Physics 495; Senior Seminar Physics 495; Senior Seminar

Instructor; Jeffrey Schmidt (Fall 2003-Spring 2004)

Students are strongly advised to take this class both semesters of the senior year. This is a requirement. Senior seminar is the capstone course for the Physics major, and it culminates in the oral presentation (accompanied by a written report) of a student research project.

Part I. First semester

During the first semester of the two-semester sequence, students will conduct a simple library research project. This project involves the study of a single topic not covered in a core course. The topic is to be researched using library resources.
Project requirements
The list of available topics is given below. Each student should select one, have it authorized by the course instructor, and locate at least four references to cite in a short 20-30 minute oral presentation. These sources must include at least one journal article, and one reference obtained through inter-library loan, or the website of a recognized research institute/project (websites must be cleared or approved by the instructor before they can be cited).
The oral presentation must utilize transparencies, or slides, or use computerized presentation program (Powerpoint, Pointless, LaTeX,...). It must be accompanied by a four page written report (including cover page and bibliography/references).
The oral and written report should be written at the level of a Scientific American level; semi-technical, largely non-mathematical, with the goal of popularizing the topic for a scientifically literate audience.
In fact, a Scientific American article on the chosen topic is a good starting point for the research.

Topics

Cosmic inflation, neutrino oscillations, the solar neutrino problem, Dark matter, Dark energy, the Higgs particle, magnetic monopoles, Gamma Ray Burst objects, small system entropy and Zeroth Law violations, the quark model, extra-solar planet searches, supersymmetry, neutrino detection, the Hubble ``constant'', extra dimensions and where they are now, the experimental ``slowing'' of light, CP violation, quantum computation, evidence for strings from lattice QCD, knots in statistical physics.

All presentations will be given during the eighth week of the semester, and all students taking the course should be in attendance. The talks will be open to all and will be announced.

Part II; first semester

The second project is the completion of a single problem, again not directly covered in a core course, by the student or team of students , culminating in a short 15-20 minute oral presentation. This project will be require that the student or team solve the problem as if it were independent research, and present the findings as if reporting back to a peer-group or research and development division.
The problem may involve the taking of experimental data and its analysis, mathematical calculations or proofs, and numerical computation or simulation.

The oral report should use slides, transparencies, or a presentation program. It must focus on what the student actually did, not on some published solution to the problem.

Topics

The meaning of the Brillouin zone, formation of electronic energy bands in one-dimensional solids, simulation of NMR/ESR spectra of space molecules, Monte Carlo simulation of particle scattering, Monte Carlo simulation of electron diffraction, computation of the dichromatic polynomial for a radio transmission lattice, determination of the critical behavior in an Ising model, simple stellar interior models (polytropes), simple lattice gauge computation, computing particle mass spectra in a compactified, simple 5-dimensional Kaluza-Klein model, solving the neutrino wave equation and describing the solutions, measuring magnetic fields with IC-hall probes, measuring a Fresnel-zone diffraction pattern with a photocell/phototransistor, simulation of KDV soliton collisions, solving non-linear wave equations with Backlund transformations, simulating gases with cell automata, designing/building/testing an OP-AMP circuit that correctly differentiates signals in the 1000-10000  Hz range, finding the dispersion relation of acoustic/optical phonons in a one-dimensional solid, Thomas precession, simple scalar particle scattering via Feynman diagrams,IR spectral computations, multiwavelength radiative transfer, stellar hydrodynamics, and solar irradiance modelling.

The timeline for completion of this project requires that the student work on it for two hours per week, and all presentations will be made in the last week of instruction for the semester. The talks will be public, and will be announced. All students taking the seminar course should attend the talks.

Grading

The course grade is equally weighted between the two projects, and is determined by factual content of the presentations. It is important that the presentations and reports be sufficiently comprehensive so that it is clear that they are the products approximately 16-18 hours of work each.

Part III; second semester

This phase is designed to prepare the student for GRE or other professional examinations, and to determine where the gaps or deficiencies are in the student's knowledge.
The student will take a GRE-style, computer-administered, multiple-choice exam that poses 60 questions from the courses 201, 202, 205, 301, 302, 306*, 403, 441, ( *-only the electronics content of 306, the courses 290, 303 and 307 do not lend themselves well to multiple-choice testing). The exam itself will have a content-option so that an exam appropriate to the student's intended use of the degree (grad school, employment in a related field, ...) will be offered.

After the exam is taken, the student will meet with me to discuss its outcome, and to develop a strategy for filling any gaps that the the exam reveals. This is an experience-only project for the student, it is required, but no grade is attached to it.

Part IV; second semester capstone

The student is given a research topic in the area of greatest interest to the particular student. That topic is carefully researched, and a final oral presentation is made, accompanied by a detailed written report in journal-article format, complete with references. The topic can be assigned by any member of the Physics department. I will accept joint Math-Physics, or Chem-Physics projects.

Grading

The second semester senior seminar is graded entirely on the merits of the final presentation and oral report. It is tradition in the Department that all members of the Department attend the talks and participate in the grading process. The talks will be public, and will be announced. All students taking the seminar course should attend.
The student must produce a written progress report detailing their efforts on the project, by the tenth week of the second semester. This report accounts for 30% of the seminar grade. In addition, the final written report must be submitted by the student one full week before the scheduled oral seminar. Failure to meet this deadline results in the reduction of the overall seminar grade by one full grade .
If the Department members decide that revisions or corrections to the written report must be made, the student must comply and produce a revised report incorporating the changes. Failure to do so results in an automatic grade of D for the second semester.



File translated from TEX by TTH, version 3.13.
On 19 Aug 2003, 05:32.