Differences

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--- questions [2020/05/12 17:28]
jthaler [Website Questions]
+++ questions [2021/12/10 02:57] (current)
jthaler [What are some things I should aim to achieve during my PhD?]
@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 ==== Do you respond to generic emails asking to come to MIT? ====
-Yes, but I just send stock emails.  Like this one, for a prospective Ph.D. student:
+Yes, I try to, but I typically just send stock emails.  Like this one, for a prospective Ph.D. student:
   * <code>
@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 </code>
-If you want to get a more detailed response, then you need to make a more personal connection, at minimum by including my name in your email.  Or saying that your undergraduate advisor (include your advisor's name!) recommended that you contact me.  Or that you are interested in a specific paper of mine (including the reference!).  But generic emails saying "Dear Professor, I am very interested in your work." will get the stock email.
+If you want to get a more detailed response, then you need to make a more personal connection, at minimum by including my name in your email.  Or saying that your undergraduate advisor (include your advisor's name!) recommended that you contact me.  Or that you are interested in a specific paper of mine (including the reference!).  But generic emails saying "Dear Professor, I am very interested in your work." will get the stock email, if I send anything at all.
+==== What are some of your particle physics pet peeves? ====
+When describing the open questions in particle physics to non-experts, it is usually necessary to paint a simplified picture using simplified language.  Sometimes, though, this simplified language is used by experts when communicating to each other.  Mostly this is harmless, but sometimes I find that it misleads students (and even professors!) about what the real mysteries in particle physics are.
+Here are two examples where I think that the statement in bold is misleading and that the more accurate statement is more interesting than the simplified lore:
+  * **"The Standard Model of particle physics cannot explain neutrino masses and mixings."**  If by "Standard Model", we mean a theory without right-handed neutrinos and only dimension four and smaller interactions, then this statement is true.  But sometimes this statement is erroneously interpreted to imply that neutrino masses and mixing somehow expose a conceptual limitation to the Standard Model.  I think it is more accurate to say: "The Standard Model of particle physics has many plausible extensions to accommodate neutrino masses and mixings, but we don't yet know the precise mechanism at play."  Viewing the Standard Model as an Effective Field Theory, the simplest mechanism to introduce neutrino masses and mixings is the dimension-five [[https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.43.1566|Weinberg operator]], which has the added bonus of providing a compelling scaling argument for why neutrino masses should be small but non-zero.
+  * **"Quantum Field Theory is incompatible with General Relativity."**  If by "incompatible", we mean it can't make predictions at arbitrarily high energies or in arbitrarily curved geometries, then this statement is true.  But it is not widely appreciated that the structure of General Relativity can be [[https://cds.cern.ch/record/299924|derived]] from Quantum Field Theory.  The idea is to start from the assumption that the gravitational force is mediated by a massless spin-two particle and then to work out the consistency conditions for unitary quantum behavior.  Satisfyingly, this derivation explains why gravity has (and must have, by quantum consistency) a universal coupling to matter.  Of course, this theory breaks down if you try to use it to describe extreme quantum gravitational phenomena, but it is a perfectly adequate theory of "quantum gravity" for phenomena experienced in our day-to-day lives.
+If I am on your PhD thesis committee and you make one of the above bold statements in your thesis, then there is a high probability that I'll ask you about it during your defense.
+==== How do you come up with your acronyms? ====
+You mean "[[http://abracadabra.mit.edu/|ABRACADABRA]]" (A Broadband or Resonant Approach to Cosmic Axion Detection with an Amplifying B-field Ring Apparatus)?  Or "[[http://dmtpc.mit.edu/DarkLight/|DarkLight]]" (Detecting A Resonance Kinematically with Leptons Incident on a Gaseous Hydrogen Target)?  Or the infamous "[[https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.07124|P...B...S...]]" (Polynomial... Basis... for... Substructure..., see footnote 10), which would likely best the competition at [[https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~gpetitpas/Links/Astroacro.html|DOOFAAS]]?  I write down a sentence describing the idea, take the first letters of (most) of the words, and watch my collaborators cringe.
