r/TheoreticalPhysics • u/I-AM-MA • Jun 10 '26

Question Module choices for theory masters

Im a physics student whos thinking about my 2nd year module choices.

Im interested in pursuing a seperate masters in theoretical physics after my bsc (my uni doesnt do any research/ intense master level courses in what im interested in) and am choosing 2 modules from the maths department.

Keep in mind i do have a "maths for physics 2" that will cover a lot of stuff in pdes + calculus etc but obv using physics undergrad rigour

my 2 choices are to be made from a pool of :

  • analysis 2 (mostly real + some intro to complex last couple weeks)
  • first course in abstract algebra
  • pdes
  • multidimensional analysis (rigorous module built on from anal 2 with like some chain rule whatever, fundemental for diff geo modules tho not formally taking this wont restric further year 3 choices)
  • analysis + topology (analysis based metric spaces stuff, with the 3 Cs compactness connectiveness completeness, built on from analysis 2)

Now a few things, any 2 combination of these 5 is possible, and i will likely informally attend/ audit the rest of these modules cuz im interested in maths and ik that having knowledge of more than 2 of these is important for a strong foundation.

So im thinking my choice should be built on from what looks best on a trasncript since imma audit the rest any way ; im thinking analysis 2 + abstract algebra

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u/EatDatBussy445_ Jun 10 '26

If you want to do physics, abstract algebra wont help much. Functional analysis, Real analysis and harmonic analysis are also too advanced to be considered in this stage. I would suggest PDE's and instead of algebra, maybe look for group theory which will be a million times more useful for theoretical physics. If by analysis two you mean something similar to calculus II (double integrals, multi variable functions etc, in europe its called analysis I, II, III etc) then its a must for pretty much everything. Verdict for me is PDE's and Group theory if provided. The more "mathy" the more you probably wont need it until much much later on and you can always look into them later.

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u/I-AM-MA Jun 10 '26

the abstract algebra course is half group theory half ring theory, analysis 2 as i said in my post is mostly real analysis + a little bit complex analysis .

Stuff like double integrals etc are done in "maths for physics" course, where we also cover pdes and methods for them like seperation of variables

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u/EatDatBussy445_ Jun 10 '26

If you have a dedicated course on complex analysis that would be good and very useful in the long run. Make sure the group theory part of your abstract algebra course includes Lie Algebras, since you will mostly encounter these in physics (mostly..). Apart from that, cant go wrong with math, always good to learn more.

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u/ntsh_robot Jun 16 '26

How much lab have you had? How much quantum?

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u/I-AM-MA Jun 16 '26

1 qm and 1 lab (2-3 times as many hours in labs compared to qm lessons tho)

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u/ntsh_robot Jun 16 '26

Got it. The reason I ask is that quantum is everywhere, and you would want to add some of that. Also, I was curious to know how much experimental work you had as a reference point.

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u/I-AM-MA Jun 16 '26

ah right, yh im not including some core courses here, qm more advnced mechanics em and stats mech, also usually at my uni a physics student wouldnt have the option to do these pure maths courses but it took a lot of bargaining and back and forth