Announcements

1. Course Description

P335 is a year-long course in which the intent is that you will learn many of the essential aspects of making meaningful experimental measurements, possibly including developing a keen sense of how to realize theoretical predictions into hardware; the mundane but difficult dealing with vendors, technical staff, and university bureaucracy; various experimental techniques; how to design and build equipment; the art of taking data, analyzing data, and presenting data; and extracting and presenting results, among others. This is done by working with a faculty member on a topic related to their current research. It is an alternative to P334, the quarter-long course that uses classic experiments to give you a more focused experience with technique and data. (I am happy to recommend P334 if you are unsure about the time commitment of P335)

2. Picking a Good Project

The Department description includes the following text:

Physics 335: In order to carry out an Advanced Experimental Physics Project, the student must find a faculty sponsor who agrees to supervise the work. The project must introduce the student to several aspects of an experiment: building the equipment, data taking, data analysis, and presentation. It is not necessary that the project involve the student with all of the above aspects, but it is essential that the student get some "hands-on" experience with apparatus and that some analysis be performed of the data taken with the equipment.

Useful criteria are:

The question interests you and you want to know the answer
You like what the present grad students in the group are doing
The project is non-trivial- it has an impact
On the other hand, it's not too ambitious - it can be done in 3 quarters
You will build some equipment, take and analyze data.
The emphasis is on the P335 goals and not (exclusively) on getting started on a Ph.D topic.

3. Texts:

Required: William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White, The Elements of Style (Macmillan)
Recommended: John Taylor: An Introduction to Error Analysis (2nd edition)
Recommended: Frederick James: Statistical Methods in Experimental Physics (2nd edition)

I recommend getting familiar with the web site Alibris and also the Seminary Coop (5751 S. Ellis Ave) as sources for buying books- also you should get to know the Crerar library (!).

4. How to get a project

Look at the faculty web pages: Link to Faculty Web Pages ; talk to 2nd-year and other students; and come to the Friday faculty talks
I am collecting a (partial) list of faculty who have projects available and who would welcome a student. The list is linked it to this web page:
List of Faculty and their Proposed Projects
Knock on faculty doors, make appointments (some faculty are email folks, others aren't- you'll learn who, but don't be offended if email isn't answered- some of us get hundreds of emails per day and thus are phone people)
Do not be shy- faculty welcome having a good student to work on something interesting.

5. List of Students Currently Doing Projects

The list of students and their projects is on this web page: Students Currently Doing Projects: Titles and Advisors

6. Schedule

Three quarters is very short to accomplish anything meaningful experimentally. Consequently we have to chose well, start early, and go fast. I will try to have frequent check points (e.g. talks, draft submissions, etc.) so that you don't fall behind. If you are falling behind, please come see me early, so that you don't end up in a crunch. The schedule for the whole year is very much a work in progress at present. The present draft schedule is linked here: P335 Schedule

7. Other

Formats for written reports: I suggest using whatever is the standard in your field. In mine, one uses LaTeX to word-process, and jpeg or pdf for figures. I can provide you with templates and a 10-minute LaTeX lesson if you'd like (phone me to arrange).
Formats for talks: Independent of what program you use (PowerPoint, KeyNote, etc..), please end up in pdf so not to have problems projecting the talk during your presentations.
Plots: Please make plots that are publication quality (you can look up the PRL standards, e.g.). Label the axes clearly in large font, put tic marks on all 4 sides (please), use large symbols, and for both lines and symbols differentiate them so that they can be separated in black-and-white. Put error bars on all points.
Professionalism: Follow the rules in Taylor for propagation of uncertainties, significant figures, and other marks that you know what you're doing.
Help: If you have questions on any of this, please ask and I can arrange a teaching session.