Kristjan Kannike

I am a researcher at the National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics in Estonia.

My current interests are in particle physics models of dark matter (see arXiv:1006.3093 for a short review of my recent work). I am also interested in neutrino physics and leptogenesis and the problem of dark energy.

Physics

I have written a Mathematica program to solve RGEs in effective field theories.

More important articles I have co-authored are

M. Kadastik, K. Kannike, A. Racioppi, M. Raidal. Implications of the CDMS result on Dark Matter and LHC physics. arXiv:0912.3797 [hep-ph].
M. Kadastik, K. Kannike, A. Racioppi, M. Raidal. EWSB from the soft portal into Dark Matter and prediction for direct detection. Phys.Rev.Lett.104:201301,2010. arXiv:0912.2729 [hep-ph].
M. Kadastik, K. Kannike, M. Raidal. Dark Matter as the signal of Grand Unification. Phys.Rev.D80:085020,2009, Erratum-ibid.D81:029903,2010. arXiv:0907.1894 [hep-ph].
M. Kadastik, K. Kannike, M. Raidal. Matter parity as the origin of scalar Dark Matter. Phys.Rev.D81:015002,2010. arXiv:0903.2475 [hep-ph].
Thomas Hambye, Kristjan Kannike, Ernest Ma, and Martti Raidal. Emanations of Dark Matter: Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment, Radiative Neutrino Mass, and Novel Leptogenesis at the TeV Scale. Phys.Rev.D75:095003 (2007) arXiv:hep-ph/0609228.
John Ellis, Andi Hektor, Mario Kadastik, Kristjan Kannike, Martti Raidal. Running of Low-Energy Neutrino Masses, Mixing Angles and CP Violation. Phys.Lett. B631 (2005) 32-41. arXiv:hep-ph/0506122.

I have written articles to the Estonian popular scientific magazine Horisont (Horizon) about particle physics and the LHC accelerator, dark energy and chameleon fields, and Boltzmann brains.

Translation

For a change, I have translated three books from English into Estonian.

In the suggestive The Unlimited Dream Company by J. G. Ballard (in Estonian: Unenägude täisühing, Varrak, 2003), a pilot crashes with his plane into Thames and turns, as some Pagan redeemer, a bland London suburb into tropical paradise.

The one and only novel by Carl Sagan, Contact (in Estonian: Kontakt, Varrak, 2006), describes receiving a message from outer space and first contact between the mankind and other civilizations. Unlike most science fiction writers, Sagan knew his topic well as an astronomer and pioneer of SETI, and wrote a novel of good style and believable psychology.

John Updike’s Rabbit, Run, (in Estonian: Jookse, Jänku, Varrak, 2009) shows the changing America of fifties through the life of a former high school basketball ace. The best times are past for Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom and he is seized by disquietness.

Books

My favourite author, if one can be chosen at all, is Stanisław Lem, a rara avis of science fiction. Lem is almost only writer who really knows how science is done, has original ideas about science & technology, and can write well.

Ursula K. LeGuin, too, has written psychological science fiction.

I like numerous other authors, among them e.g. Thomas Wolfe with his biblical, baroque language and a keen eye for detail, and Italo Calvino.

Programming

I like Python whose laconic syntax reminds one of free verse without punctuation.

I am learning Haskell, a well thought out and elegant functional language.

The Mathematica environment makes my life easier for its capabilities of functional programming, and its enormous collection of functions for solving equations, comparing expressions, list manipulation, etc.

Languages as MetaPost (output is PostScript) or JavaScript (HTML) in which the results are seen at once, have their simple charm.