Mikko Kaasalainen
Encyclopedia
Mikko K.J. Kaasalainen is a Finnish applied mathematician and mathematical physicist. He is currently professor of mathematics at the department of mathematics at Tampere University of Technology. Kaasalainen has mostly worked on inverse problem
s and their applications especially in astrophysics, as well as on dynamical system
s.
in 1990, moving shortly afterwards to the University of Oxford
, Merton College, where he completed his DPhil in theoretical physics in 1994, supervised by James Binney
. After a series of post-doctoral and senior positions in Europe, he moved to the University of Helsinki and to his present institute in 2009. He leads a research group in the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Inverse Problems Research.
Kaasalainen was awarded the first Pertti Lindfors prize of the Finnish Inverse Problems Society in 2001. The asteroid 16007 Kaasalainen
is named in his honour.
and space research to planetary and galactic dynamics. Typically, the models and mathematical methods Kaasalainen has developed with his colleagues are connected with inverse problems. Two such topics feature prominently in Kaasalainen's research:
Inverse problem
An inverse problem is a general framework that is used to convert observed measurements into information about a physical object or system that we are interested in...
s and their applications especially in astrophysics, as well as on dynamical system
Dynamical system
A dynamical system is a concept in mathematics where a fixed rule describes the time dependence of a point in a geometrical space. Examples include the mathematical models that describe the swinging of a clock pendulum, the flow of water in a pipe, and the number of fish each springtime in a...
s.
Education and career
Kaasalainen received an MSc in theoretical physics at the University of HelsinkiUniversity of Helsinki
The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but was founded in the city of Turku in 1640 as The Royal Academy of Turku, at that time part of the Swedish Empire. It is the oldest and largest university in Finland with the widest range of disciplines available...
in 1990, moving shortly afterwards to the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, Merton College, where he completed his DPhil in theoretical physics in 1994, supervised by James Binney
James Binney
James Jeffrey Binney, FRS, FInstP is a British astrophysicist. He is currently a Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford, where he is head of the Sub-Department of Theoretical Physics as well as a Professorial Fellow at Merton College...
. After a series of post-doctoral and senior positions in Europe, he moved to the University of Helsinki and to his present institute in 2009. He leads a research group in the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Inverse Problems Research.
Kaasalainen was awarded the first Pertti Lindfors prize of the Finnish Inverse Problems Society in 2001. The asteroid 16007 Kaasalainen
16007 Kaasalainen
16007 Kaasalainen is a main-belt asteroid discovered on January 20, 1999 by the OCA-DLR Asteroid Survey at Caussols.- External links :*...
is named in his honour.
Research
Kaasalainen's research interests mostly focus on mathematical modelling in various fields ranging from remote sensingRemote sensing
Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon, without making physical contact with the object. In modern usage, the term generally refers to the use of aerial sensor technologies to detect and classify objects on Earth by means of propagated signals Remote sensing...
and space research to planetary and galactic dynamics. Typically, the models and mathematical methods Kaasalainen has developed with his colleagues are connected with inverse problems. Two such topics feature prominently in Kaasalainen's research:
- Asteroid lightcurve inversion, i.e., the reconstruction of the shapes and spin states of asteroidAsteroidAsteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
s from their brightness measurements (lightcurvesLight curveIn astronomy, a light curve is a graph of light intensity of a celestial object or region, as a function of time. The light is usually in a particular frequency interval or band...
), based on mathematical results and uniqueness and stability theorems that have been transformed into modelling algorithms with which a multitude of otherwise unresolvable asteroids can now be mapped. This method has also been used in the direct verification of the Yarkovsky–O'Keefe–Radzievskii–Paddack effect in our solar system.
- Analysis of large dynamical systems, where torus construction methods in phase space allow a compact representation or approximation of the dynamics of the observed system (such as a galaxyGalaxyA galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...
).