Description: Conceptual lectures and demonstrations of the most significant and universal laws and models describing the physical world by faculty from the Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Geological Sciences departments. Satisfies GE Physical Science requirement. Typically offered Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Identify the fundamental principles that govern the physical universe. This includes the behavior of the forces of nature, Newton's laws of motion, energy and order, conserved quantities, the interaction of atoms and molecules, and the construction of matter.
• Demonstrate the ability to apply these few principles, and models built on them, in answering conceptual questions about what we observe in nature.
• Strengthen their spiritual understanding as they connect scientific knowledge with revealed truth.

Description: Field-based initial teaching experience directed at helping prospective teachers experience demands and opportunities associated with teaching secondary students.

Description: Developing meaningful and engaging instruction for secondary students; developing critical thinking, problem solving, literacy, and democratic character; assessing learner performance. Typically offered Fall, Winter.

Prerequisites: Physical Science 276; fingerprint and FBI clearance

Description: Implementing meaningful and engaging instruction for secondary students; developing critical thinking, problem solving, literacy, and democratic character; assessing learner performance. Typically offered Fall, Winter.

Prerequisites: Concurrent enrollment in Physical Science 377

Description: Principles of classical and modern physics as they relate to current concepts of our physical environment. Typically offered Fall.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Use basic physical laws and concepts to analyze everyday phenomena and do simple calculations involving those laws. These laws and concepts include Newton's laws of motion, conservation laws, simple thermodynamics, fluids, and electricity and magnetism.
• Qualitatively discuss and do simple calculations involving modern physics concepts that are not everyday but which have important practical and philosophical implications in today's world, such as quantum mechanics, nuclear physics and relativity.

Description: Applied physics course not requiring calculus. Topics include mechanics, heat, wave motion, sound. Typically offered Fall, Winter, Spring.

Prerequisites: High school algebra and trigonometry.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions about kinematics and Newton’s laws in both linear and rotational contexts.
• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions about energy and momentum in both linear and rotational contexts.
• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions about static and flowing fluids, heat capacity and transfer, ideal gases, laws of thermodynamics, and heat engines.
• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions about harmonic motion, waves, interference, and sound.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Hess B, Chenworth J)
• Spring Term 2012 (Davis C, Chenworth J)

Description: Continuation of Physics 105. Topics include electricity and magnetism, atomic and nuclear physics, and optics. Typically offered Fall, Winter, Summer.

Prerequisites: Physics 105 or equivalent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions about electric charges, fields, electric potentials, and circuits.
• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions about magnetic fields, magnetic forces, Faraday’s Law, and electromagnetic waves.
• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions about geometric and wave optics.
• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions about special relativity, quantum physics, atomic physics, and nuclear physics.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Stokes H, Chenworth J)
• Summer Term 2012 (Magleby S, Chenworth J)

Description: Typically offered Fall, Winter, Spring.

Prerequisites: Physics 105 or concurrent enrollment.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Develop a greater conceptual understanding of mechanics and thermodynamics through hands-on experience with physical systems that illustrate lecture course material.
• Develop skills in measuring and analyzing physical data.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Besselman M)
• Spring Term 2012 (Christensen C)

Description: Typically offered Fall, Winter, Summer.

Prerequisites: Physics 106 or concurrent enrollment.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Develop a greater conceptual understanding of electricity and magnetism, optics, and modern physics through hands-on experience with physical systems that illustrate lecture course material.
• Develop skills in measuring and analyzing physical data.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Peterson B)
• Summer Term 2012 (Hess B)

Description: Newtonian mechanics. Weekly lab. Typically offered Fall, Winter, Spring.

Prerequisites: Calculus or concurrent enrollment.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Convert quantities from one set of units to another and use a reasonable number of significant digits when expressing answers.
• Compute a particle’s classical translational motion in one or two dimensions, including circular motion, both in Cartesian coordinates and in polar coordinates.
• Use the ideas of energy, work, power, linear momentum, and angular momentum to arrive at conclusions about the motion of a system, including the motion of satellites and the planets.
• Use Newton's Second Law to calculate the motion of objects, including those in simple harmonic motion, as well as the forces and torques acting on systems in equilibrium.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Hart, Grant W., Vanfleet R)
• Spring Term 2012 (Christensen C)

Description: Waves, thermal physics, optics, special relativity, and introduction to modern physics. Weekly lab. Typically offered Fall, Winter, Spring.

Prerequisites: Physics 121.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions using the basics of fluid statics and dynamics, including Bernoulli's principle and Pascal's law.
• Answer conceptual questions and calculate changes in temperature, pressure, entropy and volume for quasistatic ideal gas processes and be able to determine work done and efficiency for gas engines, heat pumps, and refrigerators. Determine heat flow and temperatures in systems in steady state.
• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions involving waves, using concepts such as wave speed, wavelength, frequency, superposition, beats, and resonance. Solve wave interference problems.
• Find the location and magnification of images in single- and multiple-lens/mirror systems by calculation and by ray tracing, and be able to work general problems in optics using Snell's law and specular reflection.
• (Section 1) Solve problems and answer conceptual questions in basic modern physics including special relativity, and quantum mechanics and nuclear physics.
• (Section 2) Solve more advanced problems and answer conceptual questions in wave analysis, including calculating group and phases velocities, solving for Fourier coefficients of periodic functions, and frequencies of notes in the equal temperament musical scale. Solve problems in special relativity.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Davis C, Hart, Gus)
• Spring Term 2012 (Peatross J)

Description: Nonmathematical presentation of knowledge of the content and history of the cosmos, frequently using observatory and planetarium. Typically offered Fall, Winter, Spring; Honors also..

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Locate and identify 50 major northern hemisphere constellations, bright stars, and nearby star clusters during a regularly administered constellation quiz.
• Answer conceptual questions that demonstrate their understanding of the proper use of current astrophysical vocabulary.
• Answer conceptual questions that demonstrate their understanding of how the Universe is organized by gravity at all scales from the solar system to the superclusters of galaxies.
• Answer conceptual questions that demonstrate their understanding of the significant and unique characteristics of each planet and other components of the solar system.
• Answer conceptual questions that demonstrate their understanding of the essential physical concepts that govern the life cycle of stars, how the Sun compares to other stars, and the path the Sun will follow during its life cycle.
• Answer conceptual questions that demonstrate their understanding of the structure and classification of galaxies and clusters of galaxies.
• Answer conceptual questions that demonstrate a broad general knowledge of the central ideas and evidences for current big bang cosmologies.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Stephens D, Migenes Gaetan V, Hintz E, Joner M)
• Spring Term 2012 (Moody J)

Description: Nonmathematical introduction to characteristics of the atmosphere, emphasizing structure and dynamic behavior, including the environmental impact of man. Typically offered Fall, Winter.

