2023 CAP Congress / Congrès de l'ACP 2023

Session

(DPE) R1-6 DPE IV | DEP IV (DEP)

R1-6

22 Jun 2023, 08:30

University of New Brunswick

Conveners

(DPE) R1-6 DPE IV | DEP IV (DEP)

• John Donohue

3942. (I) Quo vadis PhD? The future(?) of graduate studies

Prof. James Fraser

22/06/2023, 08:30

Physics Education / Enseignement de la physique (DPE-DEP)

Invited Speaker / Conférencier(ère) invité(e)

Graduate studies in physics (and other fields) is going through an existential crisis. The belief that the PhD was a solid pathway to an academic career was never grounded in reality (e.g., in the US in 18-19, 1903 PhD PhDs were conferred while only 369 new tenure-track positions advertised[1]). In recent times, the sharp increase in the cost of living without corresponding funding...

3903. (I) Why statistical physics is the best course you take: Introduction to quantum information with tensor networks

Thomas Baker (Department of Physics & Astronomy and also of Chemistry, University of Victoria)

22/06/2023, 09:00

Physics Education / Enseignement de la physique (DPE-DEP)

Invited Speaker / Conférencier(ère) invité(e)

I cover an introductory article I wrote with a group of students in the French language on the concepts of quantum information in tensor network algorithm. The resulting entanglement renormalization algorithms are known to be highly efficient for both classical and quantum lattice problems in a variety of use cases. I review best practices for creating such an introductory article, when they...

3769. Laboratory Exercise Illustrating the Error of the Mean

Dr Todd Fugleberg (Brandon University)

22/06/2023, 09:30

Physics Education / Enseignement de la physique (DPE-DEP)

Oral (Non-Student) / Orale (non-étudiant(e))

Many measurements in physics lab experiments are affected by random errors. The usual approach in such cases is to take multiple measurements and use the mean value of the measurements as the experimental value for the physical quantity. The best estimate of the uncertainty in this experimental value is the error of the mean. Students are very familiar with the concept of the mean value due...

3585. A pedagogical approach to degrees of freedom

Juan Margalef (Memorial University)

22/06/2023, 09:45

Physics Education / Enseignement de la physique (DPE-DEP)

Oral (Non-Student) / Orale (non-étudiant(e))

Degrees of freedom are one of the first concepts that an undergraduate student in physics learns. They are used in classical mechanics, statistical physics, and QFT, among others. However, its definition is not always carefully explained. In this talk, I will present a pedagogical approach to this concept through simple (but not trivial!) mechanical systems. I will underlie the role played by...