Maths and Theoretical Physics Course Thread TR031 TR035

PurpleFistMixer · 05-09-2011 10:26pm

Maybe_Memories wrote: »

This wont count for anything though unless you make arrangements with the head of the school of maths. Either way there's nothing in first year worth doing for TP, unless you really want to do stats and C programming...

Well, yes, but I mean, if you want to learn the maths, you can do so. You just won't be examined on it. And maybe they don't like this so I shouldn't be publicising it too much...

Maybe_Memories wrote: »

In second year it might be a good idea to see if you'd be allowed do the differential equation module in second year, since for some bizarre reason TPs dont do that one.

TPs do ODEs/PDEs as part of Methods in second year, which is why (I assume) we don't do the real course. I think we used to though, back when the course was a bit insane...

dabh · 05-09-2011 11:51pm

Second year TP.

MA2321 + MA2322 (Analysis in several real variables + Calculus on Manifolds)

-> Differential geometry, General Relativity, classical Yang-Mills,
instantons, compactified dimensions, Calabi-Yau manifolds, string theory...

-> also symplectic geometry, Hamiltonian systems...

MA2325 (Complex analysis)

-> If you cannot evaluate integrals by 'completing the contour in the upper half plane'
(or lower half plane) and applying the Cauchy Residue Theorem,
Samson Shatashvili will not be impressed, when he gets to cover
'dimensional regularization' in quantum field theory.

-> Also important for string theory are Calabi-Yau manifolds and mirror symmetry,
and these Calabi-Yau manifolds are Kaehler manifolds that carry a complex
structure, and to understand what all this entails, you need to know some
complex analysis.

-> on a more classical level, if you were interested in why airplanes are able to
fly through the air, you might look into the theory of the Joukowsky aerofoil...

MA1214 (Introduction to Group Theory)

-> Well a lot of quantum mechanics is applied group theory, where these groups
may be discrete groups or may be Lie groups. The structure of the periodic
table (orbitals and energy levels of hydrogen atoms etc.) follows from the
consequences of rotational symmetry. And many phenomena in quantum
mechanics and elementary particle theory are consequences of symmetry.
Group theory is the study of symmetry. For discrete groups, consider symmetries
of an ammonia molecule (say), and apply group representation theory to derive
information about the energy levels of the electron orbitals (quantum chemistry).

The 'standard model' is U(1) x SU(2) x SU(3) + Higgs. And the U(1), SU(2) and
SU(3) are ... groups.

MA2331, MA2332, MA2341, MA2342: these speak for themselves?

PurpleFistMixer · 06-09-2011 12:07am

Just in case anyone had the mild heart attack I had on first skimming dabh's post, what he's listing is not the syllabus for 2nd year TP, but is instead a list of things that follow on from it... Though we did Hamiltonian systems and touched on symplectic manifolds in 2nd year advanced mechanics.

Thinking back on it, second year was great. As was third year, though. And first year to a lesser extent.

Tears in Rain · 06-09-2011 1:44am

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

Just in case anyone had the mild heart attack I had on first skimming dabh's post, what he's listing is not the syllabus for 2nd year TP, but is instead a list of things that follow on from it...

Ha...I was wondering :[

asdfghjz · 08-09-2011 12:54am

New lecturers and courses are up, including this... http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/official/Courses11-12/MA2201.pdf

fh041205 · 08-09-2011 1:21am

asdfghjz wrote: »

New lecturers and courses are up, including this... http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/official/Courses11-12/MA2201.pdf

This....will....be.....epic. **** it I'm gonna go to that.

PurpleFistMixer · 08-09-2011 3:37am

*rocks back and forth*
oh god not the maths olympiad anything but that

However, sophister course in Lie Algebras? Verrrry interesting. I just hope it doesn't clash with my TP timetable. This modular forms course also looks promising, from the 2 second trip to the wiki page on modular forms I just took...

Also haha, another lecturer giving algebraic and projective geometry? Maybe I can attend it this year, and successfully manage to attend the same course in three consecutive years with three different lecturers.

