Degree projects at theoretical physics (FYTK02, FYTM03-04)
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The following webpage contains generic information regarding the degree project
courses FYTK02 and FYTM03-04 at the Department of Astronomy
and Theoretical Physics, Lund University.
Course codes:
- FYTK02 (15 hp, bachelor, half speed)
- FYTM03 (30 hp, masters)
- FYTM04 (60 hp, masters)
Complementary information (course plans, examples of previous thesis, etc)
is found at the web page of the Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics:
degree projects,
bachelor project
and masters project.
A list with potential bachelor projects is available
here.
Master students may be inspired by this list, but are encouraged to talk to
potential supervisors independently.
At the start of the course
You must attend the
compulsory introduction meeting,
Monday August 31st, 13.15, 2020 in HUB and over Zoom,
(slides are available
here),
as well as the
physics introduction meeting.
During these meetings you will be informed about further compulsory modules
- Academic Writing
- Popular Science Writing
- Library Resources
which, besides your thesis work, must be completed during the degree project, see further information
here.
You must sign a registration form
with your supervisor (and reviewer) during the first week and provide a
one-page project plan for your project. These are to be sent to the appropriate course responsible person
(see Contact) at latest one week after the introductory meeting.
Use the Astronomy and Theoretical Physics registration form and not the Physics Department form.
During the first week you will be given access to a desk.
Further information will be given during the introductory meeting.
Halfway through
We will have a midterm meeting (you, the course responsible and your supervisor)
halfway through your thesis work to assess your progress. At this meeting we
will discuss your progress and try to assess if you can complete the thesis on time. For master projects
there will also be a compulsory half-time presentation in connection with the half-time meeting.
Thesis
The general guidelines for writing the thesis are
- The thesis should be written in the style of a scientific paper.
- The target audience should be a peer student who has completed the Theoretical Particle Physics course (FYTN04) or the Theoretical Biophysics course (FYTN05). If your work is about general relativity, you may also assume that the reader has taken the General Relativity course (FYTN08),
and for master theses you may assume Quantum Field Theory (FYTN10) if needed.
- A well-written, concise thesis is valued higher than a lengthy, unpolished thesis.
- Using the standard template, your thesis must not significantly exceed 25 pages (bachelor), 40 pages
(30 hp master), 50 pages (60 hp master).
The thesis must be submitted before deadline (approximately two weeks before
the oral presentation) to the
course responsible and the thesis reviewer.
For projects ending during the
autumn semester
2020, the deadline is
Jan 4th 2021 at 5 pm.
The report should be sent electronically to the
reviewer and course responsible.
Before handing in the thesis, you must
have iterated the text with your supervisor a few times. Your supervisor must
approve of the thesis before sending it to the reviewer/course responsible. You get an
LU-TP number (to be added to the front page of your thesis) by inserting your
abstract into the binder "LU-TP 2020-" and then adding 1 to the previous LU-TP
number. The binder is found in the bookshelf just outside the HUB lecture
room. You may take the number yourself, ask your supervisor, delay getting
one until after the presentation or (if this does not work out), ask the
course responsible.
Oral presentation
Oral presentations are preliminarily scheduled for January 13th-15th 2021.
You should have discussed and rehearsed your oral
presentation with your supervisor in good time before the presentation.
The length of the thesis presentation should be:
- B.Sc.: 20 minutes presentation + 10 minutes questions
- M.Sc., 30 hp (FYTM03): 30 minutes presentation + 15 minutes questions
- M.Sc., 60 hp (FYTM04): 40 minutes presentation + 15 minutes questions
- Master thesis half-time presentation: 20 minutes
For the oral presentation, we assess the time planning, presentation structure,
communication skills and the ability to answer questions.
Some students have
found this
latex bemaer template useful. (This link is here upon request from students.
We have not tired the template ourselves, so please let us know of potential
issues.)
What happens after the oral presentation?
The reviewer, course responsible and the
supervisor will meet (typically the same day as the presentation) and
decide on a grade based on:
- Work effort and time planning
- Independence and commitment
(inquisitiveness, ability for independent analyses and conclusions, originality)
- Scientific work (quality, interpretation and assessment of results)
- Written report (structure, clarity, language)
- Oral presentation (time planning, structure, communication, ability to answer questions)
You will also get feedback on your report by the reviewer and
the course responsible. Based on
this feedback you will need to rewrite your thesis, which will then need to be
approved by the reviewer. Once your thesis is approved, you should upload it
to
LUP (Lund
University Publications Student Papers) along with your abstract and
popular science description. Once the thesis is uploaded, the final approval is
made by the course responsible, who at this stage also takes care that
your grade is registered in LADOK and that
your thesis is made public in LUP.