Physics at NTU

Well, as most of you know (or understands) I'm currently studying physics here at Nanyang Technological University; or mostly physics that is. Since the different subjects are handled by different schools (sv: institutioner) I take most of my courses at the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. The courses I'm currently enrolled in are:

PAP221 - Classical Mechanics
A course that introduces the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalism of classical mechanics. The level of the course might be a little too easy actually since I've already covered most of the applications in Linköping; but I believe that learning of the formalism is essential for my future studies, especially in quantum physics. The problem is that the physics students here learn the formalism pretty early on compared to the Y-program.

PAP232 - Introduction to Solids
An introductory course to solid state physics, this one might also be a bit too easy but it is required for continued studies in solid state physics.

PAP311 - Quantum Mechanics II
This one is probably the only course that I'm enrolled in this semester that is both important on the right level, it might even be a bit above my level of knowledge but I think it is possible to catch up to any difference in previous knowledge. New notations, broader applications and a deeper understanding of quantum mechanics, this course is the real deal!

MAS323 - Number Theory
How does numbers work? I've been interested in taking the number theory course in Linköping for some time so I thought I might give it a shot here in Singapore. But although I might have studied more math than the physics students, I have certainly not studied more math than the math students; rendering this course a bit hard for me but I believe it to be manageable.

LC9001 - Chinese Language Level 1
They might say that everyone speaks English or something close to it here Singapore. But a lot of people are struggling with their English and combine that with Chinese being the world's most spoken language you have a pretty incentive to learn it. But it's probably one of few courses where you can sit and laugh at yourself almost all the time. I also have a Chinese name now, Bai Kai Long (白凯龙), since you of course need to have a Chinese name when speaking Chinese.

The good things with the physics courses is that we have the same course literature as in Linköping, except the Introduction to Solids which I believe has a simpler book.

Besides this I have also joined the NTU Wushu club which you can read about in my earlier post (and very likely in future posts) with which I have training sessions two times three hours a week.

But one of the cooler things is that I have joined a theoretical physics research group here at NTU and SPMS that is working with quantum entanglement and chaos theory to explore fundamental properties of quantum systems. NTU encourages undergraduates to do research so that they can experience what it means to be a researcher and (hopefully) encourage to further studies. I'm currently a bit behind with the physics but I'm catching up quickly with the mathematics thanks to my quantum mechanics course; hopefully the physics will sort itself out with time.

That's a summary of what I'm doing in school now and what's taking up most of my time (in case you're wondering why I'm not more active with the blog, online on Skype etc.)

PS. Got back my first hand-in assignment today, graded A; feels pretty good actually. The picture above is me in front of the art and design school.