Hi! I'm

Jonas Tjepkema

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Recent BSc graduate and passionate student of physics as well as a curious tinkerer and Maker.
I also love going on adventures on bike, foot or ski, and sometimes try myself at some different kinds of artistic enterprises.

About Me

This section is a description of my scientific and technical endeavours as well as a dive into my passions for travelling, music, human health and rights, and more...

I was very young when I was first exposed to the world of science and technology. Having grown up in a Finno-Dutch household in France/Switzerland, very close to major scientific institutions like CERN and the Polytechical School of Lausanne (EPFL), it was not too surprising that I found myself keenly interested in sciences. Physics, chemistry and biology became my first real door to the world of science when I chose bio-chemistry as my highschool major and physics as my minor. Over the years in high school, I slowly transitionned from a passion mostly for chemistry and biology to a passion for maths and physics. This was in part due to the amazing extra-curricular activities proposed by the coordinator, like a week long excursion to an alpine observatory where we were introduced to cosmology and astronomy. The pictures on the slides are some of the ones I was able to take with my own DSLR using one of their medium-sized telescopes. The pictures show, in order, the Sombrero Galaxy, the Orion Nebula and the Whirlepool Galaxies.
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Skills

This is a regroupment/summary of the skills and experience I have aquired over the years, both by myself and through university classes and opportunities. Each category contains a list with descriptions that summarize each skill (except when not needed).

  1. GWFP (Particle Physics) | Maastricht University
    Member of the LHCb (CERN) collaboration and Nikhef
    Sept. 2019 – Feb. 2021 | Maastricht, The Netherlands
    • Worked with Dr. Jacco de Vries and Dr. Chris Pawley on baryonic decay in the context of my Honours Programme. The research was on the production ratio of the Λ+c and Ξ+c baryons trough the pK-π+ decay mode.
    • Data clean-up (secondary decay and noise removal); Data fitting (estimation of number of produced baryons); Monte-Carlo collision simulation production; Analysis of efficiencies for particle identifications, selections and triggers; Dalitz plots for resonant structures; Estimation of yield ratios.
    • Analysis done using PyROOT, CERNs powerful framework for data processing. The code for the project is open and available on Github.
    Read the code on Github
  2. GWFP (Gravitational Waves) | Maastricht University
    Member of the Virgo collaboration and Nikhef
    Sept. 2021 – Jan. 2022 | Maastricht, The Netherlands
    • Worked with Dr. Gideon Koekoek and Dr. Sarah Caudill to investigate the use of quantum computing as a tool for improving the computational power of gravitational wave data analysis. The project was made in collaboration with Utrecht University, IBM and the Eindhoven University of Technology.
    • Research into converting matched filtering from a classical algorithm to a quantum version using Grover’s algorithm.
    • Creating a quantum circuit for the algorithm and implementing it in Qiskit. Testing the results on real data and making complexity analyses of the algorithm and different circuit transpilations.
    Read everything on Github

  1. Programming
    Python (most fluent, including CERN's PyROOT, IBM's Qiskit, Pandas, all scientific libraries, Django, etc...), Matlab, C/C++ (including microcontroller), Bash Script, Processing, JavaScript, WebDev (see this website), some Visual Basic.
  2. Operating systems
    GNU/Linux (main/daily OS), comfortable in Unix based systems and Windows (dual-boot).
  3. Software
    ROOT (CERN), Fusion 360, PrusaSlicer, Blender, GIMP (and some Adobe Photoshop), Krita, Da Vinci Resolve, LaTeX, LibreOffice Suite, Microsoft Office Suite

  1. General Mathematics
    Linear Algebra, Single and Multi-variable (Vector) Calculus, Complex Analysis, Basic Tensor Calculus, Basic Group Theory.
  2. Image and Signal Processing
    Fourier analysis, z-transforms and digital filters; Classical filtering from a linear systems perspective; Wavelet transforms for morphological structures in signals; Principal component analysis; Hilbert-Huang Transform to perform detailed time-frequency analysis of signals; Detection, noise removal, compression, prediction, reconstruction and feature extraction; All practiced and implemented as exercise using Matlab.
  3. Advanced Mathematical Tools for Physics
    Fourier series (Theorem of Riemann-Lebesque, Dirichlet, Jordan, theorem of Abel-Poison, Cauchy series); Fourier integrals (Banach space, Hilbert space, Schwarz inequality, Parseval, connection to Heisenberg uncertainty relation); Bessel and Legendre functions (Complete sets of orthonormal functions, Euler’s constant, Fourier-Bessel series, Hankel transform); Laplace transformation (Complex function theory, s-plane, initial value problems for (partial) differential equations); Variational methods (First order PDEs, second order PDEs, Lagrangian, Euler-Lagrange equation); Green’s functions (Solving of potential equations, Dirichlet and von Neumann problems, Wronskian determinant)
  4. Statistics
    Probability theory and Combinatorics; Discrete and continuous random variables; Concepts of expectation, mean, variance and independence, and probability distributions (discrete uniform, binomial, multinomial, hypergeometric, geometric, Poisson, continuous uniform, normal, gamma, exponential); Multi-dimensional random variables and joint, conditional, and marginal probability distributions; random sampling, sample distributions of means and variances, and the central limit theorem; Statistical estimation (point estimation and interval estimation, confidence intervals); hypothesis tests, goodness-of-fit tests and tests for independence and homogeneity;

  1. Classical Mechanics
    Statics and kinematics; Newton’s laws; Work and energy; Momentum and collisions; Rotational dynamics; Gravitation.
  2. Vibrations and Waves
    Simple, damped, driven, coupled harmonic oscillators; Normal modes; Waves; Interference and beats; Standing waves; Wave packets.
  3. Optics
    Geometric optics; Imaging systems and evaluation of their resolution, field of view and magnification; Limitations and aberrations in optical systems; Wave behaviour of light; Understand and be able to apply polarization, interference and diffraction theory (e.g. non-reflective coatings, Michelson interferometer,...).
  4. Electromagnetismm
    Maxwell’s equations; Electrostatics; Electric Fields in Matter; Magnetostatics; Magnetic Fields in Matter.
  5. Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics
    Temperature and heat; Thermal properties of matter; The laws of thermodynamics; Entropy enthalpy and free energy; The relation between macroscopic parameters and microscopic dynamics; The statistics of thermodynamic ensembles.

