Until now this page is in parts written in German: Work in progress…

We are glad that you are interested in the Physics Master program at the University of Cologne. As a (budding) bachelor graduate, you probably already know a little bit about how things work at the university, so we would like to focus on the special features of our program at Cologne and try to summarize the concept in a clearly understandable way.

• The Master’s program is completely in English, the reason is that many people did study here or somewhere else in the world. (But don’t let that scare you away: You can get into it pretty quickly and there are always fellow students who can help you if you don’t understand something. And it’s no problem to ask a question in German during a lecture).
• The Master’s program can also be studied part-time with a little consultation.
• Like the bachelor’s degree, the master’s degree is also broadly based in terms of content: It includes theoretical physics and experimental physics at a deeper level with different specializations . And unlike at many other universities, there is not just one specialization subject, but two different ones during the masters program. Of course, this means that the master’s degree in Cologne usually takes longer than at other universities, but who cares? Problems with the BaFöG office or parents can be solved. (See below.)
• In addition to physics, the Master also includes an Elective Area, where all courses of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences can be studied. This allows to either choose a third physics specialization or to make the program interdisciplinary, which is also particularly recommended in view of newer interdisciplinary areas of physics such as medical, biological, environmental or traffic physics, which are represented in Cologne both in teaching and research. Incidentally, most students choose a mixture of all these options, going far beyond the mandatory minimum of the Elective Area.
• As is common at many German universities in physics (but absolutely not a given thing in other subjects), the Master’s program is characterized even more than the Bachelor’s program by the guiding principle of unity of teaching and research: Accordingly, the master’s thesis (including preparatory projects) takes up the entire second half of the program. During this time, one is usually part of one of the research working groups and is also employed there. Instead of training your skills on a sandbox problem you can contribute significantly to research with one’s own work from the very beginning in a collegial context, which often also leads to a subsequent PhD.
• Under the umbrella of the so-called Bonn Cologne Graduate School (BCGS), there is intensive cooperation with physics at the University of Bonn: You can not only participate in events at the University of Bonn (sometimes also via online conference, otherwise you only need a good half hour from Cologne to Bonn) but even do your master’s thesis there. Thus, a great variety of topics is offered, which can definitely keep up with the big physics faculties in Germany, even if both departments are rather in the midfield. In addition, the BCGS provides financial support for travel to conferences etc. as well as a few scholarships.

The organization of physics in Cologne in four (soon five) institutes has grown historically and is not easy to understand (it is also not necessary). Basically, there are the following fields of work in teaching and research in Cologne:

• Astrophysics in observation, laboratory, theory, simulation and detector development for telescopes and satellites as well as astro-nuclear and particle physics (I. Physikalisches Institut, Institut für Kernphysik, Bonn)
• Molecular physics in experiment and increasingly also theory, also beyond astrophysical questions (I. Physikalisches Institut)
• Highly correlated systems, especially topological insulators and superconductors in theory and experiment (II. Physikalisches Institut, Institut für Theoretische Physik, Bonn)
• Structural analysis, transport properties and growth of 3d and 2d solids (II. Physikalisches Institut)
• High temperature superconductivity (II. Physikalisches Institut, Bonn)
• High-speed spectroscopy of conventional solids and condensed matter (II. Physikalisches Institut)
• Nuclear models, lifetime of excited nuclear states and nuclear reaction mechanisms (Institute of Nuclear Physics)
• Accelerator development, especially detectors (Institute of Nuclear Physics)
• Accelerator mass spectrometry, e.g. for geology, archaeology and environmental physics (Institute of Nuclear Physics)
• Hadron structure and high-energy quantum chromodynamics (Institute of Nuclear Physics, Bonn)
• Mesoscopic Systems (Institute for Theoretical Physics)
• Molecular Biophysics (Institute for Theoretical Physics, in future Institute for Biophysics)
• Physics of Evolution in Theory and Experiment (Institute for Theoretical Physics, in future Institute for Biophysics)
• Cosmology, Gravitation and Relativity (Institute of Theoretical Physics)
  (Utility) Networks (Institute of Theoretical Physics)
• Particle physics in theory and experiment; string theory (Bonn)
• Photonics, Quantum Optics, Laser Physics (Bonn)
• Quantum information in theory and experiment (Institute for Theoretical Physics, Bonn)
• Nuclear solid state physics and detector development (Bonn)
• Cosmology and Gravitation (Institute for Theoretical Physics, Bonn)
• Archaeometry and Materials Science (Bonn)
• Imaging techniques especially for medicine (Bonn)
• Neurophysics and Neuron Modeling (Bonn)
• Non-linear dynamics / chaos theory (Bonn)
• Energy and Environmental Physics (Institute for Theoretical Physics, Bonn)
• Dynamics of granular matrices (Institute for Theoretical Physics, DLR)