Prerequisites: Physical Science 100 or equivalent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Describe and explain types of severe weather, how they impact human lives, and how to minimize weather-related risks to themselves, others, and property.
• Understand the reasons for short-term and seasonal weather patterns and changes and how those patterns and changes are represented in weather maps, charts, and images.
• Explain the factors that control climate. Thereby explain the causes of climate change and the potential effects, catastrophic and benign, of such change.
• Formulate short-term weather forecasts directly from observations; fine-tune professional forecasts to their specific locations.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Christensen C)

Description: Introduction to analog and digital circuits. Typically offered Fall, Spring.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Build and debug basic analog circuits that are of practical use in experimental physics such as voltage dividers, diode rectifiers, inverting and non-inverting op amp circuits, and transistor switches.
• Demonstrate understanding of electrical concepts of voltage, current, resistance, power, and input and output resistance through the analysis of simple circuits.
• Demonstrate proper use and limitations of electrical sources and test equipment including DC power supplies, multimeters, oscilloscopes, and function generators.
• Build and debug basic digital circuits that use components such as digital gates, flipflops, counters, and digital to analog converters.

Scheduled Offerings

• Spring Term 2012 (Peterson B)

Description: Introduction to physical measurement and analysis, optics, sensors, actuators, and computer-based data acquisition. Typically offered Winter, Summer.

Prerequisites: Physics 121, 140.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate good practices in experimental physics documentation and communication such as data collection, record keeping, and presentation.
• Demonstrate the ability to analyze experimental data this includes techniques such as error estimation, error propagation, model selection, and curve fitting.
• Use simple optical devices (e.g. lenses, mirrors, slits and gratings, polarizers) to explore the geometric and wave properties of light.
• Apply AC concepts such as frequency response, frequency filtering, fourier transform analysis, and impedance to sinusoidally-driven electrical, mechanical, optical, and acoustical systems.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Chesnel K)
• Summer Term 2012 (Campbell B)

Description: Introductory acoustics course, emphasizing physical principles underlying production and perception of music and speech. Typically offered Fall, Winter, Spring.

Prerequisites: Physical Science 100 or equivalent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Define the basic terminologies of acoustics and identify physical principles involved in common situations. Solve basic problems and answer conceptual questions related to hearing, speech, audio, listening environments, and musical instruments.
• Apply a few key scientific models to solving acoustical problems in many areas including hearing, speech and musical instruments.
• Display an ability to write effectively by properly using the terminology of acoustics and logically outlining how acoustics is important in a discipline of their choice.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Neilsen T)

Description: Survey of BYU undergraduate physics and astronomy programs, careers in physics and astronomy, and current physics and astronomy research. Typically offered Fall.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Describe the major subfields of physics and the breadth of interdisciplinary research to which physicists contribute.
• Describe examples of current research in physics or astronomy, explaining what questions are being asked by the investigators and why these questions are interesting.
• Describe career opportunities available in physics and astronomy and the specific preparation necessary for these careers.
• Develop a draft of an educational plan for both undergraduate and graduate training.

Description: Review of mathematics and introductory physics for returning missionaries and others returning after a significant break. Typically offered Fall 1st block..

Prerequisites: Physics 121; Math 113 or concurrent enrollment.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Recall and apply the fundamental mathematical concepts and techniques up to the level of differential and beginning integral calculus that are necessary for Physics 121.
• Recall and apply fundamental physics concepts at the level of Physics 121.

Description: Electricity and magnetism. Weekly lab. Typically offered Fall, Winter, Spring.

Prerequisites: Physics 121 or equivalent; Math 113 or equivalent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Use Maxwell’s equations to find electric and magnetic fields in symmetric arrangements of static charges and steady currents. Also find electric and magnetic fields by integrating over charge and current densities.
• Use Maxwell’s equations to solve problems and answer conceptual questions with changing electric and magnetic fields, including induction and electromagnetic radiation.
• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions involving electromagnetic energy (potential), forces, and the motion of charged particles and dipoles.
• Analyze simple direct current and alternating current circuits of resistors, inductors, capacitors and power supplies.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Rees L)
• Summer Term 2012 (Berrondo M)

Description: Quantum physics, atoms, molecules, condensed matter, nuclei, elementary particles, and selected topics in contemporary physics and special relativity. Typically offered Fall, Winter, Summer.

Prerequisites: Physics 121, 123, 220.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate their understanding of the fundamental postulates and principles of special relativity and quantum mechanics.
• Apply the principles of quantum mechanics to predict the results of measurements in simple systems such as a free particle, simple potential wells, and central potentials.
• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions applying the principles of quantum mechanics and special relativity to topics in modern physics such as atomic physics, molecular physics, the physics of solids, statistical physics, nuclear physics, radioactivity, and particle physics.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Bergeson S)

Description: Physics of light and matter, Newton's laws, solar-system dynamics, and planetary surfaces and atmospheres. Typically offered Fall.

Prerequisites: Physics 121, 123; Math 113 or concurrent enrollment.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve elementary problems in classical celestial mechanics and in the interaction of light with atoms and molecules.
• Describe the differences between the planets and moons and how these differences provide clues as to their formation history.
• Use observational data of binary stars to determine fundamental stellar parameters, and apply understanding to characterize other stars.
• Describe various telescopes and how they are used with detectors for photometry and spectroscopy.

Description: Stellar atmospheres, stellar interiors, stellar evolution, interstellar matter, galactic structure, external galaxies, and cosmology. Typically offered Winter.

Prerequisites: Math 113, Physics 227.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Display a qualitative and simple quantitative understanding of the role of the interstellar medium in star formation, stellar structure and evolution;
• Demonstrate an understanding of stellar populations and galactic structure;
• Display a knowledge of the basic properties of galaxies;
• Display a qualitative grasp of up-to-date observational cosmology and solve elementary problems in theoretical cosmology

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Migenes Gaetan V)

Description: Numerical and symbolic differentiation, integration, and differential equations, using Mathematica. Applications in mechanics, optics, and special relativity. Typically offered Fall, Winter.

