Dr Timothy Clifton Project Abstracts

MSci Research Project: Black Holes, Wormholes, and Interstellar Travel

Black holes are regions of space-time that are sufficiently curved that nothing can escape from within them. Wormholes are bridges that can connect together two different regions of space-time. The student that works on this project will show that the Schwarzschild geometry (with which they should be familiar from lectures) contains not only a black hole, but also a wormhole. They will do this by learning advanced techniques, such as how to produce and interpret embedding diagrams and conformal diagrams. These techniques will then allow them to understand the global structure of black hole space-times, and why the wormhole they have identified cannot be traversed by any spacecraft that moves slower than the speed of light. If time permits, the advanced student may then attempt to calculate and produce images of what they would observe if they were to travel through a stable wormhole. This project will require some knowledge of relativity theory, and a favourable disposition towards mathematics and theoretical physics.

A pre-requisite for this project is completion of the Space, Time & Gravity module. The Relativity & Gravitation module would also be beneficial.

BSc Research Project: Visualizing Einstein's Universe

The special theory of relativity involves the dilation of time and the contraction of lengths, for observers in relative motion. The equations that govern these phenomena should be familiar to you from lectures, but they do not by themselves fully capture what an observer would see if they traveled at close to the speed of light. For example, the outline of a boosted sphere always appears as a circle, while cubes get distorted into trapezoidal shapes. The student who takes this project will first learn how to understand the Lorentz transformations in terms of the geometry of Minkowski's space-time, and then use this knowledge to calculate how simple geometric shapes would appear if they traveled past us at relativistic speeds. This project will require a good understanding of special relativity, some use of computers, and a willingness to learn about geometry.

There are no pre-requisites for this project, but taking the Space, Time & Gravity module would be beneficial.

MSci Review Project: The Classical Tests of Relativistic Gravity

Einstein's theory of relativity can be probed by observing the orbits of planets, the paths of light rays, and a variety of other subtle effects. The student who takes this project will research the literature on these relativistic phenomena, and review the subject matter they find in their report. They will consider not only the current state-of-the-art in this field, but also how the field developed historically, and where it will go in the future.

There are no pre-requisites for this project, but taking the Space, Time & Gravity module would be beneficial.