Theoretical physics
master program
!
a preview
A joint program of
Eric Laenen
Your Coordinators
Piet Mulders for the VU
Bernard Nienhuis
for the UvA
- Here to help
- Feedback welcome, let us know quickly
if there are problems
Things to talk about
in this session
General things
EC’s, grades, courses etc
Some course information, a sampling
Who will be teaching you
Doing it together!
Welcome brochure
coming soon to a get-together near you
Choosing Master of Theory
A wise choice!
You will learn a LOT!
about Nature at smallest and largest scales,
using language of mathematics, about phase
transitions, behavior of metals, spin-chains, soft
condensed matter, history of physics..
a way of thinking: reduce problem quickly to
its essentials
You’ll be joining this club..
Who are we?
What do we teach?
A sampling..
Statistical mechanics of soft matter
Fundamentals and particulars
(Strong) thermal fluctuations
Phase transitions and critical
phenomena
Fred MacKintosh
Stat. phys. and CM Theory 1
Formalism and applicability in
modern context
2nd quantization, path integrals
low-dimensional spin systems
Bose Einstein condenstion, superfluidy,
superconductivity
Jean-Sebastien
Caux
Theory tale I
Soft condensed matter: everyday stuff!
Gels, foam, polymers, living tissue, food, sand
[wet and dry feels different
Colloids: can trace individual particles.
Collective behavior fascinating
More interesting behavior: packing, jamming,
self-assembly.,,
Group theory
The language of symmetry!
Discrete groups
Lie Groups
Bernard Nienhuis
Irreps, Young tableaux, Casimirs..
String Theory
Introduction to formalism, and
concepts
relativistic strings
conformal field theory
Superstrings, D-brance, AdS-CFT
Miranda Cheng
Theory tale II
String theory, holography, condensed
matter
Holography: gravity theory in bulk (e.g. 5D)
equivalent to gauge theory on surface (4D):
Entropy of black hole proportional to area
of horizon
= AdS/CFT. Use dictionary both ways
Compute difficult CM problems using gravity
in a higher dimension
Intermezzo: who are YOU?
From abroad? First time in Amsterdam?
From elsewhere in NL?
From UvA/VU?
Philosophy of Science
Knowledge of and skills for
analyzing, writing etc.
Theory and evidence
Kuhn’s philosophy of science
Empiricism vs scientific realism
..
Jeroen van Dongen
Quantum Field Theory
Introduction to formalism,
techniques, applications
Symmetries
Path integrals, Feynman diagrams
Scattering Matrix
Dirac field
+ Loops, renormalization..
Alejandra Castro
Particles and Fields
Advanced quantum field theory for
particle physics
Yours truly
Together with Utrecht Master students
also teaching: Bernard de Wit
Non-abelian gauge theory
Standard Model, including Quantum
Chromodynamics
Renormalization (group)
Spontaneous symmetry breaking, Higgs
mechanism
Wouter Waalewijn
Theory tale III
Spontaneous breaking at LHC and in
superconductors
SSB: when groundstate is not invariant
under symmetry
Superconductor: Cooper pair condensate:
massive photons inside!
LHC/Universe: the vacuum: massive Z and
W bosons, with Higgs boson a remnant
To test precisely, know your Standard
Model loop corrections
The programme in a nut-shell
2 years, each 60 EC
1st year: courses, 2nd year: thesis
Grades: 1-10, to pass >= 6
there are retakes (1) per course
each course with exercise session (use them!)
precise arrangements may differ per course
Where to get your information?
About courses, schedules, etc: Datanose
[Demonstration]
About UvA, Amsterdam, etc.
Many sources: try your friendly local
theorists!
Getting together
Very important: Master Lunches
Master students + Staff, Thursday 12-1
Brief talk by 1 staff member: just interesting,
and possibly your Master thesis supervisor
Sandwiches, soup, paid by Institute
Many seminars
Colloquium,
String theory seminar, GRAPPA journal
club, Condensed Matter seminar,
some with lunch/pizza
Seminars at Nikhef, at Amolf etc
possible thesis there too
Life as a Master student in
theoretical physics
Not always easy: it’s a hard subject
Confusion, uncertainty and doubt is part of the
game
But when you do get the flash of insight, that’s just
great
don’t make it a lonely enterprise, learn from
eachother, discuss together, don’t be afraid to say
something “stupid”
Ask questions! We like that a lot. You’ll like it
too.
Unsuspecting theory master
students photographed
in the wild
Life as a Master student in
theoretical physics
DO’s
practice, do exercises,
work together, work hard,
ask questions (others don’t know it either..)
DON’Ts
work way too hard, find a balance
follow too many courses at once
isolate yourself. Really, you learn most togher
Master thesis
In the first year you develop a taste,
preference
Master lunches, special MA thesis day, websites
Approach possible advisors early
Not a choice for life: after Master thesis one
can do many other things still
You’ll be (or should) amazed at the things you know
and can do at the end of the thesis.
Other theoretical organizations
Delta ITP: (http://www.d-itp.nl)
UvA + Utrecht + Leiden
many advanced, more intense courses
Dutch Research School for Theoretical Physics
(DRSTP: http://
testweb.science.uu.nl/DRSTP/
for education of PhD students in theoretical physics, but there are also a lot of possibilities
for Master students also
Also: GRAPPA, QM&QI, Soft matter, …
After the Master
PhD position? Alumni have gone to
Amsterdam, NL, EU, USA…
[start early with applications!]
Many different procedures, deadlines, etc
PhD position in experimental physics
Companies: IT, financial, consulting,…
Next steps
Start of classes: Sept 1 (check datanose!)
Welcome event at ITFA, soon: check your
inboxes
Have a wonderful time, we - the staff look forward to teaching you, discussing
with you
Welcome again, we wish you
lots of fun, enjoyment and succes