Prerequisites: Physics 220 or concurrent enrollment.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate the ability to apply calculus, linear algebra, and complex analysis to solve undergraduate-level physics problems.
• Demonstrate the ability to use programming constructs such as looping, conditional execution, and iteration to solve physics problems.
• Solve equations, including systems of equation, related to physical phenomena both symbolically and numerically.
• Demonstrate the ability to visualize, analyze, and interpret equations, data, and physical models.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Campbell B)

Description: Experimental apparatus design and construction, advanced measurement and analysis. Typically offered Fall, Spring.

Prerequisites: Physics 123, 145.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Design, build, and interface experimental apparatus.
• Make involved physical measurements and analyze experimental results.
• Document in a personal lab notebook the procedures, methods, results, and analysis of laboratory exercises.
• Present work in writing and through oral presentations.
• Follow professional ethics guidelines in research activities and presentation of results.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Peterson B)

Description: In-depth, multi-period experiments in contemporary physics, using advanced instrumentation. Typically offered Winter, Summer.

Prerequisites: Physics 220, 240.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate the use and assembly of experimental systems using contemporary instrumentation components to perform experiments in areas such as coherent optical systems, microfabrication, and vacuum systems.
• Independently design and carry out multi-period in-depth projects.
• Present research results through oral presentations.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Vanfleet R)
• Spring Term 2012 (Durfee D)

Description: Introduction to physics of solids, including laboratory experience. Typically offered Fall.

Prerequisites: Physics 121, 122.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Use the concepts of lattices, unit cells, and the atomic basis to describe the structure of crystals.
• Apply the concept of reciprocal lattices and the first Brillouin zone to arrive at conclusions about wave diffraction, dispersion graphs of lattice waves, and electron energy bands.
• Apply basic principles of quantum mechanics to describe the behavior of electrons in crystalline solids and describe the concepts of density of states, Pauli's exclusion principle, the Dirac distribution function, and band structure.
• Use the ideas of band structure to arrive at conclusions about the electrical properties of materials use the ideas of doping to arrive at conclusions about the electrical properties of semiconductors.

Description: Career opportunities for physicists in industry, interdisciplinary research, national labs and observatories, and professions such as medicine, law, and business. Personal planning for research or internship involvement. Typically offered Fall, Second Block.

Prerequisites: May be be enrolled concurrently with Physics 191.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Describe career opportunities for physicists in industry, interdisciplinary research, national labs and observatories, and professions such as medicine, law and business.
• Learn how to prepare for and succeed in such careers from physicists working in them.
• Develop a plan for research or internship involvement.
• Develop a plan for graduate school (if the student’s career path requires it).

Description: Faculty-supervised research experience. Typically offered Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Present a well-written report describing their research experience. The report will show that the student gained research skills he or she did not have before the experience.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Spencer R)

Description: Exploring principles of mechanics through scripted inquiry resulting in personal discovery of key principles and learning to teach through inquiry methods. Typically offered Winter.

Prerequisites: Physics 105 or 121.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Teach physics using constructivist inquiry based modes of instruction.
• Experience doing and learning from a constructivist learning model.
• Be able to deliver laboratory instruction to students using only meter sticks and stopwatches (low tech data collection) and also using electronic probes (high tech data collection).
• Display the ability to collect and analyze data from video cameras using all relevant camera features.
• Leave class with a suite of about 15 labs that they have completed and written up from the constructivist teacher model that they can use immediately in the 7-12 secondary physics classroom.
• Review Newtonian physics and demonstrate conceptual understanding measured by the Force Concept Inventory, the Mechanics Baseline, the Test for Understanding Graphs, and other assignments and exams.
• Develop teaching skills in using projects, practicums and lab experimentation that can be transferred to secondary schools when they are teachers.
• Develop the ability to use alternative modes of assessment that take students beyond the multiple choice format of assessment to open ended, "apply the physics you understand" to this problem.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Merrell D)

Description: Exploring principles of electricity through scripted inquiry resulting in personal discovery of key principles and learning to teach through inquiry methods. Typically offered Winter.

Prerequisites: Physics 106 or 220.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Teach Physics using constructivist inquiry based modes of instruction, scripted inquiry.
• Experience doing and learning from a constructivist learning model, using scripted inquiry.
• Be able to deliver from a teacher standpoint labs form the CASTLE Electricity units.
• Demonstrate the ability to draw circuits, to physically build circuits, and to collect and analyze data using wires, bulbs, volt meters, current probes.
• Review basic electricity and electrostatics and demonstrate conceptual understanding measured by unit exams and the electricity concept inventory.
• Develop teaching skills in using projects, practicums and lab experimentation that can be transferred to secondary schools when they are teachers.
• Develop the ability to use alternative modes of assessment that take students beyond the multiple choice format of assessment to open ended, "apply the physics you understand" to this problem.
• Design, solder, troubleshoot a complex electrical circuit used as a timer in launching paper drag racer car.

Description: Special topics in physics for undergraduate physics majors. Typically offered On demand.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Achieve the learning outcomes of the trial courses assigned this number from time to time.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Lawler M)

Description: Scientific explanation, concepts, and models. Philosophical assumptions and criteria for theory selection, as exemplified by historical development of basic ideas in science. Typically offered Fall.

Prerequisites: Physical Science 100 or instructor’s consent.

Description: Classical equations of physical fields; algebra of complex variables; applying Fourier analysis, Fourier transforms, and orthogonal functions. Typically offered Fall, Winter, Spring.

Prerequisites: Math 303 or 334; Physics 230.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve partial differential equations in Cartesian, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates using separation of variables and expansions in orthogonal functions. Apply boundary conditions appropriate for physical systems.
• Perform algebraic computations involving complex numbers and functions.
• Use the properties (such as recursion relations, derivative relationships, and orthogonality conditions) of various special functions, including trigonometric functions, Bessel functions, and Legendre polynomials to solve problems involving those functions.
• Use Fourier series and transforms to expand functions and solve partial differential equations on appropriate domains.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Leishman T)
• Spring Term 2012 (Hart G)

Description: Newton's laws applied to particles and systems of particles, including rigid bodies. Conservation principles and Lagrange's and Hamilton's equations. Typically offered Fall, Spring.