In numerous areas, close cooperation is also maintained with the Research Center
Jülich, with DLR and with the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn.

1 Structure of the Study

The master’s program consists of the parts listed in the table below, which – except for the research part – can be studied in any order and also in parallel.

The research part essentially is a large continuous project comprising progress reports (in form of presentations) which concludes the master’s program. Usually the whole research phase is carried out coherently in one of the research groups.

1.1 Mandatory Part

The Mandatory Part aims at gaining advanced knowledge in theoretical physics and profound skills in current experimental techniques. The selectable options in the Mandatory Part are chosen to give prefarably good conditions for the areas you can choose in the Specialization Part.

The Mandatory Part consists of two parts: An advanced lecture in theoretical physics and two advanced practical lab courses. In the theory part you have to attend (at least) one out of the lectures Advanced Quantum Mechanics and Advanced Statistical Physics. (You may also attend both lectures and choose one of them to get accredites in the Elective Part.)

In the modules Practical Course M 1 and 2 you have to choose two topics out of atomic and molecular physics (Cologne), solid state physics (Cologne), nuclear physics (Cologne), particle physics (Bonn) and biological physics (Cologne). In each of the two topics choosen one has to do 4 experiments and an oral exam.

For Foreigners: What does ‚Practical Course‘ mean?

‚Practical Course‘ does not mean an internship outside of the university but rather doing experiments in a lab and writing reports about it under supervision of an experienced experimentalist. Each experiment takes a whole day and the experiments are chosen to introduce into the experimental techniques used in the different research areas of the respective institutes.

1.2 Specialization Part / Primary & Secondary Area

To ensure unity in teaching and research the offered specialization areas correspond to the fields of research of the physics institutes in Cologne and Bonn where you also do your master’s thesis in the Research Part. Depending, respectively, on whether a field is choosen as Primary Area or as Secondary Area you have to meet different demands:

1.3 Elective Part

The Elective Part allows to either deepen further topics of physics or to broaden ones horizon into an multidisciplinary direction using the large range of courses offered by the Cologne Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. (Of course, a combination of both is also possible.) It is highly recommended to use this beyond what is compulsory.

In consultations with the course guidance / the examination office all courses offered by the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences can be used if

• they have at least 3 credit points,
• do not only belong to areas you have chosen in the Specialization Part,
• do not agree with the content of a course which has been accredited for your bachelor or another part of the master program.

At least one of the choosen courses has to have 6 credit points or more.

1.4 Research Part

In the Research Part you should independently work on a physical problem of current research using scientific methods. Part of this is also to reflect the significance of the problem in the scientific as well as in the social context. Students should train to gauge their professional qualifications, to self-reliant enhance them and to cooperate with colleagues.

The Research Part consists of the modules Introductory Project I, Introductory Project II and Master Thesis. In general all these modules take place in a research group of one of the physics institutes. The projects worked on during the Research Part should have a meaningful overall coherence, should be documented as a hole in the  Masters Thesis and are presented to the scientific community in the colloquium. Nevertheless the Research Part mades a temporal and thematic flexibility possible, i.e. a change in the physical field. To ensure both the research process has to be discussed and planned together with all involved colleagues at regular intervals.

As the project(s) of the Research Part are highly reliant on cooperation with the other people of the research group you and your advisor has to write and sign a protocol of the first advisory meeting regarding the program and timescales of the project(s) before starting Introductory Project I. This ensures that all involved people rely on the same premise.

