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Final Year Project List
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Project Coordinator
Lily Asquith
Andrea Banfi
Xavier Calmet
Mara Cercignani
Antonella De Santo
Jacob Dunningham
Claudia Eberlein
Elisabeth Falk
Barry Garraway
Clark Griffith
Philip Harris
Winfried Hensinger
Mark Hindmarsh
Stephan Huber
Ilian Iliev
Sebastian Jaeger
Matthias Keller
Daniel Litim
Jon Loveday
Seb Oliver
Alessia Pasquazi
Marco Peccianti
Simon Peeters
Diego Porras
Kathy Romer
Fabrizio Salvatore
Veronica Sanz
Mark Sargent
David Seery
Robert Smith
Peter Thomas
Jose Verdu
Stephen Wilkins
1
Lily Asquith (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 4A14)
Project (1): Analysing ATLAS data with Machine Learning Techniques
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Physics, Theoretical Physics
Description: Particles collide within the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) hundreds of millions
of times per second. Electronic circuits record the passage of particles through the ATLAS
detector and send the data to the CERN Data Centre (DC) for digital reconstruction. The data
produced each year is measured in petabytes, 1 PB being 1,000,000 GB. This kind of `Big
Data' is also appearing elsewhere for use in monitoring behaviour and making money,
leading to the relatively new field of Data Science. You will explore and compare various
Machine Learning techniques for analysing large ATLAS datasets, including Artificial Neural
Networks and Deep Learning Algorithms.
Meeting Required: Yes - after short listing and before matching
Required Modules: None
Suggested Modules: This project involves a lot of programming, so a 2i or above on
Scientific Computing would be an advantage.
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, Statistical analysis, programming (scripting),
programming (compiled)
2
Andrea Banfi (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 5A16)
Project (2): Jet Physics at the LHC
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Theoretical Physics
Description: Jets, highly collimated bunches of energetic hadrons, are ubiquitous in today's
particle physics. This is because the LHC, the machine with which we wish to discover
physics beyond the Standard Model, is in fact a hadron collider. You will learn a bit of
Quantum Chromo-Dynamics (QCD), the theory underlying jet physics, and will be able to
compute an observable involving jets, relevant either for precision studies or new physics
searches at the LHC. During the project you will also become familiar with various technical
tools, like methods for numerical analyses, and programming in various languages
(Fortran, C++, Perl, Python).
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: Electrodynamics, Quantum Mechanics 1
Suggested Modules: Quantum Mechanics 2, Further Quantum Mechanics
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills: programming (scripting), programming (compiled), various
mathematical & theoretical physics skills
3
Xavier Calmet (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 5A9)
Project (3): Quantum effects in General Relativity
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: You will investigate quantum effects in General Relativity. Different aspects
could be studied from quantum effects in black holes, to calculations involving linearized
General Relativity or noncommutative geometry.
The exact project will dependent on the research state of the art when you start your FYP.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet, I will make time for that.
Required Modules: General Relativity
Quantum Field Theory 1
Further Quantum Mechanics
Suggested Modules: none
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent, Pace not typically adjustable
Transferable Skills:
4
Xavier Calmet (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 5A9)
Project (4): Physics Methods in Finance
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: For students who have taken the option "Physics Methods in Finance" in year
3, projects in joint supervision with the business school are possible.
Also for excellent students there is a possibility to collaborate on projects proposed by Dary
McGovern from Sensatus, a local financial services software company:
1) Develop mathematical models to determine the expected price action based on
fundamental and technical analysis market catalyst events. Upon determination of the
expected price action, an appropriate trading strategy should be selected and its
performance modelled, with emphasis placed on when to terminate the selected trading
strategy.
2) Develop mathematical models to mitigate risk via hedging strategies when acting as a
counter party in a trade. Historical client trading data to be modelled to identify when
hedging strategies should be applied based on the analysis of position risk, client behaviour
and cross correlated to fundamental and technical analysis trends.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: Physics Methods in Finance in year 3
Suggested Modules: none
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent),
Pace not typically adjustable
Transferable Skills:
5
Mara Cercignani (E-mail: [email protected], Location: Clinical Imaging
Sciences Centre, Room 3)
Project (5): Don't get hot-headed: testing MR thermometry techniques to measure
local temperature in the brain
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: While Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology is traditionally believed to start
from the temporal lobe, recent evidence from neuroimaging studies has highlighted a
prominent role for the parietal lobe and the precuneus in particular. This is interesting this
part of the brain is subject to a particularly high metabolic demand, which could make this
area particularly susceptible to damage. In particular, it is conceivable that, when the
vascularity acting as a cooling system starts to become less efficient, the higher metabolism
of the parietal lobe could lead to local increases in temperature. MRI is intrinsically
sensitive to temperature (1), and therefore offers several non-invasive methods to monitor
its changes. Some of these methods are routinely used for applications such as MR-guided
focused Ultrasounds (2). While measuring changes in temperature is relatively straightforward, assessing absolute values is more complicated, particularly in the presence of a
condition, such as AD, which is likely to alter some the structural properties of tissue.
The aim of this project is to implement a range on MR thermometry techniques, including
proton resonance frequency (PRF) (3) and diffusion MRI methods (4). The acquisitions will
be implemented on the 1.5T scanner at the Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre, and tested first
on a series of phantoms with known temperature. Once validated, the technique of choice
will be tested in healthy volunteers.
In this project, the student will be required to assist during the acquisition of phantom and
human data using the MRI scanner located at CISC. He/she will then have to modify existing
code and write new code in Matlab or C to produce temperature maps from the acquired
data. He/she will also compare the performance of the different approaches.
This project will therefore involve: familiarising with the relevant literature, familiarising
with the imaging data and the basic physics of MRI and of MT-MRI, Matlab programming,
some image analysis, and mathematical modelling.
References
1. Rieke & Pauly. MR Thermometry. J Magn Reson Im 27:376–390 (2008)
2. Hokland et al. MRI-guided focused ultrasound: methodology and applications. IEEE Trans
Med Imaging 25:723– 731 (2006).
3 Hindman. Proton resonance shift of water in gas and liquid states. J Chem Phys 44:4582–
4592 (1966).
4. Le Bihan et al. Temperature mapping with MR imaging of molecular diffusion: application
to hyperthermia. Radiology 171:853–857 (1989).
Meeting Required: Yes - after short listing and before matching
6
Required Modules: none
Suggested Modules: none
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, Faculty colleague(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Closely supervised, Pace adjustable to meet student's
ability
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, Image Processing, programming (scripting),
collaborating (with people outside Sussex)
7
Antonella De Santo (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 4A12)
Project (6): Supersymmetry searches in multi-leptonic final states at ATLAS
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Physics, Theoretical Physics
Description: The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland, collides
protons of
unprecedented high energies, recreating conditions thought to have existed in our
Universe shortly after the Big Bang. The ATLAS detector is one of the two multi-purpose
experiments at the LHC, designed to unveil evidence for new phenomena beyond the
Standard Model (BSM) of particle physics. Supersymmetry (SUSY) is one of the wellmotivated BSM theories that could be realised in nature at LHC energies. SUSY could for
example hold the key to explaining the nature of Dark Matter in our universe. The Sussex
ATLAS group has a leading role in the search for supersymmetric signals in leptonic final
states at ATLAS.
You will become integrated within the Sussex ATLAS group for the duration of your
project, interacting collaboratively on a daily basis with faculty members, research staff
and other students. You will perform a computer-based analysis of ATLAS data, including
from simulations, with the aim to contribute to the search for SUSY signals at the LHC.
The scope of the physics content of your project will be adapted to your pre-knowledge of
particle physics. If you are not already a proficient programmer, you will be expected to
acquire rapidly the computing skills (eg C++ programming and ROOT analysis
framework) necessary to complete your project successfully. A good disposition towards
teamwork is also essential.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by:
Level of Independance and Pace:
Transferable Skills:
8
Jacob Dunningham (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A3)
Project (7): Quantum-enhanced sensing devices
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: One of the most exciting new potential technologies to emerge from quantum
physics is the ability to measure physical phenomena with unprecedented precision. This
could allow us to subject scientific theories to higher levels of scrutiny and lead to a range of
new industrial applications. While the feasibility of these ideas has been demonstrated in
principle, the key problem is making them practical. The quantum states required for many
schemes are difficult to engineer and fragile to noise which is inevitably present in any realworld situation. In this project we will study the principles of quantum enhanced sensing
and develop schemes that overcome these problems. The key aim will be to
identify a way of achieving a sensitivity that surpasses anything possible in classical physics.
