Exploration of a topic (to be determined) not covered by the standard curriculum but of interest to faculty and students in a particular semester.

The student will undertake an open-ended investigation of one or more physics experiments either in an active research laboratory or using departmental facilities. Ideas and progress will be discussed in regular seminars throughout the semester.

Fluid dynamics including Lagrangian vs. Eulerian fluid descriptions, inviscid and compressible fluids, viscosity and conduction, waves and oscillations, two-dimensional and incompressible flow, fluid instabilities, and boundary layer theory. Applications to astrophysics and/or biophysics.

Moving coordinate systems, systems of particles, mechanics of rigid bodies. Lagrangian mechanics, normal modes of vibrating systems.

Vector analysis, electrostatics, LaPlace's equation, dielectrics, magnetostatics, magnetic materials.

Faraday's Law, displacement current, Maxwell's equations, plane waves, power flow in waves, reflection and transmission of waves, wave-guides, radiation, and antennas.

Laws of thermodynamics, temperature, work, heat. Thermodynamic potentials and methods. Application to special systems, low-temperature physics. Classical statistical mechanics. Quantum statistics. Connections between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics.

Quantum mechanics from the standpoint of information science.  Storage, transmission, and processing of quantum information.  Quantum entanglement, quantum cryptography, and quantum computing.  Open quantum systems, quantum entropy.

Problems with classical physics; one dimensional Schrodinger equation, concepts and illustrative problems; N particle systems including separation of center of mass, identical particles, and Pauli principle; Schrodinger equation in three dimensions.

Angular momentum including raising/ lowering operators and spherical harmonics; hydrogen atom; spin and addition of angular momentum; time independent perturbation theory; structure of and radiation from atoms; scattering; and elementary particles.

Elementary aspects of physics of solids; crystal lattices and diffraction, phonons and thermal properties in crystals, elementary band theory, and semi-conductor physics.

Offered through SUAbroad by educational institution outside the United States. Student registers for the course at the foreign institution and is graded according to that institution's practice. SUAbroad works with the S.U. academic department to assign the appropriate course level, title, and grade for the student's transcript.

Calculus of variations. Fourier series and integrals. Matrices. Linear vector spaces. Orthogonal polynomials. Sturm-Liouville equations. Singular points of differential equations. Special functions. Distributions.

Mathematical and physical principles of general relativity and its applications, including tensor calculus, gravitational time dilation, black holes, the Schwarzschild metric, gravitational redshift, relativistic advance of periapsis, Shapiro delay, gravitational waves.

Exploration of a topic (to be determined) not covered by the standard curriculum but of interest to faculty and students in a particular semester.

Necessary numerical and computations tools for research in physics. The scope and implementation of scientific simulation algorithms for solving specific physics problems.

An introduction to computational physics. Numerical methods, design of simulations, validation and interpretation, algorithm analysis, and computational and visualization tools. Applications to physical systems that are analytically difficult. Strong emphasis on technical writing and scientific presentation. Additional work required of graduate students.

Aspects of classical mechanics of significance to modern physical theory. Conceptual structure of Newton's mechanics, Lagrange's equations, Hamilton's principle, canonical equations and canonical transformations, Hamilton-Jacobi theory, small oscillations, rigid-body motion.

This interdisciplinary class for science and engineering students provides an introduction to the quantitative description of biological systems and processes. The focus is on the biological and physical aspects of structure and function of cells and their subsystems.

In this seminar course on soft and biological materials and interfaces, teams from science and engineering will identify, discuss and assess current articles from the literature. Writing skills related to publishing peer-reviewed research are introduced.

Review of Maxwell's equations, Relativity and Covariant electrodynamics, conservation laws, Green function approach. Radiation from point and extended sources. Radiation reaction.

Familiarizing students with instrumentation used in modern laboratories. Topics include detectors used in science and medicine, electronic noise mechanisms, computerized data acquisition systems. Independent research projects are encouraged. Additional work required of graduate students.

This course provides the skills needed to analyze experimental and observational data without getting lost in abstract general principles. While these skills are critical to experimental physics and astrophysics, they are also relevant to numerical approaches in theoretical physics.

Origins of quantum mechanics. Schrödinger and Heisenberg formulation. Problems in one, two, and three dimensions. Abstract formalism. Angular momentum and spin. Scattering theory. Symmetry properties. Perturbation methods. Identical particles. Applications to atomic and nuclear systems.

Origins of quantum mechanics. Schrödinger and Heisenberg formulation. Problems in one, two, and three dimensions. Abstract formalism. Angular momentum and spin. Scattering theory. Symmetry properties. Perturbation methods. Identical particles. Applications to atomic and nuclear systems.

Problem solving skills and topics not covered in courses the previous year.

Participation in a discipline or subject related experience. Student must be evaluated by written or oral reports or an examination. Permission in advance with the consent of the department chairperson, instructor, and dean. Limited to those in good academic standing.

In-depth exploration of a problem or problems.  Individual independent study upon a plan submitted by the student. Admission by consent of supervising instructor or instructors and the department.

First and second laws of thermodynamics, Boltzman's integrodifferential equation, Gibb's statistical mechanics, petit and grand ensembles, quantum statistics.

Electron band theory. Electron-phonon interaction. Superconductivity. Impurities in crystals. Many-body Green's function. Disorder and localization. Amorphous materials.

Relativistic quantum mechanics; second quantization of many-particle systems; quantum theory of the electromagnetic field.

Classification of subatomic particles. Passage of particles through matter. Production, selection, and detection of high-energy particles. Invariance principles and dynamic laws of strong, electromagnetic, and weak interactions: their experimental discovery and confirmation. Review of outstanding problems.

Physical foundations of field quantization. Free fields. Fock space. Lagrangian and functional formulations. Interacting fields: quantum electrodynamics, weak and strong interactions. Renormalization. Path integrals. Symmetry and invariance. Nonabelian gauges.

Special and general theory of relativity. First semester: technical introduction to established theory. Part of second semester: current research topics.

Introduction to main ideas of modern cosmology. Expanding universe within general relativity; thermodynamics and cosmology; the cosmic microwave background; dark matter; dark energy and inflation; structure formation in the universe and connections between cosmology and particle physics.

Exploration of a topic (to be determined) not covered by the standard curriculum but of interest to faculty and students in a particular semester.

A continuation of graduate statistical physics. Topics include: collective modes and quasiparticles, Ginzburg-Landau theory, modern theory of phase transitions, and the renormalization group.

Topics vary over advanced field theory, gravitational physics, condensed matter theory, solitons, supersymmetry, cosmology, string theory, and others. With permission, may be taken more than once for credit.

Independent study and experimentation in some subject in physics.

In-depth exploration of a problem or problems.  Individual independent study upon a plan submitted by the student. Admission by consent of supervising instructor or instructors and the department.