Computational Physics 3rd year projects

Project titles and descriptions

A list of projects is below. Not all the projects will be used in the end, since you will be working mostly in groups of three. The projects have now been assigned but the list is still subject to change. You may still swap with someone else, but note that this requires the agreement of all involved. Please inform jonivar of any swaps.

Please note that there have been a number of changes from the original assignment!

Project supervisors are Jonivar Skullerud (JIS), Sepanda Pouryaha (SP) and Seamus Cotter (SC).

  1. The potential of charm and beauty (SC)
    John Brennan, Jonathan Hartnett, Neal McBride
  2. Zeros of the Riemann zeta function (JIS)
  3. The evolution of cooperation (JIS)
    Louis McHugh, Donal Maddock, John Rogers
  4. Collective synchronisation: the Kuramoto model (SP)
    Cathal Gorman, Andrew Moran, Brian Murtagh
  5. Planetary motion and Kepler's laws (JIS/SC)
    Geraldine Delaney, Emma Garnett, Cian Hatton
  6. Simulating swarm/flock behaviour (SP)
    Noel McDermott, Colman O'Connor, Niamh Tobin
  7. The density and luminosity of stars (JIS)
    Wayne Moroney, Eoin Miller
  8. The three-body problem: Lagrange points(JIS)
    Robert Charlton, Joseph Flavin, Robert McLoughlin
  9. Action potentials: The Hodgkin-Huxley neuron (SP)
    Alexei Kudryashov, Wai Yu
  10. Paper, scissors, rock: The struggle for ultimate power (SP)
    Connor Adam, Kayleigh Hennessy, Michael Sullivan
  11. Dynamics of a dripping water tap (SP)
    Gerard Clarke, Niall Rigney, Una O'Sullivan

Sample projects from previous years

Guidelines for writing and submitting reports

  1. The report must be submitted as a PDF file, or as a LaTeX document (in which case figure files must be attached). If you wish to write it as a LaTeX document, more detailed instructions are available.
    Word processor files (.doc, .rtf, .odt, .abw etc) are not accepted!
  2. The report should be self-contained. All the background information, explanation of methods, etc that is necessary to understand what you have done should be contained in the report. The MatLab code should be included in an appendix.
  3. In addition, the code (.m files) should be attached to the email when you submit the report.
  4. To facilitate a degree of individual assessment, each student should submit a separate email or appendix containing a brief discussion of how you divided up the tasks (ie who did what).
  5. There is no page limit (upper or lower).
  6. A guide to report writing (courtesy John Ringwood, Electronic Engineering) gives some handy hints - but ignore his exhortation to write in third person. "We calculated X" or "We found that Y" is generally better than "X was calculated" or "It was found that Y".
  7. Email the report (with attachments) to jonivar at thphys dot nuim dot ie
  8. Deadline: 11 May

Failure to follow all the guidelines above will lead to deduction in marks.

Assessment criteria

  1. Ability to write code as indicated in the project description
  2. Ability to formulate the problem and select appropriate methods (where this is not completely specified in the brief)
  3. Interpreting and discussing results, putting them into context and suggesting avenues for further research. This includes the ability to identify wrong or suspicious results (which may result from bugs in your code).
  4. Clarity of presentation in report (including figures and tables), and readability of code
  5. Quality of report