There will be a lot of interesting physics along the way.
This project will involve both theory and numerical simulations so students should be
confident with numerical simulations (or be happy to learn).
An overview paper can be found here:
http://www.dunningham.org/papers/contemp06.pdf
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet before short listing, I will make time for
that.
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by:
Level of Independance and Pace:
Transferable Skills:
9
Jacob Dunningham (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A3)
Project (8): Particle localisation via measurement-induced entanglement
Course Types Accepted:BSc Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: This project will explore the boundary between the quantum and classical
physics in the context of quantum entanglement. We will consider the specific case of how
particles acquire well-defined spatial localisations when light is scattered off them and
detected. This process creates a specific type of entanglement between pairs of particles
that mimics the behaviour of classical particles but in relative (rather than absolute) space.
Oddly, this suggests we can interpret classicality in terms of the uniquely quantum feature
of entanglement. We will explore the nature of this process and understand the link
between localisation and entanglement. We will also aim to devise experiments that could
be carried out to test this theory and study the important effects of the particle dynamics on
the localisation process.
This project will involve both theory and numerical simulations.
An overview paper can be found here:
http://www.dunningham.org/papers/rau03.pdf
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet before short listing, I will make time for
that.
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by:
Level of Independance and Pace:
Transferable Skills:
10
Claudia Eberlein (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 4A16)
Project (9): Quantum Field Theory applied to nanotechnology
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: Students of excellent mathematical ability (incl knowledge of complex
analysis) can take part in ongoing research, for example help working out a Feynman
diagram at one-loop level.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: Quantum Field Theory 1, Further Quantum Mechanics
Suggested Modules: Atom Light Interactions, Quantum Optics and Quantum Information
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills: various mathematical & theoretical physics skills
11
Claudia Eberlein (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 4A16)
Project (10): Physics of Musical Instruments
Course Types Accepted:BSc Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: This project is for a student willing to research into the physics of musical
instruments. Some musical background is required, and a lot of own initiative is a must.
Note that we have no facilities for any experiments. So, this will be a purely theoretical
project, but which may create useful outreach material.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: (Musical knowledge), (Playing an instrument)
Suggested Modules: No specific requirements
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills: dealing with the public, collaborating (with people outside Sussex)
12
Elisabeth Falk (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 4A08)
Project (11): Neutrino oscillations
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: Neutrinos can undergo oscillations between their three quantum-mechanical
flavour eigenstates, because these are superpositions of their mass eigenstates. Studying
neutrino oscillations in large experiments has taught us a great deal about the properties of
this elusive particle. The experimental confirmation that all three flavours undergo
oscillations has opened the door for new experiments that aim to address which neutrino
mass eigenstate is the heaviest, and whether neutrino oscillations are subject to CP
violation. The latter is closely related to the dominance of matter over antimatter in the
universe. You will model neutrino oscillations with a computer program in order to
compare and evaluate the potential of some of these experiments to answer these
questions.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: None
Suggested Modules: This project is programming-based (python or C/C++), so a 2i or
above on Scientific Computing is desirable.
Modules that would improve the student's learning outcomes/experience: Particle Physics,
Data Analysis Techniques, Advanced Particle Physics.
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent),
Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Statistical analysis, programming (scripting), programming
(compiled)
13
Elisabeth Falk (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 4A08)
Project (12): The SNO+ neutrinoless double beta decay experiment
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: The SNO+ experiment will explore whether a neutrino is its own anti-particle
and what mass it has. Evidence would come from the observation of neutrinoless double
beta decay, a process so rare that it would have a half-life some twenty orders of magnitude
longer than the age of the universe. This would have significant cosmological implications
and may help us understand why the universe is made of matter and virtually no
antimatter. The experiment is getting ready to take data. You will use simulated data and
data from a preparatory data-taking phase to study and optimize aspects of the calibration
and analysis of neutrinoless double beta decay data.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: None
Suggested Modules: This project relies on the use of simulation code packages, with some
programming required. A 2i or above on Scientific Computing, as well as some familiarity
with C/C++ and Linux/UNIX, is desirable.
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, Statistical analysis, programming (scripting),
programming (compiled)
14
Barry Garraway (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 4A11)
Project (13): Cold atoms in radio frequency traps
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: In this project you will examine the behaviour of atoms in hybrid traps
composed of magnetic and electromagnetic fields. Modelling of experiments may be
undertaken. Double-well potentials leading to applications in matter wave interferometry
are of particular interest. (Computing ability, e.g. matlab, is essential.)
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: QM2, Atomic Physics
Suggested Modules: programming
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills: Statistical analysis, programming (scripting)
15
Barry Garraway (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 4A11)
Project (14): Decay of quantum systems
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: There are two choices of project here which look at issues in the topic of
decoherence, or the decay of quantum systems. In the first project you will examine how a
quantum system coupled to an environment can be understood as a system coupled to a
chain of quantum oscillators. This has been of recent interest in understanding
photosynthesis. The project will model a simple system using the chain and examine how
excitation travels down the chain.
In the second project available a model will be made of a quantum system with three
resonances, which poses interesting issues for simple representations and approximations
to the system because of interferences.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: QM2
Suggested Modules: Atomic Physics, Quantum optics and Quantum Information
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills:
16
Clark Griffith (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 4A1)
Project (15): Search for a neutron EDM
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics
Description: The discovery of a nonzero permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of the
neutron would violate time-reversal symmetry, and would be a signature of new physics
beyond the standard model. In order to make more sensitive measurements of the neutron
EDM, magnetic fields in the experiment must be measured extremely well, and the highest
achievable electric fields must be applied to the neutron storage cell. This project will
involve hands-on, experimental laboratory work related to developing apparatus to
generate and measure the electric and magnetic fields required for the experiment.
Meeting Required: Yes - after short listing and before matching
Required Modules: none
Suggested Modules: Particle Physics, Lasers
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent),
Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Lab Skills - circuit design, Lab Skills - lasers, Data analysis,
programming (scripting)
17
Philip Harris (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 4A6)
Project (16): Neutron electric dipole moment
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: One of the greatest outstanding mysteries in cosmology over the past half
century has been the question of why the Universe is dominated by matter rather than
antimatter. The two were created in equal amounts at the time of the Big Bang, but now we
only have matter left. Whatever is the underlying mechanism, it will at some level produce a
distortion in the structure of subatomic particles - an electric dipole moment (EDM). The
Sussex group leads the world in the search for a neutron EDM; this is one of the most
precise experiments that it’s possible to do in physics, and, since it’s sensitive to structure
perhaps a billion times smaller than anything that the LHC can see, it’s an excellent probe of
“new physics” beyond the Standard Model.
Data are now starting to emerge from the nEDM experiment at PSI, Switzerland. In this
largely computational project, you will either analyse some of these data, or carry out Monte
Carlo simulations to look for potential systematic biases. Familiarity with Matlab and/or
C/C++ would be extremely useful.
For background, google Sussex Lectures 2011, and look for my contribution (last on the
page).
Papers: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.92.092003 and references therein.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet before matching, I will make time for that.
Required Modules: none
Suggested Modules: This project involves a lot of programming, so a 2i or above on
Scientific Computing would be an advantage.
