write a research paper on physics

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How to write a paper in physics?

I really like to do research in physics and like to calculate to see what happen. However, I really find it hard to write a paper, to explain the results I obtained and to put them in order. One of the reasons is the lack of my vocabulary.

How do I write physics well? I think that writing physics is more dependent of an author's taste than writing mathematics is.

Are there any good reference I can consult when writing?

Or could you give me advice and tips on writing a paper?

What do you take into account when you start writing a paper?

What are your strategies on the process such as structuring the paper, writing a draft, polishing it, etc?

In addition, it is helpful to give me examples of great writing with the reason why you think it is good.

Do you have specific recommendations?

• soft-question
• resource-recommendations
• 3 $\begingroup$ A lot of people seem to appreciate Ed Witten's writing style. Maybe you'll pick up something if you read his papers. Other than just string theory, that is :-) $\endgroup$ –  Siva Commented Oct 23, 2011 at 1:41
• 4 $\begingroup$ There is a good link about technical writing given by Kip Thorne. Thanks, Jocelyn, for letting me know about it. physics.ubc.ca/computer/ksthorne-scientific-writing.pdf $\endgroup$ –  Satoshi Nawata Commented Oct 25, 2011 at 0:06
• $\begingroup$ Made this a community wiki, since many answers can be correct here. $\endgroup$ –  user566 Commented Dec 3, 2011 at 21:39
• 1 $\begingroup$ The link above no longer exists. One can find the article by Thorne lsc-group.phys.uwm.edu/~patrick/downloads/… $\endgroup$ –  Satoshi Nawata Commented Apr 13, 2012 at 21:17
• $\begingroup$ And the last re-link no longer exists. I suppose it was the same as this one , which Kip himself uploaded. $\endgroup$ –  Mike Commented Jun 20, 2023 at 20:26

6 Answers 6

I bought The Art of Scientific Writing by Ebel, Bliefert and Russey a few years ago, and it's pretty good. However there is a huge amount that you can't really learn from a book.

The first thing you need to do is to read a lot of papers. I can't stress how important this is. You need to know what is going on in the field and what problems are still open and which are closed. Even with the open problems you need to know what other people have been doing to try to tackle them. Ideally when writing your first few papers you would have an advisor or supervisor who is experienced in these things, and will help you in choosing problems, and with deciding how best to present the results. If you don't have this, then the importance of reading papers will be amplified again. So at first, read read read!

As you read papers you will start to get a good feeling for which papers are well written and which are not. It's fairly obvious, so you shouldn't really need us to tell you what we consider good writing. The style may vary from field to field as well, so giving you an unfiltered list is probably not very helpful. You really need to build up your own idea of what style seems most clear to you.

As regards actually writing a paper, the way I tend to approach it is to first write out the structure in terms of section titles (even for PRL type papers which don't actually use them, in which case I remove them later), then I try to break it down to the level of what I want to say in each paragraph or so. And then I start writing the actual content. This is just my personal approach, and is not going to suit everybody well. Then you proof read the paper, again and again to make sure that everything makes sense and that you have defined all the notation and ideas you are using before you use them, and you make sure the language flows ok, and that you haven't accidentally broken a proof (which is easy to do).

Personally I like a more didactic style, but that's not to everyone's tastes.

For your first few papers (and frankly any paper you consider very important) it is important to ask a few other people to proof read them. If you spend a lot of time on a paper, you become to close to the manuscript and often don't see errors or where it can be improved. If you are just starting out writing papers, this should be a more experienced colleague (someone who has written very many papers), and you should take their advice and/or criticism seriously. When starting out, at least, it is very easy to have a distorted view of your papers. You may also need advice on what type and level of journal you should submit to, and whether the preprint is yet of sufficient standard to upload to the arxiv (you also shouldn't be submitting to journals if the paper isn't good enough for the arxiv), and this isn't something you can learn via generic question on the internet. You need someone with experience in the area to read through the paper in detail, and give you unfiltered feedback on it. As you publish more papers, you are better able to judge these things for yourself, but at the start it is very easy to go wrong here.

Lastly, unless you end up writing everything on your own, which is extremely unlikely in physics (and not a good sign in my view) you will find that the style of the papers you write will often end up being some sort of mix or compromise of the styles of the various authors.

• $\begingroup$ Thank you very much for your elaborate suggestions. It is very helpful. $\endgroup$ –  Satoshi Nawata Commented Oct 24, 2011 at 23:39

In addition to the Joe's answer , a bunch of good advices is here:

• G. M. Whitesides, Whitesides' Group: Writing a Paper (Adv Mat 2004), doi:10.1002/adma.200400767

Its two main points are:

• Start writing a draft as soon as you have some results, not - when the research is complete (as the later may never come).
• Write in a way which is the most convenient to the reader, not - the writer.
• 1 $\begingroup$ Thank you very much. It is important to write a draft in parallel with the research progress. $\endgroup$ –  Satoshi Nawata Commented Oct 24, 2011 at 23:41

References:

[1]. Joe Fitzsimon's response to this thread.

[2]. Piotr Migdal's response to this thread.

[3]. arivero's response to this thread.

Writing papers is no different to writing anything else, although with scientific papers, that has less to do with vocabulary than writing a novel, so you are not in such a bad position. However, that still leaves style, content and substance to be addressed, let alone how to keep your reader/reviewer reading.

The key, as with all writing, is to keep your reader interested. The only difference with scientific papers is the context in which it is read, and the reasons.

Reformulating other Responses to this Question:

To reformulate other responses to this question [see the references], the phrase "keeping readers interested" means:

a. Relevance: Writing a paper that is relevant to other researcher's work. As JFitz says, make sure your topic is current and not on a subject that has been closed. [Ref: 1]

b. Standards: Figuring out what is the standard for scientific papers in your field. Hence JFitz's suggestion to read a lot of papers in your field. If your paper doesn't match current standards, it will look unprofessional. [Ref: 1]

c. Think Like a reader: communication is all about being able to put yourself in the shoes of your reader. You presumably know more about what you are writing than he does, so your reader is at a disadvantage. You need to make the structure of your paper march in step with the development of the ideas. [Ref: 2]

d. Language: The language of physics is mathematics, so you can rely on this to convey your results. However, the odd good analogy helps. Just be careful of metaphors, they are pointless and irritating unless you are addressing laymen.

e. Peer reviews: For learning to write novels, there are peer review sites, such as Authonomy.com. I have never seen one for polishing papers, but there's an idea. [Ref: 1]

f. References and summaries: put people in the picture. If you can't summarise what you are trying to achieve in a couple of short paragraphs there is something wrong. The references give your reviewer/reader a handle and places to look for background information if they don't get what you are on about. No paper is an island. [Ref: 3]

g. Brevity: Long paragraphs are boring unless you are Charles Dickens. But then you wouldn't be writing papers...

Conclusions:

The responses here say as much as they can to you. Most people would work as part of the scientific community, and therefore, they don't need to ask these questions: the institution they work for hammers it into them.

But even if, nay, especially if you are working for some such institution, I hail you for making the effort to improve your papers.

If, on the other hand, you are working in the patents office in Bern, we will all be grateful for any extra clarity in your writing, and I hope that we have helped.

Help yourself by helping others is what this site is all about.

Parting Shot:

The reason for writing this response (apart from the two original contributions) is to illustrate that structuring what you write adds clarity and makes it easy to look up external references, as well as to help the paper be used itself as a reference.

I will add, that nowadays the introductory part -and even the overall length of the paper- is more important that in classic times. This is because if you paper is too much specialist (and it will be) you must give the reviewers a hint that you have done your homework, that you known your field of study and that you can even give some pointers to guide the revision just in case that the reviewer is not working in your subfield.

• 3 $\begingroup$ You also want to give your readers a hint, since if it is an important result you get a wider range of readers, and many may not necessarily be familiar with all of the tools you use. $\endgroup$ –  Joe Fitzsimons Commented Oct 24, 2011 at 10:19

I never forgot my old lecturer Robert Barrass and his book Scientists Must Write . - He never stood a chance, with me.

I still use the basic, 'Theory, diagram, experiment, results and conclusions' approach, otherwise I am lost!

I find this one useful. http://theory.tifr.res.in/~sgupta/edu/write.pdf (Haven't read it in toto)

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Physics: Writing a Literature Review

Literature reviews.

A  literature review  surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources (e.g. dissertations, conference proceedings) relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, providing a description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work. 

• Provide context for a research paper
• Explore the history and development of a topic
• Examine the scholarly conversation surrounding the topic
• Shows relationships between studies
• Examines gaps in research on the topic

Components 

Similar to primary research, development of the literature review requires four stages:

• Problem formulation—which topic or field is being examined and what are its component issues?
• Literature search—finding materials relevant to the subject being explored
• Data evaluation—determining which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic
• Analysis and interpretation—discussing the findings and conclusions of pertinent literature

Conducting a Literature Review

1. choose a topic. define your research questions..

Your literature review should be guided by a central research question.  Remember, it is not a collection of loosely related studies in a field but instead represents background and research developments related to a specific research question, interpreted and analyzed by you in a synthesized way.

• Make sure your research question is not too broad or too narrow.  Is it manageable?
• Begin writing down terms that are related to your question. These will be useful for searches later.
• If you have the opportunity, discuss your topic with your professor.

2. Decide on the scope of your review. 

• How many studies do you need to look at?
• How comprehensive should it be?
• How many years should it cover? 

Tip: This may depend on your assignment.  How many sources does the assignment require?

3. Select the databases you will use to conduct your searches.  

Make a list of the databases you will search.  

Where to find databases:

• Find Databases by Subject
• T he Find Articles tab of this guide

This page contains a list of the most relevant databases for most Physics research. 

4. Conduct your searches and find the literature. Keep track of your searches! 

• Review the abstracts of research studies carefully. This will save you time.
• Write down the searches you conduct in each database so that you may duplicate them if you need to later (or avoid dead-end searches   that you'd forgotten you'd already tried).
• Use the bibliographies and references of research studies you find to locate others.
• Ask your professor or a librarian if you are missing any key works in the field.

5. Review the Literature 

Some questions to help you analyze the research: 

• What was the research question of the study you are reviewing? What were the authors trying to discover?
• Was the research funded by a source that could influence the findings?
• What were the research methodologies? Analyze its literature review, the samples and variables used, the results, and the conclusions. Does the research seem to be complete? Could it have been conducted more soundly? What further questions does it raise?
• If there are conflicting studies, why do you think that is?
• How are the authors viewed in the field? Has this study been cited?; if so, how has it been analyzed?

Tips: 

• Again, review the abstracts carefully.  
• Keep careful notes so that you may track your thought processes during the research process.

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How to Publish in a Physics Journal As a Physics Major

Full Chapter List - So You Want To Be A Physicist... Series

Part I: Early Physics Education in High schools Part II: Surviving the First Year of College Part III: Mathematical Preparations Part IV: The Life of a Physics Major Part V: Applying for Graduate School Part VI: What to Expect from Graduate School Before You Get There Part VII: The US Graduate School System Part VIII: Alternative Careers for a Physics Grad Part VIIIa: Entering Physics Graduate School From Another Major Part IX: First years of Graduate School from Being a TA to the Graduate Exams Part X: Choosing a Research area and an advisor Part XI: Initiating Research Work Part XII: Research work and The Lab Book Part XIII: Publishing in a Physics Journal Part XIV: Oral Presentations Part XIII: Publishing in a Physics Journal (Addendum) Part XIV: Oral Presentations – Addendum Part XV – Writing Your Doctoral Thesis/Desertation Part XVI – Your Thesis Defense Part XVII – Getting a Job! Part XVIII – Postdoctoral Position Part XIX – Your Curriculum Vitae

At this stage, you are well into your Ph.D. research work, and depending on what area of physics you are in, you may already start producing new results. This next part of the series will cover an extremely important aspect of your graduate work that is typically not covered (sometimes not even required) in your graduate school requirement. It is the aspect of publicizing your work. Your graduate school curriculum will not have much, if any, on this. Yet, as a physicist, this is one of the most important aspects of your profession.

There are two major means by which physicists publicize and report their work – via physics journals, and via presentation at physics conferences. In this chapter, I will first cover journal publications and will reserve a conference presentation for the next chapter.

If you have ventured into your library, you will notice that there are hundreds of physics-related journals or journals that accept physics papers. While a lot of these journals tend to specialize in a particular area of physics, there are three journals that are considered to be very prestigious for physics publications: Nature, Science, and the Physical Review Letters. Nature and Science publishes scientific papers in general, not just physics. They also tend to be extremely selective on what appears on their pages. One criterion is that the work being reported must have widespread appeal or importance, not just within the confines of that particular area of study. So things that claim a discovery of never- observed phenomenon, such as fermionic condensates, or apparent superluminal group velocity propagation, are the types that the editors of these journals look for. This criterion adds to the difficulty in getting published in these journals. In many cases, manuscripts submitted to these journals do not even get past the editors. They are often rejected before the manuscripts reach the referees. Phys. Rev. Lett. publish exclusively physics and physics-related papers. Because of this, they tend to publish more physics papers per week than Science and Nature combine. But they are no less difficult to get through. The editors, while still more forgiving than the editors of Science and Nature, will ramp up their review of the submitted manuscripts and will be more discriminating of what they sent to their reviewers. Now unlike Science and Nature, Phys. Rev. Lett. has a page limit to 4 typeset pages. So articles submitted to be published in this journal will have to be able to convey their messages within that limit.

I will now describe the typical process that one goes through in trying to get one’s work published in a physics journal. Since the largest ”family” of physics journals is the Physical Review series, I will use the process of getting published in one of these journals as a concrete example. However, the method is quite generic and can be adapted to any reputable physics journal. To publish a work, you need to be very clear what is the single, most important message you are trying to get across. Once you, your adviser, and your collaborators agree on that message, it is time to figure out how to convey that in the most effective and CONVINCING manner. Figure out what results must be included, what data must be presented, what figures are needed, and how to show all of these in the clearest possible manner. There is no point in having an important thing to say, but saying it in a confusing, obtuse manner that makes it difficult to understand. Your message will tend to be lost, not only to the reader but more importantly, to the people who will review your work. This is a formula for rejection.

Once you have decided what to present, you will have to decide where you might submit such a work. Note that in many instances, this is often decided later, after the manuscript is written. However, more often than not, your adviser and collaborators will know how significant the work is, and will already have some idea in mind on which journal to aim for. If this is the case, go to the journal website, and look for instructions from the authors. The journal will have a clear set of guidelines on the format that it will accept for submission. Often, they also will have a template that one can use as a guide. This is especially helpful because it can allow you to typeset your manuscript to look like what it would appear in the final print. It allows you to judge the length of your paper, which is important for journals like Phys. Rev. Lett. which has a page limit. It goes without saying that you should already be familiar with the journal you want to submit to. All that literature search that you did while trying to familiarize yourself with the field of study that you went into (see an earlier So You Want To Be A Physicist chapter) should make you comfortable with many physics journals. So look at a paper from that journal and pay attention to how the authors present their work. This will be a very good illustration of what works.

Now that you know what to write, where to send it to, and how to present it, it is time to write. This is where you will regret all those complaints you had in your writing classes. It is most likely that if you were the one who did the significant portion of the work that you will be the one to write it. All journals require that the manuscript requires an abstract, an introduction, the body of the work, and possibly a conclusion or summary at the end. This is true even if there are no structured sections that are part of the style given by the journal. Such things are helpful for people who want to do a quick browse of a paper. When you have understood this, then write! Keep in mind one unavoidable fact: your manuscript WILL go through several iterations before everyone involves will agree to it. This happens to everyone, no matter how many times we write and publish our papers. You will learn that different people prefer certain phrases, emphasis, style, etc. Do not be discouraged by this. Discuss why you think certain things should be said in certain ways (example: Why should you not say ”this result proves that…” rather than ”.. this result is consistent with…”). You will learn how certain words and phrases can cause problems during the review process that you may not anticipate. These are all things that you will pick up along the way as you write your first, and subsequent papers. There’s no way to learn other than by doing it yourself.

Note that it is not unusual for a number of people to share writing the manuscript. Maybe someone will write one part of it, and you write another part, while your adviser writes the rest. However, what is more, common is to have just one person starting out by writing the first version, and then it gets passed around to a number of people for corrections, additions, modifications, etc. I find this to be more efficient than the first, and the paper tends to at least be more coherent as a whole rather than a mishmash of different styles.

Physics papers tend to have figures, especially graphs. You need to have good graphing software. This goes without saying. You will also need to be aware that the figures tend to be rather small when it appears in print. So make sure your letters and numbers will be legible when they are compressed to the typical size of that journal. This is where having a template from the journal and inserting the figures yourself can be useful. You can see how it may appear in the end and see for yourself if you need to make certain things bigger/clearer. See if your figures have too much clutter that someone who is not familiar with your work will find it difficult to decipher what you are trying to convey. Always keep in mind that you are trying to convey some information to someone who is not familiar with what you are doing. Being brief and right to the point is always important.

Unless you are Albert Einstein, your paper will have references. Again, look at a paper from that journal to see the format on how references are cited. However, more importantly, you need to make sure you did not miss an important work that needs to be cited. This is where your adviser will be useful. He/she will probably know what you should include in your citations. If you don’t, don’t be surprised if the referee will come back and ask you why you missed so-and-so. This is where, if you have followed the earlier advice on doing an extensive literature search, you would have known who did what when, and why such a thing needs to be included. Be aware that you can ruffle a few feathers if you left out something you should have cited. The people who are also in your field will tend to remember that you neglected to cite their work when it was appropriate to do so. They might just do the same when it is their turn. You do not want to put the wrong foot out especially when you’re just starting out. So do your homework.

Who to list as the authors on your manuscript is initially the decision of your supervisor/adviser. If you did the work, and are the primary writer, you should be listed as the first author. However, this rule is not followed all the time. Sometimes, unfortunately, it is a matter of politics on who gets listed, and where. Typically, those who did the most work get listed first, and the list follows the degree of contribution to that work.

[Addendum to the original article – In experimental high-energy physics papers, the number of people participating in the work can be HUGE, often more than a hundred. It is usually difficult to pick a single person who did more work than others in such a collaboration. So for such papers, the authors are listed alphabetically using their last names.]

I suppose this is also the place to tell you that if you do not know how to write LaTex codes, this is the time to learn. The Physical Review journals, especially, prefer LaTex format as the submission document, while the figures have to be in postscript (PS) or encapsulated postscript (EPS) files. There are several graphical Tex editors that allow you to type your document and mathematical equations very easily (the FULL version of MathType Equation Editor that comes with Word can convert equations into LaTex codes). So you don’t really have to learn that much. Note that if you submit your documents in the format that they prefer, you get a discounted publication fees for Physical Review journals (more on this later).

When you are ready with a final manuscript, it’s time to submit it. All of the major journals now prefer electronic submission. Go to the journal’s website for explicit instructions. Once you have submitted your manuscript, you will be given a manuscript or submission code. This is the reference number you and the editors refer to whenever there are communications between the two parties. It is also the code that the referees are given if and when your manuscript is evaluated. The editors will determine if your manuscript satisfies the standard requirement for the journal. If it does, it will be submitted to either one or more than one referees. For journals such as Science, Nature, and Phys. Rev. Lett., 2 referees are normal, 3 is not unusual, and 4 or 5 is not unheard of. These referees are anonymous to you, the author. On the Physical Review author’s webpage, you can actually track the progress of your manuscript and at what stage it is in. So you can tell if it has been sent to the referees, and when the referees have responded back to the editors.

