Exploring the Exciting World of Cosmology for Aspiring Physicists

[alice87368]

help please. what field is this?

okay, so i want to be a physicist. but I am not sure what kind of physicist this is: i want to work on the warping of spacetime, and parallel universes, and stuff like that. i talked to my proffesor and he said that is cosmology, but would that require TONS of math? i just don't know what to do. i love the universe. but i don't want to be an astronomer, i want to work on the physics of it all.

 

[humanino]

Physics publication also requires proper english.

 

[alice87368]

what is wrong with my english? and if there is something wrong with it I am pretty sure you can figure out what i mean

 

[humanino]

I did not realize that was your first post on PF. So welcome to PF. Yes I can figure out what you mean, but please remember our guidelines

In the interest of conveying ideas as clearly as possible, posts are required to show reasonable attention to written English communication standards. This includes the use of proper grammatical structure, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. SMS messaging shorthand, such as using "u" for "you", is not acceptable.

Do I get it right that you want to be a theoretician, not an experimentalist ?

If you want to be a theoretical cosmologist, yes, the math level in cosmological string-inspired models is fairly high. There are not many professionals in this field actually, and getting a position will require a genuine contribution, new ideas. From my point of view, it is desirable that you have enough time to study in advance on your own things which are not taught in your regular courses yet. That should give you a taste of or glimpse at what research is. However, it is imperative that you are already quite comfortable with the current material in your courses.

Gerard 't Hooft has a dedicated webpage full of good advices.

 

[alice87368]

Okay, so you are saying that I should do work on things that are above the level I am on, but first, I should be comfortable with the material that I am learning now? Only I donnt really understand what you meant when you said that will give me a glimpse or taste on what research is.

 

[humanino]

When you do research, first you read what has been by others in the field. You study their solutions. That is very similar to studying textbooks on your own, except the material is usually not as well written. So by studying on your own, you get a good preparation for research : you realize how different it is from regular classes. It takes a lot of effort, but anything I studied in this manner, I never forgot.

 

[Fredrik]

okay, so i want to be a physicist. but I am not sure what kind of physicist this is: i want to work on the warping of spacetime, and parallel universes, and stuff like that. i talked to my proffesor and he said that is cosmology, but would that require TONS of math? i just don't know what to do. i love the universe. but i don't want to be an astronomer, i want to work on the physics of it all.

Those subjects do require "tons" of math. Almost everything in theoretical physics does. The most math-heavy fields are the quantum theories of gravity, and mathematically rigorous quantum field theory.

"Warping of spacetime" would be general relativity, or some quantum theory of gravity. The former is a pretty math-heavy subject that requires that you have mastered differential geometry, and the latter is much, much more math-heavy than that.

"Parallel universes"...there's more than one kind. The many-worlds interpretation of QM is the kind that requires the least math, and I also think most of the work that's been done about it is garbage, and that there's still stuff worth doing in that area. But "interpretations" aren't considered a priority by many physicists, and it's possible that you'd need a lot of math (possible including some heavy functional analysis, which is even worse than differential geometry) to be able to come up with something interesting to say about a many-worlds interpretation.

There's also a kind of "parallel" universe that can be a part of some cosmological models. Some of them require a lot of math, and some don't. But they all require that you know some differential geometry at least.

 

[Fredrik]

So by studying on your own, you get a good preparation for research : you realize how different it is from regular classes. It takes a lot of effort, but anything I studied in this manner, I never forgot.

It would have been so awesome if it worked that way for me. I learned almost everything I know the hard way, but only a few things really stuck in my memory because of it.