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent),
Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, programming (scripting), programming (compiled)
18
Winfried Hensinger (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A5)
Project (17): Cooling of ytterbium ions using lasers and microwaves
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics, Theoretical Physics
Description: Trapping single atoms is being described as one of the most demanding
experiments in atomic physics. This project includes experimental work in trapping and
cooling single ions towards the realization of an ion trap quantum computer. This project
includes both theoretical and experimental parts. You will learn about laser and microwave
cooling of ytterbium ions. The IQT group has recently succeeded in cooling ions to the
quantum mechanical ground state using microwaves, a world’s first. You will work on this
experiment and investigate ways to further improve this method as well as extend it to
more ions, a prerequisite for many experiments. You will also learn how to align lasers onto
the ion trap, operate a laser locking scheme, and handle a complicated imaging system.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Closely supervised, Pace not ajustable
Transferable Skills: lab skills: lasers, electronics
19
Winfried Hensinger (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A5)
Project (18): Stabilising a ytterbium ion trap quantum computer setup
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics, Theoretical Physics
Description: The IQT group is developing a quantum computer based on trapped
ytterbium ions which requires a multitude of innovative components to be stabilised and
protected from external noise. This includes special laser systems as well as high power
microwave generation setups. As part of this project you will learn about relevant noise
sources in the laboratory and investigate optimum methods to protect against it. You will
also learn about lasers and microwave generation setups and how to best ‘actively’ stabilise
these. To achieve this you will design, build and program highly efficient locking setups
based on FPGAs which will form the basis of our quantum computing experiments which
includes the efficient generation of high-fidelity entanglement and state detection.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project?
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Closely supervised, Pace not ajustable
Transferable Skills: lab skills: lasers, electronics
20
Winfried Hensinger (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A5)
Project (19): Advanced ion chips
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics, Theoretical Physics
Description: For large scale quantum computing to occur large scale ion trap arrays need
to be designed that allow optimal storage, shuttling and entanglement operations to be
performed. The arrays are constructed within an integrated microchip. In this project you
will study how to add advanced features to ion chips such as digital signal processing, onchip cavities, fibre connects along with on-chip resistors and capacitors. In addition, you
will devise recipes for the application of microwaves on the chip and the implementation of
magnetic field gradients. You will identify important issues in nanofabrication of ion traps
and address such challenges with advances in condensed matter physics.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Closely supervised, Pace not ajustable
Transferable Skills: lab skills: clean room
21
Winfried Hensinger (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A5)
Project (20): Shuttling trapped ions inside arrays
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics, Theoretical Physics
Description: In our group we develop advanced ion trap arrays on a chip. In order to
transport ions through such an array of electrodes the motion of the ion has to be carefully
controlled. This project investigates how ions can be carefully shuttled in such an ion trap
array without changing their motional quantum state. You will investigate optimal ways to
transport individual ions and develop voltage sequences that are applied to multiple
electrodes in order to move ions along a line, transport them through a junction or separate
ions that are part of an ion string.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Closely supervised, Pace not ajustable
Transferable Skills: Programming
22
Winfried Hensinger (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A5)
Project (21): Entanglement creation
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics, Theoretical Physics
Description: Quantum technology, particularly quantum computing relies on the ability to
entangle ions. Entanglement has been referred by Einstein as “spooky” and is one of the
most counterintuitive predictions of quantum physics. At Sussex we have developed a
scalable method to create entanglement using microwaves. This project may involve some
theory, programming and experimental work. You will evaluate how to increase
entanglement gate fidelities in order to reduce error rates within quantum computing
operations.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Closely supervised, Pace not ajustable
Transferable Skills: Programming, lab skills: laser and electronics
23
Winfried Hensinger (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A5)
Project (22): Quantum simulations with trapped ions
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics, Theoretical Physics
Description: Richard Feynman pioneered the idea that instead of trying to simulate
quantum systems with classical computers, it is much more efficient to use a quantum
system that can be controlled in the lab to simulate another quantum system one would like
to understand. There is a vast range of possible quantum simulations that can be performed
using trapped ions from all areas of physics, including effects of Einstein’s theory of special
relativity, the Kibble-Zurek mechanism, particle creation moments after the big bang and
complex many-body phenomena such as quantum biology and quantum chemistry. The aim
of this project is to analyze and further develop theoretical proposals for quantum
simulations and carry out the corresponding experiments using trapped ions at Sussex.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Closely supervised, Pace not ajustable
Transferable Skills: Programming, lab skills: laser and electronics
24
Winfried Hensinger (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A5)
Project (23): Developing a portable quantum sensor
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics, Theoretical Physics
Description: Sensors form a major part of every-day technology and can even be found in
modern day mobile phones. The applications are endless and a continuous effort is
underway to improve their sensitivity. A quantum sensor makes use of the ‘strange’ effects
of quantum mechanics to provide a step-change in the achievable sensitivity and is seen as
one of the most promising quantum technologies to be commercialised in the near future.
The IQT group is working on developing a portable ion-trap based magnetometer which can
be used to sense magnetic fields with unparalleled sensitivity. Within this project you will
familiarise yourself with how a quantum sensor works. In order to develop a portable
quantum sensor, an experiment filling an entire lab needs to be reduced to the size of a
shoe-box. You will learn about the core components making up our ion trap based
magnetometer and develop ways to significantly reduce their size. This will include the
development of miniaturised laser and vacuum systems.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Closely supervised, Pace not ajustable
Transferable Skills: lab skills: laser and electronics
25
Winfried Hensinger (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A5)
Project (24): Communicating quantum technology
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics, Theoretical Physics
Description: A famous quantum physicist once proclaimed that the only physicists who
understand quantum physics are the ones who know that they don’t understand it. Within
this project you will analyze the factors that lead to the difficulty in obtaining an intuitive
understanding of quantum physics. Once these factors become clear, you will devise
strategies to circumvent such problems and create a strategy to communicate quantum
technology research to a number of different target groups such as the general public, Alevel students and undergraduate physics students. You will then create appropriate
materials such as websites, simulations, applets, handouts and hand-on demonstrations in
order effectively communicate quantum technology research. You will also measure the
efficiency of the created strategy and materials by analysing its effect on various target
groups. Experience in making highly sophisticated websites and interactive simulations is
critical.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Closely supervised, Pace not ajustable
Transferable Skills: programing
26
Mark Hindmarsh (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 5A11)
Project (25): Topological Defects in the Early Universe
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: Modern particle physics predicts that the very early Universe went through a
series of phase transitions, which may have produced extended objects called topological
defects. In this project the student will study the formation, evolution and observational
signatures of topological defects such as domain walls or cosmic strings.
Meeting Required: Yes - after short listing and before matching
Required Modules: None
Suggested Modules: General Relativity, Symmetry in Particle Physics, Quantum Field
Theory, Cosmology.
Programming skills open up more possibilities for the research project, so 60% or above in
Scientific Computing and some prior knowledge of C/C++ would be an advantage to pursue
this route.
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills: programming (scripting), programming (compiled)
27
Mark Hindmarsh (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 5A11)
Project (26): Phase Transitions in the Early Universe
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: Violent processes in the early universe - such as phase transitions - would
have generated acoustic oscillations in the hot plasma. These in turn produce gravitational
waves. You will study the dynamics of the plasma during and after a cosmological phase
transition and/or the production of gravitational waves, with the possibility of exploring the
consequences for a future space-based gravitational wave observatory.
Meeting Required: Yes - after short listing and before matching
Required Modules: None
Suggested Modules: General Relativity, Quantum Field Theory, Cosmology.
Programming skills open up more possibilities for the research project, so 60% or above in
Scientific Computing and some prior knowledge of C/C++ would be an advantage to pursue
this route.
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills: programming (scripting), programming (compiled), collaborating
(with people outside Sussex)
28
Mark Hindmarsh (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 5A11)
Project (27): Scalar Fields in Cosmology
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: Scalar fields play an important role in cosmology. If present in the Universe,
either in its early phases or today, they can cause the expansion of the universe to
accelerate - inflation. This project will involve an investigation of the dynamics of scalar
fields in the early Universe, including a review of inflationary cosmology. The project
benefits from a good understanding of cosmology, and will entail learning some simple field
theory.
Meeting Required: Yes - after short listing and before matching
Required Modules: None
Suggested Modules: Cosmology, General Relativity
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills: programming (scripting)
29
Stephan Huber (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 5A13)
Project (28): Supersymmetry
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: Supersymmetry is the one of the leading ideas for new physics. In the
supersymmetric Standard Models each known particle obtains a partner of different spin.
These so called superpartners are supposed to have masses around the electroweak scale
and to date intensively searched for at LHC. In the project you will analyze the
supersymmetric particle spectrum of a specific realization of supersymmetry and draw
conclusions on the possible signals at the LHC.