The responses from the referees determine the next step that you have to make. There are several possible outcomes:

(i) ALL the referees give a positive review and agree that your manuscript deserves to be published. You may need to make minor changes, but overall, it is accepted. Then congratulations! The editors will give you instructions on what you need to do if you have to make minor modifications, etc. But don’t get used to this. This doesn’t occur often. More likely on what would happen is an option (ii)

(ii) which is one referee has a set of comments/questions, but gives a positive review, while the other referee doesn’t give a positive review and also has comments/questions. When this occurs, you will have a chance to submit a rebuttal and make changes to your manuscript to take into account the referees’ comments, suggestions, etc. I strongly suggest you make a much of an attempt to accommodate the referees’ suggestions. It will show that you respect their opinions and may make the 2nd round of review smoother. You then resubmit your manuscript and usually, the same referees will get to review it again unless one or more of the referees refuse to review it again for some reason (this has happened before to yours truly). If all goes well, you’ll get all positive reviews and your paper is accepted. But it can happen that even after the 2nd round, you still do not get unanimous approval. When this occurs, you need to pay close attention to the journal’s policy. Most journals would view this as an automatic rejection. You might as well try to submit your manuscript to another journal. Some journals, such as the Physical Review journals, will give you the final option of appealing to the associate editor. You’d better have an extremely good reason to do this because it will again take some time for the process to occur and you really, really want to get your work published in that particular journal.

(iii) you get all negative reviews on the first round. This again will usually result in an automatic rejection. You can appeal or send in a rebuttal, but there’s a good chance you won’t get through if the editors see that all the referees agree that it shouldn’t be published. If this occurs, my advice is to go to a different journal.

Writing papers is a necessary part of your career as a physicist. Many started out with a series of publications by the time they completed their Ph.D. work. You need to establish your reputation by the time you graduate, to make your credentials stronger in your search for a post-doctoral position or employment. Your adviser should help you in making sure you have a few publications under your belt by the time you are done. So such an exercise is a necessary practice in becoming a physicist . You should not be satisfied with your graduate work until you have at least a publication to your name.

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Sometimes I found papers accompanied by a supplementary material, in whcih usually the author elaborates his method and/or derivations to the formulae appearing in the main paper. Is there also limitation on the number of page of the supplementary material?As mfb said, it depends on the journal. Often the supplementary part is available only online, it isn't refereed, and it is usually minimally formatted and typeset. This means that the cost, if any, to the journal is minimal. So I doubt that it counts as part of the publication fee. How that is handled in journals such as PRL that has a strict page limit, I'm not sure.

If the supplementary material is managed by the journal, it might depend on the journal. In high-energy physics (probably elsewhere as well but I don't know) this material is available independently of the journal, so there is no page limit. Sometimes you even get an internal support note for a public support note, which can have 200+ pages.

Sometimes I found papers accompanied by a supplementary material, in whcih usually the author elaborates his method and/or derivations to the formulae appearing in the main paper. Is there also limitation on the number of page of the supplementary material?

These are all things that you will pick up along the way as you write your first, and subsequent papers. There’s no way to learn other than by doing it yourself.Get paper drafts from others and review them, then discuss your comments with others. This is always done in experimental particle physics within the collaborations, but it is possible elsewhere too.

Physics papers tend to have figures, especially graphs…. and you should be able to change elements in the graph easily (i. e. not with photoshop) because you probably have to do so between the first draft and the final paper. [Addendum to the original article – In experimental high energy physics papers, the number of people participating in the work can be HUGE, often more than a hundred. It is usually difficult to pick a single person who did more work than others in such a collaboration. So for such papers, the authors are listed alphabatically using their last names.]For the same reason, it is also typical that the collaborations maintain a single author list. Everyone on that list gets listed as author for every paper, regardless of the contribution to this specific paper.

Preprint servers could be worth a note, given their importance in some fields.

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How to Write a Physics Research Paper: Structure, Tips and Topics

Physics research paper format.

Physics is essentially an experimental science that forces individuals to deal with numerous empirical investigations and does not tolerate inaccuracies and mistakes. Physics research projects are created to model solutions, solve scientific problems, improve concepts, and prove the working methods. Today, we will plunge into the process of writing academic research papers, explaining all the details and giving you some useful tips.

Like any other academic writing, physics research papers comprise several standard parts that give important details about the topic, the conducted study, and its outcomes. There are three main sections: the introduction, the main (body) part, and the conclusion. Understanding what each section covers is essential for writing your paper well. Note also that these parts can be divided into chapters, determined by the institution’s requirements.

The introduction highlights the core problem and provides initial information to develop the topic.

• Explain why the study problem is significant.
• Outline the chosen topic and identify study questions.
• Describe the methods used to address the study questions.
• (Optionally) Discuss the scientific significance by comparing old and new ideas and their distinctions.
• (Optionally) Consider the practical importance of the physics research paper within current theoretical or practical limitations.

The main part is the largest and the most informative in the whole writing.

This part reveals all the key points of physics research projects.

• Review of relevant literature emphasizing recent research within the chosen field. It can be an informative analysis or a search for knowledge gaps.
• Study design where you reveal the data collection and analysis methods in detail. You should also explain your choice of methodology and connect it with your project’s expectations and outcomes.
• Chapters with analysis and results covering findings made during the research. You should analyze the situation behind the study problem within the limitations set.

The conclusion presents the results and recommendations.

• Provide theoretical and practical results obtained during the physics research without providing any new information to the readers.
• Emphasize the achievements, summarize findings, practical testing, and unresolved issues.
• Share recommendations for future researchers and mention possible implications.

Additional Parts of the Physics Research Papers

After composing the core components of the paper, you should add two more parts to the text: a list of literature and appendixes. The list of literature simply provides the sources used in the investigation. You must create it according to the established standards, giving all the sources in alphabetical order. This rule applies to the sources for illustrative materials as well.

Appendixes come right after the list of sources. This part of the physics research paper includes the supporting materials needed to understand the work fully. You add graphs, glossaries, tables, illustrations, and other materials. You don’t need to mark them with numbers. Use letters and mark them “Appendix A”, “Appendix B,” “Appendix C,” etc.

How to Write a Physics Research Paper Step by Step

We have selected some good recommendations on how to write a psychology research paper. They are also good because they are suitable for both quantitative and qualitative research.

• Define your paper’s topic.

Choose a specific knowledge area that interests you, meets your assignment’s requirements, and aligns with recent field developments.

• Conduct preliminary research.

Explore the background of your chosen topics by consulting textbooks, online resources, scientific journals, etc. This will help you understand the current state of knowledge, identify study gaps, and determine potential study areas.

• Narrow down a problem area to a manageable scope.

Focus on a specific aspect of the chosen study area. For example, it can be a hands-on or theory-based solution (see education research paper topics ). Ensure you have enough resources and the topic meets your paper’s requirements.

• Identify and select key sources.

Look for peer-reviewed journal articles, books, online periodicals, thematic academic works such as academic particle physics research papers, etc. Choose ones that provide in-depth information related to your topic. Pay attention to the credibility of the sources and the authors’s qualifications.

• Gather and assess the information.

Critically evaluate the collected information, making notes on key moments and arguments. Consider how the sources contribute to your understanding of the topic.

• Organize your research and define the following steps.

Prepare an outline to organize your ideas, sources, and plans. Identify the main sections of your paper and what you want to put into them.

• Get started with physics research paper writing.

Write the first draft, following the outline. Start with an engaging introduction with a strong thesis statement and presenting the topic. Develop the body part based on your investigations and available evidence. Conclude with a summary of your findings and their implications.

• Proofread and edit your writing.

Review your paper for clarity, coherence, and accuracy. Make sure your arguments are well-supported by evidence and that your writing is clear and concise. Edit paper to eliminate grammar, spelling & punctuation errors.

Note that you must revise the paper several times before and after making a bibliography in research paper . Ensure also this meets all requirements for physics research paper format and cites sources correctly.

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Areas to Look for Good Physics Topics to Research

The variety of areas and avenues of development available is a huge benefit of studying physics. By choosing a trend direction for your project, you guarantee yourself not only interesting physics research topics but also the opportunity to make an important discovery. Here are a few areas of particular interest to modern science:

• Quantum computing and information processing.
• Quantum materials and condensed matter physics.
• High-energy particle physics.
• Quantum optics and photonics.
• Astrophysics and cosmology.
• Plasma physics and fusion energy.
• Nanoscience and nanotechnology.
• Biophysics and complex systems.

It is also noteworthy that you can use both recent discoveries and try to refresh old ones. Perhaps your interpretation of Einstein’s theory will allow humanity to conquer the stars.

Physics Research Topics to Choose From

Many modern physics topics to research offer a wide range of opportunities for theoretical and experimental investigations. Just look at these ideas to find an inspiration.

• Exploring the interplay of magnetic fields and electricity.
• Harnessing electromagnetic waves: Exploring novel applications and optimization strategies.
• Multifaceted examination of mechanisms behind sunset color variation.
• How quantum mechanics can improve how we process and share information.
• Probing the dynamics of sound propagation: Inquiry into acoustic travel phenomena.
• Examining new materials and how they might be used in technology.
• Investigating super-small materials for electronics and medical devices.
• Comparative analysis of the Debye and Einstein models for advancing insights into molecular dynamics.
• Deciphering nuclear reactions at the coulomb barrier.
• Decoding the complexities of rocket propulsion components.

This is only a small list of physics research paper topics you can choose for your future writing. Depending on the field of study, you can choose topics from quantum physics, modern physics, astrophysics, theoretical physics, experimental physics, etc. Besides, when deciding to buy research proposals from our experts, they can help you develop your new, unique topic.

Get Professional Help With Your Physics Research Paper

Clear guidance is a step forward for those who want to know how to write a physics research paper correctly. However, sometimes, it may not be enough, as you may not feel confident or have enough time. That’s where professional writers can help. Each of our specialists has solid experience assisting students with their online physics research papers. It doesn’t matter what research stage you are at now, your topic, scope of work, and deadline. We are always ready to come to your aid and match you with the best topic-relevant writer who will make your job easier and your project outstanding.

Andrea Idini

How to write a thesis in theoretical physics.

Your thesis is like your first love: it will be difficult to forget. In the end, it will represent your first serious and rigorous academic work, and this is no small thing. - U. Eco

A Thesis in theoretical physics

You visited an advisor and got a topic to work on in theoretical physics, congratulations! Now the only thing you are left to do is study; do the research; wrap it up and write it down. As for the Tools of the trade article, this list has a down-to-earth approach on providing a pragmatical look on tools and advice regarding your thesis. As in other articles I will be as general as possible and as specific as needed. I will describe my suggestions for doing a thesis in general -> in physics -> theoretical physics -> theoretical nuclear physics -> and my Lund group in particular. Both at undergraduate, graduate and PhD level.

There are entire libraries, websites, and initiatives dedicated to the craft of writing in general and academic writing in particular. Nice initiatives and tools on general writing are shut up and write , Hemingway App . There is also plenty of material to take inspiration regarding academic writing. Most interestingly, there is a whole 300-pager by Umberto Eco: “How to write a thesis” ( here you can read the review and excerpt). Online you can find the book if you wish but don’t waste precious thesis time (this post is already long more than enough). Keep in mind that Eco’s book was written in the context of Italian humanities where a thesis lasts easily more than a year of pure writing, therefore is more applicable to a PhD’s than an undergraduate’s thesis. Lund University (LU from now on) has its own resources on academic writing. There are courses, workshops and an interesting website .

Learning to have a strong academic writing is a lifelong endavour. It is not possible to master every process at any given stage of your studies. However, following advice and practicing you will become better and more confident on your writing.

Bibliographic Research

Textbook, journals and articles, bibliographic tools, programming, scope, tone, language, following up.

The thesis is the final academic document testifying some work required for the attainment of a degree. There are theses for bachelor, master students, licenciate, and PhD degrees. Theses are used even for some professional or professor habilitation in some countries and circumstances. Therefore, even though topics, length and depth might differ from thesis to thesis, they have always the same primary audiences: the people handing out the degree. In LU the B.Sc. and M.Sc. graduation theses are refereed by one or two external examiners. In our case, they are usually people in mathematical physics, that have experience in many-body systems but not necessary in your method of choice or nuclear physics.

When writing anything, the first thing to keep in mind is the reader. Like your examiners, other people that might read your thesis are knowledgeble of the field, but not of the argument. For example in our case, they will be your students colleagues that might need to pick up your work. That is, prospective physicists but not necessarely with a nuclear or theoretical physics background. You can give for granted that the reader knows what is a Lorentz transformation or quantum state, but you should not abuse field-specific jargon and use it without introduction. Every acronym, method and code must be introduced and referred to with references.

The use of references has to be strategic. Being the thesis an official document for the attainment of degree, it has to “stand on its own feet”. The reader from your target audience has to be able to read comfortably without need of constantly referring to the literature. Of course, you need to use references and literature, especially to provide plenty of examples and material to study in more depth. However, within reason, everything you use for your results needs to be introduced explicitly so that the content and context of your work is clear.

The work done for a thesis in physics is usually a work centered in research, either by critically reviewing previous research results or by developing original research guided by the supervisor. Bachelor and Master theses are 15, 30, or 60 credits, corresponding to 10, 20 or 40 weeks of full time work respectively. The goals are usually set by the supervisor, and the amout of supervision and independence will dependend on the specific project and adjusted according to performance.

Last and probably least, another consequence of being an official document it is that the thesis has often to adhere to some official or unofficial guidelines. Usually concerning length, structure, format and rarely content. For Lund physics department, you can find the guidelines here and here . Here is the checklist for registration of a Physics diploma work in LU. Pay particular attention to the learning outcomes.

The first thing when approaching thesis work, is to understand the scientific background and context to your work. This is done by reading articles and books suggested by the supervisor that are instrumental to the problem. Some articles are worth to read and understand in detail, others to skim to grasp the main concepts and results. Only experience can judge how much to devote to each article and how to read and understand effectively. It is not an exact science but an art that improves with experience.

Your thesis work is the opportunity to delve into the literature and start to gain this experience, picking the brain and experience of an expert supervisor, so make the most of it. Try to read academic literature every day. Read everything that you think is worth to cite and everything you will cite in your work. Read modern developments on journals and the arXiv of your field. It is not uncommon for a thesis work to review dozens and even few hundreds articles. The articles your supervisor cites you are only the starting point of a journey of understanding.

In the writing of your thesis, especially in the introduction you will need to refer to the literature, in order to point the reader providing context and pointers to concept and tools you used in your work. In the same way, scientists use references in articles, and often in books. Therefore, you can use the bibliography of the article you read as an important tool for your bibliographic research. You can follow citations in two ways:

• upstream, looking at an article references to understand on which other works is based,
• and downstream, looking at works that cited the said articles and use it for follow-up works.

This is crucial to understand the scientific foundation and impact of a work.

At LU a short training course is given in Language and Library .

There are different outlets of scientific publications. Textbooks are published by a publisher. Articles of different type get published by a journal. Topical journals are the traditional and always good way to read and update about new results in a field. The editorial collocation of an article is an indication about subject, novelty, and median impact of a publication. Unofficially and roughly they can be cathegorized in the following way.

• Textbooks: you encountered textbooks in your basic education. Academic textbooks are often more advanced but they are written to be a comprehensive, reliable, organized, and pedagogically useful treatment of an argument. There are few updated books in nuclear physics, in the later years the community is relying more and more on articles.
• Review papers: they are long overview of an argument published in a journal. More updated, limited and cutting-edge than a book, may contain new results. They are a good starting point to work on an argument, especially if books are not available. Journals publishing reviews are e.g. Review on Modern Physics and Reports on progress in physics
• Articles: these are the “standard” scientific publications, describing new results in as much detail as needed for understanding and reproduction. It is good practice to periodically read issues of the journal publishing articles in the field you want to be updated. For physics a good resources are the APS journals , in particular Physical Review C (shortened PRC) for nuclear physics and Physical Review E for many-body systems and non-linear phenomena. In these journals, some particularly interesting articles get featured on the homepage as editorial suggestions.
• Letters: these are short articles, to communicate particularly novel results and timely results that the community should take quick notice. For this reason, on average letters have higher impact and the selection is often stricter. Topical journals like PRC have “rapid communication” sections for letters. Letters are often targeted to a wider public of physicists and even scientists in general. Being featured in Physical Review Letters (shortened PRL), Nature and Science is an achievement for any physicist.

To organize the work of the bibliographic research and citation, apart from the quite important brain and internet, sometimes is useful to be helped by tools:

• Zotero to organize your article library.
• Scholar and web of science to find scientists, topics, articles and track citations.

Some people use Mendeley, but I don’t feel right endorsing bibliographic options owned by editorial companies.

This will probably be your first experience in original scientific work. Arguably, your objectives shoud be:

• To learn as much as possible.
• To do a good research job, that feeds into the primary objective.
• To present it properly. That is part of the learning outcomes for the diploma work.
• To think about the role of science and your work in business, society and in your future.

Here is the list of learning outcomes for the diploma work of B.Sc. and M.Sc. . These are no small technicalities, but set the expectation of the quality of your work required by not only LU, but the ministry of research and education. Be mindful of the responsability that the title you are applying for carries.

To organize the work according to these requirements, you have to coordinate with your supervisor. Set a timeline and schedule. Keep in mind that the most open and available of the supervisors is probabily a busy person, and has other duties to attend to and frequent trips. Be sure that he is available for any strict bureaucratic or work request you have from your project.

The time management is your responsability and to be open about duties and request you have is an important part of efficient project management and hence successfull work. Check the deadlines and appointments. According to the type of work and credits you have for the project (1 credit are 25-30 hours of work), the work load will be set accordingly and the supervisor will help you set realistic goals.

Some research requires coding to simulate and understand the physical system and formalism. The tools of the trade article can help you find some tools and resources. Regarding the context of the thesis work, one word of advice is to not trying to do it all. Choose few tools to perfect and focus on getting most done and be effective for your project.

To help the organization of the work and collaboration, it is sometimes efficient to use git. For this reason at the division of mathematical-physics we set up our own Gitlab server (not to be confused with the public gitlab.com). Focus the objectives and the structure the code accordingly.

It is good practice to use git as versioning system (not anymore v1, v2) and when you get the hang of it, it is convenient to use also for important documents, such as the thesis.

The tone and language of the thesis have to be gauged according the objective and the audience. The audience are your examiners, and your fellow students. You have to write for prospective students that need to understand the scientific context, have a good bibliography to start from, and a report of your results useful to reproduce and continue your work. Even more than usual, write only what you really know to be correct. Typos happen. Imprecise concepts, incorrect statements, wrong equations, will not help your reader, and therefore you.

Scientific writing has to be crisp and precise. Use short and clear phrases. Keep the grammar simple and exact. Choose your words precisely. The objective is first and foremost a dry, correct , and objective account of your research and results.

A modified version of George Orwell’s rules for writing can be used: > A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself […]: What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? […] I think the following rules will cover most cases:

• Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print .
• Never use a long word where a short one will do.
• Without compromising precision , if it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
• Never use the passive where you can use the active. Use the first person singular, when is work you (and only you) have done. Use the first person plural to refer to the group or the community. Use “One” to refer to an eventual reader. Use the passive voice when needed, especially to refer to the work itself
• Never use a foreign phrase ~~, a scientific word, ~~ or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. Use the scientific words respecting their context and meaning
• Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous wrong .

