PHYS 120: Physics of the
21st Century - Fall 2015
- NOTE: Our Final Exam is on SATURDAY, December 5
at 8:30 in our regular class room! The schedule of student
presentations is posted below - each presentation is 10 min. plus 2
min. for questions. You must send a final draft of your presentation to your advisor by Wednesday, December 2.
Student Survey: You can now provide feedback on this course through the Student Opinion Survey. Please (pretty please)
participate in this survey! Your feedback is anonymous - the
authentication is NOT linked to the response. You can access the
Student Opinion Survey from the University's Current Students page:
Go to http://www.odu.edu
Click Current Students
Click Student Opinion Survey (under Academics)
Physics 120 Seminar (1 credit)
Coordinator:
Dr. Sebastian Kuhn (Phone: 683-5804)
Email: skuhn at odu.edu
Additional Faculty:
- Dr. Balsa Terzic (Phone:
683-5281) Email: bterzic at odu.edu
- Dr. Mark Havey (Phone: 683-4612) Email: mhavey at odu.edu
- Dr. Rocco Schiavilla (Phone: 683-5852) Email: rschiavi at odu.edu
Course Information: Download the Syllabus and Schedule (updated August 25!)
- Meeting Place: ROOM 303 of
the Oceanography
and Physics Building (OCNPS)
- Meeting Time: Wednesdays 9:00 - 9:50
a.m.
Required Textbook: “Chaos” by James Gleick (cheaply available at Amazon; one copy in ODU library)
Optional Textbooks: “Neutrino Hunters" by Ray Jayawardhana; "Physics for Future Presidents" by Richard A. Muller
- Required classwork: Pre-lecture reading,
attendance, midterm, oral presentation
- Semester
Schedule:
-
Introduction
- Aug 26: Introduction, Overview of
Topics to be
Discussed
- Sep 2: Guest Lecture (Dr. G. Dodge): How to become a successful physics student
-
- Nuclear Physics
(S. Kuhn) [Please click link for more detailed information and reading assignments!]
- Sept 9: What are protons made of?
Sept 16: Nuclei in the lab and in the cosmos
NOTE: You must have chosen a topic and
have it approved by one of the instructors by TODAY
- Sept 23: (Physics and
Society) Applications of Nuclear Physics
-
- Neutrinos
(R. Schiavilla)
- Advance reading material: A summary of the "Solar Neutrino Puzzle" and A in-depth (but basic) introduction to neutrinos. See also additional material under "Interesting Links". Lecture notes: Download here
Sept 30: How the sun produces neutrinos (and energy!)
Oct 7: The problem of missing solar neutrinos and its solution
Oct 14: (Physics
and Society) Facts about energy and solar energy
NOTE: First draft and abstract of presentation
(=midterm) due TODAY*)
*) Your first draft must be in electronic format
(Powerpoint, Keynote, .pdf, or similar) and contain, at the minimum, a
title page, an outline (table of content), and a literature list
(references). You must meet with your mentor to discuss the scope of
your talk, suitable materials to use, and to get feedback on the draft
and the abstract. The abstract must also be in electronic form (MS
Word, LaTeX, ...) and should describe, in a few sentences, the context
and the likely contents of your talk. See below for a sample abstract. SEND BOTH DOCUMENTS BY EMAIL EITHER TO YOUR MENTOR OR TO S. KUHN (skuhn at odu.edu)
- Chaos (B. Terzic)
- Oct 21: Chaos: The Definition and Origin. Advance reading material: "Prologue and The Butterfly Effect" (Chapter 1 of the book “Chaos” by James Gleick)
- Oct 28: Manifestations of Chaos. Advance reading material: "Revolution" (Chapter 2 of the book “Chaos” by James Gleick)
- Nov 4: (Physics and Society) It's a Chaotic World: What it all means. Advance reading material: "Chaos and Beyond" (Last chapter of the book “Chaos” by James Gleick)
- (International Year of) Light
(M. Havey)
- Advance reading material: "What is a Photon?"
-
- Nov 11: Ancient Light
Nov 18: The Classical Period
- Dec 2: (Physics
and Society) Quantum Optics
- NOTE: Final draft of presentation due TODAY
Student
Presentations
Dec. 5:
Suggested Topics for Semester Paper/Presentation
- Fundamental Forces
- Inertial Confined Fusion; ITER
- Nuclear Reactions in Stars
- Supernovae Explosions
- Expansion of the Universe, Dark Matter and Dark Energy;
Cosmological Constant
- Gravitational Wave Detectors
- Cosmic Rays
- Neutrino oscillations, masses, properties - Solar (and other) Neutrinos
- Laser trapping, ultracold atoms
- Bose-Einstein Condensation
- Quantum computing, entanglement, optics
- Accelerator design, novel accelerators
- Chaotic systems
- The CEBAF accelerator
- The Electron-Ion collider
- Large Hadron Collider: technology, physics
- Superconductivity
- ...and anything you are
interested in (check with one of the instructors)
Sample Abstract:
Nucleon Spin – Results from Jefferson Lab
Sebastian Kuhn, Old Dominion University
Over thirty years after the first
experiments probed the spin structure of the nucleon, the pace of
experimental and theoretical exploration of this subject keeps
increasing. During its fifteen-year run with beam energies up to 6 GeV,
Jefferson Lab has made many important contributions to this field -
from measurements of the inclusive spin structure functions of the
proton and the neutron over a wide kinematic range to seminal
experiments accessing the three-dimensional nucleon spin structure
through Generalized Parton Distributions and Transverse Momentum
Dependent structure functions. An even brighter future lies ahead -
after the 12 GeV upgrade, Jefferson Lab will completely map the
spin-dependent parton distribution functions for all quark flavors in
the valence region. In this talk, I will present an overview of this
program, with special emphasis on recent and forthcoming results from
the 6 GeV run and a glimpse of the future program with 12 GeV.
-
- Interesting Links:
Society
of
Physics
Students
ODU
Experimental Nuclear
Physics Group
ODU
Ultracold Physics
Lab
Center for Accelerator
Science
Thomas Jefferson National
Accelerator Facility (JLab)
American Institute of Physics
Physics
Central
Physics Links
Physics World
APS (Spotlighting Exceptional
Research)
International Year of Light
Einstein still matters in the 21st century!
What is Chaos?
Nuclear Reactions in Stars
Solar (and other) Neutrinos
A wonderful introduction to solar neutrinos - in Italian!
Alice and Bob in Wonderland (Perimeter Institute)