Meeting Required: Yes - after short listing and before matching
Required Modules: QFT1
Suggested Modules: BSM
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills:
30
Stephan Huber (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 5A13)
Project (29): Dynamics of the electroweak phase transition
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: In the very early universe the electroweak symmetry was unbroken, i.e. there
was no vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field. Extensions of the standard model
predict that the breaking of this symmetry occurred via a first-order thermal phase
transition (EWPT). This process could be the origin of the cosmic baryon asymmetry. You
will study the properties of the EWPT (i.e. the jump in the order parameter, the latent heat,
etc.) in a model with extra Higgs fields. This will be done by analyzing the thermal potential
of the Higgs fields. The aim is to test if the model is capable of generating the baryon
asymmetry.
Meeting Required: Yes - after short listing and before matching
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules: QFT1 if MPhys student
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills:
31
Stephan Huber (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 5A13)
Project (30): Extra dimensions
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: It is possible that there are more than three space dimensions in nature.
These extra dimensions could be responsible for observed properties of particles, e.g. their
masses and couplings. In this project you will study a higher dimensional version of the
Standard Model and investigate its consequences for particle colliders, such as the LHC.
Meeting Required: Yes - after short listing and before matching
Required Modules: qft1
Suggested Modules: BSM
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills:
32
Ilian Iliev (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C5)
Project (31): The Physics and Detectable Signatures of the Cosmic Dark Ages and the
Epoch of Reionization
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: Thanks to our ever better observations of large-scale structure of the universe
we are now entering the era of precision cosmology, whereby the basic parameters
describing our universe will be measured to a better than a per cent precision. However, we
still know very little about how it all began - how the First Stars and galaxies formed and
evolved when the Universe was less than a billion years old, or how they influenced laterforming structures. Now for the first time we have a chance for directly detecting these
early cosmological structures, particularly with low-frequency radio observations with
instruments like the European-build Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), with which we are
directly involved. Your project will help us understand the formation and effects of these
objects. A variety of projects are available, including the analysis and visualization of
detailed numerical simulations and connecting these results to the observational data. You
should be comfortable working with computers and with reading and using computer codes
in Python. Some experience with (or willingness to learn) Fortran will be an advantage.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet before matching, I will make time for that.
Required Modules: none
Suggested Modules: Good results in Scientific Computing and Atomic Physics will be an
advantage.
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent),
Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, programming (scripting), collaborating (with people
outside Sussex)
33
Sebastian Jaeger (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 5A15)
Project (32): Monopoles
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: Magnetic monopoles - sources or sinks for magnetic fields - have never been
found. Some might, however, exist as left-overs from the big bang. Monopoles also play a
role in contemporary mathematical physics - Seiberg-Witten and String theory - and
possibly in understanding the electroweak symmetry breaking. In this project you will
review the theory and (theoretical) applications of monopoles of various kinds.
Requirements: This is a project of high mathematical content. Prerequisites: Variational
Calculus and Advanced Electromagnetism, and a willingness to read about and learn
advanced methods in mathematical physics.
Meeting Required: Yes - after short listing and before matching
Required Modules: Requirements: This is a project of high mathematical content. Success
requires good command of mathematics and of theoretical physics, and a willingness to
read about and learn advanced methods in mathematical physics.
Prerequisites: Theoretical Physics
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? n/a only 1 student can do this project
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills: Abstract thinking
34
Sebastian Jaeger (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 5A15)
Project (33): Supersymmetric Quantum Theory
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: Classically, continuous symmetries imply the existence of conserved charges.
Quantum mechanically, these are given by operators commuting with the Hamiltonian
operator. Supersymmetry implies an operator which is, loosely speaking, the 'square root'
of the Hamiltonian, with profound consequences. You will review the origin of conservation
laws (Noether's theorem), supersymmetric quantum mechanics, and supersymmetry
breaking and study simple supersymmetric quantum systems. For a strong MPhys student,
this project may lead up to supersymmetric field theory, which may underly our known
laws of particle physics and is actively being searched for at the Large Hadron Collider at
CERN.
Meeting Required: Yes - after short listing and before matching
Required Modules: Requirements: Mathematical ability and good knowledge of quantum
mechanics.
Theoretical Physics.
For an MPhys project, simultaneous enrolment in Further Quantum Mechanics. For a BSc
project, simultaneous enrolment in Quantum Mechanics 2.
Suggested Modules: (see above box)
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills: Abstract Thinking
35
Matthias Keller (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A5A)
Project (34): Micro-controller based Signal Processing
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: Electronic circuits are indispensible in modern quantum technology. Often,
the required processing of signals can’t be easily done with analogue electronics. Using fast
analogue-to-digital converters together with a micro-controller or FGPA can serve as a
versatile signal processing unit. The signal is digitalised and processed by the
programmable micro-controller and then converted back into an analogue signal.
The goal of this project is the programming of a PIC micro-controller and a FPGA to serve as
a versatile signal processing system. It includes the design and test of peripheral electronic
circuits.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: Suggested Modules: Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills: Lab Skills - circuit design, programming (scripting), programming
(compiled)
36
Matthias Keller (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A5A)
Project (35): Lasers for the quantum internet
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Physics
Description: Lasers are an indispensible tool to create the quantum version of the internet.
They are required to cool, manipulate and prepare trapped ions in a specific quantum state
(qubit state). Furthermore, lasers are needed for controlling the interaction of ions and
photons to generate single photons or for long distance ion-photon entanglement, building
blocks for the quantum internet. As a reference for all the lasers we build an ultra-high
precision laser which is referenced to a state-of-the-art optical cavity. In this project, you
will improve the performance of the laser and help to transfer its stability to other lasers in
the lab. Furthermore, you will be working to implement these lasers in our quantum
internet experiments.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: Suggested Modules: Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills: Lab Skills - circuit design, Lab Skills - lasers, Lab Skills - H&S
37
Matthias Keller (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A5A)
Project (36): Testing the foundations of physics with lasers
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Physics
Description: The laws of physics, as we know them, require a set of fundamental constants.
However, in recently years there are strong hints that these constants are actually changing
in time. To measure this, we set up a system to perform ultra-high resolution spectroscopy
on single molecules. For this we require unique lasers which allow us to prepare the
molecules in a specific quantum state. In this project you will build a pulsed
titanium:sapphire laser which a frequency conversion system to generate laser radiation in
the far UV.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: Suggested Modules: Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills: Lab Skills - circuit design, Lab Skills - lasers
38
Daniel Litim (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 5A12)
Project (37): Fixed points and phase transitions in quantum field theory
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Theoretical Physics
Description: Fixed points play a profound role in numerous physical systems ranging from
particle physics and quantum gravity to condensed matter systems. High-energy fixed
points such as in asymptotic freedom or asymptotic safety are required for a fundamental
definition of quantum field theory such as in certain extensions of the Standard Model of
particle physics or quantum gravity. Low energy fixed points are often associated with
continuous phase transitions such as in ferromagnets or type-II superconductors.
In this set of projects, modern renormalisation group method are used to derive and
analyse the scale- or energy-dependence of physical couplings and to study fixed points and
the associated phase transitions in concrete systems, both analytically and numerically. In
addition, numerical codes (using e.g. Maple, Mathematica or Matlab) will be devised, also
allowing for a good visualisation of the results.
Meeting Required: Yes, or at least email contact after short listing would seem fine.
Required Modules: no
Suggested Modules: Quantum Mechanics 2, Perturbation theory and calculus of variation,
functional analysis
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent, Independent or closely supervised (by
mutual consent), Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills:
39
Jon Loveday (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C24)
Project (38): Dependence of galaxy properties on halo mass
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Astro/PAst
Description: It is believed that all galaxies live in dark matter halos. The Galaxy and Mass
Assembly project (GAMA; http://www.gama-survey.org/) provides total mass estimates for
galaxy groups from galaxy dynamics. This will allow you to investigate the dependence of
galaxy properties, such as stellar mass, star formation rate, incidence of AGN activity, on
host halo mass and location within the halo, and thus provide constraints on the halo
occupation distribution (HOD) model.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet, I will make time for that
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by:
Level of Independance and Pace:
Transferable Skills:
40
Jon Loveday (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C24)
Project (39): A natural galaxy classification scheme
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Astro/PAst
Description: Galaxies have variously been classified by morphology (Hubble sequence),
colour and spectral properties. In this project you will use the statistical techniques of
cluster analysis and machine learning techniques to look for a “natural” classification of
galaxies based on observed properties, including multi-band photometry, profile shape and
optionally spectral features.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet, I will make time for that.
