• Question: what did you take as a PhD?

    Asked by anon-353950 on 30 Mar 2023.
    • Photo: Lucien Heurtier

      Lucien Heurtier answered on 30 Mar 2023:

      I did a PhD in theoretical particle physics and cosmology. During my PhD, I studied a lot about how dark matter could be produced in the early universe and what kind of particle it could be.

      When you are a PhD, it’s not like when you are at school. You basically choose a supervisor, and the supervisor teaches you a lot of different things, so you don’t have to pick a particular topic and stick to it, you can choose different kind of projects depending on your taste, but also depending on the collaborators you work with.

      The most important thing during a PhD (but also if you do internships, or training weeks) is to choose a supervisor that does interesting things, but also someone who you feel comfortable to work with. Sometimes, some students just pick their supervisor because they have a good research record, but that doesn’t work well because the supervisor is not nice to them and then their PhD become a hell. So i would suggest you always ask the opinion of other people, try to meet with your supervisor, before you commit to do a PhD or an internship!

      I hope I answered your question well enough! Feel free to ask more, and don’t forget…

      … to vote for your favorite scientist 😉

    • Photo: Vicky Fawcett

      Vicky Fawcett answered on 30 Mar 2023:

      I did Astronomy, in particular extremely bright galaxies called Quasars!

      Here is my PhD abstract:

      In the Universe there are billions of galaxies just like our own: learning how these galaxies evolve over time can help us understand more about our own Galaxy and our place in the Universe. Some galaxies are incredibly bright, and are what we call “quasars”; these consist of a supermassive black hole, surrounded by a disc of luminous material. These objects can be thousands of times brighter than our own Milky Way and are amongst the most powerful objects in the Universe. Most quasars appear very blue, but recently we have found quasars with much redder colours (“red quasars”). However, the relationship between red and blue quasars has remained unclear; my thesis aims to uncover this connection. I demonstrate that a larger fraction of red quasars produce radio emission, compared to blue quasars, and that this emission is predominantly within the central region of the quasar. I also show that the radio emission in red quasars is likely due to the central supermassive black hole driving powerful outflows that blow away the dust, eventually revealing a blue quasar. These results indicate that red quasars are fundamentally different to blue quasars and may represent a crucial element in galaxy evolution.

Comments