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Adam T

- Research Program Mentor

PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate

Expertise

Theoretical Physics (String Theory, Relativity, Particle Physics)

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Introduction to Elementary Particles

Elementary particles are subatomic particles which cannot be subdivided into smaller pieces. For example, electrons are elementary particles; however, protons are not (they are actually made from three even smaller particles)! Just like how the periodic table of elements describes how molecules are formed, there is a finite list of elementary particles which form all the matter in the universe. An interesting project would be to explore precisely what these elementary particles are, how they interact with one another, how they were discovered, and other related questions to deepen your understanding of the quantum world.

Knot Theory and Topology

Knot theory is a branch of mathematics that studies knots. Knots are pieces of string which can be wrapped into complicated shapes and whose ends are then fused together. There is a rich mathematical structure involving knots. It turns out that you cannot deform any particular knot into another knot (some knots are permanently tangled) - this is called a "topological obstruction." We would learn about topology in the context of knot theory and learn a lot about these very fundamental objects. No formal knowledge of math is required to study knot theory (not even algebra), but the subject is very rich and a good introduction to formal mathematics.

Coding skills

Python and Mathematica

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