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by:
Level of Independance and Pace:
Transferable Skills:
41
Jon Loveday (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C24)
Project (40): Distinguishing fast and slow rotators from galaxy images
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Astro/PAst
Description: The classification of early-type galaxies into lenticular (bulge plus disk) and
elliptical (pure spheroid) is now known to be prone to a high error rate, with many face-on
lecticulars being misclassified as ellipticals. A better classification seems to be into fast and
slow rotators, e.g. Emsellem at al. 2011, MNRAS, 414, 889. Rotation speeds, however,
require expensive spectroscopic observations made with an integral field unit, and are
known for only a few hundred galaxies. The goal of this project is to employ machinelearning techniques to see if a computer can be trained to recognise fast and slow rotators
from imaging data alone.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet, I will make time for that.
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by:
Level of Independance and Pace:
Transferable Skills:
42
Seb Oliver (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C22)
Project (41): Extreme galaxies in the distant Universe and their cosmic evolution.
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: The Herschel Space Telescope Facility was launched in 2009. The largest
project being undertaken is HerMES (http://hermes.sussex.ac.uk/) which is led by Sussex.
We now lead the Herschel Extragalactic Legacy Project (HELP, http://herschel.sussex.ac.uk)
which is assembling data from the best telescopes around the world and in space to
provide a massive database of information on distant galaxies. Most galaxies are seen when
the Universe was a fraction of its present age. We are now developing a completely new
way of thinking about galaxy evolution. Your project will be to help us understand what
these data tell us about the evolution of the Universe. Many specific projects are possible,
e.g. finding the distances to galaxies using neural networks or investigating the relation
between infrared and radio emission. You will need to be happy working with computers
and some programming experience e.g. in Python would be essential.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet, I will make time for that. I'd prefer to meet
any students interested in my projects on one occasion
Required Modules: none
Suggested Modules: Extragalactic Astronomy
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent, Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, Statistical analysis, Image Processing, programming
(scripting), programming (compiled)
43
Seb Oliver (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C22)
Project (42): Applying astronomical data analysis techniques to health research
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: We work on a number of projects to transfer data analysis skills acquired in a
our astronomy research to areas of health and bio-science research. E.g. applying object
detection techniques in astronomy to microscope movies of molecular quantum dots. Or
applying techniques for cross-matching galaxies seen in different telescopes to matching
patient records in Cystic Fibrosis patient registries. Or applying machine learning,
probabilistic modelling techniques used to model galaxy data to diagnosing dementia from
GP patient records. Your project will help in one of these projects.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet before short listing, I will make time for
that., Prefer to meet all students interested together
Required Modules: None
Suggested Modules: None
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, Statistical analysis, Image Processing, programming
(scripting), programming (compiled), collaborating (with people outside Sussex)
44
Seb Oliver (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C22)
Project (43): Physics and Astronomy in Pubs and Cafe's.
Course Types Accepted:BSc Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: It is valuable to educate and engage with a broad spectrum of people on
scientific research. Traditional outreach does well at reaching children or adults who are
already motivated to engage. It is more challenging to reach others. This project will
explore whether Physics and Astronomy can be introduced to people when they are not
seeking it out, but are in an environment where they could be responsive to new
experiences. The project will prepare materials to be circulated to pubs, cafes and similar
places where groups of people meet to relax. The materials will introduce scientific
research topics and pose questions designed to promote discussion and debate. They will
provide links through to on-line materials, including answers, questionnaires and additional
resources. The project will explore the efficacy of these approaches.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet before short listing, I will make time for
that., I'd prefer to meet all interested students together
Required Modules: None
Suggested Modules: None
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent
Transferable Skills: collaborating (with people outside Sussex)
45
Alessia Pasquazi (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A7)
Project (44): Setup of a photonic characterization bench using optical frequency
combs
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Physics
Description: Optical frequency combs (simply combs in the following) are optical radiation
patterns characterized by a spectrum consisting of a set of discrete equally spaced
wavelength components, or modes. They are powerful clockworks: highly stable, broadband
combs are having an enormous impact on metrology and spectroscopy; indeed they
recently enabled the measurement of physical constants and allowed new observations in a
widespread number of disciplines, spanning from astronomy to geology and biology. Their
importance has been worldwide recognized in the 2005 Nobel Award to T. W. Hänsch and J.
Hall, for the breakthroughs in the combs science. Moreover, there is a common belief that
combs will have a key role in optical signal processing: the full control of the phase of a
comb allows for the synthesis and the measurement of an arbitrary optical signal, directly
impacting fields ranging from telecommunications (where photonics has already
demonstrated the benefit of an inherent superior performance/cost) to the upcoming
generation of ultrafast micro-chip computing. The next level of processors miniaturization
(the so-called exascale integration level) will be characterized by extreme densities of
copper-based interconnections. It is commonly acknowledged that this will potentially
increase the chip power dissipation towards unbearable levels, requiring a radical change of
the established strategies in the chip design. Photonics can offer higher speed and lower
energy dissipated per bit, thus representing a valuable solution to this problem, provided
that a viable electronics-friendly pulsed optical source is found. The development in those
fields is unquestionably linked to the realization of comb sources in miniaturized (possibly
integrated) forms, with strategies meeting the requirements of current electronic platforms.
These devices would not only be practical, inexpensive and low-consumption optical
sources for ultrafast optical communication and metrological applications, but could
promote a revolutionary “photonic transition” of the current electronic processing
technologies.
The goal of the research activity is to build an optical setup to characterize an optical
frequency comb based on microresonators. The students are expected to undertake a
number of experimental activities that will include specific scientific training from a senior
scientist in managing and handling laser sources generating ultrashort pulses. The students
are expected to be involved fully in the building and commissioning of a significant part of
the characterization system (which could involve, but is not restricted to, some
computational tasks).
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: none
46
Suggested Modules: Laser
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent),
Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Lab Skills - lasers, Lab Skills - H&S, Data analysis, Image Processing,
programming (scripting), programming (compiled), collaborating (with people outside
Sussex)
47
Marco Peccianti (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A8)
Project (45): Digital ultrasensitive laser measurements for Terahertz Generation
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Physics
Description: In modern Photonics the measurement of very faint optical signals is often
required. A popular technique applied in optically-noisy environments is the so-called
‘Lock-In Amplification’. In this technique a modulation, supplied by a specific experimental
setting, is superimposed to the laser light. The optical output is detected by using sensitive
photodetectors and an analogue filtering is performed for isolating the component
coherently oscillating with the input laser light, significantly reducing the general impact of
the noise. This technique, however, has a number of limitations when applied to ultrafast
pulsed lasers typically used to generate terahertz waves. Terahertz waves represent a novel
form of electromagnetic radiation that are quite difficult to generate. The generation of an
electromagnetic pulse in the terahertz band presently requires a state-of-the-art ultraintense ultrafast pulsed laser source. Nevertheless, modern terahertz sources are quite faint
and their exploitation in many fields (medical science, material science, and metrology)
requires an exceptional noise immunity. Although the lock-in technique is widely used to
reduce the noise, it is incapable of eliminating the effect of the inherent fluctuations of
intense pulsed laser sources.
The goal of this project is to identify and analyse the source of noise in a high energy THz
time-domain spectroscopy systems and to develop proper intelligent noise-eating
techniques. The outcomes of this project will be directly applied in the optical experimental
settings presently in development at the Terahertz Imaging Advances Lab (THEIA).
