Posts in category Education
First lecture Advanced Statistical Mechanics 2012
The semester has begun. Today I gave my first lecture in Advanced Statistical Mechanics.
I enjoyed a rather big audience, typical for the first lecture. I’ve been honest about the level and manner of the course, so, thinking logically, the audience would shrink soon. From the other hand, why should I be logical? I was just glad to see and welcome new faces. Two students had to go earlier to catch the train to Leiden to attend some bio-directed course. I guess they were a bit dissapointed when I revealed that statistical mechanics is not meant to serve bio-sciences, but were polite not to show this and took active part in the lecture.
To compare with the last year, the audience seem to be a bit more active in general, I saw many people attending and questionning. I went faster than a year ago. Although I have not covered the whole thermodynamics, I made quite some progress. We are almost done with the laws.
All right, we’ll see how it’s going. The problem solving session will be given by Alina on Monday. So far all presentations are booked.
Old and new
All right, it’s almost time, time to think of good and bad, achievements and losses, old and new, whatever silly it is.
My Lord kept me and keen reasonably healthy and active. Kids gladden my heart. I could enjoy love and friendship. As to research, six papers have been published, two in PRL. We have made 11 arxiv submissions. I got 475 citations this year reaching h-index of 47. I’m happy I could work on Renyi entropies and hope to continue with this, we cracked the polaron in carbon nanotube. I’ve learned about several interesting experiments to think of and had a couple of prospective ideas. I made into several very good grant application teams, this schould work over a time. I collaborated with visitors, Izak Snyman and Tomohiro Yokoyama.
On negative side, my laziness and lack of feeling for my neighbour yet prevail. I could not finish papers I would have to, no grant application was sucsessful, many things planned have been smoothly transferred to next year plans. One of my best scienific achivements has not been sufficiently appreciated. The “weather” for research becomes increasingly bad: less and less money for real science. And overall “wheather” might be better, with all signs of economical and political instability appearing as ugly blotches at the made-up face of our prosperous civilization, that accompany signs of moral degradation and devotion to sin.
And my own aging, on the top of all. Less people smile at my jokes and understand my motives. Less news in my life, all runs along the trajectories known, and to my astonishment I even do not get bored with this…
Challengies for next year. I have to finish the book with Jeroen, and pretty soon. I need to learn how to run the group, and actually why. And grant applications, articles, students finishing, students (hopefully) coming… I just do not want to be boring, you know.
More charmed by fairy tales
Today David van Woerkom en Martin Steunebrink have sucsessfully passed the exam in Fairy Tales. Congratulations!
Dissipative quantum mechanics
is a chapter from the text-book we write with Jeroen Danon. We work rather slowly than steadily and the deadline is already approaching. We need to accelerate. As a part of the acceleration, I just revised the text of this chapter. It still needs more polishing work. If you wish, you can sample this chapter here. Yet in this case you owe me a comment…
Gerwin Koolstra
made a record on Friday, 5.8.2011 by sucsessfully passing the examination in Fairly Tales of Theoretical Physics. He’s the first student ever to pass the examination!(And the first to attempt this action
.) It’s my sincere hope that he won’t be last one. We had a bunch of good motivated students during the course.
The threshold that made the examination less popular than we want is the requirement to make three problems from the home work and document the solution. This is indeed a little time investment. I believe that Gerwin Koolstra has proven that this investment pays back soon.
Exam Quantum Transport: results
I will leave for vacations soon. In order not to dissappoint the sudents with the delay of the marks, I had to check the exam papers of quantum transport quickly. I’ve worked over the weekend and finally done the job today.
The exam consisted of two parts: the problem and multiple-choice questions (mcq). Roughly, problem checks the attendance of problem-solving sessions, while mcq check if a student has re-read the lecture material before the exam:) The mcq are very accurate tool: in many cases, I can see at which lecture a student stopped re-reading of the lecture material.
The distribution of the answers to mcq was rather standart, perhaps with the maximum slightly larger than expected. However, there was a problem with the problem.
Let me explain the problem without formulas. There are two ways to solve scattering problems considered in the course. Way 1 employes summation of elementary scattering trajectories, is easy and constructive for elementary setups, but is too complicated for just a bit more complex situations. Way 2 is more formal: it requires to make a system of linear equations for amplitudes of reflected and transmitted waves that has to be solved subsequently. Both ways, the difference between them and their formal mathematical similarity have been explicitly explained in course of the lectures and problem sessions. The formulation of the exam problem clearly suggested: do it in way 2.
Oh. Vast majority of the students did it in way 1. The success to follow the way has been varying while the suffering remained rather invariant. Now I understand why the students looked so gloomy. Now it’s my turn to look so: I’ve so carefully paved way 2 to lead to examination sucsess, and almost nobody took it.
Besides a point in the problem that we regarded as ultimately trivial appeared to be an almost universal stumbling block for both strong and weak. Oh. These apparent misunderstandings made the evaluation a complicated and painful procedure. The results could be better, but, after all, they are not so bad.
Exam Quantum Transport: as an event
The exam took place today, again in that quasi-infinite building of Civil Engineering. For a change, it was one floor higher than the previous exam. So we steadily increase the exercise challenge
The weather is funny today, it tries to be hot and humid, but only reaches warm and suffocating. I felt the students are unhappy even before the examination: must be weather. There were rather many enlisted for the examination. However, I got several messages from people who could not prepare on time, and several just did not show up. Finally, I have ten exam papers to check.
My audience this year was different from what I used to have. They showed more interest and perhaps more motivation. However, they are decisively less nerdy. From a quick look at questionairs, I recognize that many have found the exam difficult. Well, that must be this funny weather…
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Topological excitations
will become a part of the book on Advanced Quantum Mechanics I write with Jeroen Danon. I’m currently squeezing the material to a chapter devoted to superfluidity. It’s a difficult piece of writting: yet I dream it will be a good one.
The trick to implement the concept is to consider the superfluid in lower dimensions where vortices have finite energy and can be regarded as elementary excitations. I also hope to be able to say something about Feynmann’s roton variational function: a gem almost forgotten in modern education.
Exam Advanced Statistical Mechanics: results
I’ve finished checking the exam papers today. Good news is everybody has passed (the examination). Though a minority had to struggle for this. The distribution of the marks is pretty standard (otherwise). The fact the students made presentations was undoubtedly helpful.
However, I was dissapointed with the following. There were three groups of students: some obviously prtefer the lectures, some attended the problem-solving sessions only, some tried to combine both. Each of the three groups have exhibited distinct weak points in course of examination… While this is natural for the first two groups, and has a very straightforward workaround, I’m puzzled with the third group. The results of those were good but can easily be better.
Another point of dissapointment are the marks the students gave to our course (there is a questionaire to fill after the examination, a remedy for post-examination stress). It’s 7 in average, could be better giving amount of energy I gave..
Exam Advanced Statistical Mechanics: as an event
has taken place today in one of the rooms of nearly-infinite building of Civil Engineering. Me and Alina made two levels upstairs and two hunderd meters in horizonal direction to reach the room. The latter appeared closed, the students confusingly flocking around. Being a responsible person, I marched the way back, got the key and marched forth. So I was already tired to start with. Fortunately, Alina has performed most of exam supervision.
Seven students have shown up. Most of them made presentation and got a bit easier version of the exam. Only one international student has decided to do a fuller version.
The impression is the exam was doable for most students. I still have to check the results and their responses on the questionaire.