In addition,

• Equations are part of a phrase, use punctuation when introducing (not : but ,) and after the equation (usually , or .)
• I cannot stress this enough: define everything you use. Every symbol and index in an equation, quantum number, content of a figure, axes of a plot… etc… Attach captions to figures and tables.
• Refer to equations as Eq. (*). Figures as Fig. *. Tables as Table *.
• Write, both thesis and code, for yourself of the future. When you will have forgotten what was that index in the third line of equation (7.24) about.

If you read as suggested, you will pick up the style of your discipline. Try to imitate it.

For more information, a short training course is given in LU regarding Language and Library .

Being the thesis an official document, it is extra important to respect official rules. One of the most relevant regards plagiarism. Literal quotes of other works have to be in quotes and properly referred. Not original figures have also to be cited, even when the copyright is available and free to use. Plagiarism is a serious offence, and can ruin careers and lives. LU has a zero-tolerance policy on plagiarism on diploma works, including self-plagiarism (copying one own’s work). To guarantee this, al thesis are passed through a plagiarism detection system called URKUND. Submit the thesis to URKUND few days in advance of the deadline.

The number of pages of a report varies enomoursly according to topic and originality. A research thesis requires less pages than a review one. At the Physics department of Lund a (somewhat) strict limit of pages for diploma works is in place:

• 15 credits B.Sc. report: 25 pages max;
• 30 credits M.Sc. report: 40 pages max;
• 60 credits M.Sc. report: 50 pages max.

This can work also as indicative size for similar works.

Other constrains might be in place, depending on your field, University and situation. Formalities such as cover page are often in place. Moreover, Lund’s physics department also imposes the sections that have to be present in a thesis.

The title of the thesis should illustrate the work you have done. There is no point in too general titles (“Nuclear physics”); too specific titles (“Study of 2+ states in rotational bands using HFBTHO code in the Praseodymium isotopic chain”) on the other hand discourage the reader that might be interested in more general concepts. As with many things related to writing, you will have to strike a balance. Let’s use the latter example to guide you through the process, considering you evaluate this to be your contribution. Your study might not only be interesting for people looking for 2+ states. For sure, if your study is in physics, the results should not depend on the code used. Hence, without loss of information, “Study of rotational bands in the Praseodymium isotopic chain” is definetely more useful for people that need to decide if your thesis deserves a second look.

When writing, you should always ask yourself what is needed here, why, and how is it possible to improve it. Especially for important sections like title and abstract.

The abstract is a short summary of few lines. It regards the premise, main method and results and conclusion of your work. A thesis summary is not much different from an article, therefore you have plenty of examples under your hand.

In the appendix of the diploma work are specified the necessary sections and content of a thesis.

If you allow me a kitchen metaphor, consider the thesis as a hamburger: the Introduction is the restaurant, table and plate; the Method the bottom bread; the Results the patty; the Conclusion the condiments; the Bibliography the top bun; the Appendix , code and other documentation your complementary fries and beverage.

Introduction

The introduction is the support and presentation for your work. It is needed to introduce your work and its scientific context. Use what you have read but don’t exagerate with background information. A thesis is not a textbook. The main objective of having context is to introduce the significance of your work. Why are you doing what you are doing, and how does this help the scientific community. One of your student colleagues should be able to be introduced to the topic, have the pointers to the literature needed to understand deeper, and be compelled to continue reading.

The method section is the foundation of your work. It is not strictly required by the syllabus and can eventually be merged with “results”. However, is good practice to keep them separate. Here you should introduced the techniques that will be used in the result section, in order to decrease the reliance of external reference material and make your thesis self-sufficient.

For example, Hartree-Fock method, or cellular automata, are examples of well-known techniques that might be needed to understand your work. A brief and to the point description of this well-known method will help the reader. But restrain yourself and describe only the methods which are most relevant to your work. Other background information should be referenced to literature. Remember the page limit and to preserve the sanity and disposition of advisors and examiners. Think that we have to read few of these theses in a week, and while we want to verify you understand, reading pages of well known irrelevant details does not put us in the mood for a positive evaluation.

The results section is where “the beef” is. The main content of your work, your original contribution. Here you use the methods introduced, within the scientific context explained in the introduction, to provide new insight into the topic of your thesis. Depending on the type of thesis, stage of studies, ambition, field, it can be radically different. The results section is the one most comparable to articles. Therefore, you should take inspiration from the literature on how to present your results.

Here more than ever you have to consider Orwell’s suggestion: ask yourself “What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer?”. Try to focus a message and think of the best way to convey it.

A common mistake is thinking of the thesis as a simple laboratory report, where you are tempted to list all your trials in chronological order. Introducing results chronologically might be an efficient strategy (often a thesis progresses in complexity and builds on previous results), but it is not always the best strategy. Focus on the scientific message, and select those results that are important to illustrate that message.

Conclusion and Outlook

The conclusion gives the flavour and aftertaste. What you want the reader to take away and remember? What are the discoveries you made in your work, and how do they fit with and contribute to our understanding?

Moreover, an outlook must also be provided. That is, suggesting possible avenues for continuing the journey you started. What should we do next? Why?

Bibliography

The good researched and redacted bibliography is an essential part of a text. It provides both motivation, context and possibility to investigate deeper. In good bibliographies you can find insightful texts and hidden gems. An expert examiner (or referee) can almost judge the quality of a work by only looking at the attached bibliography. The bibliography is a good marker of quality because is a marker of the intellectual “diet” of a person. The more varied, deep, sophisticated is the diet the higher quality the work will usually come to be. An intellectual is just as good as his/her reading list and scientists make no exception.

Curate your reading list and demonstrate good use of the bibliography. Readers will be grateful.

Appendix and others

Appendix is an additional part of the text. It is a good and sometimes necessary addition. Interesting derivations, ancillary results, additional content, can enrich the text and provide details for the not-so-average reader. In the main text you target the audience of examiner and fellow students, that need to understand the scientific contribution you made. The appendix will be reserved for the reader that want more details. The student that have to pick up the work. Someone that might want to implement something you derived. Who want to know the nitty gritty of your results in order to reproduce them.

Before my time, way back when dinosaur roamed the earth, codes used to be attached in the appendix. Today is not that useful to have a line-by-line printout of the code. It is way easier to provide a link to a public or semi-public repository (like the division’s gitlab ), and often codes are now too complicated to be printed out with ease. However, this is an excellent example of the content of an appendix: something perhaps not directly scientifically relevant, but informative for people that want to look closer and work it out for themselves.

As I described in the article Tools of the trade , physics and theoretical physics in particular use Latex for scientific writing. This comes from a general tendency to prefer opensource and Linux-based tools. Moreover, latex has the perfect equation typeset. To write Latex you can use whatever text editor, but I find Kile to be the easiest editor. Some people use Lyx or Overleaf .

Since the bibliography in a thesis is substantial, is useful to use the proper instrument to cite it. I suggest to use bibtex, since is the most automatic and complete way to reference literature in latex. You have to put bibtex references in a separate .bib file, and cite it with \cite{...} . Figures and equation can be labelled with \label{...} and \ref{...} . Here is a short introduction to Latex by A. Cottrell, and a short tutorial on overleaf.com .

When the thesis is done and delivered. You will have to present it (and sometimes defend it) in front of the examiners. This usually consists in a presentation, that in LU Physics consists in 30 minutes or less. If your thesis needs to have a clear scientific message, this is doubly true for the presentation. In a presentation everything needs to be purposefully presented with the objective of delivering a single, impactful, scientific message.

A good exercise is: think of you thesis, and summarize the conclusion in 10 simple words or less. Now question everything: “does this help me deliver this 10 word message?”. Build your presentation on this.

Reason by blocks: the single presentation needs to build up to a single message; the single slide needs to have a single message that helps the presentation; the single figure and text needs to convey a single message that helps the slide. You get the jist.

If you have to revolutionize the structure you use in your thesis, or cut out many results, so be it. A presentation have to be convincing and compelling, not a complete account of your work. In fact quite the opposite. In the most prestigious conferences often you have few minutes to summarise years of work.

Also in the presentation, the most important attribute is precision. Avoid touching subjects you are not sure of and employ a specific and correct vocabulary adequate for your subject.

It is fairly common that after the presentation, the examiners request some changes before agreeing on the final mark. Don’t be discouraged, scientific work and writing is a lifelong endavour and this is an excellent opportunity to polish your craft. Maybe your last opportunity to confront yourself with professionals in scientific writing.

If your work is particularly original and potentially impactful, your advisor can propose to publish it in a scientific journal. If that’s the case, you can use results, figures and paragraphs you have produced in the thesis. You will discuss with your supervisor the type of article and the style to adopt.

In most cases, substantial revision is needed, because the format of an article is quite different from a thesis. A scientific article has a lower degree of self-sufficiency and a higher reliance on external sources. For example, in your thesis you might need to define Hartree Fock, in an article is not necessary in most cases, since it is a well known method and can be referenced. This might imply also that the notation you used might need a revision.

In this case, your supervisor will guide you very closely. It is good practice to offer a first draft, revised as asked. This first draft will probably need extensive correction, but again this is common. Having a publication out of a thesis up to several factors not always under your control, but certainly does feel good to have a test of the scientific maturity you have reached in such a short amount of time, and definetly will help future PhD publications.

This concludes this guide. Don’t hesitate to contact me for more explanation and suggest modification. Sorry if it’s long, I did not have time to make it shorter. To compensate, you deserve a Seal of approval to have arrived here!

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25 Research Ideas in Physics for High School Students

Research can be a valued supplement in your college application. However, many high schoolers are yet to explore research , which is a delicate process that may include choosing a topic, reviewing literature, conducting experiments, and writing a paper.

If you are interested in physics, exploring the physics realm through research is a great way to not only navigate your passion but learn about what research entails. Physics even branches out into other fields such as biology, chemistry, and math, so interest in physics is not a requirement to doing research in physics. Having research experience on your resume can be a great way to boost your college application and show independence, passion, ambition, and intellectual curiosity !

We will cover what exactly a good research topic entails and then provide you with 25 possible physics research topics that may interest or inspire you.

What is a good research topic?

Of course, you want to choose a topic that you are interested in. But beyond that, you should choose a topic that is relevant today ; for example, research questions that have already been answered after extensive research does not address a current knowledge gap . Make sure to also be cautious that your topic is not too broad that you are trying to cover too much ground and end up losing the details, but not too specific that you are unable to gather enough information.

Remember that topics can span across fields. You do not need to restrict yourself to a physics topic; you can conduct interdisciplinary research combining physics with other fields you may be interested in.

Research Ideas in Physics

We have compiled a list of 25 possible physics research topics suggested by Lumiere PhD mentors. These topics are separated into 8 broader categories.

Topic #1 : Using computational technologies and analyses

If you are interested in coding or technology in general , physics is also one place to look to explore these fields. You can explore anything from new technologies to datasets (even with coding) through a physics lens. Some computational or technological physics topics you can research are:

1.Development of computer programs to find and track positions of fast-moving nanoparticles and nanomachines

2. Features and limitations to augmented and virtual reality technologies, current industry standards of performance, and solutions that have been proposed to address challenges

3. Use of MATLAB or Python to work with existing code bases to design structures that trap light for interaction with qubits

4. Computational analysis of ATLAS open data using Python or C++

Suggested by Lumiere PhD mentors at University of Cambridge, University of Rochester, and Harvard University.

Topic #2 : Exploration of astrophysical and cosmological phenomena

Interested in space? Then astrophysics and cosmology may be just for you. There are lots of unanswered questions about astrophysical and cosmological phenomena that you can begin to answer. Here are some possible physics topics in these particular subfields that you can look into:

5. Cosmological mysteries (like dark energy, inflation, dark matter) and their hypothesized explanations

6. Possible future locations of detectors for cosmology and astrophysics research

7. Physical processes that shape galaxies through cosmic time in the context of extragalactic astronomy and the current issues and frontiers in galaxy evolution

8. Interaction of beyond-standard-model particles with astrophysical structures (such as black holes and Bose stars)

Suggested by Lumiere PhD mentors at Princeton University, Harvard University, Yale University, and University of California, Irvine.

Topic #3 : Mathematical analyses of physical phenomena

Math is deeply embedded in physics. Even if you may not be interested solely in physics, there are lots of mathematical applications and questions that you may be curious about. Using basic physics laws, you can learn how to derive your own mathematical equations and solve them in hopes that they address a current knowledge gap in physics. Some examples of topics include:

9. Analytical approximation and numerical solving of equations that determine the evolution of different particles after the Big Bang

10. Mathematical derivation of the dynamics of particles from fundamental laws (such as special relativity, general relativity, quantum mechanics)

11. The basics of Riemannian geometry and how simple geometrical arguments can be used to construct the ingredients of Einstein’s equations of general relativity that relate the curvature of space-time with energy-mass

Suggested by Lumiere PhD mentors at Harvard University, University of Southampton, and Pennsylvania State University.

Topic #4 : Nuclear applications in physics

Nuclear science and its possible benefits and implications are important topics to explore and understand in today’s society, which often uses nuclear energy. One possible nuclear physics topic to look into is:

12. Radiation or radiation measurement in applications of nuclear physics (such as reactors, nuclear batteries, sensors/detectors)

Suggested by a Lumiere PhD mentor at University of Chicago.

Topic #5 : Analyzing biophysical data

Biology and even medicine are applicable fields in physics. Using physics to figure out how to improve biology research or understand biological systems is common. Some biophysics topics to research may include the following:

13. Simulation of biological systems using data science techniques to analyze biological data sets

14. Design and construction of DNA nanomachines that operate in liquid environments

15. Representation and decomposition of MEG/EEG brain signals using fundamental electricity and magnetism concepts

16. Use of novel methods to make better images in the context of biology and obtain high resolution images of biological samples

Suggested by Lumiere PhD mentors at University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of Washington, and University of Rochester

Topic #6 : Identifying electrical and mechanical properties

Even engineering has great applications in the field of physics. There are different phenomena in physics from cells to Boson particles with interesting electrical and/or mechanical properties. If you are interested in electrical or mechanical engineering or even just the basics , these are some related physics topics:

17. Simulations of how cells react to electrical and mechanical stimuli

18. The best magneto-hydrodynamic drive for high electrical permittivity fluids

19. The electrical and thermodynamic properties of Boson particles, whose quantum nature is responsible for laser radiation

Suggested by Lumiere PhD mentors at Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, and Harvard University.

Topic #7 : Quantum properties and theories

Quantum physics studies science at the most fundamental level , and there are many questions yet to be answered. Although there have been recent breakthroughs in the quantum physics field, there are still many undiscovered sub areas that you can explore. These are possible quantum physics research topics:

20. The recent theoretical and experimental advances in the quantum computing field (such as Google’s recent breakthrough result) and explore current high impact research directions for quantum computing from a hardware or theoretical perspective

21. Discovery a new undiscovered composite particle called toponium and how to utilize data from detectors used to observe proton collisions for discoveries

22. Describing a black hole and its quantum properties geometrically as a curvature of space-time and how studying these properties can potentially solve the singularity problem

Suggested by Lumiere PhD mentors at Stanford University, Purdue University, University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.

Topic #8 : Renewable energy and climate change solutions

Climate change is an urgent issue , and you can use physics to research environmental topics ranging from renewable energies to global temperature increases . Some ideas of environmentally related physics research topics are:

23. New materials for the production of hydrogen fuel

24. Analysis of emissions involved in the production, use, and disposal of products

25. Nuclear fission or nuclear fusion energy as possible solutions to mitigate climate change

Suggested by Lumiere PhD mentors at Northwestern University and Princeton University.

If you’re looking for a competitive mentored research program in subjects like data science, machine learning, political theory, biology, and chemistry, consider applying to Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs ! 

This is a selective virtual research program that lets you engage in advanced research and develop a research paper in a subject of your choosing. Horizon has worked with 1000+ high school students so far, and offers 600+ research specializations for you to choose from. 

You can find the application link here

If you are passionate or even curious about physics and would like to do research and learn more, consider applying to the Lumiere Research Scholar Program , which is a selective online high school program for students interested in researching with the help of mentors. You can find the application form here .

Rachel is a first year at Harvard University concentrating in neuroscience. She is passionate about health policy and educational equity, and she enjoys traveling and dancing.

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50 best physics topics for all levels.

February 27, 2020

Physics is the branch of science that studies the nature and properties of matter and energy. As this is a vast subject, there are many physics topics and phenomena to consider to last a lifetime. Therefore, choosing topics in physics either for a project, research, or presentation may be quite demanding, and this is why we offer you this list of interesting physics topics. These cool physics topics will give you just the calm you need for that research paper, presentation, or exam. Without further ado, let’s delve into the physics topics list prepared specially for you!

Physics Research Paper Topics

As a student, you’ll be have to write a research paper during your studies. Every student offering physics has a range of physics research topics they find interesting. Sometimes, you may have the liberty to choose your physics paper topics, and at other times, the professor may give you some physics topics for paper. If you have the liberty to choose physics projects topics, rejoice! While rejoicing, though, remember that choosing physics topics for project or research could be difficult, but at least you can work on areas you most enjoy.

There are a lot of physics research topics for high school. Are you ready to explore physics project topics? Let’s roll!

• The Study of Kinetic Energy and Sports Science.
• The Study of Human Energy Consumption and Nuclear Physics.
• A Study on the Role of Physics in the Reduction of Global Warming
• Making an Atomic Bomb: An exhaustive Study on the Principles by which an atomic bomb acts.
• How Physics has evolved over the years and why it is essential in society.

Physics Essay Topics

Sometimes, students may be required to write a physics essay on physics science topics or topics related to physics. If you’re given the liberty to choose a topic, then you must select interesting topics. Below are some physics essay topics that are cool and captivating.

• The Roles physics plays in the health care industry.
• Timeline of 20th-century innovation that revolutionized physics.
• Other possible applications of the concept of magnetism.
• Contributions of the Curies to nuclear physics?
• Roles of Isaac Newton in the field of Physics as a Science.
• How knowledge of physics has caused harm to societies.
• Why robots are essential in industries.
• The role of physics in making the US a superpower.
• What do you consider to be the greatest invention in history?
• Galileo Galilei and the Church.
• The Physics behind how rainbows emerge.
• How physics have helped to prevent head trauma in sports.
• Magnetic Levitation and travel: Possible future applications.
• How Tesla Revolutionized physics.

High School Physics Topics

There are a lot of topics in physics high school curriculum that students are required to study. Sometimes, these topics of physics could include advanced physics topics, mainly taken by people who want a career in physics or science. The topics taught in high school caters for SAT and some other exams. The high school physics topics are therefore embedded in the SAT physics topics below.

SAT Physics Topics

Are you looking towards taking the SAT physics and would like to know where your focus should lie? This SAT physics Topics list will serve as a guide to the essential areas of physics to cover!

• Kinematics e.g., motion of projectiles
• Circular motion e.g., uniform circular motion
• Dynamics e.g., Newton’s laws
• Simple harmonic motion (SHM) e.g., the pendulum
• Energy and momentum e.g., power
• Gravity e.g., Kepler’s laws
• Electric fields, forces, and potentials, e.g., Coulomb’s law
• Circuit elements and DC circuits e.g., Ohm’s law
• Capacitance e.g., parallel-plate capacitors
• Magnetism e.g., Lenz’s law
• General wave properties e.g., frequency
• Ray optics e.g., lenses
• Reflection and refraction, e.g., Snell’s law
• Physical optics e.g., polarization
• Thermal properties e.g., heat transfer
• Laws of thermodynamics e.g., internal energy
• Quantum phenomena e.g., photoelectric effect
• Atomic e.g., Bohr models
• Nuclear and particle physics e.g., radioactivity
• Relativity e.g. time dilation
• General e.g., history of physics
• Analytical skills e.g., graphical analysis
• Contemporary physics e.g., astrophysics

Physics GRE Topics

Are you looking towards taking the physics GREs and would like to know what areas of physics to concentrate on? This physics GRE topics list will serve as a guide to the essential areas of physics to cover for your exam!