+====== Mentoring Questions ======
 ==== Do you have advice for a starting theoretical physicist? ====
@@ Line 45: / Line 64: @@
   * Regularly attend research seminars and colloquia
+  * Ask a question at a research seminar/colloquium
   * Read the [[https://arxiv.org/|arXiv]] on a semi-regular basis
-  * Have a favorite textbook on Quantum Field Theory (which may or may not be [[http://admin.cambridge.org/academic/subjects/physics/theoretical-physics-and-mathematical-physics/quantum-field-theory-and-standard-model|this]])
+  * Have a favorite textbook on Quantum Field Theory (which may or may not be [[https://www.cambridge.org/highereducation/books/quantum-field-theory-and-the-standard-model/A4CD66B998F2C696DCC75B984A7D5799|this]])
   * Become familiar with the Review of Particle Physics from the [[http://pdg.lbl.gov/|Particle Data Group]]
   * Attend a physics summer school
@@ Line 67: / Line 87: @@
   * Explain your research to non-physicists
+  * Bonus:  Develop an [[http://caricesarotti.com/work.html|innovative data analysis strategy]]
   * Optional:  [[jthaler@jthaler.net|Make suggestions]] for how to improve this list
+==== What is a good practice problem for the MIT Nuclear/Particle Theory oral qualifying exam?  ====
-==== How do you come up with your acronyms? ====
+Draw the leading order Feynman diagrams that contribute to top-antitop production at the Large Hadron Collider.  Repeat for top-top production.
-You mean "[[http://abracadabra.mit.edu/|ABRACADABRA]]" (A Broadband or Resonant Approach to Cosmic Axion Detection with an Amplifying B-field Ring Apparatus)?  Or "[[http://dmtpc.mit.edu/DarkLight/|DarkLight]]" (Detecting A Resonance Kinematically with Leptons Incident on a Gaseous Hydrogen Target)?  Or the infamous "[[https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.07124|P...B...S...]]" (Polynomial... Basis... for... Substructure..., see footnote 10), which would likely best the competition at [[https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~gpetitpas/Links/Astroacro.html|DOOFAAS]]?  I write down a sentence describing the idea, take the first letters of (most) of the words, and watch my collaborators cringe.
+==== What is another good practice problem for the MIT Nuclear/Particle Theory oral qualifying exam?  ====
+Augment the Standard Model to have two Higgs doublets and write down all interactions with dimension four and smaller.  Assuming generic couplings, why is this theory inconsistent with experimental data?
+==== What is yet another good practice problem for the MIT Nuclear/Particle Theory oral qualifying exam?  ====
+Present a simultaneous solution to the strong CP problem, hierarchy problem, and cosmological constant problem.  Bonus points if your solution includes a dark matter candidate and/or explains the baryon asymmetry of the universe.
+==== What advice do you have for giving job talks? ====
+At some level, every talk is a job talk, since you never know whether your future employer might be in the audience.  But a "real" job talk requires a lot of preparation, so start early and make sure to give a practice talk in front of a live audience to get feedback.  When I applied to MIT, my job talk was scheduled right after a winter conference at the [[http://aspenphys.org/|Aspen Center for Physics]], so I thought I was going to enjoy some skiing and relaxation in the mountains before my MIT interview.  Instead, after a decidedly mediocre practice talk, I realized that I had to rework my talk from scratch!  So no skiing for me, but the extra effort was really worth it in the long run.
+In terms of specific advice, here are three typical suggestions I make at practice job talks:
+  * **Make sure your job talk is about you.**  This might seem obvious, but sometimes applicants focus on the field as a whole and minimize their own contributions.  If ever there was a time to crow about your achievements, it is your job talk!  So while it is important to provide the overall context for your work, focus on what you've done and provide some indication about what you plan to do in the future.  And make sure your name is prominent in the citations throughout your talk.
+  * **Imagine that someone only watches the first five minutes of your talk.**  These days, most job talks are recorded, so it may be the case that some dean will literally only watch the first five minutes to get a sense of who you are.  In those first five minutes, is it clear what you work on and broadly what you've achieved?  Even if someone watches your full hour talk, the first five minutes are important to set the stage and introduce the key themes, so give a clear picture of who you are and a clear outline (and even the punchline) right at the beginning.
+  * **Don't bury the lede.**  Academic talks shouldn't be whodunnit mysteries.  If you've accomplished something, say so, say it loudly, and say it often.  You might even show your most important plot right at the beginning of the talk as a preview.  But, you say, isn't it more exciting to have a "reveal" at the end?  It might be, if your audience is still engaged, but based on the five-minute advice above, they might not stick around for the punchline.  Plus, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8osRaFTtgHo|there is still a way to pull off magic even if your audience knows exactly what is going on]].  If you really want a surprise ending, you can slip in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in9SX3enCHU|Jobsian "one more thing"]], but make sure your main result is front and center.
