data, helping researchers study how natural hazards affect both physical infrastructure and communities. DesignSafe connects curated datasets from academic experimental facilities and field reconnaissance teams to researchers focused on data analysis, computation, and numerical simulation. The platform provides researchers with petabyte-scale storage and hundreds of millions of computing hours mediated by intuitive interfaces that lower the bar of entry to advanced computational capabilities. By enabling sophisticated simulations and data-driven workflows previously unattainable with desktop computers or small clusters/servers and enabling streamlined data curation, publication, and dissemination, DesignSafe empowers researchers to accelerate discoveries and helps them amplify the impact of their work.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Search for Double Beta Decays of $^{134}$Xe with EXO-200 Phase II

  ArXiv.org · 2025-11-17

  preprintOpen access

  EXO-200 was a leading double beta decay experiment consisting of a single-phase, enriched liquid xenon time projection chamber filled with an admixture of 80.672% $^{136}$Xe and 19.098% $^{134}$Xe. The detector operated at WIPP between 2010 and 2018 and was designed to search for double beta decay of $^{136}$Xe. Data was acquired in two phases separated by a period of detector upgrades. We report on the search for $0νββ$ and $2νββ$ decay of $^{134}$Xe with Phase II EXO-200 data, with median 90% C.L. exclusion sensitivity $T_{1/2}^{0ν} \geq 3.7\times 10^{23}$ yr and $T_{1/2}^{2ν} \geq 2.6 \times 10^{21}$ yr, respectively. No statistically significant signal is observed for either decay mode. We set a world-leading lower limit on the half-life of the neutrinoless decay mode of $^{134}$Xe of $T_{1/2}^{0ν} \geq 8.7\times10^{23}$ (90% C.L.) and the second strongest constraint on the two-neutrino decay of $T_{1/2}^{2ν} \geq 2.9\times10^{21}$ (90% C.L.), a 3-fold improvement over the EXO-200 Phase I measurement. New constraints are also set for the $2νββ$ and $0νββ$ decays of $^{134}$Xe to the lowest excited state of $^{134}$Ba.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Julolidine-Based Molecules

  2025-06-16

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Julolidine is a N-heterocyclic aromatic compound that can be synthesized through a single-step reaction using commercially available precursors like aniline and benzotriazole. Small-molecule fluorescent probes containing julolidine as a core have been utilized for various fluorescent and bioimaging applications like diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease through the detection of biomarker, amyloid-β protein. A large number of probes are developed for sensing DNA and RNA and their live cell imaging. Reports have also been published on the utility of julolidine-based fluorescent probes for sensing various cations and anions like Cu2+, Al3+, Zn2+, F−, CN−, and HSO4 −. Additionally, some of the julolidine derivatives as molecular rotors were also developed for viscosity sensing that displays the changes in fluorescence intensity with changing viscosity. In this chapter, synthesis and a wide range of fluorescence applications of the julolidine core in various fields of diagnosis, imaging, and detection are compiled.

  PublisherDOI

• Parametric Resonance and Floquet Multipliers

  Resonance · 2025-12-08

  articleCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Ultra-sensitive radon assay using an electrostatic chamber in a recirculating system

  Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A Accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment · 2025-08-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Rare event searches such as neutrinoless double beta decay and Weakly Interacting Massive Particle detection require ultra-low background detectors. Radon contamination is a significant challenge for these experiments, which employ highly sensitive radon assay techniques to identify and select low-emission materials. This work presents the development of ultra-sensitive electrostatic chamber (ESC) instruments designed to measure radon emanation in a recirculating gas loop, for future lower background experiments. Unlike traditional methods that separate emanation and detection steps, this system allows continuous radon transport and detection. This is made possible with a custom-built recirculation pump. A Python-based analysis framework, PyDAn, was developed to process and fit time-dependent radon decay data. Radon emanation rates are given for various materials measured with this instrument. A radon source of known activity provides an absolute calibration, enabling statistically-limited minimal detectable activities of 20 μ Bq. These devices are powerful tools for screening materials in the development of low-background particle physics experiments.