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: Lasers F3218
Suggested Modules: Data Analysis Techniques, Atom Light Interactions
Is this a group project? n/a only 1 student can do this project
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Closely supervised, Pace adjustable to meet student's
ability
Transferable Skills: Lab Skills - lasers, Data analysis, programming (scripting), Signal
Processing, Optical Signal extraction, Fundamentals of Terahertz Radiation
48
Marco Peccianti (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A8)
Project (46): Measuring ultrafast laser pulses at extreme peak intensities
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Physics
Description: The Terahertz Imaging Advances Lab (THEIA), is presently equipped with a
number of ultrafast laser sources, capable of emitting laser pulses as short as 100
femtoseconds with a peak intensity exceeding 4x10^18 W/m^2 (for comparison, the light
intensity at the sun’s surface is around 10^8 W/m^2). These high-energy ultrafast pulses
cannot be characterized by electronic means, as their duration is several orders of
magnitude shorter than the response time of any electronic characterization device
(photodetectors, amplifiers and oscilloscopes). Nevertheless, understanding the temporal
evolution of ultrashort optical pulses is crucial in many applications spanning from the
simple monitoring of very fast events to the investigation of the nonlinear electromagnetic
behaviour of materials. The characterization of those optical wavepackets requires specific
technologies involving fast, fully optical signal processing. One of the most successful
approaches is the ‘Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating (FROG)’ which is based on the fieldmatter interaction that occurs when an ultrashort pulse propagates with a specific
geometry in a nonlinear optical material. In this approach, the spectrum of the light emitted
by this interaction is analysed and an intelligent retrieval algorithm is capable of
reconstructing the original pulse with few femtoseconds temporal accuracy.
The goal of this project is to develop a specific high-energy implementation of FROG suitable
for the ultra-intense laser beam line in development in the THEIA Lab.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: Lasers
Suggested Modules: none
Is this a group project? n/a only 1 student can do this project
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent),
Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Lab Skills - lasers, programming (scripting), Ultrafast lasers,
Photodetection, Numerical control of equipment, realization of an optical measurement
setting
49
Simon Peeters (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 4A05)
Project (47): Understanding the response of the SNO+ neutrino detector using
physics signals
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics
Description: Neutrinos are wonderfully fascinating particles - studying them can lead to
real breakthroughs. The SNO+ detector follows on from the SNO (Sudbury Neutrino
Observatory) that won the Nobel prize in 2015. In this follow-on experiment, we look for an
extremely rare process: neutrinoless double-beta decay. If this process is observed, we
know that neutrinos are their own anti-particles - something no other particles does, but is
theoretically strongly motivated.
Crucial in being able to observe these rare processes - and not mistake it for an unrelated
particle interaction - is to understand the detector in great detail. Simon Peeters is leading
the calibration of this detector.
In this project, you will be looking at the backgrounds (those unrelated particle interactions
that we know we will observe) in order to under to understand the detector. You will be
using detailed physics simulations to build an analysis to determine the detector response.
And, at the same time, you will be learning all about neutrinos!
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: Particle Physics
Suggested Modules: This project involves a lot of programming, so a 2.1 or above on
Scientific Computing would be an advantage.
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, Statistical analysis, programming (scripting),
programming (compiled), collaborating (with people outside Sussex)
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Diego Porras (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 3A4)
Project (48): Quantum chaotic dynamics
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics, Theoretical Physics
Description: The student will investigate quantum complex models that show chaotic
behaviour. The project will involve numerical calculations to describe the quantum
dynamics of quantum magnets and photonic systems. Analytical approximations will be
used to analyze and characterise quantum states obtained by numerics. The student will
explore how a small quanum system can spontaneously equilibrate in an irreversible
process.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet before short listing, I will make time for
that.
Required Modules: none
Suggested Modules: Quantum Mechanics 2
Advanced Condensed State Physics
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent),
Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Statistical analysis, programming (scripting)
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Kathy Romer (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C23)
Project (49): Dark Energy Survey Outreach
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: This project involves the development of outreach materials that can be used
to explain Kathy's research in schools and to the general public. The project will involve an
extensive literature review, to ensure the student understands in depth the material to be
communicated. The other outputs will include several of the following (but not necessarily
all, and there is sufficient flexibility for others to be added): an entry to the FameLab
competition (in person and via YouTube video); a power point presentation for the
department's Schools Lab (including the design of new visual learning aids, such as
animations); an article for Catalyst [a science magazine for schools]; development of a
hands on activity for schools; development of a software application. The student will be
expected to interact with schools and the general public on several occasions, in order to
test the viability of their outputs. The student will need to demonstrate genuine innovation
in order to meet the standards required of a final year project - collating other people's
materials will not be sufficient.
Skills/attributes required: Good knowledge of astronomy (from taught courses). A genuine
ambition to enter science education or communication. Skills/attributes desired: Good
communication skills (oral and written); ability to program (especially development of
"Apps"); some design "flair"; some awareness of the science communication field (e.g.
what's on TV and/or in Nature). Skills that will be developed: Communication skills (oral
and written); Design and project management; review of astronomy literature (refereed
and popular); scientific scripting/programming.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet before matching, I will make time for that.
Required Modules: Intro to Astro
Suggested Modules: Extragalactic Astro
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills: dealing with the public, collaborating (with people outside Sussex)
52
Kathy Romer (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C23)
Project (50): From Observations of Clusters of Galaxies to Insights to Cosmology
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: Dr Kathy Romer is looking for final year students to work on various aspects
of her current research projects. These projects cover several topics in Observational
Cosmology, with an emphasis on clusters of galaxies (see below). The student would
become involved in the analysis of multi-wavelength data sets from space satellites and
from telescopes in all corners of the world. Any student with a keen interest in astrophysics
or cosmology would be suitable, but those wishing to learn/apply computing skills (in
algorithms, scripting, coding, databases, networking, parallelization etc.) would find the
projects especially rewarding.
Clusters of galaxies offer a unique window on the universe. As the largest collapsed objects
in the heavens, they can be used to probe cosmology in a variety of ways. Moreover, they
are host to a range of complex astrophysical processes and hold the key to unlocking
mysteries such as the evolution of galaxies. The XMM Cluster Survey (XCS) is an
international, Sussex led, project (~20 scientists) that has uncovered more X-ray bright
clusters than any other survey before it. This world leading project is ripe for scientific
exploitation, with thousands of clusters available for individual or ensemble analysis. The
ultimate goal of the XCS is to constrain models of Dark Energy, but a student would be able
to choose from a variety of different science and analysis applications. A student would also
be able to take part in the much larger (~150 scientists) Dark Energy Project - an optical
project aiming to detect up to 100 times more clusters than XCS using the signature of
galaxy over density. A student would have the opportunity to work on XCS projects that
have DES applications.
Skills/Attributes required: competency in Python and statistical analysis (from the taught
courses). Skills/Attributes desired: competency in other languages (scripting and/or
compiler); experience using astronomy software packages. Skills that will be developed:
scientific scripting/programming; competency in astronomy software; data analysis;
database management/manipulation; oral and written communication; teamwork
(including international collaboration); review of refereed astronomy literature.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet before matching, I will make time for that.
Required Modules: Intro to Astro, Extragalactic Astro
Suggested Modules: 2i or above on Scientific Computing would be an advantage
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
53
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent)
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, Statistical analysis, Image Processing, programming
(scripting), collaborating (with people outside Sussex)
54
Kathy Romer (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C23)
Project (51): Exploring alternative cosmological theories
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Theoretical Physics, Astro/PAst
Description: Over the course of the years, and especially after I appeared on Horizon, I
have been sent dozens of emails and documents (and even a few books, some not even in
English!) describing alternative models to describe the Universe. I am sure most of them are
total rubbish, but I wonder if one of them contains a flash of genius. Either way, I would love
a student to read more of these documents and to present the arguments that refute the
theory in a thorough, but gentle, way to their authors. This project would require a lot of
independence, and you to take relevant modules in year 4 (although you will be able to get
started with it before you've taken those modules). This project would suit someone
wanting to go into science communication or into a PhD in theoretical astrophysics.
However, it is a bit different to normal projects, so I'd want to talk to you before you were
assigned it - to ensure that this will fit with your career goals.
