Markus Nyberg

Former ice hockey player from Luleå in the north of Sweden who changed gears to the academic world in 2008. Stuck in the world of mathematics and theoretical physics since then. Loves a tricky equation and a cup of coffee on his desk, besides his two daughters and wife at home. Bachelor degree in Applied Physics at Luleå University of Technology in 2012. Masters degree in Theoretical Physics at Stockholm University in 2014.

Working as a PhD at Umeå University since 2014 with stochastic process, trying to model the dynamics in our cells. Also interested in general search problems, and in particular how the search time to a specific target can be minimized by exploring different types of diffusion, jumping, resetting and geometries.

Search problems are important because everything in our nature depends on when something happens for the first time. Be it two chemical constituents which seek to react with each other or a neuron that fires when it exceeds a threshold voltage, the corresponding process can’t occur until this happens. Thus, it is crucial to have a sense for the time it takes until something happens for the first time.

In other settings one might ask: What is the probability that a financial index reaches a new maximum value at time T? This is also a search process, and they all belong to the study of ”first-passage” problems.

As a sports nerd and statistical physicist, I am interested in forecasting the outcome of a game between two teams/players (football, icehockey, tennis, etc.). There is plenty of data available for free that can be used to find statistical measures, which can be used to predict the future winners in many sports. If you are a sports interested student with programming skills and statistical knowledge looking for a project, send me an e-mail!