Cluster 9: Particle- and Astrophysics: Investigations of the Minuscule
to the Massive
Real scientific research requires more than a comprehensive knowledge of one’s field of study. It requires the ability to observe, test and draw conclusions as well as a capability to develop ideas and models with the predictive power to tackle new questions and situations. In this cluster, coordinated by the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, students will develop and strengthen these skills through hands-on investigations of seemingly easy-to-explain physics phenomena. You will then be challenged to apply this approach to problems in astro- and particle physics. Laboratory activities will, among other things, provide students the opportunity to learn electronics, use telescopes and investigate the properties of cosmic ray particles.
Prerequisite: There are no course prerequisites for this
cluster.
All students in this cluster will be enrolled in the following
courses.
Astrophysics
Instructor: Paul Graham, Lecturer (Physics Department)
Einstein said it best: "The most incomprehensible thing
about the universe is that it is comprehensible." Relative to
the scale of the cosmos, we humans exist for a fleetingly brief time
and can travel over an infinitesimally tiny region of space. From
the limited glimpse we get of the universe, we construct mental models
of how the universe behaves -- laws of physics, in other words --
and as we gradually refine and improve these models, they let us make
sense not only of our immediate surroundings but of events covering
scales of space and time so large or so small that they ought to be
utterly alien to our experience.
In this course, we'll wrestle with time scales from the barest instant
after the Big Bang to the eventual fate of the universe, and with
spatial scales from the subatomic to beyond the size of the observable
universe. We'll learn what the human race has so far managed to piece
together about the workings of the universe we're a part of, ponder
some of the questions that still have us stumped, and wonder what
questions we don't yet even know how to ask. We'll extend our senses
with tools ranging from telescopes to subatomic particle detectors.
More importantly, we'll see how our understanding of physics is pieced
together by observation, experiment, and the occasional unexpected
flash of insight. We'll learn how to formulate a model of reality,
how to test it, extend it, and when we discover its limits, how to
use it as a stepping stone to the next deeper level of understanding.
We'll explore physicists' estimation techniques, learning to meld
mathematics with intuition and common sense. And, as physicists always
have, we'll have a lot of fun doing it. We look forward to sharing
the game with you.
Physics Lab
Instructor: Professor Dave Dorfan (Physics Department &
Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics)
Far too often, science courses do not require you to
think deeply; they require only rote memorization or
mastering of pre-canned techniques. When modern
topics are included, the treatment is purely
descriptive, and leaves the student with many
questions but no experience in how to reason out their
answers. The best and most inquisitive students are
left feeling the most frustrated.
This course will stress thinking, often about
deceptively simple questions where your ability to
find satisfying answers will depend not on what you
already know, but on how clearly you think. The
students may reason out better solutions than the
faculty, and several peoples' ideas will often come
together into a clearer picture than any one of them
might have worked out alone. As you gain experience
in thinking creatively and logically, you'll find
yourself spotting this sort of rewarding question in
almost every context.
To hone your thinking skills, we'll use several
techniques. You will be asked to draw conclusions
from observations (both real and imaginary), to make
models to explain them, and to use these models to
predict the results of experiments not yet tried.
This type of work is the heart of science, but is
sadly not stressed in coursework, even at the
university level. You might, for example, be given an
imaginary universe with odd properties and use the
results of experiments performed there to deduce the
rules of nature in this imaginary universe, then
propose new experiments to test and refine your model.
We will also do quite a few real, hands-on
experiments. For example, you will use
state-of-the-art apparatus to measure the lifetime of
an unstable particle found in cosmic rays. We'll
train you carefully to use the equipment, of
course...but once you understand how it works, you'll
use common sense and reason to work out the meaning of
your observations. It takes about a week to collect
the data, so once the experiment is up and running,
we'll use this time to exercise your capacity to think
like a scientist, experimenting on phenomena that are
simple enough to yield meaningful results in a short
time, yet interesting enough to reward clear and
original thought.
Throughout the class, you'll be learning some simple
and fundamental ways of thinking that are normally
taught -- if they're taught at all -- much later in
college or graduate school when students are dealing
with complex topics. Many of them never quite grasp
an important conceptual technique because it is
intertwined with difficult and distracting material.
When instead you learn the skills of scientific
thought early on, and in a simpler context, they
become powerful tools that you can apply to almost any
question you tackle.
The bottom line: we want you to be scientists in your
own right, not years down the line, but now.
Transferable Skills: Tools for Success
It may or may not surprise you that being a university researcher
requires a whole host of skills outside of the specific scientific
knowledge required of your chosen discipline or specialty. It requires
communication skills such as the ability to present your work in
writing and orally. It requires competencies in the realm of information
technology including the ability to find and judge (the validity
of) information and use a variety of hardware and software tools
(e.g. spreadsheets, databases, statistics software, other data manipulation
tools). It requires all of those skills required to effectively
conduct research such as data collection, analysis and interpretation,
critical thinking and problem solving as well as the ability to
conduct laboratory and/or field work. And, of course, a baseline
competency in English, science, mathematics and computers is critical.
The governing mission of the UCSC COSMOS Transferable Skills course
is to promote students’ future academic (and professional)
success through the exploration and development of transferable
skills: i.e. those competencies that students develop while in school
which facilitate academic achievement, the eventual transition into
the work-force and which are applicable in many other life situations.
Go to course information for:
- Logic and Probability: Reason and Riddles*
- Engineering
the Future: Autonomous Robots and Nanotechnology*
- Under
the Sea: Exploring Marine Organisms and Their World*
- Everyday
Chemistry: From Perfumes to Pollution*
- Video Games: The Design of Fun - From Concept to Code*
- Chemistry
and Mathematics: From Life to Thought*
- Astronomy, Number Theory, and Cryptography: From 1 to the Stars*
- Marine Mammals and Oceanography: From Prey to Predators
- Particle and Astrophysics: Investigations of the Minuscule to the Massive
