Neutrino Oscillations in Magnetized Matter: A scaffolded quantum mechanics project for the thermal physics classroom

A career physicist might look back on the undergraduate physics curriculum and see an introduction to fundamental and complimentary approaches to solving problems in our field. Our students, however, can often experience that curriculum as distinct courses where the content seldom spills beyond the walls of the classroom, much less to any recent research questions. Therefore, textbook authors and classroom instructors work to deepen our students’ appreciation for connections across the curriculum and to problems in our field. One approach is through project-based learning. This talk outlines a project for upper-level thermal physics students to apply their knowledge of statistical mechanics toward a question in particle physics: How does magnetized matter affect the rates of neutrino oscillations from a star? I will provide the learning goals for the project, describe how I scaffolded the learning in a recent iteration of an undergraduate thermal physics course, and present my assessment results along with student feedback.