ROLI ESHA
Research Assistant Professor
Physics and Astronomy
roli.esha@stonybrook.edu | Physics C-103
Curriculum Vitae. (Last updated: 2025 Aug 21)

Biography
Roli Esha is a Research Assistant Professor at Stony Brook University and a member of the sPHENIX and PHENIX collaborations at RHIC. She earned her Ph.D. in Physics from UCLA. Her work focuses on exploring the QCD phase diagram and properties of the Quark–Gluon Plasma through studies of initial-state geometry, fluctuation measurements, and electromagnetic probes. 

Research Statement
My research explores the phase structure of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and the properties of the Quark–Gluon Plasma (QGP), a deconfined state of quarks and gluons created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Using data from the STAR, and PHENIX experiments at RHIC, I have studied collective behavior of the QGP and signatures of the QCD critical point through fluctuation measurements of conserved quantities. To probe the space–time evolution of the medium, I focus on electromagnetic probes—direct photons and dileptons—that carry undistorted information about the temperature, initial conditions, and transport properties of the system.

Looking ahead with an aim to refine our understanding of nuclear initial conditions and the process of hadronization, I am also involved in pursuing jet substructure measurements at sPHENIX and the Electron–Ion Collider.