Theoretical Nuclear Physicist & Computational Modeler

Bridging the gap between complex many-body physics theory and robust, high-performance software implementation.

Dr. Marlom Ramalho
Most Recent Appointment

Oskar Huttunen Postdoctoral Fellow
University of York, United Kingdom

Previous Appointments

Postdoctoral Researcher
JYFLTRAP / IGISOL Experimental Group
University of Jyväskylä, Finland (2024)

Doctoral Researcher
Theoretical Nuclear Physics Group
University of Jyväskylä, Finland (2020 — 2024)

Academic Foundation & Distinction

My scientific journey began at the University of Brasília, Brazil, where I developed a profound dedication to theoretical physics. Admission to the M.Sc. program involved a rigorous selection process to secure one of a limited number of institutional CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) master's fellowships allocated from a national pool. I achieved first place in this entrance ranking, securing full fellowship backing. During my master's studies, I specialized in theoretical nuclear physics, specifically investigating toy models of variable decay constants (\(\lambda\)) as an exploration beyond the conventional assumption of a strictly constant decay parameter.

I subsequently joined the University of Jyväskylä in Finland for my doctoral studies, fully funded by the University of Jyväskylä Graduate School. In April 2024, I successfully defended my Ph.D. dissertation in Theoretical Nuclear Physics, focusing on high-precision computations for beta decay and neutrino mass. My doctoral research was awarded a Pass with Distinction, an honor reserved for elite dissertations unanimously ranked in the top 10% of graduates by both external pre-reviewers and the defense opponent.

Postdoctoral Research & Global Impact

Following my doctoral defense, I was awarded the highly competitive Oskar Huttunen Fellowship, securing Finnish international funding for independent postdoctoral research at the University of York in the United Kingdom. My active research program confronts fundamental challenges in rare-event physics, focusing on the weak axial-vector coupling (\(g_A\)) quenching and the precise derivation of forbidden non-unique beta spectral shapes.

A defining achievement of my career is the direct integration of my theoretical beta-decay models into worldwide experimental benchmarks. My first-principles derivations for background isotopes like 214Pb have been officially adopted as ground-truth background standards by the PandaX-4T dark matter collaboration (with findings currently under review in Nature), while corresponding background implementations for XENONnT are currently planned.

More broadly, my theoretical computations maintain a truly global footprint through active partnerships with specialized international research groups and collaborations. Over the course of my career, I have worked closely with leading experimental and theoretical facilities worldwide, including:

  • South Korea: The gA-EXPERT collaboration, investigating the effective value of the weak axial-vector coupling constant (\(g_A\)).
  • Italy: The INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) collaboration, analyzing forbidden beta decays and rare-event physics.
  • China: The PandaX dark matter collaboration, establishing ground-truth background radiation standards.
  • Spain: The Gamma and Neutron Spectroscopy research group at the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC CSIC/UV), co-authoring pivotal studies on the 92Rb total beta-electron spectrum and nuclear decay heat.
  • Finland: The IGISOL / JYFL accelerator laboratory at the University of Jyväskylä, integrating theoretical calculations directly into experimental trapping campaigns.
  • Romania: The CIFRA (International Centre for Advanced Training and Research in Physics) collaboration, advancing interdisciplinary physics training and research.
  • United Kingdom: The Computing Nuclei research group at the University of York, headed by Professor Jacek Dobaczewski.

High-Performance Computing, AI & Systems Engineering

I approach theoretical physics through the lens of robust systems engineering. To execute massive many-body nuclear shell-model calculations, I utilized KSHELL (an advanced OpenMP + MPI parallel code). This enabled the deployment of large-scale M-scheme dimension diagonalizations across the CSC Mahti supercomputer, where I was awarded and managed an allocation of 8 million billing units (~80,000 CPU node-hours) dedicated specifically to my research.

Beyond supercomputing scale, my computational philosophy centers on pragmatism and technical independence. With over 12 years of proficient Python experience and practical C++ capability, I regularly build custom tooling to overcome domain bottlenecks. This includes performing source-level C++ modifications to the Geant4 radiation transport toolkit for clinical micro-dosimetry phantoms, developing asynchronous multiprocessing engines with isolated sandboxing to accelerate numerical analysis by an order of magnitude, and designing automated data pipelines that programmatically ingest and purify experimental nuclear data from IAEA databases.

Complementing my theoretical research is an advanced, production-oriented machine learning capability honed across diverse domain applications. My expertise spans designing multi-task deep neural networks to predict nuclear quadrupole moments (\(E2\)), building specialized U-Net architectures for medical imaging CT segmentation to generate precise anatomical masks of the trachea, lungs, and heart, deploying programmatic pipelines for large-scale synthetic data generation, and leveraging neuroevolutionary genetic algorithms for robust weight optimization in complex environments.