  PublisherDOI

• Blockchain technology in supply chain management: Innovations, applications, and challenges

  Telematics and Informatics Reports · 2025-04-17 · 56 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  • Blockchain enhances security, transparency, and efficiency through tamper-proofed records. • It transforms industries like transportation, manufacturing, food, and healthcare by making them more efficient and accountable. • Blockchain improves traceability and provenance throughout complex supply chains. • It addresses problems like counterfeiting, managing suppliers, and sustainable sourcing. • Smart contracts and IoT integration bring more supply chain functionality to blockchain. Blockchain technology is emerging as one of the most transformative forces to have ever reshaped supply chain management, with unique transparency, security, and efficiency. This paper reviews the literature on blockchain technology and applications in core industries such as transportation, manufacturing, food and beverages, and healthcare. At its core, blockchain deploys distributed ledger technology to provide tamper-proof, secure record-keeping, enhancing traceability and provenance verification for complex supply chains. Smart contracts, IoT connectivity, and decentralized financial services allow blockchain to address its most critical challenges, including counterfeiting, supplier management, and the enforcement of sustainable and responsible sourcing practices. However, widespread adoption of blockchain in supply chains is inhibited by severe issues like scalability, interoperability, regulatory uncertainty, and lack of standardization. Additionally, the environmental impact of blockchain, i.e., the energy-intensive proof-of-work mechanisms is examined, along with potential strategies for mitigation. As the technology continues to evolve, the integration of artificial intelligence and 5G networks will further reshape supply chain management, unleashing new efficiencies and capabilities.

  PublisherDOI

• Green Branding and Its Impact on Consumer Loyalty: An Empirical Analysis of Indian FMCG Sector

  Shodh Manjusha An International Multidisciplinary Journal · 2025-09-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The paper finds out the effect of green branding on consumer loyalty in the Indian Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry using a descriptive-analytical study. A structured questionnaire with 150 respondents was used to gather data in which aspects of consumer awareness, brand switching willingness to pay a premium, and consumer awareness regarding green initiatives were evaluated. Results demonstrate that 83.4 percent of consumers are somewhat ready to spend more in order to consume green products, and more than 63 percent of them have been crossing the brands on the basis of lack of sustainability. The social media and product packaging took the lead to become the most popular sources of green information. It makes a conclusion that green branding is really effective in strengthening consumer loyalty and provides tactical advantage to FMCG firms operating in India. Keywords: Green Branding, Consumer Loyalty, Indian FMCG Sector, Sustainable Marketing, Brand Switching, Eco-Conscious Consumers.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Measurement of charged-current muon neutrino-argon interactions without pions in the final state using the MicroBooNE detector

  Physical review. D/Physical review. D. · 2025-10-17 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  We report a new measurement of flux-integrated differential cross sections for charged-current (CC) muon neutrino interactions with argon nuclei that produce no final-state pions (<a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><a:msub><a:mi>ν</a:mi><a:mi>μ</a:mi></a:msub><a:mi>CC</a:mi><a:mn>0</a:mn><a:mi>π</a:mi></a:math>). These interactions are of particular importance as a topologically defined signal dominated by quasielasticlike interactions. This measurement was performed with the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber detector located at the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam and uses an exposure of <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><c:mn>1.3</c:mn><c:mo>×</c:mo><c:msup><c:mn>10</c:mn><c:mn>21</c:mn></c:msup></c:math> protons on target collected between 2015 and 2020. The results are presented in terms of single- and double-differential cross sections as a function of the final-state muon momentum and angle. The data are compared with widely used neutrino event generators. We find good agreement with the single-differential measurements, while only a subset of generators are also able to adequately describe the data in double-differential distributions. This work facilitates comparison with Cherenkov detector measurements, including those located at the Booster Neutrino Beam.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• A.A. Vorobyov

  170 shared

• H.R. Gustafson

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  157 shared

• A. Sopczak

  151 shared

• G.B. Mills

  Los Alamos National Laboratory

  149 shared

• J.M. Qian

  Johns Hopkins University

  147 shared

• Y. F. Wang

  Institute of High Energy Physics

  147 shared

• V.R. Krastev

  Institute of Polymers

  145 shared

• G. Bencze

  University of Antwerp

  141 shared

Labs

• Krishna Kumar's LabPI

  Not provided