Tears in Rain · 08-09-2011 10:53am

asdfghjz wrote: »

New lecturers and courses are up, including this... http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/official/Courses11-12/MA2201.pdf

Not that I know anything...but a full problem solving lecture for the entire Maths class seems kinda weird, especially if they're expecting any kind of useful input from the class during it. It seems like the kind of thing that's perfectly suited for say a small tutorial group or something (like what the TP's do).

asdfghjz · 08-09-2011 11:00am

Tears in Rain wrote: »

Not that I know anything...but a full problem solving lecture for the entire Maths class seems kinda weird, especially if they're expecting any kind of useful input from the class during it. It seems like the kind of thing that's perfectly suited for say a small tutorial group or something (like what the TP's do).

It's an optional module, and doing it precludes you from the number theory course and either the algebraic course in hillary or part II of advanced mech/stats in hillary. I don't know how big the incoming second year class is but if it's the same as others you'll only have 4 or 5 taking this.

Tears in Rain · 08-09-2011 11:14am

asdfghjz wrote: »

It's an optional module, and doing it precludes you from the number theory course and either the algebraic course in hillary or part II of advanced mech/stats in hillary. I don't know how big the incoming second year class is but if it's the same as others you'll only have 4 or 5 taking this.

Ah...well that makes more sense then

asdfghjz · 08-09-2011 11:24am

fh041205 wrote: »

This....will....be.....epic. **** it I'm gonna go to that.

It has the potential to be pretty awful depending on who else is taking it... Has anyone any experience with the lecturer?

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

Also haha, another lecturer giving algebraic and projective geometry? Maybe I can attend it this year, and successfully manage to attend the same course in three consecutive years with three different lecturers.

How did you find it / why did you audit it twice?

Maybe_Memories · 08-09-2011 1:10pm

We don't have Pete for ODE's......

PurpleFistMixer · 08-09-2011 1:14pm

asdfghjz wrote: »

How did you find it / why did you audit it twice?

I went to it originally in my second year because it looked interesting, and it was. It was taught by Dr. Lazaroiu who I think is a very interesting lecturer (though I think he might be gone now)... though I didn't actually sit the exam in the end (since I'm a TP and had other exams to do). I decided to go to it in third year because it was being taught by Dr. Zaitsev who I heard good things about. The content of the course was almost completely different (we did mostly commutative algebra with Lazaroiu) so I kept going. Probably won't do it again though, I hear fourth year is hard or something.

Tears in Rain · 08-09-2011 1:43pm

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

I went to it originally in my second year because it looked interesting, and it was. It was taught by Dr. Lazaroiu who I think is a very interesting lecturer (though I think he might be gone now)... though I didn't actually sit the exam in the end (since I'm a TP and had other exams to do). I decided to go to it in third year because it was being taught by Dr. Zaitsev who I heard good things about. The content of the course was almost completely different (we did mostly commutative algebra with Lazaroiu) so I kept going. Probably won't do it again though, I hear fourth year is hard or something.

Did you just wander into the lectures or did you email the lecturer first or something?

PurpleFistMixer · 08-09-2011 2:08pm

Tears in Rain wrote: »

Did you just wander into the lectures or did you email the lecturer first or something?

I just turned up. I'm not sure if they ever realised I wasn't in the class. I even went to tutorials (though there weren't many of those).

KarlD93 · 08-09-2011 4:39pm

I'm just about to start JF maths this year and I was just wondering about the timetable. Does anyone know what MA011Mt is??? Can't find that code anywhere. Timetable here: http://www.maths.tcd.ie/undergraduate/timetable/ttjf.html Thanks

Oh, and can anyone briefly explain to me what is 'Analysis on the Real Line', doesn't say on the site.

Maybe_Memories · 08-09-2011 4:44pm

KarlD93 wrote: »

I'm just about to start JF maths this year and I was just wondering about the timetable. Does anyone know what MA011Mt is??? Can't find that code anywhere. Timetable here: http://www.maths.tcd.ie/undergraduate/timetable/ttjf.html Thanks

Oh, and can anyone briefly explain to me what is 'Analysis on the Real Line', doesn't say on the site.

