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SUMMARY:FI Computational Methods and Data Science Journal Club: Benjamin W
 andelt (CCA)
DTSTART:20221206T200000Z
DTEND:20221206T220000Z
DTSTAMP:20260312T161900Z
UID:indico-event-3374@indico.flatironinstitute.org
CONTACT:ccaadmin@flatironinstitute.org
DESCRIPTION:FI Computational Methods and Data Science Journal ClubFlatiron
  Institute\, 162 5th AvenueSpeaker: Benjamin Wandelt (CCA)Title: Neural
  Computation in Bayesian Inference and Applications to Cosmological Data 
 ScienceAbstract: Many interesting Bayesian inference problems seem intract
 able or computationally challenging. Such problems include first level inf
 erence (computing posterior pdfs) or second level inference (computing Bay
 esian evidence) of non-linear\, hierarchical models with large numbers of 
 parameters. I will give examples of practical solutions that operate by re
 casting the computational statistics problem as optimization problems and
  using neural\, differentiable function representations. In many cases\, t
 he key ingredient is the ability to forward generate data from the model\,
  e.g. through numerical simulations. When numerical simulations are expens
 ive we can train generative models. For cosmological applications it is of
 ten possible to exploit the translational and rotational symmetries of the
  problem to learn neural generative and conditional models from a single (
 pair of) training example(s). As we solve these computational problems\, n
 ew\, conceptual challenges come into view: how do we deal with imperfectio
 ns in our physical models in an observational science such as cosmology? 
 Can we combine ab initio with data-driven approaches? What will be the ult
 imate limit to cosmological knowledge? Bio: Professor Wandelt (Ph.D.\, Im
 perial College\, London) held early career research fellowships at the The
 oretical Astrophysics Centre (Niels Bohr Institute) in Copenhagen and at t
 he Department of Physics at Princeton University. In 2001\, he became assi
 stant professor in the Departments of Physics and Astronomy at the Univers
 ity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign\, receiving tenure in 2006. In 2010 he
  was awarded the International Chair of Theoretical Cosmology at Sorbonne 
 University and the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris. In 2011 he was the f
 ounding co-director of the Institut Lagrange de Paris in cosmology\, astro
 -particle\, and theoretical physics and was named director in 2014. Profes
 sor Wandelt has held long-term visiting faculty positions at the Max Planc
 k Institute for Astrophysics\; Caltech\; Princeton University\; the Instit
 ute for Advanced Studies\, Princeton\; and NYU\; and joined the Center for
  Computational Astrophysics at the Flatiron Institute in New York City in 
 2017.Professor Wandelt's research in theoretical\, computational\, and sta
 tistical astrophysics connects fundamental physics and cosmology with astr
 onomical data ranging from stars to the largest scales accessible to obser
 vations. He has won multiple awards in several countries such as the Xerox
  award\, the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel prize\, the Sofja Kovalevskaja award
 \, and a senior Excellence Chair of the Agence Nationale de Recherche. He 
 co-led the Primordial Non-Gaussianity analysis for ESA's Planck mission an
 d won multiple prizes as a Planck Scientist and core team member\, includi
 ng the 2018 Gruber Prize in Cosmology. He was elected Fellow of the Americ
 an Physical Society in 2015 and Fellow of the International Association of
  Astrostatisticians in 2019. He is the creator of Cosmology@Home\, a world
 -wide participatory computing platform with over 60\,000 members. Attende
 e Instructions:FI employees are welcome to attend in person. Please email 
 ccaadmin@flatironinstitute.org for the Zoom link if you wish to attend re
 motely.Visitors (w/out an FI badge) please email ccaadmin@flatironinstitut
 e.org 24hrs in advance to be registered to the building or to obtain Zoom 
 information.Additional Information:COVID Policy: By making entry to our bu
 ildings all staff\, vendors and guests will implicitly attest to being sym
 ptom/COVID free. Vaccination status will no longer be validated as a condi
 tion of entry. However\, all staff and affiliates are strongly encouraged 
 to remain up to date with their vaccination boosters\, according to their 
 individual eligibility.Age Restriction: All employees\, visitors\, event a
 ttendees and vendors are required to be above the age of eighteen for entr
 y into our building(s). Photo ID with birthdate will be required by securi
 ty upon arrival to our building. For nursing mothers\, please reach out to
  an admin to arrange an exception.\n\nhttps://indico.flatironinstitute.org
 /event/3374/
LOCATION:5th Floor Classroom/5-Flatiron Institute (162 5th Avenue)
URL:https://indico.flatironinstitute.org/event/3374/
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