If anyone happens to come by: answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110916162642AA6KlSt This question has been up for several hours with no reply and I want to go to sleep and cannot do so until I discover my error(s) in this problem! :) Thanks!
@Mr_CryptoPrime why, is that you asking on Yahoo Answers? You should know better ;-) Anyway, the work shown on that page neglects to split the vectors into components for (c), and uses the wrong value for centripetal acceleration in part (d).
I don't have time to stick around and discuss it right now, but hopefully that helps a bit.
@Mr_CryptoPrime OK, cool, but just so you know, a question like you asked there would not be appropriate for physics.SE. For those kinds of questions I'd probably recommend Physics Forums rather than Yahoo Answers... but no website can guarantee you a response within 4 hours. It's usually reasonable to wait at least a day.
Hey, I have a question on research careers in physics, or rather PhD programmes in general. From the threads on meta I gathered that the chat is a good place to ask it.
I was wondering about wether it is usual to "switch fields" (within physics) between a Master's degree and a PhD.
For example, I'm currently working on Heavy Ion Physics, more specifically Parton Distribution Functions and the Pseudorapidity distributions one can calculate from them. (This involves things like DGLAP/BFKL-equations, cross-sections, statistical models of heavy ion collisions and the like.)
I'm interested in doing a PhD, but in a different country where I would be required to apply for a specific scholarship (otherwise I would be unable to pay tuition).
Would it look weird on my application if I were to do a PhD, e.g. concerning early universe cosmology? As of now, I don't know very much about that topic but it seems interesting as well and if the opportunity for a PhD were to present itself, I would certainly not mind learning the related methods.
@DavidMR sure, pretty much anything goes on chat. Except, nothing blatantly offensive or inappropriate (of course); the point is there are no topic restrictions here, and you don't have to put effort into polishing your messages as you would do with questions on the main site.
As for your question: I'm really not sure. Researchers do switch fields from time to time (I even know someone who's transitioning from QCD to neurobiology :-P), so I can't imagine that it would be too weird.
Just bear in mind that you might have to effectively start the PhD from scratch, since all that specific knowledge about PDFs and evolution equations etc. is of limited usefulness in cosmology. (More or less depending on what kind of cosmology you're getting into)
On an unrelated note: an interesting SEDE query showing the top users of this site as ranked by average vote on their answers.