  1. Quantum Mechanics I and II
    Failings of classical physics; Wave function; Commutation relations of operators; Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle; Pauli’s exclusion principle; Spin; Calculate the quantized energy states; Square-well potential; Harmonic oscillator; The hydrogen atom in 3D and its orbitals; Quantum tunnelling; Approximation methods such as the variational principle and time (in)dependent perturbation theory; State transitions; Quantum entanglement; Quantum fluctuations.
  2. Quantum Chemistry
    Foundations of quantum mechanics and its application in chemistry; Analysis of Stern-Gerlach spin measurements; Dirac and matrix notation; Basic postulates of quantum mechanics; Traditional wave-function aspects of quantum mechanics: particle in a box, the hydrogen atom, the harmonic oscillator; Variational method and perturbation theory and their application to multielectron systems.
  3. Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics
    Fundamental particles and their properties; How they interact through the three fundamental forces; Quantum Electrodynamics; Weak force; Quantum Chromodynamics; Feynman diagrams; Fermi’s golden rule for toy model cross-sections calculations; Symmetry in nature, and its relation to conservation laws.
  4. Special Relativity
    Discovery of Special Relativity; Relation to electromagnetism; Limited construction of relativistic laws and relationships with Gedankenexperiments; Complete and rigorous construction using Minkowski-geometry; Use of Lagrangian formalism to derive the laws of special-relativistic mechanics.
  5. Relativistic Electrodynamics
    Maxwell’s Equations; Reformulate them in terms of scalar and vector potentials; Gauge freedom; Retarded time; 4-vectors, Lorentz-transformations, Minkowski-spacetime and tensors; Rewriting electrodynamics with 4-vectors; Principle of Least Action and the derivation of the entire classical field theory in covariant form.
  6. General Relativity
    Understand the theory of Special Relativity as a tensor theory; Reformulate gravity as a curvature of spacetime; Understand tensor algebra as a mathematical apparatus; Calculate spacetime curvature in the presence of mass and energy; Calculate motion in curved spacetime; Understand black holes, cosmology, and gravitational waves as specific examples of the theory learned
  7. Quantum Computing
    I did my Bachelor thesis on the applications of Quantum Computing to Gravitationnal wave research data analysis and constructed a working quantum circuit for a specific application. Covered most of the Quantum Computation material in the Nielsen and Chuang book "Quantum Computation and Quantum Information" and many newer papers. You can read my thesis following the link above.

  1. Basic and Advanced Electronics
    Boolean logic and logic gate applications; Semi-conductors; p-type, n-type; Study and build circuits involving adders, flip-flops, counters and sequential logic; How an electrocardiogram measures the heart’s electrical pulses and translates these into an analogue waveform; build an ECG generator and detector and collect measurements using these; use impedance spectroscopy.
  2. Physics Labs I, II and III
    The goals of the physics labs are: To acquaint the participants with an overview of the main areas in high level experimental physics; To illustrate the relationship between observation, experiment and hypothesis; To give the participants a better understanding of the laws of physics; To hone the skills required for planning and conducting experimental physics; To develop the skills of experimental design and the impact this has on the outcome
  3. Analysis of Big Data in Physics
    Basic concepts of data analysis in physics; Programming; Compare and Evaluate various types of data; Statistical analysis; Proper analysis of errors, correlations and significance; False positives in data; Use of LIGO/Virgo data, CERN/LHCb data and astrophysical datasets; Constricting Neural Networks (CNN, GAN, etc...)

Projects

This section dives into some of my projects. It is separated into three parts, one with the Scientific and Technological projects, one with the more artistic projects and the last relating to wandering and travelling.

PyDepth

Student project with the goal of creating depth maps using machine learning (specifically CNNs) and a stereo camera. These depth maps would then be used to create depth percieving computer vision.

Read More on the Project site
Work in progress

Content soon to be added...

Go somewhere
Work in progress

Content soon to be added...

Go somewhere
Work in progress

Content soon to be added...

Go somewhere
Work in progress

Content soon to be added...

Go somewhere
Work in progress

Content soon to be added...

Go somewhere
Find more information and Scientific projects by clicking here!
This portrait series was taken during the FIFDH, the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights in Geneva. I was accepted in the Young Reporter competition which allowed me to follow the festival and was tasked to report on it, which I did with photography.
Drawing done as longboard painting project. The idea behind this drawing is inspired by Thraags (an invented species) and biology in general. The goal will be to paint this in acryllic onto a longboard.
Inspired by something I saw on the internet. The project took different pictures of friends and processed them into what is visible in the gif. The image is pixelized and rendered into three dimentiones with the depth and size of voxels depending on the brightness of the original pixel.
Find more of my artistic projects by clicking here!
Under construction: This section will have a collection of GPX data with travel coordinates for some of my bike trips and travels as well as hikes and the likes (hopehully pictures as well). These will be plotted on an interactive map. There will also be a link to another page with more content.
Find more adventures by clicking here!

Contacts

If you are interested by my work or that you simply want some clarifications or information, you can contact me at the following email adress:
jonas_tjepkema@hotmail.com
I will do my possible to answer you in a brief period of time.