Prerequisites: Physics 121, 230; Math 303 or 334 or concurrent enrollment.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Use Newtonian mechanics with forces and torques to solve problems in Cartesian and curvilinear coordinates.
• Solve mechanics problems using work-energy, and conservation of energy, momentum and angular momentum.
• Solve and analyze rigid-body problems and problems in non-inertial frames.
• Use Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics to obtain the equations of motion for a variety of problems, including the use of generalized coordinates and cyclic coordinates.
• Use perturbation and similar techniques to linearize equations of motion to analyze stability and study coupled systems using normal modes.

Scheduled Offerings

• Spring Term 2012 (Peterson B)

Description: Basic techniques of observational astronomy, emphasizing practical experience in optical data acquisition and analysis. Typically offered Winter.

Prerequisites: Physics 127 (or 227 and 228).

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Obtain publication quality astronomical data (photometric data) using a telescope and CCD camera.
• Process raw data and extract astrophysically significant information from data about astronomical objects.
• Interpret data obtained and present results in astronomical publication format written in AASTeX.
• Prepare a request for external telescope time.
• Follow professional ethics guidelines in research activities and presentation of results.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Hintz E)

Description: Numerical solution of ordinary differential equations, linear algebra and eigenvalues, chaos theory. Applications to dynamics. Introduction to programming in Matlab. Typically offered Fall, Spring.

Prerequisites: Physics 230; 321 or concurrent enrollment; Math 303 or 334 or equivalent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate proficiency in using MATLAB and writing working programs.
• Qualitatively explain how differential equations generate their solution curves.
• Use a symbolic mathematics program and MATLAB to solve ordinary differential equations to simulate dynamical systems.

Scheduled Offerings

• Spring Term 2012 (Berrondo M)

Description: Principles of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, with applications. Typically offered Winter.

Prerequisites: Physics 222; Math 303 or 334.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Use statistical arguments to explain thermodynamics from first principles, including heat flow and the increase of entropy. Apply these to solve quantitative problems in thermodynamics.
• Use thermodynamic potentials, e.g. the Helmholtz and Gibbs free energies, to predict equilibrium states in physical systems and predict phase transformations.
• Use simple models to explain physical phenomena in a variety of systems, including: classical and quantum ideal gases, magnetic systems, solids

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Campbell B)

Description: Typically offered Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer.

Prerequisites: Both department chair's and cooperative education coordinator's consent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Student will report, both verbally and in writing, what he or she learned from the internship experience.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Allred D)
• Spring Term 2012 (Allred D)
• Summer Term 2012 (Allred D)

Description: Writing scientific and technical articles and proposals. Writing and presentation skills applied to senior thesis or capstone project. Resources and guidelines for publishing in physics. Typically offered Winter on block, Spring.

Prerequisites: Completed research for thesis or capstone project.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Communicate succinctly and precisely in both written and oral formats.
• Write a thesis/capstone report or a professional paper.
• Describe ethical issues that may arise in the physics profession and formulate appropriate responses to these issues.
• Produce professional documents (resume, memo, etc.) and presentations.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Ware M)

Description: Writing scientific and technical articles and proposals. Writing and presentation skills applied to senior thesis or capstone project. Resources and guidelines for publishing in physics. Typically offered Winter on block, Summer.

Prerequisites: Physics 416A.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Communicate succinctly and precisely in both written and oral formats.
• Write a thesis/capstone report or a professional paper.
• Describe ethical issues that may arise in the physics profession and formulate appropriate responses to these issues.
• Produce professional documents (resume, memo, etc.) and presentations.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (VanHuele J)

Description: Principles and observational techniques of astrophysics. Typically offered Fall.

Prerequisites: Physics 227, 228.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Represent sky positions and kinematics using basic astronomical spatial and time coordinates. Transform coordinates, motions and times between coordinate systems. Explain at least ten reasons why sky positions change, and make corrections for those which are purely apparent.
• Manipulate basic stellar spectral data, represent such data in and interpret the HR-diagram and kindred color-magnitude and color-color diagrams, explaining their relation to theoretical temperature-luminosity diagrams. Explain how these serve as tools in studies of stars and the interstellar medium.
• Explain the stellar luminosity function, describe its determination, explain the difficulties encountered in its determination, and explain why the actual stellar content of the galaxy is so different from the counting samples we obtain, either with the naked eye or telescopically.
• Describe the most commonly used types of telescopes (visual and non-visual) and auxiliary instruments (including detectors) and be able to calculate their performance characteristics. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of different types and configurations of instruments. Describe and explain the considerations of observatory site selection.
• Interpret and use in solving simple problems the Planck function, the Maxwellian kinematic distributions, and the Boltzmann, Saha, and molecular-disassociation equations.

Description: Principles and observational techniques of astrophysics. Typically offered Winter.

Prerequisites: Physics 227, 228.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Explain and apply the basic laws and conventions of atomic spectroscopy.
• Explain and apply fundamental radiation laws for both continuum and discrete line processes. Relate line emission and absorption coefficients to the Einstein coefficients. Be familiar with the equation of transfer and solve it for the interstellar medium and an Eddington model atmosphere. Explain stellar limb darkening.
• Describe the physical mechanisms that broaden and shape line absorption coefficients and show how to convolve various combinations of coefficient profiles. Then explain the changes that occur in a line profile as causative conditions change. Explain why an actual line profile is proportional in shape to its absorption coefficient profile in weak but not in strong lines.
• Use curve-of-growth analysis to determine stellar composition.
• Explain and quantify the degradation of stellar spectra by terrestrial atmospheric absorption, scattering and refraction.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Christensen C)

Description: Static and dynamic boundary value problems, partial differential equations. Applications in electrostatics, thermodynamics, waves, and quantum mechanics. Programming with Matlab. Typically offered Winter, Summer.

Prerequisites: Physics 222, 318, 330.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Numerically solve physics problems involving partial differential equations using Mathematica and MATLAB.
• Apply the basic programming concepts of looping and conditional branching to numerical problems.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Hart, Grant W.)
• Summer Term 2012 (Hess B)

Description: Classical theory of static electric and magnetic fields. Typically offered Fall, Spring.

Prerequisites: Physics 220, 318.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate the ability to apply the concepts of vector calculus as used in Maxwell's equations.
• Demonstrate the ability to integrate over a source distribution to calculate time-independent fields and potentials for both electricity and magnetism. Also demonstrate the ability to use Gauss's law and Amperes law to find electric and magnetic fields in symmetric situations.
• Demonstrate the ability to use vacuum harmonics, image charges, and image currents to solve for time-independent electric and magnetic potentials and fields.
• Demonstrate the ability to calculate electric and magnetic fields in the presence of matter which can be electrically and magnetically polarized, including the ability to solve problems involving torques and potential energies of electric and magnetic dipoles.

