Course Structure | Faculty Profile | Admission
M.Sc. Physics Department
It was not so long back when Fr. Matthews inspired the faculty of the
Department of Physics and the authorities at the Bose Institute (B) to take the
initiative of expanding out into the P.G domin of studies with a definite focus.
"A silent prayer begins," he said, "when best intentions join", and with that
prayer the new department splashed into existence on September 17, 2007.
The course offers a P.G degree to be conferred by the C.U in Physics with
special emphasis on Astrophysics and space sciences and is being conducted
jointly by the SXC and CAPPS (Center for Astroparticle Physics and Space
Sciences) which is a center of excellence of BI situated in Salt lake (sector 5).
The course works on a dual campus basis with Tuesdays and Thursdays (and also
Fridays, for semesters 3-4) at the Salt lake (sector 5) campus of CAPPS.
The course started on 17th September for the 2007 batch, with a negative
offset of two and a half months with respect to the rest of the college. This
year, however we managed to start on 25th August, gaining a bit of teaching time
over the Previous year. For both years, the students were selected through a
two-tier test comprising of a fully randomized MCQ designed by the
faculty, followed by a regular interview.
The students, throughout the course, had a lot of exposure with the
scientific communities, who along with taking regular classes with the students
have inducted them to fields of topical research interest and research dynamics.
About half of the students have participated, on a yearly basis, in the
"Winter School of Astroparticle Physics" organized jointly by BI and the Tata
Institute of fundamental research in Darjeeling and Ooty.
Our students, much to their surprise, found that they are sought for by NGOs
too! A number of students volunteers went to serve as demonstrators in a "Space
and Astronomy Fair" held in the Science City auditorium in November, organized
by an association called S.P.A.C.E. They even sent related job offers
immediately after the fair.
The Space Science students in the 3rd semester are on their way to do their
field labs at the Darjeeling campus of BI. The Basic Astrophysics Lab and
Advanced Physics Lab have been set up only this semester, but have been found to
be functionally adequate.
The classroom space went into a crunch after new first year students were
admitted this year. We have managed to allocate classes thanks to the
availability of another campus, where the students now have their exclusive
classroom and laboratories from after the Pujas.
Throughout the year the faculties & technicians have traveled to gain
expertise and pick up skills relevant to various areas of the course. Dr.
Suparna Roychowdhury and Mr. Chandan Ghosh (Technician) have traveled to IUCAA.
Dr. Dibakar Dutta and Dr. Suparna Roychowdhury have attended a workshop on
"Designing innovative experiments with low cost computer interfaces (PHOENIX)"
at the WBUT. Dr. Shibaji Banerjee acted as a local expert in the same workshop.
As a spin-off from the development of teaching modules on computation using open
source tools, Dr. Shibaji Banerjee was invited to conduct a course on "Python in
Bioinformatics" in the same university. Dr. Suhas Bose, who has retired from the
Physics department some time back is now actively engaged in a teaching course
on plasma physics to our students.
Although the faculties could barely keep their heads afloat above the regular
and developmental activities, they have also participated in important
international seminars and workshops. Dr. Suparna Roychowdhury went to the
ASTROSAT workshop organized by RRI. Dr. Dhruba Banerjee has given an oral
presentation in a conference on "Renormalization" held in Russia in October
2008.
This year has been eventful & challenging but also quite exciting for both
the students and the faculty. The cooperation offered by the staff and faculty
has been nothing short of astounding. As for every journey, this has also begun
with its first step and we have just started to get a feel of what might be
lying ahead for us. We are beginning to practice what we preach!
- Shibaji Banerjee
(Professor-in-Charge, P.G Physics, SXC)
Course Highlights
The highlights of this course are:
- Courses being taught by specialized faculties from several leading
research institutes in Kolkata and around the country.
- Interactive tutorial sessions with students for every module.
- Extensive computation courses offered, along with hands-on sessions for
students.
- Interfacing experiments introduced for students to learn to design and
fabricate modular experiments.
- Student seminars, journal clubs and discussion sessions on different areas
of research in physics are planned on Saturdays.
