Fall 2019 courses
Courses marked with a * are core offerings in fall
*PHY 380M Plasma Physics II
Dr. T. Ditmire. Plasma containment, stability theory in fluid models, derivation of Vlasov and Fokker-Planck equations, the dielectric tensor, velocity space and gradient instabilities, Nyquist diagrams. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and Physics 380L or consent of instructor.
*PHY 380N Experimental Physics
Dr. M. Raizen. Experimental work to provide exposure to physics research techniques. Eighteen laboratory hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and concurrent enrollment in Physics 390.
PHY 381C Computational Physics
Dr. A. Demkov.
Dynamical and statical descriptions and solutions of many-body, nonlinear physical systems by computation. Theory of computation and applications to various branches of physics. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing; and Physics 385K and 387K, or consent of instructor.
PHY 381M Methods of Mathematical Physics I
Dr. P. Morrison.
Same as Computational Science, Engineering, and Mathematics 385M. Theory of analytic functions; linear algebra and vector spaces; orthogonal functions; ordinary differential equations; partial differential equations; Green's functions; complex variables. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Computational Science, Engineering, and Mathematics 385M and Physics 381M may not both be counted. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
*PHY 382S Seminar in Nonlinear Dynamics
Dr. E. Florin. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.
*PHY 385K Classical Mechanics
Dr. A. Zimmerman. Classical and relativistic Hamiltonian mechanics; Hamilton-Jacobi theory; Lagrangian mechanics for continuous media; symmetry principles and conservation laws. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
*PHY 385L Statistical Mechanics
Dr. L. Reichl. Equilibrium statistical mechanics; introduction to nonequilibrium concepts; ensembles; classical and quantum gases; statistical physics of solids. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing, and Physics 385K or consent of instructor.
*PHY 385S Seminar in Statistical Physics
Dr. L. Reichl. Topics to be announced. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.
*PHY 386K Physics of Sensors
Dr. A. DeLozanne. Physical principles of acoustic, optical, electromagnetic, radiation, and motion sensors. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.
*PHY 387K Electromagnetic Theory I
Dr. A. Tenerani. Electrostatics and magnetostatics; boundary value problems; Maxwell's equations; plane waves; wave guides; diffraction; multipole radiation. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
*PHY 388M Graduate Colloquy
Dr. M. Raizen. Reviews of current topics in physics research. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
*PHY 389K Quantum Mechanics
Dr. W. Fischler. Hilbert space and operators; Schroedinger and Heisenberg equations; solutions for systems in one and three dimensions; theory of spin and orbital angular momentum; the effect of symmetries; approximation techniques; elementary scattering theory. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
PHY 190, 290, 390, 690, 990 Graduate Research
For each semester hour of credit earned, the equivalent of one lecture hour a week for one semester. May not be counted toward the master's degree in physics. Prerequisite: Graduate standing, and written consent of instructor filed with the graduate adviser.
*PHY 392L Solid-State Physics II
Dr. Q. Niu. Elementary excitations: phonons, electrons, spin waves; interactions: phonon-phonon, electron-electron, electron-phonon; theory of metals and semiconductors; transport theory; optical properties. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and Physics 392K.
*PHY 392S Seminar in Solid-State Physics
Dr. L. Reichl. Topics to be announced. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.
*PHY 393S Seminar in Relativity
Dr. R. Matzner. Topics to be announced. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.
*PHY 395S Seminar in Atomic and Molecular Physics
Dr. M. Fink. Topics to be announced. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.
PHY 396J Introducation to Elementary Particle Physics
Dr. T. Andeen. Historical introduction to elementary particles, elementary particle dynamics, relativistic kinematics, symmetries, bound states, the Feynman calculus, quantum electrodynamics, electrodynamics of quarks and hadrons, quantum chromodynamics, weak interactions, gauge theories. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing, Physics 389K, and knowledge of special relativity and scattering.
*PHY 396K Quantum Field Theory I
Dr. V. Kaplunovsky. Quantization of the Klein-Gordon, Dirac, and electromagnetic field theories; theory of interacting fields, perturbation theory, and renormalization. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and Physics 389K.
*PHY 396S Seminar in Particle Physics
Topics to be announced. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. With consent of instructor, any topic may be repeated for credit. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.
PHY 396T Special Topics in Particle Physics
Dr. S. Weinberg. Cosmology. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. With consent of instructor, may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor.
*PHY 396T Introduction to Research
Dr. R. Coker. Lectures by research faculty of the department introducing their research to incoming graduate students. With consent of instructor, may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.
*PHY 398S Seminar in High Energy Theory
Seminars in theoretical physics. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of instructor.
PHY 698 Thesis
The equivalent of three lecture hours a week for two semesters. Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Prerequisite: For 698A, graduate standing in physics and written consent of the supervising professor filed with the graduate adviser; for 698B, Physics 398A.
PHY 398T Supervised Teaching in Physics
Dr. J. Yeazell. A review of physics teaching strategies, administrative procedures, and classroom responsibilities. Includes a review and critique of each participant's classroom teaching. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and appointment as a teaching assistant.
spring 2020 courses