Meeting Required: Yes - after short listing and before matching
Required Modules: Extragalactic Astronomy
Suggested Modules: During Y4 you'll need to take GR and Early Universe
Is this a group project? n/a only 1 student can do this project
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent
Transferable Skills: programming (scripting), dealing with the public, collaborating (with
people outside Sussex)
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Fabrizio Salvatore (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 4A4)
Project (52): Physics Studies for a Future Linear Collider
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics
Description: The Future Linear Collider is one of the next generation projects to build a
new lepton-lepton collider. This will be a precision machine to study in detail all the
properties of new particles that have been discovered at the Large Hadron Collider, like for
example the Higgs Boson. The student on this project will generate and reconstruct
simulated Monte Carlo events for different centre of masses in a Linear Collider machine,
and look at possible different detector technologies that could be used to analyse the results
of the collisions
Meeting Required:
Required Modules: Particle Physics
Suggested Modules: Advanced ParticlePhysics, Particle Detectors, C++
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, Statistical analysis, programming (scripting),
programming (compiled), collaborating (with people outside Sussex), Monte Carlo
simulations
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Fabrizio Salvatore (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 4A4)
Project (53): Supersymmetry searches in ATLAS
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics
Description: In the first years of data taking at the LHC, the ATLAS experiment has already
collected millions of data that are now being analysed looking for evidence of physics
Beyond the Standard Model (BSM). One of most interesting BSM scenario is Supersymmetry
(SUSY). In many SUSY models, it is predicted that final states containing 2 or more leptons,
two of which being taus, are favourable in some regions of the SUSY parameter space.
Analyses at Sussex that searches for final states in ATLAS with 2 or more taus or two stops
is underway. The main aim of the analysis is to separate the SUSY signal from the
background, which is mainly due to top anti-top decays and SM QCD processes with many
jets. The student will develop a strategy to evaluate these backgrounds using ATLAS data
and compare the predictions with results obtained running on simulated Monte Carlo (MC)
events.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: Particle Physics
Suggested Modules: Advanced Particle Physics, Particle Detectors, C++
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, Statistical analysis, programming (scripting),
programming (compiled), collaborating (with people outside Sussex), Monte Carlo
Simulations
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Fabrizio Salvatore (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 4A4)
Project (54): Performance studies on the ATLAS Trigger system
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics
Description: The ATLAS experiment is one of the two general purpose experiments
currently taking data at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. In the next two years, a
major upgrade program of the accelerator is planned, where its luminosity (i.e. rate of
interactions of the protons in the machine) will reach unprecedented values. It is of extreme
interest for the experiment to study how the rate of events collected by the ATLAS detector
will change following the change in luminosity and in particular how the ATLAS 'Trigger'
(i.e. the 'brain of the experiment) will need to be adapted to the new running conditions.
The student will analyse ATLAS Monte Carlo data to look at ATLAS trigger rates at different
luminosities and devise possible strategies to improve these rates in an upgraded LHC
environment.
Meeting Required: Yes - before they even short list this project
Required Modules: Particle Physics
Suggested Modules: Advanced Particle Physics, Particle Detectors, C++
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, Statistical analysis, programming (scripting),
programming (compiled), collaborating (with people outside Sussex), Monte Carlo
simulations
58
Veronica Sanz (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 5A14)
Project (55): Warped Extra-dimensional models
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics, Theoretical Physics
Description: In this project the student will learn about theories with new dimensions of
space-time, and implement in Feynrules (a Mathematica package) the interactions of a very
attractive model for the Large Hadron Collider, the bulk Randall-Sundrum model.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet before matching, I will make time for that.
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by:
Level of Independance and Pace:
Transferable Skills:
59
Veronica Sanz (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 2 5A14)
Project (56): Higgs couplings fits
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics, Theoretical Physics
Description: The student will learn the basic concepts of the Higgs mechanism and use data
coming from the Large Hadron Colllider to produce a fit of the Higgs couplings. The fit will
be done in Mathematica, and then used to constrain new physics, such as Supersymmetry.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet before matching, I will make time for that.
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by:
Level of Independance and Pace:
Transferable Skills:
60
Mark Sargent (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C11)
Project (57): Characterising the total baryonic content of galaxies with known gas
reservoirs
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: Millions of galaxies have been found in deep optical and near infrared images
of extragalactic survey fields. While these allow us to localise large numbers of galaxies out
to very high redshifts, one of their key constituents - namely the interstellar gas which is
predominantly observed at radio wavelengths - is quite poorly known. Thanks to new
telescopes like ALMA much progress has been made in this domain in recent years: over the
last decade, astronomers have been able to detect the emission from the dense, molecular
gas phase of the interstellar medium in which new stars are born in roughly 1000 galaxies
out to redshifts of about z=7. The main aim of this project is to compile a catalog of selfconsistent measurements of stellar mass and star formation rate for distant galaxies in
which gas has been detected. This information is largely absent from existing data bases but
is indispensable for a complete understanding of the total baryonic content of the galaxies
and to determine how quickly and efficiently they build up their stellar populations.
In this project you will first carry out a systematic search for these stellar mass and starformation rate measurements in existing literature and/or compile the necessary
information to repeat/perform these measurements where necessary. In a second stage you
will then use your newly generated data compilation to study the relative importance of
“starburst” and “normal” star-formation activity in galaxies in the last 11 billion years (i.e.
since redshift z~3).
By carrying out this research you will (a) develop data base management skills which are
widely used for extragalactic survey science, and (b) gain insight into some of the most
important questions in galaxy evolution, namely when and under which conditions gas is
converted to stars as galaxies grow. Some coding experience and/or familiarity with IDL or
an equivalent language would be an advantage (interested students without these skills
should be willing to teach themselves the basics within the first few weeks of the project).
Meeting Required: Yes - after short listing and before matching
Required Modules: none
Suggested Modules: Extragalactic Astronomy
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent),
Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
61
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, Statistical analysis, programming (scripting)
62
David Seery (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C12)
Project (58): Testing models of the early universe
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: Inflation is our best current description of the very early universe. In an
inflationary model, all large-scale structure comes from small fluctuations in the
gravitational potential which were set up by quantum fluctuations at early times. After
inflation the universe was refilled with cooling radiation, and over time appreciable mass
condensations formed inside the potential wells. These condensations would go on to
become the galaxies and clusters of galaxies which we see.
The general features of this scenario are in very good agreement with observation, but we
have had less success in discriminating between one inflationary model and another. To
make tests we should compute the statistical properties of the early quantum fluctuations
and understand how these map to later observables, such as properties of the galaxy
distribution or cosmic microwave background anisotropies. These statistical properties are
analogous to the transition amplitudes used to predict scattering events at particle colliders,
and traditionally they have been computed using a version of the Feynman rules borrowed
from particle physics. However, as observational precision improves, we need more
accurate ways to perform the computation.
The Sussex group has developed computer codes to automate the numerical computation of
statistical properties for inflationary fluctuations. The next step is to use these codes to
compare different models. This will require some theoretical work to understand what is
being computed, and some programming to adapt the code to perform a suitable analysis.
The theoretical work is similar to the material on inflationary fluctuations in the Early
Universe course, but we will need to cover it in more depth from the beginning of the
Autumn Term. (The effort invested should be recovered if you are also taking the Early
Universe module.) The computer code is mostly written in C++ and you would benefit from
some familiarity with the language. Other parts are possibly scriptable in Python. The code
writes its results as SQL databases, so you will also develop skills in SQL and database
management.
Existing papers
You can learn something about the methods used from a number of recent papers,
including:
- http://arxiv.org/abs/1502.03125 (for methods)
- http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.07579 (for applications to model testing)
These papers do presume some sophistication. Feel free to skim there for background
63
information, but you should not imagine that you are supposed to understand them
completely before attempting this project.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet before short listing, I will make time for
that.
Required Modules: None
Suggested Modules: This project will exploit computer codes developed within the Early
Universe group. This will necessarily involve a programming component, mostly in C++ but
also using other tools such as Python and SQL.
The other skills you need come mostly from quantum mechanics and theoretical physics.