- Workshops arranged by St. Xavier's College and Bose Institute enable
students to learn and interact with scientists and researchers from all around
the country on different specialized topics in physics (with a special
emphasis on astro-particle physics and space sciences).
- An extended project at different National research institutes and
observatories in the final semester for students to gain experience as well as
get introduced to the existing facilities in our country.
Course Structure and Syllabus
Two years of course work consists of four semesters. The focus of this course
is to equip the student with a foundation in the core areas of theoretical and
experimental physics in a manner which would help them to learn the advanced
topics in the subject.
A large emphasis is laid on computation and learning to use computation as an
important tool to solve different problems in physics ranging from non-linear
dynamics to data analysis and simulations in astrophysics and cosmology. A
course is also conducted on interfacing experiments where students are taught to
perform and design simple physics experiments using the power of the Python
powered open source hardware “Phoenix box”. The syllabus has been designed with
the aim of creating individuals who are equipped with concepts and tools in
physics, experiments and computation which will take them to the next level of
sophistication in the final two semesters – Astroparticle Physics or Space
Sciences and General Relativity. The 3rd and the 4th semester has courses on
advanced topics where the students can choose between Astroparticle Physics and
Space Sciences. They do three courses through these two semesters in any one of
these specialized areas. In addition, they have to also take core courses on a
couple of advanced topics like General Relativity, Nuclear and Elementary
Particle Physics and Plasma Physics. Their Computational Physics course
continues into the 3rd and the 4th semester as well. In addition, they are also
given an idea of the zeal and excitement of research in Physics through a
project in the 4th semester. Scientists and faculties from Bose Institute, St.
Xavier's College and other institutes guide them through a semester long project
on specific topics of their interest where they are given a flavour of working
through seminal research papers and adding to it, if possible.
Achievements
M.Sc Physics has been running for the last three years. The first batch of
students graduated with M.Sc Physics degree in 2009. Three of these students
have qualified in the National Eligibility Test (NET), three students have
qualified for Graduate Aptitute Test (GATE) in 2009 and one qualified for JEST
in 2009. One of the students qualified for joining the Ph.D program at S.N.Bose
Centre for Basic Sciences.
Evaluation system
The evaluation system of this 2 year course is based on an examination at the
end of each semester (both theoretical papers and laboratory). In addition, a
general viva is conducted at the end of the final year to
evaluate the over-all progress of the students. In addition, the students will
also be evaluated through a seminar on the project they would work on in the
final semester.
Research Activities
The Department hosted a one day national seminar “Spectrum 2009” in March.
Key publications of the department during 2009 include Geometrical dark energy
in braneworlds Article XIV 0906.3894.
XIVth International Clay Conference in Italy (June 2009) was attended by Dr.
Tapati Dutta.
Dr. Subhankar Ghosh attended the ICTP Workshop “Entrepreneurship development
for physicists and engineers”, Trieste in 2008 and the Faraday course in St.
Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge in 2008.
The visits and UGC research projects of the department include
- A visit to HRI, Allahabad with a seminar delivered by Dr Sankha Subhra Nag
in October, 2009.
- Dr. Suparna Roychowdhury delivered a talk in IIA Bangalore and visited RRI
Bangalore in February, 2009.
- Dr. Sarbari Guha visited IUCAA,Pune as a research associate in May, 2009.
- UGC Major Projects in the department include Wellness ,Spreading and
Adhesion of liquid on Solid Substrate (where Dr. Tapati Dutta is guiding the
Ph.D. student Supti Sadhukhan) and MRP PSW-055/08-09 undertaken by Dr.
Subhankar Ghosh.
- 2009 also saw a P.G student visit to Cosmic Ray Facility, TIFR, Ooty and a
visit to the radiotelescope, IIA Gauribidanur.
- P.G. Students attending Winter School in Astroparticle Physics in
Darjeeling and Ooty organized by Bose Institute.
- The faculties of the department have designed course materials and devised
innovative methods in teaching theoretical and computational modules in
Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels.
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