Scheduled Offerings

• Spring Term 2012 (Berrondo M)

Description: Maxwell's equations, radiation, interaction of electromagnetic fields with matter, and special relativity. Typically offered Winter, Summer.

Prerequisites: Physics 441.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate the ability to calculate time-dependent electric fields using Faraday's law and the ability to calculate time-dependent magnetic fields using Maxwell's displacement current.
• Demonstrate the ability to solve problems involving electric and magnetic energy densities and the Maxwell stress tensor.
• Demonstrate the ability to use Maxwell's equations to solve problems involving electromagnetic waves in vacuum and in matter.
• Demonstrate the ability to use the concept of retarded time to compute radiation potentials.
• Demonstrate the ability to solve problems involving the special theory of relativity, including 4-vectors, form invariance, and the electromagnetic field tensor.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Mason G)
• Summer Term 2012 (Peatross J)

Description: Analytical foundations of quantum mechanics. Typically offered Fall.

Prerequisites: Physics 222, 318, or equivalent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Understand the mechanics of operators, eigenstats and eigen values. Learn how to build wave functions, estimate expectation values and standard deviations, and apply the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.
• Manipulate the Schrödinger equation to solve for wave functions
• Develop free-particle and bound-state solutions to the Schrödinger equation. (In particular, harmonic oscillator, infinite and finite square-well, finite barrier potentials…)
• Construct simple solutions for Hydrogen atom, angular momentum and spin systems, atoms and solids.

Description: Applications of quantum mechanics to atomic, molecular, statistical, condensed-matter, and nuclear physics; elementary particles. Typically offered Winter.

Prerequisites: Physics 451.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Apply techniques such as time-independent perturbation theory, variational methods, time-dependent perturbation theory, and scattering theory to quantum systems.
• Describe and quantify fine, hyperfine, and Zeeman level splittings in atoms.
• Characterize emission and absorption of radiation by atoms, and derive the associated selection rules.
• Solve quantum scattering and tunneling problems.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Chesnel K)

Description: Mathematical descriptions of physical phenomena in generation, propagation, and reception of acoustic waves. Fundamental acoustical instrumentation and analysis techniques. Application of physical principles and mathematical models to realistic problems. Typically offered Fall.

Prerequisites: Physics 121, 123; Math 303 or 334 or equivalent. Recommend concurrent enrollment in Physics 318 or equivalent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a conceptual and mathematical understanding of acoustical phenomena, including source radiation, sound transmission, absorption, and reflection.
• Perform acoustical measurements, interpret the data, and document the results in the form of technical laboratory reports.
• Calculate appropriate measures of sound, including sound pressure level, transmission loss, sound power, weighted levels, and noise criteria.

Description: Electromagnetic wave phenomena, including polarization effects, interference, coherence, dispersion, ray theory, diffraction; introduction to quantum nature of light. Laboratory component emphasizes applications. Typically offered Fall, Winter.

Prerequisites: Physics 123, 220; Math 303 or 334 or concurrent enrollment.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Use mathematical and conceptual descriptions of propagation of light in matter, reflection/transmission at boundaries, polarization effects, interference, dispersion, coherence, image formation, diffraction, and quantum aspects of light to analyze and predict optical phenomena.
• Manipulate and measure properties of light in a laboratory setting.
• Apply mathematical tools such as vector calculus, complex numbers, matrices, and Fourier transforms (1D and 2D) to optical problems.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Colton J)
• Summer Term 2012 (Peatross J)

Description: Conducting and reporting original research or appropriate creative work. Mentored career experience combining physics and the chosen area of interest. Project must be approved by the department capstone project coordinator or the associate chair before registration or starting project. Typically offered Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Students will produce, in both verbal and written form, a report of what was accomplished in his or her capstone project.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Davis R)
• Spring Term 2012 (Davis R)
• Summer Term 2012 (Davis R)

Description: Typically offered Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Produce a written report in acceptable scientific style describing the results of this mentored research experience.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Spencer R)
• Spring Term 2012 (Spencer R)
• Summer Term 2012 (Spencer R)

Description: Conducting and reporting research under a department faculty mentor or other professionals. Typically offered Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Perform significant research in physics or astronomy under the direction of a faculty or internship mentor.
• Present their research in a written document that follows professional standards in the field.
• Do the above within professional ethical standards.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Hintz E)
• Spring Term 2012 (Hintz E)
• Summer Term 2012 (Hintz E)

Description: Demonstrate knowledge of business skills necessary to function as a scientist working in industry.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Wallentine M)

Description: Topics generally related to recent developments in physics.

Prerequisites: Instructor's consent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate the ability to achieve the learning outcomes of this trial course whose subject is variable.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Rees L)

Description: Advanced techniques of observational astronomy, emphasizing knowledge and skills necessary to carry out observational scientific investigation in astronomy.

Prerequisites: Physics 427, 428.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Program an observing schedule into a remote/robotic telescope system to acquire high quality data.
• Reduce all-sky photometric astronomical data in multiple filters.
• Process and analyze infrared astronomical data sets.
• Obtain, process, and analyze radio data on astronomical objects.
• Reduce raw astronomical spectroscopic data to 1D wavelength calibrated stectra and calculate astrophysically important data from those spectra.
• Describe observing programs that require multi-wavelength observing programs

Description: Introduction to plasma physics, including single-particle motion and both fluid and kinetic models of plasma behavior.

Prerequisites: Physics 321, 441.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions involving both the single-particle and the fluid descriptions of a plasma.
• Describe and characterize the various waves found in a plasma.
• Determine the equilibrium and evaluate the stability of simple plasma configurations.
• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions involving the kinetic theory of plasmas and nonlinear effects.

Description: Sound generation, transmission, reflection, and reception. Vibrating systems, elastic media, mechanical energy, and radiation. Sound in tubes and cavities. Acoustic filters. Noise measurement and perception.

Prerequisites: Physics 123 or equivalent; Math 303 or 334 or equivalent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Conceptualize and solve problems in fundamental areas of vibroacoustics, including: strings, rods, membranes, beams, plates, plane and spherical waves, reflection and transmission phenomena, and radiation of sources.
• Acquire and analyze acoustical data for physical understanding, and document the results in the form of technical laboratory reports.

Description: Laser amplification, cavity design, and control and characterization of temporal and spatial modes. Interactions between lasers and atoms.