+====== Teaching Questions ======
+==== Have you ever let your students down? ====
+During the covid pandemic in Spring 2020, we faced difficult decisions about how to assess student understanding of the material in [[http://stellar.mit.edu/S/course/8/sp20/8.044/|8.044 (Statistical Mechanics)]].  One student asked whether the final assignment grade could be dropped if their problem set grades were higher.  In response, I posted the following message to [[https://piazza.com/|Piazza]]:
+> We have developed the following [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ|official policy]] about whether it might be possible to give up the final assignment grade.
+At the end of the semester, some students got together to make their opinions known:
+> We have collaborated on the following [[https://youtu.be/CcV5M7IMLt0|official evaluation]] of 8.044 this semester.
+I appreciated their candor in telling us just how they're feeling and making us understand.  Certainly, a learning experience for everyone.  Thank goodness we were on [[https://facultygovernance.mit.edu/rules-and-regulations#2-64|emergency pass/no record grading]].
 ====== Personal Questions ======
-==== What are your preferred pronouns? ====
+==== What are your pronouns? ====
 He/him/his.
-I have debated many times with myself about whether I should put this information in my email signature.  "Jesse" is a somewhat gender ambiguous name, and I don't mind (too much) when people add an extra "i" by mistake.  It feels a bit uncomfortable to assert my gender at this point in my career when the gender ambiguity in my name (and in my past [[http://v1.jthaler.net/photos/images/2002.05.C/dance_rig.jpg|hairstyle]]) was part of my experience growing up.  Also, physics is a rather male-dominated field, and I worry that providing my pronouns would somehow reinforce male-ness as the default for a physics professor, though I also appreciate that my reticence is probably doing so implicitly.
+I have debated many times with myself about whether I should put this information in my email signature, and I finally decided to add this information in October 2021, for reasons I explain below.
-In any case, I do like the way that providing pronouns signals an aspiration towards a more diverse and inclusive physics environment.  As I often tell my students: there are as many ways to be a successful physicist as there are successful physicists.  So while I don't currently give my preferred pronouns, my email signature does have a link to the [[https://web.mit.edu/physics/about/values.html|MIT Physics Community Values]].
+First, let me explain my long hesitation.  "Jesse" is a somewhat gender ambiguous name, and I don't mind (too much) when people add an extra "i" by mistake.  It felt a bit uncomfortable to assert my gender at this point in my career when the gender ambiguity in my name (and in my past [[http://v1.jthaler.net/photos/images/2002.05.C/dance_rig.jpg|hairstyle]]) was part of my experience growing up.  Also, physics is a rather male-dominated field, and I worried that providing my pronouns would somehow reinforce male-ness as the default for a physics professor, though I also appreciated that my reticence was probably doing so implicitly.  I do like the way that providing pronouns signals an aspiration towards a more diverse and inclusive physics environment.  As I often tell my students: there are as many ways to be a successful physicist as there are successful physicists.  So while I didn't give my preferred pronouns, my email signature did (and still does) have a link to the [[https://physics.mit.edu/about-physics/community-values/|MIT Physics Community Values]].
+What made me change my mind to include my pronouns?  I received an email from a student who put not only their pronouns but also the pronunciation of their name in their email signature.  In the same way that misgendering a person is disrespectful, mispronouncing their name is as well.  Providing this information seemed like a positive (albeit small) step towards making the physics community more welcome.  So while I didn't go so far as to create an [[https://diversity.lbl.gov/2020/09/15/how-do-you-pronounce-your-name-add-an-audio-pronunciation-link-to-your-email/|audio version of my name]], I now state both my pronouns (he/him/his) and my pronunciation (JEH-see THAY-lr) in my signature.
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 What?  You don't like [[orange links]]?  I was semi-inspired by the [[http://www.sfjazz.org/|SFJAZZ]] poster hanging in my office, but a certain someone refused to let me use purple.  Consider yourself lucky I didn't use the {{::sfjazz2004.png?linkonly|2004}} color scheme.
+====== Logic Questions ======
+==== Is today opposite day? ====
+Today is and is not opposite day.  [h/t Adrian]