Happy Birthday to Linda Ng Ching Siang

Hmm...

Inspired by a friend, I'm blogging this thing.

Happy Birthday Sis, May you be well and happy!

Thanks for helping me move my stuffs back to Malaysia.

Stop eating and going online at the same time.

Graduation To-Do List

One search on the net reveals no good general graduation to-do list. Well, I’ll do one for myself here, and then assume that it is general enough to be shared to everyone. The numeric ones are general, the finer points for me are listed.

1. Find a place to live.
• That is to pack and move my stuffs from my room and SPS back to home and the next place I'll live in Singapore. Do this before 28th April. 
• Next determine the dates I'll be in Singapore or Malaysia during the next few months and decide where and when do I get a place to live in.
• Ask around for the places to live.
2. Find a job.
• This is primary to finish the bond and loans. 
• For 3 years, I'll be doing something I like, not dislike, my no.1 condition for a job.
• Options: T.A. (do the application before I leave), R.A. (talk to people before I leave), Buddhist Jobs? (I'll still be quite active in it anyway)
3. Play
• Marvel: Avengers Alliance is my main game now,
• Pokemon trading should be done within a few days,
• Movie nights upcoming in SPS. 
• Finish up Fringe, and continuing on Avengers, Earth Mightiest Heroes, One Piece, Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother.
• Presenting the Brain Band: create an event on facebook!
• Attending movie nights in Cinnamon!
• Boardgames in SPS room.
• Computer games.
4. Tie up loose ends
• Finish up some more work on my Honours Project, 
• Write that report for the Summer Research,
• Go through all the stars in my gmail,
• Finish up SPS mentor payment form,
• Check for the after graduation stuffs, for international students, Loan, Grant, Work Pass, etc...
5. Religion
• As usual, get to attend all that I can attend. 
• NUSBS Meditation Retreat,
• Tzu Chi 
• MDC
• Awaken Challenge
• Weekend visits to temples with cousin and friends
• Other Buddhist Societies events...
6. Plan for graduation trip
• My graduation trip will be back home, with NUSBS friends. Don't really appreciate the exotic places I've been to, and I really think that the trip is enriched more by company than by location. 

Preface to My Final Year Project

Thomas Precession: A Fibre Bundle Approach

The understanding of fibre bundles is essential for any theoretical physicists who are serious in thinking about the Standard Model, String Theory and beyond. That is my main motivation in choosing this project. At the end of this project, after applying fibre bundles to describe Thomas Precession, I started to wonder if this can be the start of a simple way of teaching young budding Physicists about fibre bundles. It would be one of the first few steps before progressing into quantum eld theories of gauge invariance. And yet, before
taking on this project, I had no idea that there is such a thing as Thomas Precession. So maybe it would be simple, provided that undergraduates can read this thesis and understand it.

If you need to brush up on Differential Geometry, Lie Groups, Coset Manifolds and Fibre Bundles, by all means do skim through the appendix, as it will be heavily referenced in the main paper. I would like to take this page to acknowledge the unfailing, dedicated, patient care of Dr. Kuldip Singh towards making sure that I understand this relatively di fficult branch mathematics and seeing me through the project. I had learned in this one year what most undergraduates will not: the foundations for theoretical and mathematical Physics. In this project also, I learn to see the motivation for solving a problem from the mathematical point of view instead of always asking for a physical connection. As well as the way a mathematical Physicist work.

My gratefulness extends to the Special Programme in Science (SPS), for providing such a nice and comfortable environment, both physically and socially not only for the duration of the writing of this thesis, but also for the whole of my four years being an undergraduate. Not to forget is University Scholars Programme (USP) for providing the opportunity during my final year to stay in the same building as my supervisor, making it easy to ask for guidance.

A special mention to the NUS Physics Department for having such a wide and interesting range of topics for research, and to Prof. Valerio Scarani for arranging for the Physics Honours Projects of the academic year 2011/12. Also thanks to the whole National University of Singapore for providing my undergraduate education, in one more step towards the expansion of the human knowledge, starting from the expansion of one individual.