MSc Physics – Research Computing Skills – Mini Project
The RCS course concludes with a short mini-project (some 10h effort) using Mathematica or Matlab; below are listed some suggested titles for mini-projects. You should begin work on your project on or soon after 10th March. The projects should be conducted individually and will be assessed by submitting your code with a short 1-2 page description of the problem and how to operate your code. The code and description should be submitted on Blackboard as a zip file.
The deadline for submission is Wednesday 2nd April at 1pm.
A few ground rules for the exercise:
· You can select one of the suggested titles from the list below - OR think up your own project. Simulation projects must be built around a well-defined physical effect or situation and you may want to spend a day or two (but no more) reading background material before making your choice of project.
· If you want to work on a project of your own devising please forward a title and a short paragraph describing what you hope to achieve to the demonstrator you think most appropriate, to see if we think it suitable (i.e. either of Dr Archer [email protected], or Dr Pasternak [email protected]).
· We expect you to conduct these projects on your own - there will not be any formal demonstrator sessions to support you. You may NOT request additional time or help from individual demonstrators. The reasons for these rules on supervision are several fold - we want to see what you can achieve on your own; demand for supervisor time can grow without limit if not managed carefully; and we want to ensure a fair system - everyone gets the same level of support. One part of the project’s assessment will be your ambition and your understanding of the project, so you must consider what you can achieve in the short period of time available for the project.
· The workload of the RCS course is supposed to be about 5 hours per week and so the mini project should take you no more than 10 hours.
· Your project will be assessed against the criteria in the attached marking sheet.
· Please make sure your code runs on the online versions of either Mathematica or Matlab, otherwise your mark could be significantly affected!
Suggested Titles:
1. Atoms in an optical dipole trap
2. Simulating optical tweezers
3. Simulating an optical levitation trap
4. Cooling a quantum information processor: excitation modes of a linear ion string
5. Chaos and fractals
6. Self-organised criticality
7. Gross-Pitaevski equation
8. Ferromagnetism in the Ising model using the Metropolis algorithm
9. Classical Monte Carlo simulation of an atom in an intense laser field
10. Time-frequency analysis using wavelet transforms
11. Solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates
12. Solving the time dependent Schrodinger equation
13. Phase transitions in Conway’s “Game of Life”
14. Quantum mechanics of an anharmonic oscillator
15. Rydberg states and Rydberg energies
16. Dynamics of charge particles in magnetic field of a solenoidal lens
17. Behaviour of a driven harmonic oscillator with damping
18. Simulation of a sailing boat