Crisis in pursuing my PhD in Physics

[Whitehole]

I've completed a masters degree in physics and my research was on cosmological inflation, though knowing some basic GR (Hartle, Schutz, Ohanian) and cosmology (papers), I haven't had any formal course in QFT, I'm now halfway through QFT by Blundell so nothing profound there, now I wanted to get into quantum gravity research but as the word says, I have to know more than what I have now, I have browsed through some papers of various professors (Germany), but most of it are still brick walls to me. I wanted to start doing research OR maybe enter a short term coursework before going to research but I'm hesitating to contact professors as to my current state. Any advice?

 

[Vanadium 50]

So, as I understand it, you completed your coursework without taking the necessary coursework for your next step. (How did you manage that?) What your next step is depends strongly on the educational system in your country, which you didn't tell us.

 

[Whitehole]

So, as I understand it, you completed your coursework without taking the necessary coursework for your next step. (How did you manage that?) What your next step is depends strongly on the educational system in your country, which you didn't tell us.

I've completed my education at the masters level, my research was on inflation, so most of the papers I read are on cosmology. I plan to pursue a PhD on quantum gravity, e.g. I'm interested in doing loop quantum methods with regards to horizon entropy. But based on my background, I still think I can't understand a lot of the papers by, say, some professors I'm interested working with. So I'm not sure if I should contact them or what. I was thinking if there is a program where I can take maybe two semesters of courses just to somehow remedy some of my deficiencies, because what I've heard is that in Germany, most PhD programs go straight to research, not that I don't know the case, but somehow I think it is different in the US system where you can take classes concurrently while doing research (or say, some exposure to the research of the group given that the student has some classes to take to remedy the insufficiency and to build up prerequisites to fully function in a research group). I was also hesitating to contact professors in fear that they might turn me down right away.

 

[Vanadium 50]

What your next step is depends strongly on the educational system in your country, which you still didn't tell us.

 

[Whitehole]

I got my degree in Taiwan, but I don't understand what does it have to do with the educational system, I think the important thing is what I have at hand now and what I should do next.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Because some countries have educational systems set up so that you can take classes as you work toward a PhD, and in others they do not. Since you want tp study the interrelation between GR and QFT, you probably want to do this from a background that is strong in both.

 

[Whitehole]

Yes, I have seen some very interesting professors in Germany so I wanted to apply there. So what do you think I should do in order to join a group? Are there programs in Europe where you can take classes (to fill the my deficiencies) while working in a group (at the PhD level)? I really believe the problem is switching from cosmology to quantum gravity work.

 

[f95toli]

Are there programs in Europe where you can take classes (to fill the my deficiencies) while working in a group (at the PhD level)? I really believe the problem is switching from cosmology to quantum gravity work.

You would have to ask them.
It is important to realize that "going straight into research" is not the same as "immediately doing something original". You can'r really learn about state-of-the-art research by attending formal" courses and as PhD student you would probably spend the first 12-18 months (at least) just learning the methods you would need to do something novel. This would be via a combination of reading papers (and books if there are some available), perhaps some "easy" real-world problems under the guidance of you supervisor etc.
Doing a PhD is essentially about "learning by doing".

 

[EnigmaticField]

Do you want to work on Loop Quantum Gravity? I have searched universities in Germany and only found FAU has professors working on it. But they have not had open PhD position pronouncement at least since 2013, when I found them. Also, when I wrote e-mails to them, they never replied me. So do you also find this institute? Or you find other universities in Germany having research groups in Loop Quantum Gravity?

You are similar to me in several aspects, so I am tempted to answer you. First, you are my compatriot. Second, I also did MSc in gravitation without taking the course Quantum Field Theory. However, unlike you, I worked on purely theoretical formulations of classical gravity rather than the applied sector of gravitation. Third, when I browsed papers of quantum gravity, I also had difficulty grasping the basic ideas therein because I didn't study Quantum Field Theory systematically. Nevertheless, I never think I need to take any course in order to understand them. I think recommending me books regarding Quantum Field Theory or Loop Quantum Gravity for me to self-study to lay the required foundations is enough. When I conducted my MSc research work, I also didn't take the course General Relativity. Actually I was not given the chance to take the course General Relativity because when I registered as a master student in my university, my physics department didn't have the course in graduate level—at that time there was the course General Relativity in undergraduate level taught by my advisor, but if I took that course, it wouldn't be taken into credit due to its being in undergraduate level. So I self-studied the prerequisite knowledge for my classical gravity research. Likewise, I didn't have the chance to take the course Quantum Field Theory because my physics department didn't have the course when I registered therein.