Physics Seminar/ Seminar in Applied Physics

Physics 697/731/732/831/832

 

Time:              Thursdays 3:00 p.m. - 3:50 p.m.

Location:         Physical Sciences II 1100

Website:          http://www.odu.edu/~chyde/Teaching/Spring2012/697Spring2012.htm (may be changed later)

 

Instructors:

Charles Hyde

Alex Gurevich

Office:

PSB 2100C

OCNPS 225

Phone:

683-5853

683-3494

Email:

chyde@odu.edu

gurevich@odu.edu

Office hours:

Learning Center :

Wed 3 – 4 pm

Thurs 4-5 pm in

or by appointment

Wednesday 2 – 3 pm

or by appointment

 

Requirements:  To pass this course you must give one talk (two for first-year students, see below), be present for at least 12 of the class meetings, attend the department colloquia, and complete the Responsible Conduct of Research Training (see below). You are also required to meet the instructor at least one week before your talk is scheduled, to discuss your talk. You should bring to that meeting (1) a draft of your talk and (2) a draft of your abstract.  At least three days before your talk, you must post an abstract of your talk (conforming to the APS format) in the Physics department main office, above the mailboxes.

 

Course Summary:  The seminars in Physics and Applied Physics are part of the mandatory curriculum for the Ph.D. program in Physics. They consist of oral presentations by the participating students. The goal of this course is to teach you how to present scientific talks in a clear and well-organized way. This is very important preparation for defending your research work in the scientific community (or in front of a board of directors). You will also learn how to research a specific topic and find the relevant information in scientific journals and publications. Finally, by listening to other studentsÕ talks, you will learn to critically evaluate their presentations.


 

Structure:   During the Þrst meeting, you will choose a topic for your talk. You may choose from the attached list of topics or suggest a topic of your own.  We do not want to have two talks on the same subject.  A date will be chosen for each presentation. The instructor must approve each topic to ensure that it is suitable and does not overlap too much with another talk.

First year students will give one talk of 10 minutes plus 5 minutes for questions in the beginning of the semester. After receiving feedback from instructors and students, these students will give a second, improved talk (preferably on the same topic) near the end of the semester, unless the first talk is so good that the second talk is waived. 10 minutes is a typical duration for a talk at a large conference with several parallel sessions. Second year students will give a presentation of 20 minutes plus 5 minutes for questions, which is a typical length for an invited talk or a group report at a conference. Third year students will give a talk of 40 minutes plus 10 minutes for questions, which roughly corresponds to a physics colloquium.  The talk should not be on the subject of the studentÕs thesis research, but it may be on a related subject in the same field.  In some circumstances you may use a talk you have given before, but you must discuss that with the instructor first.

After each talk, the students and instructor will have an opportunity to ask questions and/or critique its form and content. After the session, each speaker should remain for additional comments by the instructors.

All sources must be correctly references.  You will be expected to be able to answer questions on any material you include on your slides.  Talks should be prepared in PowerPoint, or equivalent.

 

Suggestions:  Make sure that you DO NOT exceed the time limit on your talk.  Give one or several rehearsal talks to a friend, instructor or yourself. Show a title page (with your name on it) and an outline of the talk in the beginning of your presentation. At the end summarize the important points of your talk and give some outlook on future work in the field. Make sure you quote all literature and/or websites used as sources. Make clear, readable slides: strong colors or black and white, no smudged photocopies and not too much information on a single slide. Use only formulae that can be understood by the audience during the time span they will see them. DonÕt use the blackboard unless you have to supplement your information in response to a question from the audience. Make sure you do not block anyoneÕs view or the path from the overhead projector to the screen (use a pointing device on the screen, NOT on the projector). Anticipate questions and be ready for them.

 

Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR): ODU has a policy of training all graduate students in the fundamentals of Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR).    All students who officially enrolled in a graduate program fall 2010 must complete the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) seven core RCR Training modules. You must complete the training by the end of the seminar course (April 26) in order to pass the course.  This training may be done at your convenience on your computer and you do not have to complete all seven modules in one sitting. Please see the instructions posted on the seminar website for getting started.  There will be deadlines for completing the seven training modules throughout the semester.  The first module must be completed by Thursday Jan. 27.  Although the ODU requirement only applies to students starting in Fall 2010, all seminar students must complete this training.

 

Grading:  Your grade will be based on the organization and delivery of your talk and how technically secure you are on the subject. You will NOT be graded on how fancy or advanced your topic is.  If you fail to meet any of the listed requirements (attendance, meeting an instructor at least a week before your talk, posting an abstract), your grade will be downgraded or you might fail the course.


 

Suggested Topics:  (Topics with a Ò*Ó are especially suited for Þrst-year students.)

 

ThompsonÕs discovery of the electron (*)

The g-factor of the electron (*)

BellÕs inequality

Quantum cryptography or computing

Test of QED – muonium, positronium, geonium

Parity violation in atoms

The Þrst parity-violation experiment (*)

CP violation

Measuring Momentum Distributions in fluids and nuclei.

Deep inelastic scattering (DIS) and the quark parton model

The EMC effect in DIS

Spin content of the proton

The Higgs Boson

ElectroWeak UniÞcation

Properties of the Z Boson  and neutrino families

Lattice QCD

The Quark Model of hadrons

Proton decay

Neutrino oscillations (*)

Gamma ray astrophysics

The 3K cosmic microwave background

Formation of the solar system

Supernova    SN1987A

The accelerating expansion of the universe (*)

Inßationary models of cosmology

Nuclear synthesis in stars

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (*)

Polarized Nuclear Targets

Nuclear reactors

The Stern-Gerlach experiment (*)

The shell model  (nuclear or atomic)

The Mossbauer effect (*)

Superconductivity

High temperature superconductivity

Laser cooling and/or trapping

Free electron lasers

Quantum Hall effect

Synchrotron radiation

Particle detectors (*) – choose a particular type Medical imaging

Nuclear medicine

Chaos (*)

Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Extrasolar Planetary Detection

Josephson effect and SQUIDS                                         Anomalous skin effect in metals

Gunn effect in semiconductors                                         De-Haas-van Alphen oscillations

Topological insulators                                                                  Ferromagnetism

Antiferromagnetism                                                          Superconducting cavities in accelerators

Thermodynamic phase transitions                                   Quantum phase transitions

Quasicrystals                                                                    Bose condensate of cold atoms

Semiconducting lasers                                           1/f noise in metals and semiconductors

Spinodal decomposition in solids                                     Aharonov-Bohm effect

Electron microscopy                                                         Electron localization in disordered solids

Superfluidity of He                                                           Electron quantum liquids in solids

Nonlinear optics                                                               Liquid crystals

Dislocations and plasticity of solids                                Topological defects in condensed matter

Plasma arc                                                                         Controlled thermonuclear fusion

High field magnets and their applications                         Graphene - a new hope for electronics                

 

Other topics:  Recent journal articles will make good topics.  Featured articles from Nature are available at http://www.nature.com/physics/index.html and research highlights can be found at http://www.nature.com/physics/highlights/index.html.  Also check Physics Today (http://www.physicstoday.org/), especially the Physics Update section.  The Physical Review Focus stories (http://focus.aps.org/) also refer to interesting new articles.