Prerequisites: Physics 451, 471; or equivalents.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Design stable laser resonators, frequency-locking feedback systems, and pulsed-output mode-locking systems.
• Measure durations of femtosecond pulses and the line width and center frequency of frequency-stablized sources.
• Compute cavity threshold gain, optimal output coupling, and gain saturation.
• Describe interactions of light and matter within a semiclassical two-level-atom framework.
• Compute cross sections and selection rules for transitions in hydrogen.

Description: Introduction to the physics of solids. Crystal structure and symmetry, X-ray diffraction, lattice vibrations, metals and semiconductors, superconductivity, thermal properties, magnetic properties, and dielectric and optical properties.

Prerequisites: Physics 222 or equivalent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Explain the following basic concepts underlying the topics in solid state physics: (1) crystal symmetry, (2) reciprocal lattice and the first Brillouin zone in k-space, and (3) the quantum behavior of electrons, Pauli's exclusion principle, and the Fermi-Dirac distribution function.
• Use these basic concepts to explain crystal structure, x-ray diffraction, lattice vibrations, behavior of electrons in metals and semiconductors, and thermal, magnetic, dielectric and optical properties of materials.
• Show their understanding of these topics and their underlying concepts by solving problems using a variety of mathematical tools.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Colton J)

Description: Properties of nanostructures, surfaces, and interfaces; experimental methods. Applications to emerging problems and opportunities in science and technology. Emphasis on concepts.

Prerequisites: Physics 222 or equivalent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Describe basic surface properties and processes comprising: nucleation and growth of films, surface tension, relaxation, reconstruction, two dimensional lattices, surface defects, electronics surface states, and surface scattering.
• Perform basic analytical calculations relevant to the surface processes and properties listed above.
• Describe basic interface properties relating to space charge layers, metal semiconductor junctions, heterojunctions and electronic band offsets at semiconductor interfaces and perform associated analytical calculations.
• Describe the electronic and physical properties of silicon nanowires, grapheme, and carbon nanotubes and perform basic analytical calculations of relevant electronic and physical properties of silicon nanowires, grapheme, and carbon nanotubes.

Description: Preparation, characterization, use, and special properties of modern thin films; interdisciplinary treatment. Of interest to students in applied physics and engineering.

Prerequisites: Physics 222 or equivalent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions, utilizing the graphs, figures and photographs of thin film material science, about structural and chemical aspects of thin films in relation to their environment.
• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions involving deposition and characterization of films, and explain which ones that best match resources and requirements.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Allred D)

Description: Practical and theoretical aspects of sample preparation, basic and advanced imaging, electron diffraction, and other analytical materials characterization techniques on the transmission electron microscope.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Use the TEM to acquire different types of images and diffraction patterns of various materials.
• Perform basic, necessary alignments of the transmission electron microscope (TEM).
• Demonstrate a working knowledge of the physical components of the TEM and peripheral equipment.
• Show understanding of the theory and practice of electron imaging, electron diffraction and X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry, as how they apply to the characterization of materials.

Description: Device physics, with an in-depth study of the MOS transistor and other nanoscale computing devices.

Prerequisites: Physics 281 or 581 or EC En 450.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Identify the fundamental mechanisms and models of these mechanisms controlling the operation of semiconductor devices.
• Apply the fundamental mechanisms and models to the analysis of devices such as silicon mosfets, silicon on insulator transistors, carbon nanotube transistors, and graphene transistors.
• Find, read, and utilize contemporary semiconductor device physics literature to write reviews of this literature.

Description: Cooperative education internships off campus.

Prerequisites: Department internship coordinator's consent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Student will report, both verbally and in writing, what he or she learned from the internship experience.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Allred D)
• Spring Term 2012 (Allred D)
• Summer Term 2012 (Allred D)

Description: Topics in modern theoretical physics, including applications of matrix and tensor analysis and linear differential and integral operators.

Prerequisites: Physics 318, Math 334; or equivalents.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve problems in complex analysis.
• Use finite-dimensional vector spaces, linear algebra, to solve problems in mathematical physics.
• Use properties of infinite series to demonstrate properties of functions and solutions in vector and complex analysis.

Description: Topics in modern theoretical physics, including applications of matrix and tensor analysis and linear differential and integral operators.

Prerequisites: Physics 318, Math 334; or equivalents.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve mathematical problems with applications in physics using infinite dimensional vector spaces, including expansions in orthogonal functions.
• Solve linear partial differential equations using separation of variables, Green's functions, and transform methods.
• Use perturbative techniques to analyze nonlinear differential equations.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Thomas D)

Description: Theory of stellar atmospheres and the internal structure of stars, including radioactive processes in stars.

Prerequisites: Instructor's consent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a quantitative understanding of the principles of radiation fields, electromagnetic radiation, and radiative transfer by solving problems.
• Display an understanding of concepts related to the theory of stellar atmospheres including: opacity, optical depth, emissivity, statistical equilibrium, etc.
• Display a qualitative understanding of the physics of stellar models.
• Demonstrate an understanding of how spectral lines form in stellar atmospheres and the knowledge that can be obtained from their study.

Description: Theory of stellar atmospheres and the internal structure of stars.

Prerequisites: Instructor's consent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Explain the physics that leads to the formation of a stable stellar structure.
• Explain the modes of energy transport inside a star and its affect on struture and stability.
• Explain the equations of state that describe the interior material of a star.
• Discuss how the preceding change over time.

Description: Applications of tensor analysis, differential geometry, and differential forms to such topics as mechanics, optics, relativity, and fluid dynamics.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve mathematical problems in differential geometry and tensor analysis with applications to mechanics, optics, relativity or fluid dynamics.

Description: Introductory group theory. Basic representation theory and developments, with applications to quantum mechanics and molecular and solid-state physics.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve elementary mathematical problems in groups, algebras, and their representations with applications to physics.

Description: Advanced group theory. Space groups and lie groups with applications in solid-state physics (energy band representations, phase transitions, etc.), nuclear physics, and quantum field theory (particle classification schemes, etc.).

Prerequisites: Physics 618.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve advanced mathematical problems in groups, algebras, and their representations with applications to physics.

Description: Review of special relativity and general relativity, with applications to modern astrophysics.

Prerequisites: Physics 321 or equivalent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve problems associated with special relativity using the four-vector formalism of Minkowski space.
• Use differential geometry to solve problems in general curvilinear coordinates and in curved spacetimes. Solve basic problems on Lorentzian manifolds using the tools of differential geometry.
• Use the Einstein equations to solve problems associated with the classical tests of general relativity.

