Undergraduate funding

The Department of Mathematics is pleased to announce a ten-week paid summer internship for an undergraduate student.

Exploring the geometry of thermodynamics supervised by Dr. Tom Hebdige

Recently, quantum information theory has brought new insights to thermodynamics. One example was a novel geometric perspective on passivity – a notion of equilibrium based on work extraction from a physical system – developed by the supervisor in [Quantum 5, 411 (2021)]. The framework connected extractable work to a 2D shape. This project addresses some approachable open questions regarding this connection, such as studying different levels of passivity, finding the minimal area shape for given energy and entropy, analysing existing work extraction protocols in the literature and extending to higher dimensions. This is an applied mathematics project with a focus on physics, with only a small amount of background knowledge required, providing opportunities for the intern to explore numerical techniques and learn more about quantum information theory and thermodynamics, with the potential to contribute towards a journal publication.

The rate of pay is £12 per hour on the basis of a 37 hour week.

You must be a current undergraduate student and expect to still be an undergraduate student in 2024/25.

To apply, please email Dr. Tom Hebdige (tom.hebdige@york.ac.uk) with a brief statement (half a page of A4) explaining your suitability for the project. The closing date is 7 June, with the ten-week project to start at a mutually agreed time after that.