MA011Mt is the maths help room. You don't have to go there, but if there's a problem you can't solve, they'll give you a hint or whatever.

Analysis on the Real Line is basically derivatives and integrals from first principals as well as stuff on sequences and series.

PurpleFistMixer · 08-09-2011 6:11pm

Maybe_Memories wrote: »

MA011Mt is the maths help room. You don't have to go there, but if there's a problem you can't solve, they'll give you a hint or whatever.

WTF, maths helproom is only twice a week now?

Aoibheann · 08-09-2011 7:20pm

New choices are going to kill me. I now want to do Lie Algebras, Modular Forms and PDEs along with the 60 credits I have. Oh, and also Harmonic Analysis. So every new course they have.

Gaaah! I already had difficulty narrowing down my original choices to 60 credits. >.<

PurpleFistMixer · 08-09-2011 7:39pm

I'm already planning on doing 65 credits, but I'm still missing out on a bunch of courses I want to do, in both maths and physics... Still, not the worst complaint to have.

Aoibheann · 08-09-2011 7:48pm

Ooh, what are you taking? I'm definitely going to have to sit in on a lot of extra lectures the first while 'til I see what I really want to do most, and hopefully I'll cut it back to 60-65 then! >_<

fh041205 · 08-09-2011 10:37pm

asdfghjz wrote: »

It has the potential to be pretty awful depending on who else is taking it... Has anyone any experience with the lecturer?

Tim Murphy isn't it? He was entertaining, but I wouldn't expect him to impart too much knowledge on you. But the random stuff he mentions in lectures are interesting if you take note and look them up.

PurpleFistMixer wrote:

I went to it originally in my second year because it looked interesting, and it was. It was taught by Dr. Lazaroiu who I think is a very interesting lecturer (though I think he might be gone now)...

He was an awful lecturer IMO. Learned nothing from. And one of the most unhelpful/unpleasant individuals to deal with leading up to the exam as well. The exam was a joke, and I believe he himself was removed from the exam hall. I deduced this from his pacing up and down outside the door mumbling grievances at Dr. O'Donovan and the security guards.

He's on an extended (I think forced) leave of absence. Damn tenure....

Lie Algebras look cool. And Harmonic is back!!!

PurpleFistMixer · 09-09-2011 12:44am

Aoibheann wrote: »

Ooh, what are you taking? I'm definitely going to have to sit in on a lot of extra lectures the first while 'til I see what I really want to do most, and hopefully I'll cut it back to 60-65 then! >_<

QFT (10), DG/GR (10), Standard Model + Yang Mills (10), Project (10), then 25 of physics. I can make it a 5 credit project if necessary, but I really want to do a 10 credit one...

fh041205 wrote: »

He was an awful lecturer IMO. Learned nothing from. And one of the most unhelpful/unpleasant individuals to deal with leading up to the exam as well. The exam was a joke, and I believe he himself was removed from the exam hall. I deduced this from his pacing up and down outside the door mumbling grievances at Dr. O'Donovan and the security guards.

He's on an extended (I think forced) leave of absence. Damn tenure...

The opinion you express seems to be the popular one, but I really enjoyed his lectures. The little tangents about category theory were cool. I didn't have any contact with him outside of lectures/tutorials though, and I didn't have to learn the stuff to actually sit an exam in it, so maybe I'm biased.

Aoibheann · 09-09-2011 1:13am

Is the Yang-Mills course only for SSTPs? If it was running next year, I'd be really interested in taking it (it tied in a lot with my internship this summer) and it would kinda suck if I couldn't. I guess I could ask permission to take it if it was only listed for TPs.. Must find out if I would be allowed.

And a 5 credit project pretty much seems to be the same work as a 10 credit one, but with half the value (from what various people have told me), so you're probably better off.

fh041205 · 09-09-2011 9:32am

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

The opinion you express seems to be the popular one, but I really enjoyed his lectures. The little tangents about category theory were cool. I didn't have any contact with him outside of lectures/tutorials though, and I didn't have to learn the stuff to actually sit an exam in it, so maybe I'm biased.

