Physics 210: Intro Computational Physics: Term Project Ideas

• All term project topics must be approved by the instructor: talk to me, or send e-mail for approval, even if the term project appears in the "Specific Suggestions for Term Projects" below.
  
• Topics must be chosen by October 17, and term project proposals will be presented on October 22 and 24.
  
• Project writeups are due Monday, December 2, 11:59 PM. A hardcopy of your report must be delivered to the instructor by that time (i.e. no electronic submissions).
  

• Simulation of the motion of N interacting particles in three dimensions using finite difference approximations (FDAs); a.k.a. "N-body problem"
  
• Gravitational interactions (positive mass only)
• General case; actual simulations may involve motion in single plane (2-D)
  
• Special/restricted case: Toomre model of galaxy collisions
  
• Electrostatic interactions (postive and negative charges)
• Equilibrium configuration of N identical charges on the surface of a sphere
• Cellular automata
• Forest fires
  
• Traffic simulations
• Reference [PDF]
  
• Models for fluid mechanics
• Stochastic (random) processes
  
• Diffusion limited aggregation (and possibly generalizations thereof)
• Simple earthquake model
• Reference [PDF | Page 415 PDF]
  
• Monte Carlo integration, with application to some physical problem
  
• Simulated annealing, with application to some physical problem
• Neural Networks
• Simulation of simple neural network, including training for specific task
• Reference [PDF]
• Non-linear dynamical systems
• Simple models for chaos using continuous equations (ordinary differential equations (ODEs))
• Simple models for chaos using discrete equations
• Predator-prey models, and other biologically-motivated systems
• Optics
• Ray tracing through series of lenses, prisms, mirrors etc.

• Simulation of simple time-dependent partial differential equations (PDEs) using FDAs
• One or two dimensional wave equations, possibly non-linear
• One or two dimensional diffusion equations, possible non-linear
• One dimensional time-dependent Schrodinger equation
• Reference [PDF]
• Solution of time-independent partial differential equations (PDEs) using FDAs
• Two dimensional Laplace / Poisson equations
• Genetic Algorithms
• Implementation of a basic genetic algorithm and application to a test problem
• Particle Physics
• Simulation of basic features of a particle detector including event generation and event reconstruction
• Pedagogy
• Interactive demonstration of some physical process / phenomena that allows user to experiment with parameters, initial conditions etc.