Description: Applications of general relativity to modern astrophysics, including gravitational collapse, black holes, cosmological models, gravitational waves, etc.

Prerequisites: Physics 625.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve problems associated with the physics of black holes.
• Solve problems associated with linearized general relativity and the production of gravitational radiation.
• Solve problems associated with the standard model of Big Bang cosmology.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Neilsen D)

Description: Astrophysics of the interstellar medium.

Prerequisites: Instructor's consent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Identify the five phases of the interstellar medium, the physics and chemistry that characterizes these different regions, and their interaction. Solve problems related to atomic and molecular spectroscopy, gas cooling, gas heating, gas-phase chemical reactions, and grain-surface chemistry.
• Demonstrate the ability to apply this knowledge to understand the importance of dust, PAHs, HII regions, PDRs, phases in the ISM, molecular clouds, shock waves and SN explosions.
• Write in standard journal format using LaTex, as evidenced by a term paper.
• Give a professional oral presentation
• Reduce and analyze actual observations.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Stephens D)

Description: Galactic structure and stellar dynamics.

Prerequisites: Instructor's consent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate their understanding of galactic positional astronomy.
• Display an understanding of the role of stellar populations in galactic structure.
• Show that they are well acquainted with the basic properties of both open and globular clusters and their role in understanding galactic structure.
• Demonstrate their understanding of the relationship between interstellar matter and galactic structure.
• Display a qualitative and quantitative understanding of stellar kinematics, galactic rotation and galactic dynamics.

Description: Advanced electrostatics and magnetostatics, Maxwell's equations and electromagnetic waves, relativistic electrodynamics, radiation theory, and interaction of matter with electromagnetic fields.

Prerequisites: Physics 442 or equivalent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve problems in macroscopic electrostatics and magnetostatics.
• Solve the time-independent Maxwell equations using standard mathematical techniques for boundary value problems.
• Solve the time-dependent Maxwell equations for elementary problems including the propagation of plane electromagnetic waves.

Description: Advanced electrostatics and magnetostatics, Maxwell's equations and electromagnetic waves, relativistic electrodynamics, radiation theory, and interaction of matter with electromagnetic fields.

Prerequisites: Physics 442 or equivalent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve problems associated with time-dependent, electromagnetically radiating systems.
• Solve problems associated with the special theory of relativity and the classical dynamics of relativistic particles and fields.

Description: Plasma equilibrium and dynamics using magnetohydrodynamic theory with application to fusion and astrophysical plasmas.

Prerequisites: Physics 545.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Be able to explain what the gradient, the directional derivative, divergence, and curl mean in fluid dynamics. Also be able to explain how these concepts are involved in cases of simple gas and fluid flow.
• Be able to write down from memory the ideal MHD equations and be able to explain the physical meaning of the terms in these equations.
• Demonstrate the ability to use the energy principle to predict whether MHD equilibria are stable or unstable.
• Be able to explain the physical origin of resistive instabilities in non-ideal MHD.
• Be able to explain the physical origins and properties of the MHD instabilities and waves that are involved in magnetic fusion plasmas and astrophysical plasmas.

  Scheduled Offerings

  • Winter Semester 2012 (Spencer R)

Description: Nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, with applications.

Prerequisites: Physics 451 or equivalent; 602.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Describe the reasons for introducing quantum theory and spell out the connection between classical physics and quantum physics.
• Solve problems by applying the quantum formalism to microscopic physical systems.
• Solve simple one-dimensional time-independent problems in wave mechanics using analytic solution techniques.
• Apply approximation methods to simple one-dimensional systems.

Description: Nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, with applications.

Prerequisites: Physics 451 or equivalent; 602.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Extend quantum theory to three dimensions using the machinery of angular momentum for systems with spherical symmetry.
• Use the spinor formalism to describe physical spin and two-level systems.
• Compute the dynamical evolution of quantum systems and convert results between the different representations of quantum theory.
• Solve problems involving the coupling of independent quantum systems, including identical particles, and be able to give their quantum information content.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Berrondo M)

Description: Analyzing and modeling electro-mechano-acoustic systems. Transducers, calibration, and acoustical measurements. Sound sources, arrays, coupling, radiation, and directivity. Duct acoustics. Energy-based acoustics. Typically offered Winter.

Prerequisites: Physics 561 or instructor's consent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Answer conceptual questions and solve problems in the calibration, measurement, and analysis of dynamical signals and systems.
• Apply analogous circuits and linear circuit theory to transducers and other electro-mechano-acoustical systems.
• Answer conceptual questions and solve problems regarding sources and receivers of sound, ducts, and acoustical filters.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Leishman T)

Description: Physics of sound production by musical instruments and the human voice. Sound reproduction and reinforcement. Enclosed sound fields. Acoustic reflection, absorption, and scattering. Architectural acoustics.

Prerequisites: Physics 561 or instructor's consent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions regarding attenuation during propagation, and reflection, absorption, and scattering of sound at boundary surfaces.
• Apply the Kirchhoff-Helmholtz integral theorem and general solutions to the wave equation in separable coordinate systems.
• Answer conceptual questions regarding enclosed sound fields and solve related problems using various analytical and numerical techniques.
• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions regarding energy-based acoustics.
• Perform standardized acoustical measurements in reverberation chambers and other rooms.

Description: Sound-structure interactions. Sound transmission through panels and sound-isolation techniques. Advanced passive and active techniques in sound and vibration control.

Prerequisites: Physics 561 or instructor's consent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of physical principles associated with active noise control by applying those principles to analyze and assess potential active noise control solutions.
• Demonstrate an understanding of sound/structure interaction by successfully solving problems involving structural radiation.
• Demonstrate ability to set up an active noise control system, obtain data, and properly analyze the data.
• Demonstrate good writing skills, as evidenced in the reports submitted.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Gee K)

Description: Quantum description of light and interactions with matter. Nonlinear optics.

Prerequisites: Physics 452, 471; or equivalents.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Use the quantized description of light to describe interactions of light with matter.
• Compute phase matching and conversion efficiencies for lasers in nonlinear media.
• Describe down conversion and resulting entangled photon states.

Description: Physical characteristics of X-ray generation, optics, and experimental applications. Methods of X-ray imaging emphasized.