• Classical mechanics
• Electromagnetism
• Optics and wave phenomena
• Quantum mechanics
• Atomic physics
• Special relativity
• Thermodynamics and statistical mechanics
• Astrophysics
• Laboratory methods
• Specialized topics e.g. nuclear and particle physics, condensed matter, mathematical methods, computer applications

Physics IA topics

These physics IA topics will help you to write an outstanding paper!

• What is the effect of temperature on the spring constant of a spring?
• What is the effect of temperature on the speed of sound in a solid?
• What is the effect of temperature on fluid viscosity?
• What is the effect of water content in wood on the Young Modulus?
• What is the effect of the number of coils on the efficiency of an electric motor?

Physics Topics For Presentation

You may be required to give a presentation on diverse topics of physics. As a presenter, you must ensure that you choose interesting physics topics for presentation with amazing concepts!

• General relativity versus special relatively.
• Touchscreens
• The physics of fire
• Weightlessness
• Atmospheric optics

Theoretical Physics Topics

A theoretical physicist attempts to comprehend nature and the laws governing her. They do not carry out a direct observation of nature or conduct experiments like practical or applied physicists. Theoretical physicists use mathematics to develop and refine physics theories. Here are some theoretical physics topics for your theoretical mind!

• Quantized Spaces
• Dynamics of Anyons Collision
• Distribution Functions: Gluon
• Quantum Tunneling
• General Relativity (1+1) Dimensions

So here we are! 50 physics topics just for you! With this list of physics topics, you’ll surely compose a masterpiece. In case you need assistance, don’t hesitate to contact our writing service .

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Home » 500+ Physics Research Topics

500+ Physics Research Topics

Table of Contents

Physics is the study of matter, energy, and the fundamental forces that govern the universe. It is a broad and fascinating field that has given us many of the greatest scientific discoveries in history , from the theory of relativity to the discovery of the Higgs boson. As a result, physics research is always at the forefront of scientific advancement, and there are countless exciting topics to explore. In this blog post, we will take a look at some of the most fascinating and cutting-edge physics research topics that are being explored by scientists today. Whether you are a student, researcher, or simply someone with a passion for science, there is sure to be something in this list that will pique your interest.

Physics Research Topics

Physics Research Topics are as follows:

Physics Research Topics for Grade 9

• Investigating the properties of waves: amplitude, frequency, wavelength, and speed.
• The effect of temperature on the expansion and contraction of materials.
• The relationship between mass, velocity, and momentum.
• The behavior of light in different mediums and the concept of refraction.
• The effect of gravity on objects and the concept of weight.
• The principles of electricity and magnetism and their applications.
• The concept of work, energy, and power and their relationship.
• The study of simple machines and their efficiency.
• The behavior of sound waves and the concept of resonance.
• The properties of gases and the concept of pressure.
• The principles of heat transfer and thermal energy.
• The study of motion, including speed, velocity, and acceleration.
• The behavior of fluids and the concept of viscosity.
• The concept of density and its applications.
• The study of electric circuits and their components.
• The principles of nuclear physics and their applications.
• The behavior of electromagnetic waves and the concept of radiation.
• The properties of solids and the concept of elasticity.
• The study of light and the electromagnetic spectrum.
• The concept of force and its relationship to motion.
• The behavior of waves in different mediums and the concept of interference.
• The principles of thermodynamics and their applications.
• The study of optics and the concept of lenses.
• The concept of waves and their characteristics.
• The study of atomic structure and the behavior of subatomic particles.
• The principles of quantum mechanics and their applications.
• The behavior of light and the concept of polarization.
• The study of the properties of matter and the concept of phase transitions.
• The concept of work done by a force and its relationship to energy.
• The study of motion in two dimensions, including projectile motion and circular motion.

Physics Research Topics for Grade 10

• Investigating the motion of objects on inclined planes
• Analyzing the effect of different variables on pendulum oscillations
• Understanding the properties of waves through the study of sound
• Investigating the behavior of light through refraction and reflection experiments
• Examining the laws of thermodynamics and their applications in real-life situations
• Analyzing the relationship between electric fields and electric charges
• Understanding the principles of magnetism and electromagnetism
• Investigating the properties of different materials and their conductivity
• Analyzing the concept of work, power, and energy in relation to mechanical systems
• Investigating the laws of motion and their application in real-life situations
• Understanding the principles of nuclear physics and radioactivity
• Analyzing the properties of gases and the behavior of ideal gases
• Investigating the concept of elasticity and Hooke’s law
• Understanding the properties of liquids and the concept of buoyancy
• Analyzing the behavior of simple harmonic motion and its applications
• Investigating the properties of electromagnetic waves and their applications
• Understanding the principles of wave-particle duality and quantum mechanics
• Analyzing the properties of electric circuits and their applications
• Investigating the concept of capacitance and its application in circuits
• Understanding the properties of waves in different media and their applications
• Analyzing the principles of optics and the behavior of lenses
• Investigating the properties of forces and their application in real-life situations
• Understanding the principles of energy conservation and its applications
• Analyzing the concept of momentum and its conservation in collisions
• Investigating the properties of sound waves and their applications
• Understanding the behavior of electric and magnetic fields in charged particles
• Analyzing the principles of thermodynamics and the behavior of gases
• Investigating the properties of electric generators and motors
• Understanding the principles of electromagnetism and electromagnetic induction
• Analyzing the behavior of waves and their interference patterns.

Physics Research Topics for Grade 11

• Investigating the effect of temperature on the resistance of a wire
• Determining the velocity of sound in different mediums
• Measuring the force required to move a mass on an inclined plane
• Examining the relationship between wavelength and frequency of electromagnetic waves
• Analyzing the reflection and refraction of light through various media
• Investigating the properties of simple harmonic motion
• Examining the efficiency of different types of motors
• Measuring the acceleration due to gravity using a pendulum
• Determining the index of refraction of a material using Snell’s law
• Investigating the behavior of waves in different mediums
• Analyzing the effect of temperature on the volume of a gas
• Examining the relationship between current, voltage, and resistance in a circuit
• Investigating the principles of Coulomb’s law and electric fields
• Analyzing the properties of electromagnetic radiation
• Investigating the properties of magnetic fields
• Examining the behavior of light in different types of lenses
• Measuring the speed of light using different methods
• Investigating the properties of capacitors and inductors in circuits
• Analyzing the principles of simple harmonic motion in springs
• Examining the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration
• Investigating the behavior of waves in different types of materials
• Determining the energy output of different types of batteries
• Analyzing the properties of electric circuits
• Investigating the properties of electric and magnetic fields
• Examining the principles of radioactivity
• Measuring the heat capacity of different materials
• Investigating the properties of thermal conduction
• Examining the behavior of light in different types of mirrors
• Analyzing the principles of electromagnetic induction
• Investigating the properties of waves in different types of strings.

Physics Research Topics for Grade 12

• Investigating the efficiency of solar panels in converting light energy to electrical energy.
• Studying the behavior of waves in different mediums.
• Analyzing the relationship between temperature and pressure in ideal gases.
• Investigating the properties of electromagnetic waves and their applications.
• Analyzing the behavior of light and its interaction with matter.
• Examining the principles of quantum mechanics and their applications.
• Investigating the properties of superconductors and their potential uses.
• Studying the properties of semiconductors and their applications in electronics.
• Analyzing the properties of magnetism and its applications.
• Investigating the properties of nuclear energy and its applications.
• Studying the principles of thermodynamics and their applications.
• Analyzing the properties of fluids and their behavior in different conditions.
• Investigating the principles of optics and their applications.
• Studying the properties of sound waves and their behavior in different mediums.
• Analyzing the properties of electricity and its applications in different devices.
• Investigating the principles of relativity and their applications.
• Studying the properties of black holes and their effect on the universe.
• Analyzing the properties of dark matter and its impact on the universe.
• Investigating the principles of particle physics and their applications.
• Studying the properties of antimatter and its potential uses.
• Analyzing the principles of astrophysics and their applications.
• Investigating the properties of gravity and its impact on the universe.
• Studying the properties of dark energy and its effect on the universe.
• Analyzing the principles of cosmology and their applications.
• Investigating the properties of time and its effect on the universe.
• Studying the properties of space and its relationship with time.
• Analyzing the principles of the Big Bang Theory and its implications.
• Investigating the properties of the Higgs boson and its impact on particle physics.
• Studying the properties of string theory and its implications.
• Analyzing the principles of chaos theory and its applications in physics.

Physics Research Topics for UnderGraduate

• Investigating the effects of temperature on the conductivity of different materials.
• Studying the behavior of light in different mediums.
• Analyzing the properties of superconductors and their potential applications.
• Examining the principles of thermodynamics and their practical applications.
• Investigating the behavior of sound waves in different environments.
• Studying the characteristics of magnetic fields and their applications.
• Analyzing the principles of optics and their role in modern technology.
• Examining the principles of quantum mechanics and their implications.
• Investigating the properties of semiconductors and their use in electronics.
• Studying the properties of gases and their behavior under different conditions.
• Analyzing the principles of nuclear physics and their practical applications.
• Examining the properties of waves and their applications in communication.
• Investigating the principles of relativity and their implications for the nature of space and time.
• Studying the behavior of particles in different environments, including accelerators and colliders.
• Analyzing the principles of chaos theory and their implications for complex systems.
• Examining the principles of fluid mechanics and their applications in engineering and science.
• Investigating the principles of solid-state physics and their applications in materials science.
• Studying the properties of electromagnetic waves and their use in modern technology.
• Analyzing the principles of gravitation and their role in the structure of the universe.
• Examining the principles of quantum field theory and their implications for the nature of particles and fields.
• Investigating the properties of black holes and their role in astrophysics.
• Studying the principles of string theory and their implications for the nature of matter and energy.
• Analyzing the properties of dark matter and its role in cosmology.
• Examining the principles of condensed matter physics and their applications in materials science.
• Investigating the principles of statistical mechanics and their implications for the behavior of large systems.
• Studying the properties of plasma and its applications in fusion energy research.
• Analyzing the principles of general relativity and their implications for the nature of space-time.
• Examining the principles of quantum computing and its potential applications.
• Investigating the principles of high energy physics and their role in understanding the fundamental laws of nature.
• Studying the principles of astrobiology and their implications for the search for life beyond Earth.

Physics Research Topics for Masters

• Investigating the principles and applications of quantum cryptography.
• Analyzing the behavior of Bose-Einstein condensates and their potential applications.
• Studying the principles of photonics and their role in modern technology.
• Examining the properties of topological materials and their potential applications.
• Investigating the principles and applications of graphene and other 2D materials.
• Studying the principles of quantum entanglement and their implications for information processing.
• Analyzing the principles of quantum field theory and their implications for particle physics.
• Examining the properties of quantum dots and their use in nanotechnology.
• Investigating the principles of quantum sensing and their potential applications.
• Studying the behavior of quantum many-body systems and their potential applications.
• Analyzing the principles of cosmology and their implications for the early universe.
• Examining the principles of dark energy and dark matter and their role in cosmology.
• Investigating the properties of gravitational waves and their detection.
• Studying the principles of quantum computing and their potential applications in solving complex problems.
• Analyzing the properties of topological insulators and their potential applications in quantum computing and electronics.
• Examining the principles of quantum simulations and their potential applications in studying complex systems.
• Investigating the principles of quantum error correction and their implications for quantum computing.
• Studying the behavior of quarks and gluons in high energy collisions.
• Analyzing the principles of quantum phase transitions and their implications for condensed matter physics.
• Examining the principles of quantum annealing and their potential applications in optimization problems.
• Investigating the properties of spintronics and their potential applications in electronics.
• Studying the behavior of non-linear systems and their applications in physics and engineering.
• Analyzing the principles of quantum metrology and their potential applications in precision measurement.
• Examining the principles of quantum teleportation and their implications for information processing.
• Investigating the properties of topological superconductors and their potential applications.
• Studying the principles of quantum chaos and their implications for complex systems.
• Analyzing the properties of magnetars and their role in astrophysics.
• Examining the principles of quantum thermodynamics and their implications for the behavior of small systems.
• Investigating the principles of quantum gravity and their implications for the structure of the universe.
• Studying the behavior of strongly correlated systems and their applications in condensed matter physics.

Physics Research Topics for PhD

• Quantum computing: theory and applications.
• Topological phases of matter and their applications in quantum information science.
• Quantum field theory and its applications to high-energy physics.
• Experimental investigations of the Higgs boson and other particles in the Standard Model.
• Theoretical and experimental study of dark matter and dark energy.
• Applications of quantum optics in quantum information science and quantum computing.
• Nanophotonics and nanomaterials for quantum technologies.
• Development of advanced laser sources for fundamental physics and engineering applications.
• Study of exotic states of matter and their properties using high energy physics techniques.
• Quantum information processing and communication using optical fibers and integrated waveguides.
• Advanced computational methods for modeling complex systems in physics.
• Development of novel materials with unique properties for energy applications.
• Magnetic and spintronic materials and their applications in computing and data storage.
• Quantum simulations and quantum annealing for solving complex optimization problems.
• Gravitational waves and their detection using interferometry techniques.
• Study of quantum coherence and entanglement in complex quantum systems.
• Development of novel imaging techniques for medical and biological applications.
• Nanoelectronics and quantum electronics for computing and communication.
• High-temperature superconductivity and its applications in power generation and storage.
• Quantum mechanics and its applications in condensed matter physics.
• Development of new methods for detecting and analyzing subatomic particles.
• Atomic, molecular, and optical physics for precision measurements and quantum technologies.
• Neutrino physics and its role in astrophysics and cosmology.
• Quantum information theory and its applications in cryptography and secure communication.
• Study of topological defects and their role in phase transitions and cosmology.
• Experimental study of strong and weak interactions in nuclear physics.
• Study of the properties of ultra-cold atomic gases and Bose-Einstein condensates.
• Theoretical and experimental study of non-equilibrium quantum systems and their dynamics.
• Development of new methods for ultrafast spectroscopy and imaging.
• Study of the properties of materials under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature.

Random Physics Research Topics

• Quantum entanglement and its applications
• Gravitational waves and their detection
• Dark matter and dark energy
• High-energy particle collisions and their outcomes
• Atomic and molecular physics
• Theoretical and experimental study of superconductivity
• Plasma physics and its applications
• Neutrino oscillations and their detection
• Quantum computing and information
• The physics of black holes and their properties
• Study of subatomic particles like quarks and gluons
• Investigation of the nature of time and space
• Topological phases in condensed matter systems
• Magnetic fields and their applications
• Nanotechnology and its impact on physics research
• Theory and observation of cosmic microwave background radiation
• Investigation of the origin and evolution of the universe
• Study of high-temperature superconductivity
• Quantum field theory and its applications
• Study of the properties of superfluids
• The physics of plasmonics and its applications
• Experimental and theoretical study of semiconductor materials
• Investigation of the quantum Hall effect
• The physics of superstring theory and its applications
• Theoretical study of the nature of dark matter
• Study of quantum chaos and its applications
• Investigation of the Casimir effect
• The physics of spintronics and its applications
• Study of the properties of topological insulators
• Investigation of the nature of the Higgs boson
• The physics of quantum dots and its applications
• Study of quantum many-body systems
• Investigation of the nature of the strong force
• Theoretical and experimental study of photonics
• Study of topological defects in condensed matter systems
• Investigation of the nature of the weak force
• The physics of plasmas in space
• Study of the properties of graphene
• Investigation of the nature of antimatter
• The physics of optical trapping and manipulation
• Study of the properties of Bose-Einstein condensates
• Investigation of the nature of the neutrino
• The physics of quantum thermodynamics
• Study of the properties of quantum dots
• Investigation of the nature of dark energy
• The physics of magnetic confinement fusion
• Study of the properties of topological quantum field theories
• Investigation of the nature of gravitational lensing
• The physics of laser cooling and trapping
• Study of the properties of quantum Hall states.
• The effects of dark energy on the expansion of the universe
• Quantum entanglement and its applications in cryptography
• The study of black holes and their event horizons
• The potential existence of parallel universes
• The relationship between dark matter and the formation of galaxies
• The impact of solar flares on the Earth’s magnetic field
• The effects of cosmic rays on human biology
• The development of quantum computing technology
• The properties of superconductors at high temperatures
• The search for a theory of everything
• The study of gravitational waves and their detection
• The behavior of particles in extreme environments such as neutron stars
• The relationship between relativity and quantum mechanics
• The development of new materials for solar cells
• The study of the early universe and cosmic microwave background radiation
• The physics of the human voice and speech production
• The behavior of matter in extreme conditions such as high pressure and temperature
• The properties of dark matter and its interactions with ordinary matter
• The potential for harnessing nuclear fusion as a clean energy source
• The study of high-energy particle collisions and the discovery of new particles
• The physics of biological systems such as the brain and DNA
• The behavior of fluids in microgravity environments
• The properties of graphene and its potential applications in electronics
• The physics of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis
• The development of new technologies for space exploration and travel
• The study of atmospheric physics and climate change
• The physics of sound and musical instruments
• The behavior of electrons in quantum dots
• The properties of superfluids and Bose-Einstein condensates
• The physics of animal locomotion and movement
• The development of new imaging techniques for medical applications
• The physics of renewable energy sources such as wind and hydroelectric power
• The properties of quantum materials and their potential for quantum computing
• The physics of sports and athletic performance
• The study of magnetism and magnetic materials
• The physics of earthquakes and the prediction of seismic activity
• The behavior of plasma in fusion reactors
• The properties of exotic states of matter such as quark-gluon plasma
• The development of new technologies for energy storage
• The physics of fluids in porous media
• The properties of quantum dots and their potential for new technologies
• The study of materials under extreme conditions such as extreme temperatures and pressures
• The physics of the human body and medical imaging
• The development of new materials for energy conversion and storage
• The study of cosmic rays and their effects on the atmosphere and human health
• The physics of friction and wear in materials
• The properties of topological materials and their potential for new technologies
• The physics of ocean waves and tides
• The behavior of particles in magnetic fields
• The properties of complex networks and their application in various fields

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Top 50 Emerging Research Topics in Physics

Explore the Fascinating Research Topics in Physics

Physics is a field that constantly evolves as researchers push the boundaries of our understanding of the universe. Over the years, countless ground-breaking discoveries have been made, from the theory of relativity to the discovery of the Higgs boson. In this article, iLovePhD will present you with the top 50 emerging research topics in physics, highlighting the frontiers of knowledge and the exciting possibilities they hold.

