Student Term Projects

Student nameProject Title
Todd BurdullisMaxwell's Equations and Wave Equations, and their decoupling for spheroidal coordinates
 Refs:   Bardeen, Arfken, some others will be coming
Bryan Eastin(Relativistic) motion of an electron under the influence of an external, time-varying, electromagnetic field
 Refs:   Eberly, Volkov [details already known, but will come here]
Robert Hobbs Considerations of parity, time-reversal, and special, orthochronous Lorentz transformations, vis-a-vis the Dirac equation
 Refs:   M. Scadron, "Advanced Quantum Theory," p. 64-111; P. Roman, "Theory of Elementary Particles," p. 107 ff; S. Weinberg, "The Quantum Theory of Fields," Vol. I, Sections 2.4-2.6 and also 5.4-6.
Jesse Johnson Behavior of rigid rods and spinning spheres, viewed relativistically
 Refs:   J. Terrell, "Invisibility of the Lorentz Contraction," Phys.Rev. 116 1041-45 (1959); G. Cavalleri & G. Spinelli, "Does a Rod, Pushed by a Force, Accelerate Less than the Same Rod Pulled by the Same Force?" Nuovo Cimento, 66B 11-20 (1970); Rindler, p. 45.
Nicolas Menicucci Angular Momentum and like quantities, in spacetime
 Refs:   Misner, Thorne and Wheeler, "Gravitation," p. 156-162; Lightman, Press, Price, & Teukolsky, "Problem book in relativity and gravitation," Ch. 11; some articles in Amer. J. of Physics, hopefully.
Keith Mertens Details, rebuttals, and re-rebuttals of Miguel Alcubierre's Space-Warp Drive
 Refs:   Miguel Alcubierre, Cl. Qu. Gravity, "The Warp Drive: ...," 11 L73-7 (1994)
Anita Parmar Using differential forms to determine symmetries of non-linear pde's
 Refs:   P. Olver, "Applications of Lie Groups to Differential Equations," ; some notes by Finley
Andrew Silberfarb Clifford Algebra approach to electromagnetic fields
 Refs:   Weinberg, "The Quantum Theory of Fields," Vol. I, Section 5.4-5 [The Dirac Formalism] discusses Clifford representations and dimensionality of Dirac matrices