Current research interests and projects
I am a physics graduate student at the University of California, Irvine. My two main broad interests include cosmology and artificial neural networks. Here, at Dr. Asantha Cooray’s group, I have been able to merge both of my interests by developing neural networks (i.e. deep learning algorithms, i.e. ConvNets) that can be used to look for galaxy-galaxy gravitational lenses. Why? Well, the sky consists of 41253 square degrees and Hubble Space Telescope, for example, can resolve more than a quarter of a million galaxies per square degree (I’m ignoring the small galaxies here). There is no way for us to go through all these images one by one. So that’s when the deep learning becomes important. If you are wondering why we should look for gravitational lenses, I should tell you how important they are for cosmologists. They are natural telescopes that can help us see farther back in space, and hence, further back in time. More importantly to me, they are probes of the cosmological parameters and they can be used to study dark matter distribution around galaxies. If you are interested in learning more, read the Introduction of my recent paper:
LensFlow: A Convolutional Neural Network in Search of Strong Gravitational Lenses
Other personal interests
I enjoy programming. My first true language was Java, but now I only speak Python. Having said that, I really enjoy poetry in Mathematica. It is not just a programming language, it is a formalism. I enjoy discovering music theory for myself, and I use Mathematica for that. I also wrote a Mathematica notebook for handling calculations in general relativity symbolically. Another fun code I wrote, was a Catan dice roller for my friends which would show the dice roll distribution and warn them when they took too much time. They like it because they can blame the dice by relying on evidence and resort to gambler’s fallacy more often. I spend a lot of time thinking and asking questions about cosmology, biological and cultural evolution, and the human mind. I also enjoy philosophical, economical, social, and political conversations as a hobby. Complex emergent properties from simple models always amaze me. I guess that’s why I like physics and cosmology. Game of Life and Collatz Conjecture, as non-physical examples, mesmerized me when I heard of them for the first time. If you are a like-minded individual and like to chat, do quick summer project together, or show me your awesome website or projects, feel free to send me an email: mpourrah (at) uci.edu