Dr. Jason D. Fiege

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Physics & Astronomy

University of Manitoba

Research Interests

Most of my research has been in the field of star formation , interstellar magnetic fields, and modeling submillimetre polarization maps.  Since my arrival at the University of Manitoba in 2004, I have also taken an interest in other areas of astrophysics, most notably modeling gravitational lens systems (with my Ph.D. student, Adam Rogers) and neutral hydrogen disks in galaxies (with my colleague Dr. Jayanne English).

These problems are linked by significant scientific overlap and a convergence of computational techniques, since they all amount to very large parameter search and global optimization problems.  I handle these problems using an advanced genetic algorithm called “Ferret” that I have been developing since about 2002.  Astrophysical applications of the code are becoming increasingly important within our astronomy group.  Some of these applications are described on the “Project” pages of this website.

Here is an overview of my recent research from a colloquium titled “Applications of an Advanced Genetic Algorithm to Data-Modeling Problems in Astrophysics” that I gave at University of Winnipeg on Nov. 26, 2007.  In this talk, I introduce genetic algorithms and then show applications from my research, including the new GalAPAGOS galaxy HI disk modeling code, the Mirage gravitational lens modeling code, polarization modeling, and other examples and demos.  The talk was targeted for their undergraduate students, so the level is quite general. 

 

Contact:

 

Department of Physics and Astronomy

University of Manitoba

Winnipeg, Manitoba

R3T 2N2 Canada

Phone: 204-474-9671

E-mail: fiege@physics.umanitoba.ca