1. Quantum Computing

• Quantum algorithms for optimization problems • Quantum error correction and fault tolerance • Quantum machine learning and artificial intelligence

2. Dark Matter

• Identifying dark matter particles • Dark matter and galaxy formation • New experimental techniques for dark matter detection

3. Quantum Gravity

• String theory and its implications • Emergent space-time from quantum entanglement • Quantum gravity and black hole information paradox

4. High-Temperature Superconductors

• Understanding the mechanism behind high-temperature superconductivity • New materials and applications • Room-temperature superconductors

5. Neutrino Physics

• Neutrino mass hierarchy and oscillations • Neutrinos in astrophysics and cosmology • Neutrinoless double beta decay

6. Exoplanets and Astrobiology

• Characterizing exoplanet atmospheres • Habitability and the search for life beyond Earth • The role of water in astrobiology

7. Topological Matter

• Topological insulators and superconductors • Topological materials for quantum computing • Topological photonics

8. Quantum Simulation

• Simulating complex quantum systems • Quantum simulation for materials science • Quantum simulators for fundamental physics

9. Plasma Physics

• Fusion energy and the quest for sustainable power • Space weather and its impact on technology • Nonlinear dynamics in plasmas

10. Gravitational Waves

• Multi-messenger astronomy with gravitational waves • Probing the early universe with gravitational waves • Next-generation gravitational wave detectors

11. Black Holes

• Black hole thermodynamics and the information paradox • Observational techniques for studying black holes • Black hole mergers and their cosmic implications

12. Quantum Sensors

• Quantum-enhanced sensing technologies • Quantum sensors for medical diagnostics • Quantum sensor networks

13. Photonics and Quantum Optics

• Quantum communication and cryptography • Quantum-enhanced imaging and microscopy • Photonic integrated circuits for quantum computing

14. Materials Science

• 2D materials and their applications • Metamaterials and cloaking devices • Bioinspired materials for diverse applications

15. Nuclear Physics

• Nuclear structure and reactions • Nuclear astrophysics and the origin of elements • Applications in nuclear medicine

16. Quantum Thermodynamics

• Quantum heat engines and refrigerators • Quantum thermodynamics in the quantum computing era • Entanglement and thermodynamics

17. High-Energy Particle Physics

• Beyond the Standard Model physics • Particle cosmology and the early universe • Future colliders and experiments

18. Quantum Materials

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• Time crystals and their quantum properties • Applications in precision timekeeping • Space-time crystals in quantum information

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• Theoretical models and experimental evidence • Quantum properties of supersolids • Supersolidity in astrophysical contexts

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• Colloidal suspensions and self-assembly • Active matter and biological systems • Liquid crystals and display technologies

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• Nature of dark energy and cosmic acceleration • Probing dark energy with large-scale surveys • Modified gravity theories

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• Spin-based electronics for quantum computing • Spin transport and manipulation in materials • Quantum spin devices for information processing

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• Conformal field theories and holography • Nonperturbative methods in quantum field theory • Quantum field theory in cosmology

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• Terahertz imaging and sensing • Terahertz sources and detectors • Terahertz applications in healthcare and security

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• Holography and black hole physics • AdS/CFT correspondence and quantum many-body systems • Holography in condensed matter physics

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• Secure quantum communication protocols • Quantum-resistant cryptography • Quantum key distribution in real-world applications

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• Quantum manifestations of classical chaos • Quantum chaos in black hole physics • Quantum scrambling and fast scrambling

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• Quantum dots and artificial atoms • Quantum interference and coherence in mesoscopic systems • Mesoscopic transport and the quantum Hall effect

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• Experimental tests of quantum gravity • Quantum gravity and cosmological observations • Quantum gravity and the early universe

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• Spin-orbit coupling in condensed matter systems • Topological insulators and spintronics • Spin-orbit-coupled gases in ultracold atomic physics

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• Quantum optomechanics and its applications • Cavity optomechanics in quantum information • Cooling and manipulation of mechanical resonators

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• Quantum criticality and universality classes • Quantum phase transitions in ultra-cold atomic gases • Quantum Ising and XY models in condensed matter

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• Topological qubits and fault-tolerant quantum computing • Implementing quantum gates in topological qubits • Topological quantum error correction codes

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• Exotic phases of quantum matter • Supersolidity in ultra-cold gases • Applications in precision measurements

45. Quantum Key Distribution

• Quantum cryptography for secure communication • Quantum repeaters and long-distance communication • Quantum key distribution in a practical setting

46. Quantum Spin Liquids

• Novel magnetic states and excitations • Fractionalized particles and any statistics • Quantum spin liquids in frustrated materials

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• Topological edge states and protected transport • Topological insulators in condensed matter systems • Topological materials for quantum computing

48. Quantum Artificial Intelligence

• Quantum machine learning algorithms • Quantum-enhanced optimization for AI • Quantum computing for AI and data analysis

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• Sonic black holes and Hawking radiation in fluids • Aeroacoustics and noise reduction • Hydrodynamic instabilities and turbulence The field of physics is a treasure trove of exciting research opportunities that span from the universe’s fundamental building blocks to the development of cutting-edge technologies. These emerging research topics offer a glimpse into the future of physics and the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos and the technologies that shape our world. As researchers delve into these topics, they bring us one step closer to unlocking the mysteries of the universe.

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Teaching Physics With a Real-World Context

Placed-based learning provides a way for high school students to directly engage with scientific phenomena in their daily lives.

British mathematician Roger Penrose said, “Sometimes it’s the detours which turn out to be fruitful ideas.” As a physics teacher, I’ve filmed or photographed a physics phenomenon, such as a rotating carousel or a rolling shopping cart, because I find it captivating and hope that my students will too. These detours have inspired fruitful learning experiences in my physics class. I can facilitate meaningful engagement by helping students connect what they learn in class with what they observe in the real world. 

I use place-based learning to engage students in their physical environment by encouraging them to ask physics-based questions about their surroundings. Using the walkSTEM philosophy developed by Dr. Koshi Dhingra, students can transform their questions into short, educational videos for the general public. This activity inspired my school to create walkSTEM @ Marymount four years ago.

The value of the current project, walkSTEM East Harlem, can be traced back to the need to cultivate a deeper interest in STEM among girls. A recent report by the Women’s Foundation of Boston suggests that one effective way to foster this interest is by introducing authentic, hands-on learning experiences that are relatable and community-based. 

Project Overview

I first introduced walkSTEM projects in my AP Physics class four years ago when we created a virtual walking tour of Central Park. My students regularly film real-world physics phenomena, and walkSTEM seemed like a natural extension of the work I had already been doing. 

This year, our Upper Campus relocated to East Harlem. This provided an opportunity for my students to learn about their new neighborhood and the hidden examples of physics in the school environs. As such, walkSTEM East Harlem, the final project for Honors Physics 2023–24, was born.

The project kicks off in January and concludes in early May. This timeline gives students multiple opportunities for feedback and revision. It is critical in that their work enters the public sphere; this needs to be their best work.

My students begin the project by observing examples of physics in our local neighborhood. For example, students might observe a hanging sign at a local business (translational and rotational equilibrium) or the door at Starbucks (Newton’s Second Law for Rotation). Students take photos at several locations with their mobile devices and then generate “observable questions” about the locations. Students complete their observations on their own, doing their observations on their way to or from school. This process takes approximately three weeks. Getting good photos of good physics with good questions is essential!

This is one point at which students tend to struggle—finding it hard to write questions that the general public may ask. For example, when thinking about a playground slide, “Why is the slide shiny?” is a better question than “How do you calculate the coefficient of kinetic friction of the slide?” At this point, students get feedback from me and from their peers and settle on one final location and question. 

Once their final location and question have been approved, students are required to produce a 90-second to two-minute video that highlights the location, states the place-based physics question, and provides a plain-language response to the question. This part of the process can present another challenge to students. As they write their scripts, I remind them that “shorter is better.” Here’s an example of an effective storyline arc:

Set the scene: “This is the Pacific Wheel on the Santa Monica Pier. The Santa Monica Pier is one of the most iconic locations in California and is also the western terminus of Route 66.”

Pose the question: “You will notice that the Pacific Wheel rotates at a constant angular velocity. Would the Pacific Wheel’s angular velocity change if there were more people on the Wheel—i.e., the Wheel’s mass was greater?”

Answer the question: “The Wheel is designed to rotate at a specific angular velocity based on a minimum number of people on the ride. Having every car filled will not slow the wheel down.”

Writing the script is often the most challenging part of the project. Students often try to use a combination of mathematics and physics equations to support their explanations. In order to translate complex physics concepts into plain-language explanations, students need a deep understanding of the physics associated with their location and question. While students receive feedback from me and from their peers, they’re also required to get feedback from a “general public audience”—their parents or guardians or a younger sibling. As Roman philosopher Seneca noted, “ Docendo discimus ,” or, “By teaching, we learn.”

Students then produce their videos using their preferred platform: Adobe Express, Keynote, or Canva. Here again, the narrative and storyline are important. Students are given the following visual presentation structure: 

• Physics connection
• Set the scene: Photo or video
• Set the scene: Location
• Pose the question: Annotate the photo or video
• Answer the question: Annotate the photo or video

Then once more to the feedback pool—draft videos are reviewed by their peers and me. This is when students can correct any errors before final publication.

Students then create a “virtual” tour on Google Earth. For each location, students create a placemark and embed the video into it.

You can access our walkSTEM East Harlem tour on Google Earth. 

Student Feedback on the PRoject

In order to produce an effective video, students have to demonstrate a deep understanding of their concept. They really have to know their stuff to explain it well! At the end of the project, students were asked to reflect on their learning experience and were given the following prompts:

1. Comment on how your final project represents your understanding of physics.

2. Comment on how your final project helped connect your understanding of physics to the real world. 

Their responses showed that they had a positive experience using this protocol:

“Our learning went outside the box, both figuratively and literally, and we were able to share the knowledge we gained in bite-sized videos with our community.” 

“I was able to choose my location and question to answer for this project; as a result, I became very interested in my topic—torque—and learned about its importance in the real world.” 

The takeaway: As a physics teacher, I want my students to ask questions about the physics and phenomena they observe in the real world. That’s why I love the walkSTEM protocol. All students have a framework by which they can answer their place-based questions with plain-language explanations for the general public.

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

On the possible use of hydraulic force to assist with building the step pyramid of saqqara

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected] , [email protected]

Affiliation Paleotechnic., Paris, France

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Univ. Grenoble Alpes, INRAE, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble INP, IGE, Grenoble, France

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Visualization

Affiliation Sicame Group, Arnac-Pompadour, France

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation CEDETE—Centre d’études sur le Développement des Territoires et l’Environnement, Université d’Orléans, Orléans, France

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Validation

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization

Affiliation AtoutsCarto, Bourges, France

Roles Methodology, Project administration

Affiliation Verilux International, Brienon-sur-Armançon, France

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Validation, Writing – review & editing

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Validation

• Xavier Landreau, 
• Guillaume Piton, 
• Guillaume Morin, 
• Pascal Bartout, 
• Laurent Touchart, 
• Christophe Giraud, 
• Jean-Claude Barre, 
• Cyrielle Guerin, 
• Alexis Alibert, 
• Charly Lallemand

• Published: August 5, 2024
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690
• Reader Comments

The Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, Egypt, is considered the oldest of the seven monumental pyramids built about 4,500 years ago. From transdisciplinary analysis, it was discovered that a hydraulic lift may have been used to build the pyramid. Based on our mapping of the nearby watersheds, we show that one of the unexplained massive Saqqara structures, the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure, has the features of a check dam with the intent to trap sediment and water. The topography beyond the dam suggests a possible ephemeral lake west of the Djoser complex and water flow inside the ’Dry Moat’ surrounding it. In the southern section of the moat, we show that the monumental linear rock-cut structure consisting of successive, deep compartments combines the technical requirements of a water treatment facility: a settling basin, a retention basin, and a purification system. Together, the Gisr el-Mudir and the Dry Moat’s inner south section work as a unified hydraulic system that improves water quality and regulates flow for practical purposes and human needs. Finally, we identified that the Step Pyramid’s internal architecture is consistent with a hydraulic elevation mechanism never reported before. The ancient architects may have raised the stones from the pyramid centre in a volcano fashion using the sediment-free water from the Dry Moat’s south section. Ancient Egyptians are famous for their pioneering and mastery of hydraulics through canals for irrigation purposes and barges to transport huge stones. This work opens a new line of research: the use of hydraulic force to erect the massive structures built by Pharaohs.

Citation: Landreau X, Piton G, Morin G, Bartout P, Touchart L, Giraud C, et al. (2024) On the possible use of hydraulic force to assist with building the step pyramid of saqqara. PLoS ONE 19(8): e0306690. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690

Editor: Joe Uziel, Israel Antiquities Authority, ISRAEL

Received: December 7, 2023; Accepted: June 22, 2024; Published: August 5, 2024

Copyright: © 2024 Landreau et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files. The computer codes are available upon request.

Funding: The Sicame Group, The Atoutscarto Company and The Verilux Company provided support in the form of salaries for GM, CG and J-CM, respectively. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.

Competing interests: The authors have read the journal’s policy and have the following competing interests: GM, CG and J-CM are paid employees of The Sicame Group, The Atoutscarto Company and The Verilux Company, respectively. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products associated with this research to declare. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

1 Introduction

The funerary complex of King Djoser, built at Saqqara in Egypt around 2680 B.C., is considered a significant milestone in monumental architecture. It is the first to disclose two crucial innovations: a pyramid shape for the pharaoh’s grave and the exclusive use of fully dressed stones for masonry. In practice, it is also revolutionary in the ability to extract and raise stones by millions before stacking them with precision [ 1 ]. Djoser’s complex visible achievements are such that its architect, Vizier, and Great Priest of Ra, Imhotep, was deified by the New Kingdom.

The knowledge and innovations implemented in the Djoser mortuary complex profoundly influenced future developments and were widely perfected throughout the Old Kingdom’s III rd and IV th Dynasties, i . e . circa 2680–2460 B.C. These developments resulted in a substantial increase in the megaliths’ size [ 2 ], leading to pyramids of spectacular dimensions, such as those of the Meidum, Dahshur, and Giza plateaus. In less than 150 years, the average weight of the typical large stones was thus multiplied by ≈8 and went from ≈300 kg for Djoser’s pyramid to more than 2.5 tons for Chephren’s pyramid’s structural blocks [ 3 ]. For the largest lintels, the weight increases by two orders of magnitude, with several blocks of ≈50 – 100 tons for Cheops’ pyramid. On this short timeframe on the scale of human history, Egyptians carried and raised some 25 million tons of stones [ 4 ] to build seven monumental pyramids. Assuming an annual work schedule of 300 days at a rate of 10 hours/day, meaning 450,000 hours spread over less than 150 years, this requires a technical and logistical organization capable, on average, of cutting, moving, and adjusting about 50 tons of stone blocks per hour. Even if one admits that not every pyramid’s blocks are fitted with millimeter precision, the amount of work accomplished is truly remarkable. Interestingly, the pyramids later built in Egypt tended to be smaller with time and never reached the volume of the Old Kingdom’s monumental structures again.

As authentic sources from the working sphere of pyramid architects are currently lacking, no generally accepted wholistic model for pyramid construction exists yet. Although many detailed publications dedicated to pyramid-building procedures have given tangible elements [ 5 , 6 ], they usually explain more recent, better documented, but also smaller pyramids [ 7 ]. These techniques could include ramps, cranes, winches, toggle lifts, hoists, pivots, or a combination of them [ 8 – 10 ]. Studies of the pyramid’s construction sites also revealed a high level of expertise in managing the hydraulic and hydrological environment, such as utilizing waterways to deliver materials, constructing ports and locks, or setting up irrigation systems [ 11 , 12 ]. These achievements have led some scholars to refer to ancient Egypt as an ‘early hydraulic civilization [ 11 ].’ However, there is actually very little multidisciplinary analysis combining the rich archaeological findings on pyramids with other disciplines such as hydrology, hydraulics, geotechnics, paleoclimatology, or civil engineering [ 9 ]. Therefore, the topic of water force in the context of pyramid construction remains insufficiently addressed in the academic literature.

Moreover, a second question accentuates the enigma: the Pharaohs who built these pyramids are missing. Until now, neither written record nor physical evidence reports the discovery of one of the III rd and IV th Dynasties’ Pharaohs. Old Kingdom’s ‘big’ pyramids’ rooms were allegedly plundered [ 13 – 15 ] during the millennia that followed the construction of the pyramids, leaving little evidence behind [ 12 ]. The III rd and IV th Dynasties’ rooms present little or no funerary attributes, such as those observed in other high-dignitary figures’ tombs contemporary to the period [ 16 , 17 ], with no King’s remains found inside. In addition, the walls of the pyramids’ chambers do not exhibit any hieroglyphs, paintings, engravings, or drawings, which would allow us to qualify them as funerary with certainty. Despite this lack of evidence, many authors [ 18 ] still support that these rooms can be attributed to Pharaohs’ burials mainly based on royal cartouches or Kings’ names found elsewhere within the pyramid or nearby temples.

Over the recent years, Dormion & Verd’Hurt [ 19 , 20 ], Hamilton [ 21 – 24 ] or others [ 1 , 25 ] were among the first to consider possible non-funerary functions of pyramids’ internal layouts by pointing out some architectural inconsistencies and highlighting the high degree of complexity of several structures, irrelevant for a burial chamber. Their analysis provided both chambers and gallery systems with a technical dimension, emphasizing a level of engineering on the part of the ancient builders that is quite remarkable and sometimes challenges any apparent explanation. This technical level is at once reflected in the geometry of the rooms and ducts, as well as in the stonework, which includes materials selection, extraction, cutting, and then assembling with exceptional accuracy [ 20 ]. This precision involved several advanced sub-techniques, such as inter-block mortar joint realization [ 26 – 29 ] or stone polishing with flatness and roughness values that reach levels of contemporary know-how. Apart from surfaces and interfaces, the builders’ technical ability is also evident throughout sophisticated mechanical systems set up in the pyramids [ 30 ], as swivel stone flaps’ designs in the Meidum and Bent pyramids [ 21 , 24 ] or tilted portcullises found in the Bent pyramid, as well as at Giza [ 20 ]. These elements suggest that, rather than an aesthetic rendering or a funerary use for these layouts, ancient Egyptians intended technical functions for some walls, tunnels, corridors, shafts, and chambers where more straightforward existing techniques were insufficient.

In summary, the analysis of the pyramids’ construction and the investigation of their internal layouts seem to require more research to provide a wholistic explanation to their purpose. This study aims to provide a fresh look at these topics by applying an alternative, multi-disciplinary, wholistic approach. It revisits the Old Kingdom’s pyramids’ construction methodology and seeks to explain the significance of internal layouts during construction. Based on current archaeological knowledge, we demonstrate that the Saqqara’s topography and the layout of several structures are consistent with the hypothesis that a hydraulic system was used to build the pyramid. The paper is divided into three main sections that analyze the current scientific literature to address the following inquiries: (i) Was the plateau of Saqqara supplied with water? (ii) If so, how was it possibly stored and treated? and (iii) How was it used to build the pyramid? A discussion and some concluding remarks and perspectives follow.

2 The saqqara’s hydrologic network

Our study began with the postulate that the larger Cheops’ and Chephren’s pyramids of Giza plateau were the outcomes of technical progress from previous pyramids, with the Step Pyramid as a technological precursor. While many literature studies focus on the construction of Cheops’ pyramid, we found it more relevant to examine the building techniques used for the Step Pyramid first. This would provide insight into the processes used by ancient builders that were later refined in subsequent pyramids. As a first approach, we analyzed potential reasons for the specific building of King Djoser’s Complex on the Saqqara Plateau.

2.1 Water resource from the desert wadis

Although detailed measurements of the Nile flood levels have been reported since the V th Dynasty (2480 B.C.) [ 31 – 33 ], there is very little information available about the hydrology of its desert tributaries, known as ’wadis’, in ancient Egypt. Sedimentological evidence of heavy rainfalls and flash floods exists [ 31 , 34 ] but little is known beyond that.