Apparently he likes to teach Category theory no matter what course he's actually doing. I believe he tried to do this with the scientists one year, which I can only imagine went swimmingly.

In fact, IIRC the previous GR class he taught had very polarised opinions about him.

I feel like he's going to get me for what I posted.......

Projects: 5 credit one is about 70-75% of the work for a 10 cred one from my experience. And the project will kill you, but its fun at the same time.

PurpleFistMixer · 10-09-2011 12:56pm

Aoibheann wrote: »

Is the Yang-Mills course only for SSTPs? If it was running next year, I'd be really interested in taking it (it tied in a lot with my internship this summer) and it would kinda suck if I couldn't. I guess I could ask permission to take it if it was only listed for TPs.. Must find out if I would be allowed.

It doesn't seem to have any prerequesites listed, so maybe JS can also take it. Though given it's second semester and Shatashvili I'm guessing there's some QFT going on...

CJC86 · 10-09-2011 5:58pm

Maybe_Memories wrote: »

MA011Mt is the maths help room. You don't have to go there, but if there's a problem you can't solve, they'll give you a hint or whatever.

Analysis on the Real Line is basically derivatives and integrals from first principals as well as stuff on sequences and series.

No, this is wrong. MA011Mt is not one of the normal helprooms, it's a problem solving class which introduces the abstract subjects like Algebra and Analysis to students who have just come from secondary school.

I know I'm biased, as I give them, but I think they are very useful to people who actually turn up. They aim to let students actually get to grip with the more abstract questions in the presence of a tutor.

You should go to everything that you're timetabled for in first year, don't listen to people telling you that you can skip this or that. You may feel after a while that you don't need to go to everything, but make that decision on your own, not from people on the internet telling you how easy it all is.

Aoibheann · 10-09-2011 8:51pm

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

It doesn't seem to have any prerequesites listed, so maybe JS can also take it. Though given it's second semester and Shatashvili I'm guessing there's some QFT going on...

I meant SS Maths, because it's only listed for SSTPs as it stands, which I found quite odd! I figured it wouldn't be possible for JS, although I might have a nose into the start of it because I found it really interesting during my internship. Might just be able to follow the early stuff. Maybe.

Oh! Also, I appear to be a peer mentor to first years, presuming work lets me take an early lunch, so I'll probably see a few of the new people - if this thread hasn't just been full of people already here/finished! :P

dabh · 10-09-2011 9:23pm

Aoibheann wrote: »

I meant SS Maths, because it's only listed for SSTPs as it stands, which I found quite odd! I figured it wouldn't be possible for JS, although I might have a nose into the start of it because I found it really interesting during my internship. Might just be able to follow the early stuff. Maybe.

Oh! Also, I appear to be a peer mentor to first years, presuming work lets me take an early lunch, so I'll probably see a few of the new people - if this thread hasn't just been full of people already here/finished! :P

Maybe you might consider consulting with maths staff in person whether the Yang-Mills module would be suitable given your background. I note that the module concerns 'classical' Yang-Mills. The Michaelmas Term module on Differential Geometry may be useful. (In principle, the stuff taught by the previous DG lecturer concerning 'connections on vector bundles' ought to be relevant.)

Aoibheann · 10-09-2011 9:31pm

dabh wrote: »

Maybe you might consider consulting with maths staff in person whether the Yang-Mills module would be suitable given your background. I note that the module concerns 'classical' Yang-Mills. The Michaelmas Term module on Differential Geometry may be useful. (In principle, the stuff taught by the previous DG lecturer concerning 'connections on vector bundles' ought to be relevant.)

That's certainly a good idea! I got to read a bit about it, as I was using the Yang-Mills existence and the mass gap Millenium Prize problem as motivation for the project I was doing and I really enjoyed it - so I'd love to be able to take the course. I chose DG for this year, and I'm taking the three standard TP maths modules as well (and trying to find room for Lie Algebras!), so I'd be hoping to take QFT, GR, the Standard Model course and the Yang-Mills module next year (should they be offered, of course). I have the previous DG notes and have read through them a few times, it's just a matter of getting stuck in now I suppose!

Maths and Theoretical Physics Course Thread TR031 TR035

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