Theoretical Physics and PhD

>>7677297
anyone?

Not many people have a PhD in physics so their aren't many people suited to answer questions like these. Just be patient OP. Also start this thread on /adv/ as well. Someone will at least answer parts of it.

Well a theoretical physicist is someone who get's paid to research, so you're just doing research in academia, and unless you're a big shot, you're also teaching and supervising grad students, i.e. what your professors do.

If you have a phD in Theoretical Physics but aren't doing research, you're just going to be a guy with a PhD in physics that almost certainly ends up doing a job that has nothing to do with physics, e.g. wall-street quant, programmer, bar-tender (lol, yes I know a bar-tender with a physics phd). But chances are you will eventually find some kind of low to mid-level technical job.

>>7677297

1) You can literally google this, it's been answered over and over on places like stackexchange and >quora. Basically if you're a professor your day is probably teaching, attending meetings, holding office hours and advising appointments, doing various paperwork, and then working on whatever research you're involved with in your spare time. I'm sure that research scientists in academia have more time for the actual science, but no tenure track etc.

2) If you feel academia isn't for you, the typical jobs are something in the engineering, programming, or even financial industry. Finance is the big bucks if you feel like selling your soul (and a lot of your free time). This is provided you know generally what the fuck goes on in those industries (i.e. don't expect to get a processing engineering job with a theoretical physics PhD, but then again who knows, startups are always desperate).

3) Not sure specifically, but usually it has to do with requiring (or not) a master's degree before doing your PhD

I'm pretty sure a PHD has a standard completion time of 4 years ANYWHERE, including Australia.

It depends what the theoretical physicist does. You can be a theoretical physicist but use your coding and mathematical knowhow to work on Wall Street. Or, you could be a professor and just teach. Or you could do research. You could work for NASA. You could work at CERN. You could potentially have your own lab. You might be hired for research and development in the private sector. You might have an engineering type job. You might have a medical physics related thing.

I work as a research physicist at a US university and I spend my day talking to experimentalists about weird, universal measurements they have and then develop models which explain the phenomena.

As for completion time, I don't know how it works elsewhere, but the US has started to ditch the masters degree as a prerequisite for hard science PhDs, leading to an increase in degree times. The minimum time for a PhD is still generally around 4 years and it is doable in that time if you are a combination of lucky and insanely dedicated.

>>7677297
>What do they do in a daily basis?
Researchers in academia spend about 30 % of the time searching and applying for funding. It grinds you down. If you don't have tenure you also spend a bit of time preparing for your next position or conversely settling into your new position since you typically live on 2 year project grants. And job market is brutal.

>>7677297
lots of maths
a bit of coding/simulation
trawling through old books for obscure identities/equations
pretending that your work will one day, maybe have a practical application so it's easier to get grant money

not necessarily in that order

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1) Checking students , colleages mails
2) Read articles to keep being informed of the latest discoveries in your field
3) teach students
4) crave for funds to research
5) actually do research ( mainly trying to get that equation to work , discussing your work with colleages , or desperatly try to find inspiration looking at the window ( best part of the job )

Also they are lots of conferences to go to / watch

>>7679182
>>7679217

Do you really need that much money, though? Wouldn't the salary from the university be enough? I mean, maybe you need computing power, but usually the university should have a good enough cluster. It's not like experimentalists, who need to rent equipment, buy materials and other stuff.

>>7679247
fuck it then. may as well acquire personal wealth first.