Determining the rainfall regime that the Saqqara region experienced about 4,700 years B.P. is challenging and uncertain. Past studies demonstrated that, from about 11,000 to 5,000 B.P, during the so-called ‘Green Sahara’ period, the whole Sahara was much wetter than today, and the landscape was savannah rather than desert [ 35 , 36 ]. Around 4500–4800 years B.P. too, the Eastern Mediterranean region was wetter than it is now, despite drying up later [ 37 – 39 ]. A range of annual precipitation value of 50–150 mm/year is assumed in the following calculation to perform crude computations of water resource. It covers the range between the >150 mm/year suggested by Kuper & Kropelin [ 40 ] for the end of the Green Sahara period, before the subsequent drier period, during which rainfall decreased to <50 mm/year. The range of variability, i . e . 50 to 150 mm/yr is also consistent with the typical inter-annual rainfall variability observed in the region [ 38 ].

Then, current hydrological monitoring on Egyptian wadis located further to the north and experiencing comparable annual rainfall ( i . e ., 100–200 mm/yr) showed that only 1–3% of this mean annual precipitation was measured as runoff, i.e., surface flows [ 41 ]. This average range is hereafter used for conservative, first-order estimations of available water volume, referred hereafter to as the ‘water resource’. Note that the infrequent, most intense events can reach 50 mm of rainfall and trigger devastating flash floods where the runoff coefficients have been measured up to 30%, i . e ., one order of magnitude higher than the mean annual [ 41 – 43 ]. Note that these water resource and flash flood hydrology estimates neglect that the soils were probably richer in clay and silt just after the Green Sahara period, with several millennia of a wetter climate and savannah landscape [ 35 , 36 ], which would increase the runoff coefficient and available surface water resource in the wadis.

2.2 The Saqqara site: a plateau with a water supply

The Saqqara necropolis is located on a limestone plateau on the west bank of the Nile River, about 180 km from the Mediterranean Sea ( Fig 1 ). The entire site lies in the desert, less than two kilometers from the plateau’s edge (elevation 40–55 m ASL— Above Sea Level ), which overlooks the Nile floodplain (height ≈ 20 m ASL). Further to the west, the desert rises gently for about 20 km (hills’ top elevation ≈ 200–300 m ASL).

• PPT PowerPoint slide
• PNG larger image
• TIFF original image

(Satellite image: Airbus Pléiades, 2021-07-02, reprinted from Airbus D&S SAS library under a CC BY license, with permission from Michael Chemouny, original copyright 2021).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.g001

The reasons behind the construction of the Djoser complex at Saqqara remain unclear. The contribution of economic, socio-political, and religious factors was previously highlighted [ 44 , 45 ], but environmental factors were also possibly influential. In 2020, Wong provided evidence that the climate, geology, and hydrology would have influenced building choices and may have contributed to, or perhaps accelerated, the emergence of stone architecture on the Saqqara plateau [ 37 ].

From a geological standpoint, the layered structure of the limestone at Saqqara was indeed stressed as a favorable factor for excavating large amounts of construction stones [ 46 , 47 ]. These layers, which consist of 30–60 cm thick sand-rich calcareous beds alternated with calcareous clay and marl layers, made it easy to extract the limestone blocks from their parent beds by vertical cuttings, the original thickness being reflected in the building stones’ thickness of Djoser’s complex.

From a hydrological standpoint, the Abusir wadi is considered a second environmental factor that strongly influenced the Early Dynastic development of the Saqqara necropolis at least [ 45 , 48 – 50 ]. The Abusir wadi is the ephemeral stream draining the hills west of Saqqara ( Fig 1 ) . Before this study, academic research mainly focused on the downstream part of the wadi [ 45 , 48 – 50 ], namely the Abusir Lake [ 51 ] located north of Saqqara Plateau. However, the upstream portion has remained undocumented.

In order to analyze the relationships between the Abusir wadi and the Step Pyramid’s construction project, the drainage networks west of the Saqqara area were mapped for the first time to the best of our knowledge, using various satellite imagery ( Fig 1 ) and Digital Elevation Models (see S1 Fig in S2 File ).

A paleo-drainage system can be identified upstream of the Gisr el-Mudir structure as the origin of the Abusir wadi ( Fig 1 , pink line). The boundaries of this runoff system form a catchment area never reported so far, although easily recognizable from the geomorphological imprints of surface paleochannels in the desert and on historical maps [ 52 ]. Although it currently has a 15 km 2 surface area, we cannot rule out the possibility that the drainage divides shifted and changed due to land alterations and aeolian sand deposits over the past 4,500 years.

The current catchment summit is about 110 m ASL, giving the Abusir wadi a 1% average slope over its slightly more than 6 km length. In the field of hydrology, a 1% gradient is described as ‘rather steep’. With such steep slopes, transportation of sand and gravel is expected during flashfloods, which can cause severe downstream damage (scouring or burying of structures, filling of excavations and ponding areas). In comparison, irrigation channels are rather at least ten times less steep (about 0.1%), and the Nile slope is less than 0.01% (less than 200m of elevation gain between Aswan and Cairo).

2.3 The Wadi Taflah: A possible complementary water supply

Reported since the early 1800s, a former tributary to the Nile called the Bahr Bela Ma [ 53 , 54 ] or ‘ Wadi Taflah’ flowed parallel to the Abusir wadi catchment, less than two kilometers south of the Saqqara plateau. From satellite imagery, we identified that the Wadi Taflah arises from a drainage area of almost 400 km 2 and consists of three main branches ( Fig 2 , numbered black dots) still visible from the desert’s geomorphological marks. This network is also visible on the radar imagery provided by Paillou [ 55 ] that can penetrate multiple meters of sand ( S2 Fig in S2 File ). The similarity of the optical and radar drainage patterns confirms the existence and old age of this hydrological network.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.g002

Although no canal was detected from the satellite data, the close proximity of Abusir wadi with the Wadi Taflah ( Fig 2 ) is intriguing and raises the question about a potential ancient, artificial connection between them. According to the 18 th -century maps published by Savary [ 54 ], the Wadi Taflah was ‘closed by an ancient King of Egypt.’ Such a testimony, although imprecise, could suggest the construction of a water diversion by a former ruler. A geophysical investigation could help to find such a structure if existing. The drainage area of Wadi Taflah covers nearly 400 km 2 at an elevation >58 m ASL. This elevation is high enough to allow the diversion of the drainage area toward the Abusir wadi. This would result in an increase in the drained area and associated availability of water resources by a factor of >25 times. Based on the hydrological conditions described in section 2.1, the estimated water resource from Abusir wadi and Wadi Taflah is crudely between 7,500 to 68,000 m 3 /year and 200,000 to 1,800,000 m 3 /year, respectively.

2.4 The Abusir wadi: A structural element in the early dynastic Saqqara’s development

According to the Saqqara topography ( Fig 3 ), the Abusir wadi flowed through the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure before heading north towards the Nile floodplain, where it used to feed an oxbow lake, the Abusir Lake [ 51 ]. With such a localization, the Gisr el-Mudir walls literally dam the Abusir wadi valley’s entire width. The sparse vegetation only growing in the valley bottom upstream of Gisr el-Mudir and not elsewhere in the area evidences this damming and interception of surface and subsurface flows ( Fig 4A , green line). This slight moist area is dominated by plants commonly found in desert margins and wadis, such as Panicum thurgidum and Alhagi graecorum [ 56 ], and is typical of hypodermal flows.

Contour lines extracted from the 1:5,000 topographical map [ 52 ] “Le Caire, sheet H22”.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.g003

a. The Gisr el-Mudir check dam (Satellite image: Airbus Pléiades, 2021-07-02, reprinted from Airbus D&S SAS library under a CC BY license, with permission from Michael Chemouny, original copyright 2021); b.: Digital Elevation Model generated from the 1:5,000 topographical map “Le Caire, sheet H22”.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.g004

Downstream of the Gisr el-Mudir, the Abusir wadi joins the Saqqara Plateau. Its boundaries are defined to the south by an outcropping limestone ridge and to the east by the Sekhemkhet and Djoser’s enclosures ( Fig 3 ).

The landform of this area seems inconsistent with a pure fluvial formation. Instead, the very flat topography on about 2–2.5 km 2 , according to the Saqqara Geophysics Survey Project (SGSP) [ 57 – 60 ] and possibly allowed some ephemeral ponding water which may have resulted in an episodic upper Abusir lake after the most intense rainfalls. However, due to the several-meter deep wind-blown and alluvial sand cover accumulated over the past millennia [ 57 ], the riverbed altitudes during Djoser’s reign are challenging to establish without further investigations, and only broad patterns can be determined from the local topography [ 52 ].

As with many other small wadis, the Early Dynastic hydrology of the Abusir wadi remains largely unknown. According to fluvial sediment analysis in the Abusir Lake area, the Abusir wadi was probably a perennial stream during the Old Kingdom period [ 51 ]. Although the climate is hot and arid nowadays, several studies support a more humid environment during the Old Kingdom [ 34 ] . Multiple strands of evidence indeed suggest that Egypt experienced considerable rainfalls around the reign of Djoser, resulting in frequent flooding and heavy runoffs on the Saqqara Plateau. This climatic feature is supported by sedimentary deposits resulting from flowing water of ‘considerable kinetic force’ contemporary to Djoser’s reign [ 61 , 62 ] . According to Trzciński et al.[ 34 ], the strongly cemented structure L3 found in the Great Trench surrounding the Djoser Complex was due to cyclical watering while the high content of Fe3+ indicates that the region experienced intensive weathering in a warm and humid environment. In 2020, Wong concluded that the ‘ intriguing possibility that the Great Trench that surrounds the Djoser complex may have been filled with water ’ during Djoser’s reign [ 37 ]. If so, this might explain why tombs were built on the northern part of the Saqqara plateau which has a higher altitude [ 45 ] and nothing was constructed inside the Trench until the reign of Userkaf and Unas (V th Dynasty).

3. The saqqara’s water management system

3.1 the gisr el-mudir check dam.

Reported at least since the 18 th century [ 63 ] and extensively described within a decade of a geophysical survey by Mathieson et al ., see also [ 45 ] for a summary, the Gisr el-Mudir is a rectangular enclosure located a few hundred meters west of the Djoser’s complex ( Fig 3 , Fig 4A & 4B ). This monumental structure has a footprint of about 360 m x 620 m, i . e ., larger than the Djoser complex (545 m x 277 m). The walls have an estimated volume of >100,000 m 3 (SGSP, 1992–1993 report), meaning about one-third of the Step Pyramid’s volume. Field inspection and geophysical results from the SGSP [ 57 ] found no construction inside except for a couple of more recent, small graves, thus confirming that the enclosure is mainly empty. Moreover, several elements in the building suggest that this structure predated the Step Pyramid’s complex and was tentatively dated to the late II nd or early III rd Dynasty [ 57 , 64 ], which might turn it into the oldest substantial stone structure in Egypt discovered so far.

Before this study, several conflicting theories about the Gisr el-Mudir’s purpose were put forward [ 59 ]: e . g ., an unfinished pyramid complex (but the lack of a central structure made it improbable to be a funerary monument), a guarded fortress [ 65 ] protecting the Saqqara necropolis from nomadic Bedouin incursions, an embankment to raise a monument to a higher level [ 66 ], a celebration arena [ 64 , 67 ], or even a cattle enclosure. However, given the low level of exploratory work afforded to the structure, no generally accepted explanation exists yet, and its purpose has remained more conjectural than substantiated.

In light of the upstream watershed and its transversal position across the Abusir River, the Gisr el-Mudir’s western wall meets the essential criteria of a check dam, i . e ., a dam intending to manage sediment and water fluxes [ 68 , 69 ]. This comparison is particularly striking regarding its cross-section ( Fig 5 ). According to Mathieson et al . [ 59 ], the basic structure of this wall consists of a hollow construction of two rough-hewn limestone masonry skin-walls, ≈3.2 m high, separated by a 15 m interspace filled with three layers of materials extracted from the surrounding desert bedrock [ 70 ] and cunningly arranged. The first layer ( Fig 5 , ‘ A ’ dot) is made of roughly laid local limestone blocks forming a buttress against the inside of the facing blocks. The secondary fill ( B ) comprises coarse sand and medium to large limestone fragments. Then, the third fill ( C ) consists of rough to fine sand and silt, small limestone fragments, and chippings with pebble and flint nodules. Finally, these A, B, and C backfill layers are positioned symmetrically to the median axis of the wall.

Figure adapted from [ 58 ].

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Civil engineering was used during the Old Kingdom to protect settlements from flash floods, such as the Heit el-Ghurab (’Wall of the Crow’) safeguarding the village of the pyramid builders at Giza [ 71 ]. Regarding the Gisr el-Mudir structure, the abovementioned elements strikingly echo the transversal profile and slope protection of another famous Old Kingdom structure: the Sadd el-Kafara dam built on the Wadi al-Garawi , a colossal building found to be contemporary to that of the Gisr el-Mudir [ 72 – 74 ]. Both structures present the technical signature of zoned earthen dams: a wide embankment made of a central impervious core surrounded by transition filters, i . e ., filling material with coarser grain size, preventing erosion, migration, and potential piping of the core fine material due to seepage. The semi-dressed limestone walls stabilized the inner material and protected it against erosion when water flowed against and above the dam. Both dams have much broader profiles than modern dams. This oversizing could be due to the unavailability of contemporary compaction systems or an empirical and conservative structural design. They both have narrower cores of fine material at the bottom of the dam than at their crest, contradicting modern design [ 75 ]. This can be attributed to the construction phasing that would have started by raising the sidewalls buttressed against the coarse and intermediate filling ( B and C fills in Fig 5 ), followed by a phase of filling the wide core with finer, compacted material [ 72 ].

Finally, the eastern wall’s north-south profile ( Fig 6 , line A-B ) presents a parabolic profile relevant to guide the flows to the basin’s center formed by Gisr el-Mudir. This guidance would have prevented the dam failure by outflanking during flooding events when the dam outlet was saturated. We estimate that the accumulated water crossed the dam through an outlet likely located at the valley’s lowest elevation, i . e ., near 48.7 m ASL ( G1 in Figs 4B and Fig 6 ). In summary, the Gisr el-Mudir’s western wall likely acted as a first check dam to the Abusir wadi flows.

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The excavations performed on the eastern wall of the Gisr el-Mudir highlighted a lower structural quality [ 45 ]. Its shape is similar to that of the western wall, with a distinctive parabolic profile ( Fig 6 , line C-D ). Furthermore, it discloses two topographical singularities: first, its overall altitude is a few meters lower than the western wall ( Fig 7A ). Then, in the southern part of the eastern wall, a geophysics anomaly ( G2 in Figs 4B and Fig 6 ) was found to be a series of massive, roughly cut, ‘L’-shaped megaliths [ 45 , 66 ]. Before our study, these megaliths were thought to possibly be the remains of a monumental gateway–due to their similarities with the Djoser’s complex enclosure’s entrance–but their purpose was not specified [ 66 ]. According to our analysis, these megaliths could be the side elements of the water outlets, possibly slit openings [ 76 ] that were likely closed off by wood beams but could be opened to drain the basin. They are consistently found near a trench that is 2.2 m deep [ 45 ], which we believe is possibly the canal that guided outflowing water. In a nutshell, the eastern wall likely acted as a second check dam to the Abusir flows.

a. West-east elevation profile of the Gisr el-Mudir structure. b: Schematic reconstitution of the profile with water flow.

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In addition to the two dams formed by the western and eastern walls, the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure forms a basin ( Fig 4 ). It is closed to the north by another wall made of limestone blocks, though not very tall (likely <2m) because it is built on a natural ridge [ 45 ]. The basin’s southern boundary is also mostly made of a natural ridge. The possible absence of a masonry wall on certain portions on this side was unexplained by previous analyses [ 45 ]. However, it makes perfect sense when considering a reservoir function. Anchoring dams against side slopes is indeed the standard approach to guide flows and prevent outflanking [ 68 ].

In essence, the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure exhibits the defining features of a check dam ( Fig 7B ). The catchment it intercepts is large enough (15 km 2 ), plus eventual water derivation from the Wadi Taflah to produce flash floods transporting significant amounts of gravel, sand, mud, and debris due to its slope during intense rainfalls. The valley upstream of the western wall likely served as a first reservoir where the coarsest gravels tended to deposit. The overflowing water then filled the inner basin of the Gisr el-Mudir, where coarse sand would again deposit. Assuming a storage depth between 1 and 2 meters, the retention capacity of the basin would be approximately 220,000–440,000 m 3 . This volume is in line with the overall water volume of a flash flood that could be produced by the Abusir wadi, which is estimated to be about 75,000–225,000 m 3 , assuming 50 mm of rainfall and a 0.30 runoff coefficient. This key, first structure of the Saqqara hydraulic system would have then delivered clear water downstream in normal time, as well as muddy water with an eventually suspended load of fine sand and clay during rainfall events.

3.2 The deep Trench’s water treatment system

3.2.1 general configuration..

The Djoser’s Complex is surrounded by a vast excavation area, commonly referred to as the ’Dry Moat’ since Swelim spotted its outlines [ 77 , 78 ] ( Fig 3 , blue strip). The Dry Moat is alleged to be a continuous trench cut in the bedrock, up to 50 m wide and ≈3 km long, enclosing an area of ≈600 m by ≈750 m around the Djoser complex [ 77 , 79 , 80 ]. When considering an average depth of 20 m for the four sides of the trench [ 61 ], the total excavated volume is estimated at ≈3.5 Mm 3 , approximately ten times the Step Pyramid‘s volume. Due to the thick cover of sand and debris [ 61 ] accumulated over the past millennia, its precise geometry is incompletely characterized. The moat’s east and south channels are particularly debated [ 61 ].

According to Swelim, the moat’s south channel probably split into two parts, known as the Inner and Outer south channels [ 78 ] ( Fig 8 , blue strips). The Inner south channel is relatively shallow (5–7 m deep), 25–30 m wide, and spans approximately 350 m parallel to the southern wall of Djoser’s complex.

Water from the Abusir Lake can follow two parallel circuits.

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The ‘Deep Trench’ [ 81 ] ( Fig 8 , red rectangles and dotted lines) is built inside the Inner south channel, along its south wall. It is a ≈27 m-deep, 3 m-wide, and hundreds of meter-long rock-cut channel with several ‘compartments’. So far, only about 240 m [ 78 ] of its probable 410 m length have been subject to archaeological excavations in 1937–1938 [ 78 ], 1937–1945 [ 81 ], and 1975 [ 82 ]. Consequently, approximately 170 m remains unexplored, mainly due to the presence of the later Old Kingdom two groups of mastabas built above the trench and at risk of collapse if submitted to underground excavation (transparent grey parts in Fig 8 ).

Generally, two leading theories are highlighted in the literature to explain the purpose of the trench: (i) a quarry for the Djoser’s complex [ 47 , 83 ], or (ii) a spiritual function [ 78 , 84 , 85 ]. However, over recent years, authors have pointed out several specificities in the trench’s architectural layout, which seem irrelevant in a religious or mining context [ 1 , 86 , 87 ]. In particular, on the mining aspect, several authors estimate [ 45 , 86 ] that the form of the track suggests that the extraction of stones was not its sole or even primary function, as it does not match with the ancient Egyptian quarrying methods. Reader also considers that some parts of the trench which are ~27 m deep and covered with a rocky ceiling, are wholly unrealistic for quarrying operations and unlikely to have required the paving found near the trench’s bottom [ 45 ]. This point is further emphasized by the narrow width of the excavated Deep Trench (3m), which is impractical in a mining scenario.

