Maksym Brilenkov and his love for cosmology

Before settling down in Oslo, Maksym has studied at five different universities in Europe. His love for astrophysics brought him to Oslo.

From left: PhD student Maksym Brilenkov, artistic drawing of Planck satellite (Illustration: ESA/C. Carreau) and SPIDER project's logo.

Maksym Brilenkov comes from Odesa, Ukraine.

– "I've obtained my bachelor degree in theoretical physics, however my thesis was of cosmological topic. Thus, I pursued my master degree in astrophysics and obtained an Erasmus+ scholarship".

Dark matter and dark energy... all around Europe!

Since Autumn 2018 he is one of the new PhD students in the cosmology group under the supervision of prof. Hans Kristian Eriksen. But it took a long way for Maksym to finally settle down in Oslo.

– So far, I've studied in Ukraine (Odesa National University), Lithuania (Vilnius University), Austria (Innsbruck University), Italy (University of Padova and University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’) and Germany (University of Göttingen).

Composite image of the Bullet Cluster, one of the biggest successes appeared to be a collision of galaxy clusters. It provided one of the most spectacular and intuitive indications that seemed to show that dark matter was real. Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/ M.Markevitch et al.; 
Lensing Map: NASA/STScI; ESO WFI; Magellan/U.Arizona/ D.Clowe et al. 
Optical: NASA/STScI; Magellan/U.Arizona/D.Clowe et al.

Most of his scientific work was dedicated to the dark matter and dark energy all from theoretical perspectives. While now...

– I am going to perform a joint component separation analysis of WMAP, Planck and SPIDER, simultaneously accounting for both astrophysical contamination and relevant instrumental effects.

– What's this for?

– I am going to extract a clean Cosmic Microwave Background (also known as CMB) polarization map from WMAP and Planck, by extending the existing Commander frame-work to time-domain data.

Cosmology at ITA

Maksym confesses to really like cosmology! 

– That is why I applied for master program in astro- instead of theoretical physics, and, as a consequence, started being interested in computational/observational cosmology as well. 

So, when in search for the suitable PhD position, he found this one which engaged his interest and he decided to apply.

– What's your experience at ITA so far?

– Very positive, warm and friendly.

– Your expectations?

– I expect to deepen my current knowledge in programming and physics, as well as obtain some valuable teaching experience…And also make new friends.

Published Mar. 5, 2020 12:32 PM - Last modified Jan. 5, 2024 9:55 AM