Frenk Out MSc

Researcher
Paleomagnetism
f.out@uu.nl

Micromagnetic Tomography (MMT) is a technique which retrieves magnetic moments on grain level from rock magnetic samples by combining a high resolution magnetic field, obtained with rock scanning magnetometry, with the exact location of the grains producing the signal, obtained by micro X-ray computed tomography (microCT). As the technique is very new, mathematical and modeling issues need to be sorted out first before MMT can be successfully used. One of the many cases to be sorted out within this technique is that the success rate is still unknown. However, by setting up numerical models we can determine the type of grains solved best by MMT. By improving this, we will be able to accurately determine the paleomagnetic signal of rock magnetic samples, which ultimately leads to a better understanding of the past of Earth's magnetic field.

Within this project I investigate the mathematical side of this new method and any new problem that pops up in terms of the mathematics, physics, and modeling involved.


Micromagnetic model containing 75000 magnetic grains per cubic millimeter. The lower side contains views of the original surface magnetic field, the inverted magnetic field, and the residual field, all obtained with the MMT technique.