On the spiritual aspect, Kuraszkiewicz suggests that the trench may have developed a ritual significance as a gathering place for the souls of the nobles to serve the dead King [ 86 ]. Monnier [ 1 ] considers that the discovery of several niches in the channel does not fully demonstrate the moat’s religious purpose and considers it secondary. The trench’s ritual significance is also regarded as secondary by Reader [ 45 ], who suggests the ritual aspects developed only after the complex’s construction and do not reflect the original function of the structure.

In 2020, based on the archaeological, geological, and climatic evidence, Wong was the first to introduce the idea that the trench may have had a completely different function, being filled with runoff water following downpours [ 37 ]. If so, this would explain why it was not until the reigns of Unas and Userkaf (V th Dynasty) that new graves occupied the moat. The onset of drier climatic conditions [ 31 , 88 ] around the end of the IV th Dynasty would have created more favorable conditions for new constructions inside the moat. Despite the potential impact of Wong’s assumption, it did not receive much attention in the literature. Nonetheless, the current authors believe that Wong’s conclusions make sense when considering Saqqara’s downstream localization of a watershed.

3.2.2 The deep Trench: A series of rock-cut compartments built in a hydrological corridor.

The Inner south channel and the Deep Trench are built inside the Unas Valley, a hydrological corridor connecting the Abusir wadi plain to the Nile floodplain ( Fig 3 ). Both were thus possibly submitted to (un)controlled flooding [ 34 , 61 ] from the Abusir wadi plain.

The Deep Trench connects at least three massive subterranean compartments [ 45 , 47 ] ( Fig 8 , red parts) meticulously carved out with precisely cut surfaces [ 78 ] ( Fig 9 ) and joined by a tunnel [ 77 ] . A fourth compartment, retroactively named compartment-0 ( Fig 10 ), likely exists [ 45 , 78 ]. On a large scale, the perfect geometric alignment of these compartments is remarkable, as well as their parallelism with the Djoser’s complex and their bottom level similar to those of the southern and northern shafts (≈27 m ASL). These spatial relationships have led some authors to consider that the trench was created as a part of Djoser’s Complex [ 86 , 89 , 90 ]. This assumption has been reinforced by Deslandes’ discoveries of at least two east-west pipes, about 80 m long, connecting the Djoser’s Complex’s subterranean layouts to the Dry Moat’s eastern side [ 91 ].

a: View from the west; b: View from the east. The workers in the background provide a sense of the structure’s immense scale and technicity.

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View of the south face.

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Taken together, the Deep Trench architecture highlights technical proficiency and suggests that the ancient Egyptians intended a technical function rather than a spiritual one. Surprisingly, despite the available clues, the Deep Trench has never undergone detailed engineering studies to analyze its features and identify its purpose. The following sections suggest a hydraulic rationale behind the trench’s internal layout (more details in the Supplement ).

3.2.3 Consistency of the Deep Trench architecture with a water treatment system.

Being largely described in the literature [ 77 , 86 , 92 ] , the compartments’ layouts are presented in detail in the Supplement . Considering its architecture and geographical location, the Dry Moat’s southern section combines the technical requirements of a water treatment system, including sedimentation, retention, and purification. Fig 10 illustrates a comprehensive outline of the installation’s functioning process. Similarly to the Gisr el-Mudir, we found that the Deep Trench compartments likely served to transfer water with low suspended sediment concentration to the downstream compartments by overflowing. The process of using a series of connected tanks to filter water and remove sediment is an ancient technique that has been extensively documented in archaeological and scientific literature [ 93 – 96 ]. This method has been employed for centuries to clean water and has played a significant role in the development of water treatment practices.

Compartment-0 presents the minimum requirements of a settling basin (considerable length and width, low entry slope, position at the entry of Unas hydrological corridor) whose purpose is to facilitate the coarse particles’ settling that would overflow from Gisr el-Mudir during heavy rainfalls. The descending ramp along the south wall identified by Swelim [ 97 ] may have permitted workers to dredge the basin and remove the accumulated sediments along the east wall ( Fig 10 ) . The very probable connection [ 45 , 97 ] between compartment-0 and compartment-1, blocked with rough masonry ( Fig 9B and S3 Fig in S2 File ), is consistent with an outlet overflowing structure. Additionally, when the flow rate in compartment-0 was too high, the tunnel or even the northern portion of the trench may have been used as a spillway bypass to evacuate excess water toward the eastern portion of the Unas wadi valley ( Fig 8 , safety circuit).

Compartment-1 is then consistent with a retention basin with > 3000 m 3 capacity ( Fig 10 , left part). The bottom stone paving with mortar joints probably limited water seepage through the bedrock. Its eastern end could go until the compartment-2 [ 45 ] to form a single compartment, but this point remains debated [ 78 , 97 ] .

Compartment-2’s is, unfortunately, largely unexplored ( Fig 10 ). Its downstream position might indicate a second retention basin or possibly an extension [ 45 ] of the first one. The western part of this compartment (stairs area) perfectly aligns with the base levels of the Djoser’s complex south and north shafts, which points towards a connection between the three [ 86 ] . If so, it would be aligned with the recently discovered pipe of a 200 m-long tunnel linking the bottom of Djoser’s Complex’s southern and northern shafts [ 91 ] (see next section, Fig 11 ). Compartment-2 would then be another, or an extended, retention basin equipped with a water outlet toward the north.

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Compartment-3 ( Fig 10 , right part) is likely a side purification basin for drinking water. Its position as an appendix of the primary water circuit connecting Gisr el-Mudir to Djoser’s complex seems optimal to minimize water circulation and maximize water-settling time, thus increasing its purification. The second and third sections likely allowed further settling of particles and would have served as reservoirs during dry periods. The relatively smooth walls of the whole structure would have hindered the growth of microbes, plants, and other contaminants, thereby helping maintain the water’s cleanliness [ 98 ] . Four surface wells allowed access to the end of the last compartment where the water, kept clear and fresh in the shadow of this subterranean monumental cistern, could be used by the building site workforce [ 99 ] .

The excavated volume of the Deep Trench is greater than 14,000 m 3 [ 77 , 86 , 92 ]. If we assume that most of the water available in the Wadi Taflah was diverted toward Saqqara, this volume could be filled about a dozen to more than one hundred times per year on average. We hypothesize a typical filling level of 45 m ASL in the Deep Trench, but an accurate topographical survey is lacking, and the maximum water level could vary between 40–52 m ASL, according to the surrounding terrain elevation.

In essence, we discovered and highlighted for the first time that the Deep Trench’s position and design are consistent with possible use as a water treatment and storage system capable of cleaning and storing thousands of cubic meters of water.

4. The central hydraulic lift system

4.1 overview of the djoser’s complex’ substructure.

The internal and external architecture of the Djoser’s Complex is thoroughly documented [ 1 , 3 , 100 , 101 ]. The Supplement provides an overview of this structure. Basically, the six-step Step Pyramid itself stands slightly off-center in a rectangular enclosure toward the south and reaches a height of approximately 60 m ( Fig 11 ). The pyramid consists of more than 2.3 million limestone blocks, each weighing, on average [ 2 ], 300 kg, resulting in a total estimated weight of 0.69 million tons and a volume of ≈330,400 m 3 .

The substructure features at least 13 shafts, including two significantly sizeable twin shafts located at the north and south of the complex ( Fig 11 , insets 3&4), and an extensive and well-organized network of galleries descending up to 45 m below ground level [ 102 ]. The north shaft is surrounded by four comb-shaped structures distributed on each side and angled 90° apart. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) revealed that the twin shaft layouts are connected [ 91 , 102 ] by a 200 m-long tunnel. Moreover, at least two of the twelve shafts on the pyramid’s east side are connected to the supposed eastern section of the Dry Moat by two 80 m long pipes ( Fig 11 and Supplement ).

From our 3D models, we estimate that ancient architects extracted more than 30,000 tons of limestone from the bedrock to dig the whole underground structure. The total length of the tunnels and subterranean rooms combined is ~6.8 km. However, its layout and purpose remain primarily poorly known and debated [ 6 ].

4.2 The connected twin shafts

The ‘north shaft’ is located under the pyramid of Djoser and is almost aligned with its summit. This shaft is ≈28 m deep and has a square shape with 7 m sides. Its bottom part widens to ≈10 m on the last, deepest 6 m, forming a chamber ( Fig 12 and S6 Fig in S2 File ). On its upper part, the shaft extends above the ground level by at least four meters inside the Step Pyramid in the shape of a hemispherical vault that was recently reinforced ( Fig 11 , inset 5 ). This upper part inside the pyramid body remains unexplored. However, as noticed by Lauer, the shaft sides above ground level display comparable masonry to that of the southern shaft, indicating a possible upward extension [ 3 ]. On the pyramid’s north side, a steep trench with stairs provides access to the shaft.

a.: Granite box of Djoser’s complex north shaft serving as an opening-closing system for the water flow coming from side tunnels -source: [ 113 ]. b.: Limestone piles supporting the box - source: [ 3 ]. c: Diagram of the North Shaft plug system. Redrawn from Lauer sketches [ 108 ].

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The ‘south shaft’ is located ~200 m south of the north shaft, close to the Deep Trench ( Fig 11 , inset 1 ). Its dimensions and internal layout are broadly similar to the north shaft’s. The substructure of the south shaft is entered through a west-facing tunnel-like corridor with a staircase that descends about 30 m before opening up inside the shaft. The staircase then continues east and leads to a network of galleries whose layout imitates the blue chambers below the Step Pyramid. As mentioned earlier, a 200 m-long tunnel connects the lower part of the north and south shafts ( Fig 11 , orange pipe). A series of deep niches located on the south face of the south shaft [ 97 ], the shape of which resembles that of the Deep Trench’s compartments 1 and 2, might indicate a former connection between both. This point remains to be confirmed by additional investigation.

The south shaft is connected to a rectangular shaft to the west via a tunnel-like corridor with a staircase that descends approximately 30 meters before opening up into the south shaft ( Fig 11 , inset 2 ). At the corridor level, a chamber has been cut into the bedrock parallel to the descending passage [ 3 ], towards the south. This chamber features several incompletely excavated niches on its south wall, which could extend under the south wall of the Djoser complex ( Fig 8 ). Pending further excavations, they might indicate a connection with the Deep Trench.

4.3 The twin shafts’ internal layout: two plug-systems topped with maneuvering chambers

The initial purpose of the twin shafts’ granite boxes has been largely debated [ 15 , 100 ]. The presence of two shafts with two similar granite boxes and almost identical substructures was previously explained as a separation of the body and spirit of Djoser [ 100 ]. However, the Pharaoh’s body is actually missing and was not found during modern excavations. Several authors and explorers excluded the possibility of King Djoser’s burial in the north shaft [ 15 , 103 ]. Vyse claimed [ 15 ] that the box’s internal volume was too narrow for moving a coffin without breaking the body. Firth and Quibell considered [ 103 ] the fragments found by Gunn and Lauer [ 104 ] to be of mummies of ‘late date’, possibly belonging to the Middle or New Kingdom. Finally, a thorough radiocarbon dating [ 105 ] on almost all retrieved remains [ 104 , 106 , 107 ] located near the granite box excluded the possibility that ‘ even a single one of them ’[ 105 ] could have belonged to King Djoser. Therefore, although the northern shaft had clear funerary significance much later, its original purpose during the time of Djoser may have been different.

Unfortunately, the main part of the materials that filled the twin shafts was removed during past archaeological excavations, mainly in the 1930s [ 108 ], leaving only the two granite boxes at their bottom ( Fig 11 , insets 3 and 4 ). Therefore, the shafts’ internal layout description is mainly based on the explorers’ archaeological reports and testimonies[ 109 – 111 ].

The two granite boxes are broadly similar in shape and dimensions. Both are made of four layers of granite blocks and present top orifices closed by plugs that weigh several tons ( Fig 12A ). The southern box is slightly smaller, with a plug made of several pieces, making it less versatile. The north box does not lay directly on the underlying bedrock but is perched on several piles of limestone blocks supporting the lower granite beams ( Fig 12B ), tentatively attributed to robbers by Lauer [ 3 ]. The space around the box is connected with four tunnels arranged perpendicularly on each side of the shaft (see Supplement ). This space was filled with several successive layers [ 108 ] ( Fig 12C , grey parts). The lowermost layer consisted of coarse fragments of limestone waste and alabaster, making it permeable. Meanwhile, the upper layer, going up to the box ceiling’s level, was made of limestone jointed with clay mortar [ 108 ], i . e ., less permeable [ 112 ]. This ceiling was itself covered by a 1.50 m thick layer of alabaster and limestone fragments plus overlying filling ( Fig 12C , blue part), except around the plug hole, which was encircled by a diorite lining, a particularly solid rock ( Fig 12C , green part).

Directly above the granite boxes were ‘maneuvering chambers [ 108 ]’ that enabled the plug to be lifted. The plug closing the north shaft’s box has four vertical side grooves, 15 cm in diameter, intended for lifting ropes ( Fig 12C ) and a horizontal one, possibly for sealing. Below the chamber ceiling and just above the orifice, an unsheathed wooden beam was anchored in the east and west walls ( Fig 12C ). This beam likely supported ropes to lift the plug, similar to those found in the south shaft with friction traces [ 108 ].

Interestingly, the granite stones forming the granite box ceiling were bounded by mortar ( Fig 12A ), creating an impermeable barrier with the shaft’s lower part and leaving the plug’s hole as the only possible connection between the shaft and the inside of the box. Conversely, most joints between the box’s side and bottom stones, connected with the permeable bottom layer, were free from mortar.

These details, thoroughly documented during Lauer’s excavation [ 3 , 108 ] and visible on pictures ( Fig 12A and 12B ), clearly point to technical rather than symbolic application. Taken together, the granite box’s architecture and its removable plug surrounded by limestone clay-bound blocks present the technical signature of a water outlet mechanism.

When opened, such a plug system would have allowed the north shaft to be filled with water from the Deep Trench or, in another scenario, from the Dry Moat’s eastern section. The permeable surrounding filling would have permitted water discharge control from the four side tunnels. Then, the water could only seep through the granite box’s lower joints. This design would have prevented water from rushing through the system at high speed and with pressure shocks.

Considering water coming from the Deep Trench (elevation delta: 10–20 m), the retaining walls and the many layers’ cumulated weight stacked over the granite box acted as a lateral blockage and would have prevented the box ceiling from being lifted due to the underlying water pressure.

4.4 Consistency of the internal architecture of the Djoser’s complex with a hydraulic lift mechanism

After gathering all the elements of this study, we deduce that the northern shaft’s layout is consistent with a hydraulic lift mechanism to transport materials and build the pyramid. Elements at our disposal indicate that the south and north shafts could be filled with water from the Dry Moat. A massive float inside the north shaft could then raise stones, allowing the pyramid’s construction from its center in a ‘volcano’ fashion ( Fig 13 ).

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Although a connection between the Compartment -2 and the Djoser shafts has yet to be identified, it is highly probable that sediment-free water from the Deep Trench was used in this system ( Fig 13 , disk ‘ 1 ’). This water quality would have reduced the risk of fouling and malfunction because it minimizes the presence of sand and clay that feed into the north shaft. This would prevent the deposition and progressive filling in the tunnels and connections, as well as the clogging of the joints between the bottom and side granite blocks of the box. The 200 m-long underground pipe [ 91 ] that connects the north and south shafts is then consistent with the transfer of water from the Deep Trench’s water treatment system to the north shaft, possibly via the south shaft.

Furthermore, there is a proven connection between the tunnels surrounding the north shaft and the Dry Moat through the Deslandes’ pipes [ 91 ] on the eastern side of the complex ( Figs 11 and 13 ). Pending further investigation, we hypothesize that the water inlet was located to the south ( Fig 13 , disk ‘ 1 ’), with the outlet(s) sending water toward the east through two juxtaposed pipes (disk ‘ 2 ’). Several horizontal galleries connected to these two pipes were acacia-cased [ 3 ], a technique commonly used to safeguard the walls in hydraulic works in ancient Egypt. A large stone portcullis [ 108 ] found in one of these galleries may have served as a versatile gate closed during the water filling of the north shaft.

In another scenario, the Deslandes’ juxtaposed pipes ( Fig 13 , disk ‘ 2 ’) could be considered as a water inlet for unfiltered water.

Finally, we hypothesize that a hydraulic lift, a massive float that was possibly made of wood and weighed several tons (see Supplement ), should run slowly inside the shaft to prevent instabilities and friction with the sides. The stones could have been elevated by filling and emptying cycles, allowing the lift to move up and down with stones ( Fig 13 ). These stones could have passed along the northern entrance until the central shaft. Recent discoveries have shown that this gallery was kept open until the very end of the pyramid’s construction, after which it was closed [ 1 , 91 ]. In our scenario, the stones could have been transported directly at ground level, corresponding to the pyramid’s first course, or slightly higher through a ramp penetrating in a (currently sealed) corridor some meters above the ground level. This configuration would have had the particular advantage of minimizing the elevation gain for which the hydraulic lift would be required. The stones could have been transported via the so-called ‘Saite gallery [ 114 ]’ in a final scenario. Although Firth [ 114 ] considers this gallery to postdate the III rd Dynasty, it remains possible that it was recut on the basis of an earlier gallery.

4.5 Modelling the hydraulic lift mechanism

We developed a simple numerical model of the hydraulic lift to study its water consumption and loading capacity (see Supplement ). The model was kept as simple as possible to be easily checked and only intended to give relevant orders of magnitudes.

The hydraulic lift is modelled as a float loaded with stones to build the pyramid and with a vertical extension to raise this material at the necessary level. Based on the initial altitude of the lift, Z m , which cannot be below 17m from ground level (the bottom of the shaft was filled with the box and overlying rocks, see Fig 12C ), and assuming a loading of the material on the lift at the ground level, the maximum height that can be reached in one cycle is <17m. To achieve greater heights, we hypothesize that the lift platform was blocked during the float descent, e . g ., using beams (see Fig 14 ). This modification would have allowed the platform to reach higher altitudes by adding or unfolding an extension. For the top of the pyramid, the float could be conversely used as a counterweight when descending, pulling on ropes that would haul the platform after passing over pulleys above the shaft head. A dual-use method involving hauling during shaft draining and elevating during water filling would have been the optimal management approach.

The lift platform (red line), and extension support (orange line) during the unfolding of the lower element are represented. The associated holes are to be localized in further excavation of the upper part of the shaft.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.g014

The beginning of the pyramid building was most probably performed using ramps prolonging the path from the local quarry, possibly the Dry Moat [ 44 ]. To provide an upper bound of water consumption, we modelled the pyramid building using the hydraulic lift from the first layer at ground level. Our model suggests that this upper bound value is 18 Mm 3 of water required to build the whole pyramid using the float to lift stones only when the shaft is filled (see Supplement ). A few million were required to build the first 20 m and could be saved if ramps were used instead. The total amount of water needed would have been reduced by about one-third if the float had been used as a counterweight, pulling on ropes to haul stones on a platform suspended in the top part of the shaft rather than being located on a wooden frame extension attached to the float. Finally, if both lifting (when filling the shaft) and hauling (when draining the shaft) were used, the water consumption would decrease by two-thirds. If the loading was not performed at ground level but rather through a ramp and gallery above ground level, about one-quarter of the water would be saved if, for instance, using a 5 m-high ramp and 43% for a 10 m-high ramp. Further investigation above the vault and on the pyramid sides could help to identify such an eventual gallery. If, conversely, the loading was performed about 13 m below ground level in the top part of the northern gallery ( S6 Fig in S2 File ), the water consumption would typically increase by two-thirds.