2 Tips for studying

• It is advisable to study individual courses first and decide after a semester (or so) which of them you want to deepen for the Primary or Secondary Area of Specialization. Studied courses that do not fit into the Primary or Secondary Area can then be used for the Elective Part. However, it is actually nicer to use the Elective Part to think outside the box of physics.
• For people who do biophysics, it is a good idea to choose biology courses in the Elective Part; for people who are interested in solid state or molecular physics, chemistry courses are a good choice; for theoreticians, however, you can also do something completely different and deal with urban development in Geo.
• On the website of the department there is a semester-wide pre-planning of events and also in the module handbooks certain events are listed. Both of these represent only the portion of the broad Cologne-Bonn event schedule that is guaranteed to be offered on a regular basis. In addition, there are numerous very worthwhile events that you should not miss! Don’t just look at this study program information, but also at the course catalogs!
• Speaking of course catalogs: Unfortunately, there is currently no course catalog that contains all the information, rather you have to collect the information from various directories. However, this is being worked on (promised, progress is unstoppable, nowhere!) and hopefully there will soon be a perfect FIXME: outdated event overview on the department website, where the various directories are still linked so far:
  • In KLIPS the events from Bonn are missing
  • In the PDF lecture directory of the BCGS, not all Cologne events can be found, but only those that are intended for students of both universities. In addition, the assignment to the different focal points is partly not clean here.
• Colloquia & Co.: In addition to the courses, the department organizes a wide range of lectures in the context of numerous colloquia, which are worth attending not only because there is coffee and cookies. FIXME: missing link!
• If you run into trouble with or questions regarding the beloved Ausländeramt or your working permission you can and should ask for help! We, the students‘ representative as well as the FIXME: outdated Course Guidance are willing to help you! Over the years we got a lot of experience in these questions or know at least whom to ask. There is also the possibility to be accompanied if you have to go there.
• To prepare for your exams, there are old exams in the student council, to prepare for oral exams there are protocols of previous oral exams. Especially the oral exam protocols should be used (old written examinations are not that important). In addition, you should never go to an oral exam without first talking to the examiner about the material / the main points etc.! Just drop by his/her office. As a general rule: The best preparation for exams is a close study of the corresponding exercises; often exam questions are variations of exercise questions. In oral exams, on the other hand, it is more important to cover the entire subject area and to work out the connections in principle (rather without concrete calculations).
• The student advisory service and the student representatives can help you with planning your studies and most other questions. These offers should definitely be taken advantage of.
  • „Studienberatung“ student advisory service – contact and office hours
  • „Fachschaft“ student representatives

3 Duration of studies, part-time studies, financing studies, studying with children

The standard duration of the physics master’s program is 4 semesters. This means that it is possible to complete the studies in 4 semesters and that 4 semesters is the time for which – if relatives are not obliged to pay maintenance – there is usually a BAFöG entitlement. However, a majority of students take more time, which can be useful for a variety of reasons.

The physics program in Cologne can essentially be studied part-time without any problems. However, it should be noted:

• Since the time to work on the master’s thesis is limited to 6 months, students usually have to study full-time during this time. If this leads to problems, they can usually be solved by individual arrangements.

It almost always makes sense to submit a BAFöG application. But, be advised that temporary residents in Germany will not be eligible for BAFöG. (Some link here to check eligibility) Often there is an entitlement even if it looks different at first glance. The student council as well as the BAFöG and social counseling of the AStA help with the BAFöG application. If, nevertheless, no or too little BAFöG is granted, there are almost always other, individual solutions for financing your studies; for example, there are numerous study-related assistant jobs at the physics institutes. Here, too, it is worth asking the student representatives and / or the BAFöG and social counseling of the AStA.

• „Fachschaft“ student representatives
• FIXME: outdated BAFöG and social counseling of the „AStA“ (similar to students‘ union)
  
• FIXME: outdated Overview of the „Studierendenwerk“ (state-run non-profit organization for student affairs) on possibilities of financing your studies
• Scholarship of the Bonn-Cologne Graduate School of Physics and Astronomy
  

Information on studying physics with a child TODO: (still in German)

4 Further information

The official documents can be found here:

• FIXME: missing Examination regulations
• Module Handbook