Prerequisites: Physics 452 or equivalent;602, 581.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Teach their fellow students or colleagues key concepts in the generation, interaction, manipulation, and use of VUV, EUV and x-rays in physics and astronomy.
• Demonstrate the ability to read and utilize the contemporary literature of x-ray phenomena, including topical conferences.
• Collect, interpret and present VUV, EUV and/or x-ray research data to solve important problems in the student's research.

Description:

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Attended scientific presentations in a variety of fields.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Christensen C)

Description:

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• List the steps they must take to graduate successfully and in a timely manner, list when those steps are required, and articulate what they must do to accomplish them.
• Distinguish between the more teacher-driven approach common in undergraduate learning to the self-motivated approach necessary for graduate and professional success.
• Discuss scientific ethics and give examples of the correct behavior in situations they will encounter as students and professionals.
• Benchmark their presentation skills by giving a power point presentation on ethics.
• Benchmark their current writing skills by writing a paper on ethics.
• Complete their study lists by the first few weeks of the second semester.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Moody J)

Description:

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate the ability to conduct productive research under the direction of a faculty mentor.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Spencer R)
• Spring Term 2012 (Spencer R)
• Summer Term 2012 (Spencer R)

Description:

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate progress toward the production of a thesis/dissertation. This can take the form of writing in their thesis/dissertation, producing a paper, or any other activity that is important and timely for their specific situation.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Spencer R)
• Spring Term 2012 (Spencer R)
• Summer Term 2012 (Spencer R)

Description: Recent and upcoming topics include chaos, thin films, phase transformations, amorphous solids, quantum optics, astronomy using nontraditional frequencies, and particle physics.

Prerequisites: Instructor's consent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate that they have achieved the learning outcomes of this variable-topics course.

Description: Advanced treatment of classical mechanics, including Lagrange's and Hamilton's equations, rigid body motion, and canonical transformations.

Prerequisites: Physics 321 or equivalent; 601, 602.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve problems using the calculus of variations, including constraints. Solve problems using Lagrangian dynamics and generalized coordinates, including conserved quantities and forces of constraint.
• Solve central force problems, including 2-body gravitation and perturbations to circular motion, problems involving coupled oscillators, and analyze for normal modes.
• Solve problems in special relativity using its 4-vector formulation.
• Solve dynamics problems using the Hamiltonian and canonical transformations. Also solve dynamics problems using Hamilton-Jacobi theory and action-angle variables, including adiabatic invariants and perturbation theory.

Description: Astrophysics of galaxies, active galactic nuclei, and cosmology.

Prerequisites: Instructor's consent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Identify and describe the morphology, population, color, spectral signature, and space distribution of every type of galaxy.
• Use existing databases to map the large scale structure of the universe.
• Apply their understanding of the morphology of the Milky Way including dark matter to all galaxy types.
• Present the standard model of AGN and explain how it accounts for what is observed in galaxy nuclei.
• Conduct an in-depth literature search on one aspect of the course material of their choosing and present the results in a paper.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Hintz E)

Description: Basic equations, data, and philosophy of cosmology.

Prerequisites: Instructor's consent.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Derive a universe model based on Newtonian cosmology and modify this to account for relativistic effects.
• Apply the Einstein equations to derive Freidmann's equation and from there set up and explore basic models.
• Correlate theory with observed data including object counts, color evolution, WMAP data, LyAlpha forests, etc.
• Use arguments from first principles and a review of the literature to explain the evidence for dark energy.
• Conduct an in-depth literature search on one aspect of the course material of their choosing and present the results in a paper.

Description: Advanced thermodynamics, classical statistical mechanics, quantum statistics, and transport theory.

Prerequisites: Physics 601, 651.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a working knowledge of the formalism of ensemble theory and solve problems related to thermodynamics.
• Demonstrate the ability to apply these techniques to systems with many degrees of freedom.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Berrondo M)

Description: Plasma equilibrium and dynamics using a kinetic description, including collisionless damping and collisional transport.

Prerequisites: Physics 431 or equivalent; 545, 642, 721.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions involving the collisions of charged particles in a plasma. Use these ideas to solve for how particle distribution functions evolve due to these collisions.
• Solve problems involving the transport of particles, momentum, and energy in plasmas.
• Solve problems and answer conceptual questions about how transport affects the behavior of fusion and astrophysical plasmas.

Description: Topics in relativistic quantum mechanics, including quantum field theory.

Prerequisites: Physics 652.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a working knowledge of the Lorentz group and symmetry applications to particle physics.
• Analyze and solve relativistic wave equations for simple problems.
• Demonstrate a working knowledge of the quantization of free fields.

Description: Topics in relativistic quantum mechanics, including quantum field theory.

Prerequisites: Physics 652.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate the ability to solve problems with free quantized fields.
• Demonstrate the ability to solve problems with interacting quantized fields using perturbation methods and Feynman diagrams.
• Demonstrate the ability to use path integral methods in field theory.
• Apply these techniques to fundamental interactions.

Description: Quantum theory of solids, emphasizing the unifying principles of symmetry, energy-band theory, dynamics of electrons and of periodic lattices, and cooperative phenomena.

Prerequisites: Physics 581, 651.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Describe crystal structures in both direct and reciprocal space by identifying the primitive unit cell, atomic basis, reciprocal unit cell, and first Brillouin zone.
• Identify crystal symmetries and their group theoretical relationships and apply them to descriptions of physical and properties such as phonon spectra, electronic bond structures, other excitation phenomena, and Fermi surfaces.
• Calculate basic electronic and phononic properties of materials using both classical and quantum mechanical models.

Description: Quantum theory of solids, emphasizing the unifying principles of symmetry, energy-band theory, dynamics of electrons and of periodic lattices, and cooperative phenomena.

Prerequisites: Physics 581, 651.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Calculate basic electronic and phononic properties of materials using both classical and quantum mechanical models.
• Use interacting electron models to account for common quasi-particle phenomena.
• Describe well-known interaction models that exhibit magnetic behaviors and apply them in simple cases.
• Explain common computational methods that go beyond the independent electron model.

Description: Understanding how to read technical literature and using it to prepare for research.

Prerequisites: Departmental approval.

Outcomes: After taking this course, students will be able to:

• Compile a comprehensive list of relevant literature that pertains to their discipline and/or their research project.
• Read scientific papers in a way that produces an appropriate understanding of their important points.

Scheduled Offerings

• Winter Semester 2012 (Moody J)
• Spring Term 2012 (Moody J)
• Summer Term 2012 (Moody J)