Is this a group project? n/a only 1 student can do this project
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, programming (compiled), collaborating (with people
outside Sussex)
64
David Seery (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C12)
Project (59): Effective field theory methods for large-scale structure
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Any
Description: In the last twenty years cosmology has been transformed from a data-starved
science to one with an abundance of observational results. Most of this has come from
accurate measurements of the cosmic microwave background temperature and polarization
anisotropies. In the next few years, however, this dataset will be overtaken as our principal
source of information about the early universe by massive galaxy surveys. These contain
much more information, but unfortunately are significantly harder to interpret. A major
challenge in theoretical cosmology is to prepare ourselves to interpret this avalanche of
data when it arrives.
Galaxy surveys contain more data for a simple reason: there is more volume to count
compared with the CMB, which comes to us from a thin spherical surface at fixed distance.
But the CMB can be well-described by linear perturbation theory, whereas the properties of
the galaxy distribution depend on the nonlinear process of gravitational collapse.
Accounting for these nonlinearities is what makes the galaxy surveys more difficult to
interpret.
Some progress has recently been made by borrowing methods from quantum field theory.
In any process governed by the rules of quantum mechanics, such as a scattering event, the
averaged effect of quantum fluctuations (represented by loops in the language of Feynman
diagrams) distorts the simplest linear prediction, what field theorists call the "tree-level".
These quantum fluctuations occur at very high energy, and we can not guarantee that we
understand the laws which control them; traditionally, this makes the loops very difficult to
handle, and manifests itself as divergences. Field theorists learned to accommodate the
loops by understanding that although we could not predict them from first principles, we
could parametrize the effect of the unknown high-energy fluctuations by a process called
renormalization. This point of view led to the viewpoint of effective field theory (or 'EFT'),
which is currently the language used universally by particle physicists, condensed matter
theorists and cosmologists to communicate their ideas.
The galaxy distribution is not significantly affected by quantum fluctuations, but its
statistical properties do depend on statistical fluctuations attributable to the complex
details of gravitational collapse, galaxy formation, or even modifications of the gravitational
force law. We cannot compute the average effect of these fluctuations from first principles
any more than we can compute the average effect of very high energy quantum fluctuations,
but we can parametrize them in the same way. This gives us an effective field theory of large
scale structure.
65
In this project you will learn the EFT language and use it to compute properties of the largescale matter distribution. The calculation depends mostly on Newtonian gravity and some
fluid mechanics, and would form a good introduction to the techniques used in current
research. Once the calculation is complete you will need to write a computer code to
perform the loop computation. It may also be possible to study the effect of changing the
gravitational force law -- what is called "modified gravity", and studied as a means to
address the cosmological constant problem.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet before short listing, I will make time for
that., No, but if they want to meet before matching, I will make time for that.
Required Modules: None
Suggested Modules: This project can involve some level of numerical work, for which some
familiarity with a computer language would be beneficial. C++ is best (in order to make use
of our existing codebase), but Python would be an alternative.
Is this a group project? n/a only 1 student can do this project
Supervised by: Project Coordinator, PhD Student(s), Postdoc(s)
Level of Independance and Pace: Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, Statistical analysis, programming (compiled)
66
Robert Smith (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C11)
Project (60): Weak Gravitational Lensing
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Theoretical Physics, Astro/PAst
Description: In this project we will explore how the technique of weak gravitational lensing
can be used to study the mass distribution in the Universe. In particular we will look at the
so called aperture mass statistics for testing the statistical properties of dark matter. In
addition, we will look to build better theoretical predictions for the signal from the largescale cosmic structures. This project could be executed as a solo project or as a group
project of up to 3 students. The project will develop your analytic, computational and
statistical skills.
Meeting Required: No
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by:
Level of Independance and Pace:
Transferable Skills:
67
Peter Thomas (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C21)
Project (61): Making galaxies
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Astro/PAst
Description: The formation of galaxies is one of the outstanding problems in contemporary
astrophysics. We understand how dark matter collapses under its own gravity to form
small clumps that gradually merge together to form larger and larger "galactic halos".
However, the simplest models of how galaxies form within these halos gives properties that
disagree wildly with observations. It seems that we need huge amounts of feedback of
energy from supernovae (exploding stars) and active galactic nuclei (supermassive black
holes).
Simulations of galaxy formation are in their infancy and cannot yet reproduce a realistic
galaxy population. Instead, major advances have been made using "semi-analytic models"
for the growth of galaxies within dark matter halos. This project can be set at a variety of
levels depending upon the experience of the student:
* Comparing the predictions of semi-analytic models to the latest observational data.
* Adapting an existing semi-analytic model to try to better reproduce the observations
and/or give greater insight into the processes governing galaxy formation.
You will work with the latest observational data from large galaxy surveys such as SDSS
(the Sloan Digital Sky Survey) or SERVS (the Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume
Survey), and simulations from the Vigo Supercomuting Consortium.
Familiarity with Python/Matplotlib is desirable.
Meeting Required: Yes - after short listing and before matching
Required Modules:
Suggested Modules:
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by:
Level of Independance and Pace:
Transferable Skills:
68
Jose Verdu (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4A10)
Project (62): Single Microwave Photon detector
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Physics
Description: The aim of this project is the development of a novel trapping technology for
capturing a single electron which will become one building block of future quantum circuits
with microwaves.
A single electron in a Penning trap is known as a geonium atom: the role of the nucleus is
played by the external trapping fields and the electron is bound to an apparatus anchored to
the earth. The geonium atom is an outstanding system for testing the laws of physics with
very high accuracy and also represents a paradigmatic qbit, the quantum bit of information.
The geonium chip project aims at developing a novel cryogenic planar Penning trap – a
geonium chip –, which should become a versatile building block for future quantum circuits
with trapped electrons.
Several Final Year projects are offered. The first goal is the design and implementation of a
detector for observing a single trapped electron. The task requires the construction and test
of a superconducting high-Q tank-circuit and its corresponding electronic amplifier. The
second goal is the implementation of a cryogenic electron source.
The projects are mainly experimental, however theorists are also very welcome to discuss
about possible theory projects and simulations. This is a unique opportunity for students
interested in learning how a modern experiment in atomic physics is built from scratch.
Keywords: Quantum Technology, Microwave Engineering, Superconductivity, RFElectronics, Computer Control with Lab-View, Planar Penning trap technology, AutoCad,
Mathematica, SimIon, Cryogenics.
Meeting Required: Yes - after short listing and before matching
Required Modules: None
Suggested Modules: None
Is this a group project? Yes - but this could instead be offered to one or more individuals
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent),
Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
69
Transferable Skills: Lab Skills - circuit design, Data analysis, collaborating (with people
outside Sussex)
70
Stephen Wilkins (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C8)
Project (63): Finding the most distant galaxies in the Universe
Course Types Accepted:MPhys and BSc
Degree flavours accepted: Theoretical Physics, Astro/PAst
Description: Thanks to sensitive near-infrared observations from the Hubble Space
Telescope (HST) it is now possible to identify star forming galaxies within the first billion
years of the Universe's history. In this project you will use recent observations from the HST
Frontier Fields programme to search for distant galaxies and attempt to quantify some of
their properties.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet before short listing, I will make time for
that.
Required Modules: Extragalactic Astronomy
Suggested Modules: none
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent),
Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, Statistical analysis, Image Processing, programming
(scripting)
71
Stephen Wilkins (E-mail: [email protected], Location: PEV 3 4C8)
Project (64): Predictions for the James Webb Space Telescope
Course Types Accepted:MPhys Only
Degree flavours accepted: Theoretical Physics, Astro/PAst
Description: The James Webb Space Telescope, due to be launched in 2018, is the
successor to the hugely successful Hubble Space Telescope. JWST will allow us to probe
galaxies across almost the entire history of the Universe and may potentially find examples
of the first galaxies to form in the Universe. In anticipation of JWST’s arrival we have
recently run a large supercomputer simulation (BlueTides). The aim of the project is to
make detailed predictions for JWST using this simulation. Predictions include the expected
surface density of sources, their morphologies, and their spectral energy distributions.
Meeting Required: No, but if they want to meet before matching, I will make time for that.
Required Modules: Extragalactic Astronomy
Suggested Modules: None
Is this a group project? No
Supervised by: Project Coordinator
Level of Independance and Pace: Independent or closely supervised (by mutual consent),
Pace adjustable to meet student's ability
Transferable Skills: Data analysis, Statistical analysis, programming (scripting)
72