A proposal for a topic, submitted on the proposal sheet is due by Tuesday, March 4. The proposal should describe the topic and the intended scope of the paper briefly, and include at least 3 references to the literature on the subject. I will give you some feedback/suggestions on your choice, and will approve it (possibly after some iteration) when it is reasonable and relevant to the course. Only one paper on a given topic will be allowed, so act fast if you have a favorite topic you always wanted to study!

An abstract describing the final topic with an adequate set of references (at least 5, preferably more) must be submitted for comment and final approval by Thursday, April 10. The completed papers are due no later than Tuesday, May 1. It will take longer than you think (surprise!), so start now. Use the style below in typing the paper.

Style sample for physics research papers

A. Student*

We describe and illustrate what should be in a physics research paper. Our results are based on extensive experiments in the Physics Library.

Papers should be succinct, with about 5--7 pages of text plus appropriate figures and tables, typed ( a chance to learn LATEX before you have to do your dissertation, or REVTEX before writing your first paper for Physical Review), with adequate references (>5) to recent papers [1], conference proceedings, and preprints¹. Write in the style of Physical Review D - see the January 1 issue for general style instructions. Include the title, author, a brief abstract which states the subject and objectives or results, the main body of the paper, usually with subsections to clarify the discussion, then the references, tables, and figures in that order. Use [1] for references in the text. One important change from the Physical Review style: use the format for references followed in other fields, and give the titles of the papers cited as well as the citation. This usually conveys more information. Be sure to give references for figures, data, and basic equations, and include adequately descriptive figure captions. You do not need to give derivations, but give the formulas you need with appropriate references, e.g., Maxwell's equations in coordinate-free form are [2]:

dF=0,     d*F=J.

References

[1] T.H.E.~Author, The title, Phys. Rev. D 55, 10000 (1997).

[2] C. Nash and S. Sen, Topology and Geometry for Physicists (Academic Press, New York, 1983), p. 197.

[1] In the case of preprints, give the authors, title, institution, and preprint number in the Los Alamos e-print archive if possible (http://xxx.lanl.gov/), e.g.: I.M. Clueless, UW-Madison, A failed experiment, hep-exp/9701000. The LANL and SLAC SPIRES (http://www-spires.slac.stanford.edu/find/hep) archives are the key searchable sources for information on preprints and publications in particle physics. SPIRES includes published papers. This, by the way, is a footnote. It should be distinguished from a reference [1]. Footnotes are used for comments which do not fit smoothly into the text.

Some possible topics for term papers

1. Baryons with heavy quarks (c and b quarks, lambda_b, etc.).
2. QQbar (quarkonium) and Qqbar (heavy-light quark) states, theory and experiment.
3. Heavy quark symmetry, theory and applications to B and D mesons.
4. Glueballs and exotic quark-model states, theory and experiment.
5. Cross sections for e+e- --> hadrons and the determination of alpha_s at LEP.
6. Tests of QCD in hadronic interactions at CDF (QCD jet phenomena).
7. Detection and properties of the top quark: hadronic cross sections, decay signals, future experiments. limits.
8. Deep inelastic scattering and proton structure functions at HERA.
9. "Polarized" structure functions and the "spin crisis" for the proton.
10. The hadronic structure of the photon as measured at HERA.
11. Properties of the tau lepton, lepton universality in electroweak interactions.
12. Accurate determination of the Z and W masses and the electroweak rho parameter.
13. Hadronic and leptonic decays of the Z and W, tests of the standard model.
14. Measurements of the Weinberg angle in neutrino scattering experiments and e+e- annihilation.
15. Measurements of the Weinberg angle using the Z decay asymmetry in polarized e+e- collisions.
16. B0-B0bar mixing and possible tests of CP violation.
17. The "unitarity triangle" and the determination of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa mixing matrix for weak interactions.
18. Direct experimental limits on the masses of the neutrinos.
19. Neutrino oscillations and the solar neutrino problem.
20. Measurements of solar neutrinos by Kamiokande, SAGE, and GALLEX - principles, results and implications.
21. Neutrinoless double beta decay and the neutrino mass.
22. Search for the Higgs boson---predictions, signals, and limits.
23. Limits on the Higgs-boson mass from radiative corrections to electroweak interactions.

 

Comments: You may certainly propose other subjects, but a subject must be relevant to the course and manageable (for example, ``grand unified theories'' is too large a subject for a short paper, while ``neutrinos from supernovae'' is not of direct relevance to the course). Subjects should have both experimental and theoretical components, and both should be covered (briefly!) in the paper. For example, with respect to #11, properties of the tau lepton, you would want to describe how measurements of tau decays can give information on lepton universality in weak interactions (i.e., why the tau is interesting theoretically), how the tau's are produced and observed, and what has been learned so far or will be learned in new experiments. The objective is to extract information of current interest from the literature, in some depth, and to show that you understand its implications for particle physics.

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Send comments or questions to: ldurand@theory2.physics.wisc.edu

© 1997, Loyal Durand