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Modern Physics 436: Course Outline Modern Physics 436: Course Outline 1. The book that I'm going to use for most part of the course will be • Modern Physics: J. Bernstein, P. Fishbane, S. Gasiorowicz (Prentice Hall) (It will be available at the Paragraphe Bookstore) 2. The course generally assumes that you are familiar with basics of integrations, differen- tiations, classical and quantum mechanics. Your pre-requisite are Phys 446, Phys 333. In this course I plan to cover the following topics: • Single particle atom: Basic review of Phys 446 • Multi-particle atoms: Molecules, molecular bondings • Statistical mechanics: Classical and quantum aspects, Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, Fermi-Dirac distribution, Bose-Einstein distribution, Bose-Einstein condensation • Lasers: Induced radiations, coherent and squeezed states of light • Condensed matter Physics: Band structure, semiconductors, superconductivity, BCS theory, Hall effects (classical and quantum), Laughlin function • Nuclear Physics: Nuclear structure, nuclear interactions, nuclear models • Elementary Particle Physics: Quantum field theory (QFT), virtual particles, Feynman path-integrals, Feynman diagrams, Quantum electrodynamics (QED), particle zoo, weak interactions, leptons, hadrons, Quantum chromodynamics (QCD), quarks Wish-list: • General Relativity and Cosmology: Basic GTR, cosmological inflation, big-bang nucle- osynthesis • Superstring Theory: Very basic ideas, types of string theories, supersymmetry, super- gravity 3. Although I'll try to stick with one book, you're always advised to read other books for more details. A few other important books on the above topics are: • Quantum Mechanics: You may have already been using the book by David Griffiths. Another very good book is by Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Bernard Diu and Frank Laloe. It comes in two volumes and does everything in full details. 1 • Statistical Physics: Book by Kerson Huang. This is a very clear book. • Solid-state Physics: There is the all time classic by Charles Kittel. The book may be a little advanced for early beginners, but it pays off for the patient reader. • Feynman path-integral: There is the original book by Richard Feynman himself on path integrals which he elucidates with numerous examples. And of course there is the third volume of Feynman Lectures in Physics. • Elementary Particle Physics: The book by Francis Halzen and Alan Martin is quite good. However you may also want to see the book by Howard Georgi where group theory applications are used to study aspects of particle physics. • Quantum Field Theory: This field is ripe with numerous books. The most recent one that gives a very good discussion on renormalisation is the book by Michael Peskin and Daniel Schroeder. Other books on QCD, String theory are pretty advanced and would be beyond the scope of our lectures. So you may just want to read some review articles on these subjects. A good popular book on string theory is the one by Brian Greene which will give you some idea of what is going on along that direction. For QCD, the later chapters of Halzen-Martin or Peskin-Schroeder will suffice. 4. Grading Schemes • Assignments: 30%; 15%; 10% • Mid-term test: 30%; 40%; 45% • Final (3 hour): 40%; 45%; 45% • The examinations will be closed book. • The alphabetical grading scheme will be: A (100-85), A− (84-80), B+ (79-75), B (74-70), B− (69-65), C+ (64-60), and C (59-55). The other two grades are D (54-50) as conditional pass; and F (49-0) as Fail. Therefore the minimum passing grade for this course will be C i.e a minimum of 55%. 5. Meeting times • I'm generally available in my office ERP 321 from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm Mondays, Wednes- days and Fridays; and from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm Tuesdays and thursdays. • You can send me questions/comments at [email protected] 2 • For all other announcements regarding exams, or the assignments etc. I will directly send out a group email. I will not be using WebCT, so all communications will be done via emails. 6. Academic Integrity The McGill Senate on January 29, 2003 approved a resolution requiring that the following statement be included in every course outline: \McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures." See www.mcgill.ca/integrity/ for more details. 7. Goal The goal of this course is to get you started on modern physics, especially quantum field theories and condensed matter physics. If in the end you understand aspects of field quantisation and their consequences, you would be ok. 8. Teaching Assistant The TAs for this course will be Rhiannon Gwyn. Her office is ERP-308, and her email address is [email protected]. 9. Midterm and Final The dates will be announced in the class and the page will be updated accordingly. 10. Address for correspondence Keshav Dasgupta Assistant Professor in Physics Rutherford Physics Building 321 Phone: 398-6498 Homepage: http://www.physics.mcgill.ca/∼ keshav/ 3.
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