On the other hand, through our research and calculations, we have determined that the Wadi Taflah catchment had the capacity to supply 4–54 Mm 3 over 20–30 years of construction, therefore not enough when assuming only pessimistic values (lower bound for rainfall and runoff coefficient, fast construction and sub-optimal use of the lift just using it when water rose), but sufficient when assuming intermediate values, and eight-times enough water to meet this demand when assuming optimistic values (upper bounds of parameters and dual lifting-hauling functioning). If further research demonstrates that the higher clay and silt content possibly present at that time shortly after the Green Sahara period probably led to increased runoff coefficients by a factor of 2–3 or even more, the resource would be increased by the same factor.

The climatological conditions on the Saqqara plateau during the III rd Dynasty are still not well understood [ 37 ]. As a first assumption, we estimate that the water supply may have been continuous even without an upper Abusir lake’s permanent existence, thanks to the flow from the wadi Abusir and, more significantly, through a probable derivation system from the nearby Wadi Taflah, assuming this large catchment had a more perennial runoff regime. Pedological investigations would be worthwhile in the plateau area and in the talweg of both wadis to look for evidence of more frequent water flow.

As a result, the hydraulic mechanism may have only been usable when sufficient water supply was available, so it may have only been used periodically. Other techniques, such as ramps and levees, were likely used to bring the stones from the quarries and adjust their positions around the lifting mechanism or when it was not in operation.

5. Discussion

A unified hydraulic system.

Based on a transdisciplinary analysis, this study provides for the first time an explanation of the function and building process of several colossal structures found at the Saqqara site. It is unique in that it aligns with the research results previously published in the scientific literature in several research areas: hydrology, geology, geotechnics, geophysics, and archaeology. In summary, the results show that the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure has the feature of a check dam intended to trap sediment and water, while the Deep Trench combines the technical requirements of a water treatment facility to remove sediments and turbidity. Together, these two structures form a unified hydraulic system that enhances water purity and regulates flow for practical uses and vital needs. Among the possible uses, our analysis shows that this sediment-free water could be used to build the pyramid by a hydraulic elevator system.

By its scale and level of engineering, this work is so significant that it seems beyond just building the Step Pyramid. The architects’ geographical choices reflect their foresight in meeting various civil needs, making the Saqqara site suitable for settling down and engaging in sedentary activities, such as agriculture, with access to water resources and shelter from extreme weather conditions. This included ensuring adequate water quality and quantity for both consumption and irrigation purposes and for transportation, navigation, or construction. Additionally, after its construction, the moat may have represented a major defensive asset, particularly if filled with water, ensuring the security of the Saqqara complex [ 115 ].

The hydraulic lift mechanism seems to be revolutionary for building stone structures and finds no parallel in our civilization. This technology showcases excellent energy management and efficient logistics, which may have provided significant construction opportunities while reducing the need for human labor. Furthermore, it raises the question of whether the other Old Kingdom pyramids, besides the Step Pyramid, were constructed using similar, potentially upgraded processes, a point deserving further investigation.

Overall, the hydraulic lift could have been a complementary construction technique to those in the literature for the Old Kingdom [ 8 , 10 ]. Indeed, it is unlikely that a single, exclusive building technique was used by the ancient architects but that a variety of methods were employed in order to adapt to the various constraints or unforeseen circumstances of a civil engineering site, such as a dry spell. Therefore, the beginning of the pyramid building was most probably performed using ramps prolonging the path from the local quarry. According to petrographic studies [ 47 ], the main limestone quarry of the Saqqara site could correspond to the Dry Moat that encircles the Djoser Complex, providing access on the four sides of the pyramid for the extracted blocks and reducing the average length of the ramps.

An advanced technical and technological level

By their technical level and sheer scale, the Saqqara engineering projects are truly impressive. When considering the technical implications of constructing a dam, water treatment facility, and lift, it is clear that such work results from a long-standing technical tradition. Beyond the technical aspects, it reflects modernity through the interactions between various professions and expertise. Even though basic knowledge in the hydraulics field existed during the early Dynastic period, this work seems to exceed the technical accomplishments mentioned in the literature of that time, like the Foggaras or smaller dams. Moreover, the designs of these technologies, such as the Gisr el-Mudir check-dam, indicate that well-considered choices were made in anticipation of their construction. They suggest that the ancient architects had some empirical and theoretical understanding of the phenomena occurring within these structures.

…questioning the historical line

The level of technological advancement displayed in Saqqara also raises questions about its place in history. When these structures were built remains the priority question to answer . Were all the observed technologies developed during the time of Djoser, or were they present even earlier? Without absolute dating of these works, it is essential to approach their attribution and construction period with caution. Because of the significant range of techniques used to build the Gisr el-Mudir, Reader estimates [ 70 ] that the enclosure may have been a long-term project developed and maintained over several subsequent reigns, a point also supported by the current authors. The water treatment facility follows a similar pattern, with the neatly cut stones being covered and filled with rougher later masonry. Finally, the Djoser Step Pyramid also presents a superposition of perfectly cut stones, sometimes arranged without joints with great precision and covered by other rougher and angular stones [ 3 ]. Some of these elements led some authors [ 6 , 100 ] to claim that Djoser’s pyramid had reused a pre-existing structure.

Some remaining questions

The Deep Trench was intentionally sealed off at some point in history, as evidenced by the pipe blockage between Compartment-0 and Compartment-1. The reasons are unknown and speculative, ranging from a desire to construct buildings (such as the Khenut, Nebet, or Kairer mastabas) above the trench to a technical malfunction or shutdown due to a water shortage. This sealing might also have been done for other cultural or religious purposes.

The current topography of the land around the Djoser complex, although uncertain given the natural or anthropogenic changes that have occurred over the last five millennia, does not support the existence of a trench to the east side. Therefore, our observations join those of Welc et al. [ 61 ] and some of the first explorers [ 63 ], reasonably attributing only three sections to the Dry Moat.

6 Materials and methods

• High-resolution commercial satellite images (Airbus PLEIADES, 50 cm resolution) and digital elevation models (DEM) were computed and analyzed to identify Abusir wadi’s palaeohydrological network impact on Djoser’s construction project. The processing sequence to generate DEM was mainly achieved using the Micmac software [ 116 ] developed by the French National Geographic Institute (IGN) and the open-source cross-platform geographic information system QGIS 3 . 24 . 3 . Tisler .
• Geospatial data analysis was performed using the open-source WebGL-based point cloud renderer Potree 1.8.1 and QGIS 3 . 24 . 3 . Tisler .
• The 2D CAD profiles of the Step Pyramid Complex presented throughout this article were produced using Solidworks 2020 SP5 (Dassault Systems) , Sketchup Pro 2021 (Trimble) , Blender (Blender Foundation) , and Unreal Engine 5 (Epic Games) , mainly based on dimensions collected by successive archaeological missions during the last two centuries reported in the literature.
• The Wadi Taflah watershed and the catchment area west of Gisr el-Mudir have been identified and characterized using QGIS 3 . 24 . 3 . This was done with the help of the Geomeletitiki Basin Analysis Toolbox plugin, developed by Lymperis Efstathios for Geomeletitiki Consulting Engineers S . A . based in Greece.
• The modeling of the hydraulic lift mechanism was performed using the open-source programming software RStudio 2022 . 07 . 2 .

7. Concluding remarks and perspectives

This article discloses several discoveries related to the construction of the Djoser complex, never reported before:

• The authors presented evidence suggesting that the Saqqara site and the Step Pyramid complex have been built downstream of a watershed. This watershed, located west of the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure, drains a total area of about 15 km 2 . It is probable that this basin was connected to a larger one with an estimated area of approximately 400 km 2 . This larger basin once formed the Bahr Bela Ma River , also known as Wadi Taflah , a Nile tributary.
• Thorough technical analysis demonstrates that the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure seems to be a massive sediment trap (360 m x 620 m, with a wall thickness of ~15 m, 2 km long) featuring an open check dam. Given its advanced geotechnical design, we estimate that such work results from a technical tradition that largely predates this dam construction. To gain an accurate understanding of the dam’s operating period, the current authors consider it a top priority to conduct geological sampling and analysis both inside and outside the sediment trap. This process would also provide valuable information about the chronological construction sequence of the main structures found on the Saqqara plateau.
• The hydrological and topographical analysis of the dam’s downstream area reveals the potential presence of a dried-up, likely ephemeral lake, which we call Upper Abusir Lake, located west of the Djoser complex. The findings suggest a possible link between this lake and the Unas hydrological corridor, as well as with the ‘Dry Moat’ surrounding the Djoser complex.
• The ‘Dry Moat’ surrounding the Djoser complex is likely to have been filled with water from the Upper Abusir Lake, making it suitable for navigation and material transportation. Our first topographical analysis attributes only three sections to this moat (West, North, and South).
• The Dry Moat’s inner south section is located within the Unas hydrological corridor. The linear rock-cut structure built inside this area, called ‘Deep Trench,’ consisting of successive compartments connected by a rock conduit, combines the technical requirements of a water treatment system: a settling basin, a retention basin, and a purification system.
• Taken as a whole, the Gisr el-Mudir and the Deep Trench form a unified hydraulic system that enhances water purity and regulates flow for practical uses and vital needs.
• We have uncovered a possible explanation for how the pyramids were built involving hydraulic force. The internal architecture of the Step Pyramid is consistent with a hydraulic elevation device never reported before. The current authors hypothesize that the ancient architects could have raised the stones from inside the pyramid, in a volcano fashion. The granite stone boxes at the bottom of the north and south shafts above the Step Pyramid, previously considered as two Djoser’s graves, have the technical signature of an inlet/outlet system for water flow ( Fig 15 ). A simple modeling of the mechanical system was developed to study its water consumption and loading capacity. Considering the estimated water resources of the Wadi Taflah catchment area during the Old Kingdom, the results indicate orders of magnitude consistent with the construction needs for the Step Pyramid.

Graphical conclusion

North Saqqara map showing the relation between the Abusir water course and the Step Pyramid construction process (Inset). The arrows figuring the flow directions are approximate and given for illustrative purposes based on the Franco-Egyptian SFS/IGN survey [ 52 ]. Satellite image: Airbus Pléiades, 2021-07-02, reprinted from Airbus D&S SAS library under a CC BY license, with permission from Michael Chemouny, original copyright 2021.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.g015

Supporting information

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.s001

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.s002

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.s003

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Scientists uncover the physics behind paper cuts, but say more research is needed: ‘It’s hard to find volunteers’

Cut! That’s a study.

If you’ve ever wondered why even the smallest sliver of paper can slice up your fingers, you’re not alone.

It’s a painful riddle that plagued researcher Kaare Jensen enough to launch a scientific study.

“I got many paper cuts and frankly they were starting to annoy me,” the Technical University of Denmark physicist told New Scientist .

Turns out, the paper posing the greatest threat has a thickness of only 65 micrometers  — much like the now little-used dot matrix printer paper, Jensen concluded in cutting remarks published in the journal Physical Review E . Magazine paper was a close second.

The team of researchers gathered different paper products — tissue, magazines, book pages, printer paper, photos and business cards — and tried them out against ballistics gelatine, which is used to simulate the epidermis.

Thickness and angles were two of the major factors at play when it came to slicing the skin.

“Our preliminary data indicate that a successful paper cut is physically impossible outside a relatively narrow range of thicknesses for a given angle,” the researchers wrote.

Too thin, and the paper will buckle against the skin. Too thick and it won’t apply enough pressure to cut. Pressure applied straight down was less likely to inflict injury than when sliced at an angle.

Rather than using their research to avoid future paper cuts, the team’s study informed the design of a new, single-use tool called the “Papermachete,” which can cut through fruits, vegetables and poultry.

In the future, they hope to test the blade model on human skin, but recruitment for research might be difficult, Jensen told Science News .

“Ideally you would want some test subjects, but it’s hard to find volunteers,” he said.

Character.AI CEO Noam Shazeer returns to Google

In a big move, Character.AI co-founder and CEO Noam Shazeer is returning to Google after leaving the company in October 2021 to found the a16z-backed chatbot startup. In his previous stint, Shazeer spearheaded the team of researchers that built  LaMDA  (Language Model for Dialogue Applications), a language model that was used for conversational AI tools .

Character.AI co-founder Daniel De Freitas is also joining Google with some other employees from the startup. Dominic Perella, Character.AI’s general counsel, is becoming an interim CEO at the startup. The company noted that most of the staff is staying at Character.AI.

Google is also signing a non-exclusive agreement with Character.AI to use its tech.

“I am super excited to return to Google and work as part of the Google DeepMind team. I am so proud of everything we built at Character.AI over the last 3 years. I am confident that the funds from the non-exclusive Google licensing agreement, together with the incredible Character.AI team, positions Character.AI for continued success in the future,” Shazeer said in a statement given to TechCrunch.

Google said that Shazeer is joining the DeepMind research team but didn’t specify his or De Freitas’s exact roles.

“We’re particularly thrilled to welcome back Noam, a preeminent researcher in machine learning, who is joining Google DeepMind’s research team, along with a small number of his colleagues,” Google said in a statement. “This agreement will provide increased funding for Character.AI to continue growing and to focus on building personalized AI products for users around the world,” a Google spokesperson said.

Character.AI has raised over $150 million in funding, largely from a16z.

“When Noam and Daniel started  Character.AI , our goal of personalized superintelligence required a full stack approach. We had to pre-train models, post-train them to power the experiences that make  Character.AI  special, and build a product platform with the ability to reach users globally,” Character AI mentioned in its blog announcing the move.

“Over the past two years, however, the landscape has shifted; many more pre-trained models are now available. Given these changes, we see an advantage in making greater use of third-party LLMs alongside our own. This allows us to devote even more resources to post-training and creating new product experiences for our growing user base.”

There is a possibility that different regulatory bodies, such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Department of Justice (DoJ) in the U.S. and the EU will scrutinize these reverse acqui-hires closely. Last month. the U.K’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a notice saying that it is looking into Microsoft hiring key people from Inflection AI to understand if the tech giant is trying to avoid regulatory oversight. The FTC opened a similar investigation in June to look into Microsoft’s $650 million deal.

You can reach out to this reporter at [email protected] by email and on signal at ivan.42 .

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How to cite ChatGPT

Use discount code STYLEBLOG15 for 15% off APA Style print products with free shipping in the United States.

We, the APA Style team, are not robots. We can all pass a CAPTCHA test , and we know our roles in a Turing test . And, like so many nonrobot human beings this year, we’ve spent a fair amount of time reading, learning, and thinking about issues related to large language models, artificial intelligence (AI), AI-generated text, and specifically ChatGPT . We’ve also been gathering opinions and feedback about the use and citation of ChatGPT. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and shared ideas, opinions, research, and feedback.

In this post, I discuss situations where students and researchers use ChatGPT to create text and to facilitate their research, not to write the full text of their paper or manuscript. We know instructors have differing opinions about how or even whether students should use ChatGPT, and we’ll be continuing to collect feedback about instructor and student questions. As always, defer to instructor guidelines when writing student papers. For more about guidelines and policies about student and author use of ChatGPT, see the last section of this post.

Quoting or reproducing the text created by ChatGPT in your paper

If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.

Unfortunately, the results of a ChatGPT “chat” are not retrievable by other readers, and although nonretrievable data or quotations in APA Style papers are usually cited as personal communications , with ChatGPT-generated text there is no person communicating. Quoting ChatGPT’s text from a chat session is therefore more like sharing an algorithm’s output; thus, credit the author of the algorithm with a reference list entry and the corresponding in-text citation.

When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

You may also put the full text of long responses from ChatGPT in an appendix of your paper or in online supplemental materials, so readers have access to the exact text that was generated. It is particularly important to document the exact text created because ChatGPT will generate a unique response in each chat session, even if given the same prompt. If you create appendices or supplemental materials, remember that each should be called out at least once in the body of your APA Style paper.

When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).

Creating a reference to ChatGPT or other AI models and software

The in-text citations and references above are adapted from the reference template for software in Section 10.10 of the Publication Manual (American Psychological Association, 2020, Chapter 10). Although here we focus on ChatGPT, because these guidelines are based on the software template, they can be adapted to note the use of other large language models (e.g., Bard), algorithms, and similar software.

The reference and in-text citations for ChatGPT are formatted as follows:

• Parenthetical citation: (OpenAI, 2023)
• Narrative citation: OpenAI (2023)

Let’s break that reference down and look at the four elements (author, date, title, and source):

Author: The author of the model is OpenAI.

Date: The date is the year of the version you used. Following the template in Section 10.10, you need to include only the year, not the exact date. The version number provides the specific date information a reader might need.

Title: The name of the model is “ChatGPT,” so that serves as the title and is italicized in your reference, as shown in the template. Although OpenAI labels unique iterations (i.e., ChatGPT-3, ChatGPT-4), they are using “ChatGPT” as the general name of the model, with updates identified with version numbers.

The version number is included after the title in parentheses. The format for the version number in ChatGPT references includes the date because that is how OpenAI is labeling the versions. Different large language models or software might use different version numbering; use the version number in the format the author or publisher provides, which may be a numbering system (e.g., Version 2.0) or other methods.

Bracketed text is used in references for additional descriptions when they are needed to help a reader understand what’s being cited. References for a number of common sources, such as journal articles and books, do not include bracketed descriptions, but things outside of the typical peer-reviewed system often do. In the case of a reference for ChatGPT, provide the descriptor “Large language model” in square brackets. OpenAI describes ChatGPT-4 as a “large multimodal model,” so that description may be provided instead if you are using ChatGPT-4. Later versions and software or models from other companies may need different descriptions, based on how the publishers describe the model. The goal of the bracketed text is to briefly describe the kind of model to your reader.

Source: When the publisher name and the author name are the same, do not repeat the publisher name in the source element of the reference, and move directly to the URL. This is the case for ChatGPT. The URL for ChatGPT is https://chat.openai.com/chat . For other models or products for which you may create a reference, use the URL that links as directly as possible to the source (i.e., the page where you can access the model, not the publisher’s homepage).

Other questions about citing ChatGPT

You may have noticed the confidence with which ChatGPT described the ideas of brain lateralization and how the brain operates, without citing any sources. I asked for a list of sources to support those claims and ChatGPT provided five references—four of which I was able to find online. The fifth does not seem to be a real article; the digital object identifier given for that reference belongs to a different article, and I was not able to find any article with the authors, date, title, and source details that ChatGPT provided. Authors using ChatGPT or similar AI tools for research should consider making this scrutiny of the primary sources a standard process. If the sources are real, accurate, and relevant, it may be better to read those original sources to learn from that research and paraphrase or quote from those articles, as applicable, than to use the model’s interpretation of them.

We’ve also received a number of other questions about ChatGPT. Should students be allowed to use it? What guidelines should instructors create for students using AI? Does using AI-generated text constitute plagiarism? Should authors who use ChatGPT credit ChatGPT or OpenAI in their byline? What are the copyright implications ?

On these questions, researchers, editors, instructors, and others are actively debating and creating parameters and guidelines. Many of you have sent us feedback, and we encourage you to continue to do so in the comments below. We will also study the policies and procedures being established by instructors, publishers, and academic institutions, with a goal of creating guidelines that reflect the many real-world applications of AI-generated text.

For questions about manuscript byline credit, plagiarism, and related ChatGPT and AI topics, the APA Style team is seeking the recommendations of APA Journals editors. APA Style guidelines based on those recommendations will be posted on this blog and on the APA Style site later this year.

Update: APA Journals has published policies on the use of generative AI in scholarly materials .

We, the APA Style team humans, appreciate your patience as we navigate these unique challenges and new ways of thinking about how authors, researchers, and students learn, write, and work with new technologies.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

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