Summer Internship at Queen's University in Belfast, UK.
Reported by Sundaresan Sridhar. Powered by FuseNet.
Hello everyone, my name is Sundaresan Sridhar and I am an Erasmus Mundus student in Nuclear Fusion Science and Engineering Physics from the University of Ghent, Belgium. As part of my Erasmus programme, I did a 3-month summer internship at Queen's University Belfast in the United Kingdom. I would like to thank FuseNet for their support, because their funding enabled me to complete this internship successfully.
Particle diffusion in magnetised plasmas
The title of my internship was 'Monte-Carlo simulation of particle diffusion in magnetised plasma' and, as such, I started by studying particle transport in magnetized plasma based on the equation of motion combined with an expression for the Lorentz force. For the next step of our Monte Carlo simulations, we had to initialise the pitch angles and azimuthal angles of the diffusing particles according to two independent, Gaussian distributions. For that purpose, a Box-Mueller transformation was used in combination with random numbers that were generated by the default GCC random number generator. After the initalisation, I was able to run the Monte-Carlo simulations, of which the results succesfully compared to the expected theoretic values.
During my time at Queen's University, I have learned a lot about the physics related to particle transport in magnetised plasmas, as well as the various techniques and tools that are employed in the field of computational physics. But maybe even more important is the experience that I have gained in defining the requirements of an algorithm and in the art of writing the desired computational codes for the purpose of my simulations.
Belfast: the city of the Titanic
The city of Belfast in Northern Ireland is famous for being the building place of the Titanic and, as such, the Titanic Dock and the Pump House are undoubtedly one of the best attraction in Northern Ireland. But it is not just that, the city itself has lots of examples of magnificent British architecture, such as the Titanic Belfast, Belfast Castle, Belfast City Hall, Ulster Museum, the Parliament buildings and much more. Also the main university building, the Lanyon building, attracts tourists from all over the world for its enriched architecture. Moreover, Belfast is the mecca for Game of Thrones fans, being one of the TV series main filming locations (eventhough most of it happens inside the studios). Another famous touristic activity is the ride along the Antrim coast, leading you from Belfast to Giant's Causeway, which is an area consisting of 40,000 interlocking basalt columns and which is supposed to be over 60 million years old.
A rewarding internship
My internship in the city that was home to the great physicist Joseph Larmor, has been very rewarding from both, a scientific and a personal point of view. Belfast is a vibrant city with a rich cultural heritage combined with a lively night life. I would like to thank my supervisor for giving me the opportunity to experience such a pleasure and I'd like to thank FuseNet once again for supporting me during this internship.
