The URL of this page is http://www.physics.smu.edu/scalise/P4321sp18/
Physics 4321 / 7305 - Methods of Theoretical Physics
Course Information
Spring 2018
- Lecturer:
Professor Randall J. Scalise
- Meeting time and place: 11:00AM-12:20PM T,Th in 155 Fondren Science
- Office hours: after lecture MTWTh 12:30-2:30PM and by appointment in room 107.
- Contact:
- Call or leave a message at 768-2504, or
- Leave a note in the Physics Department Office - 102 Fondren Science, or
- send me e-mail:
<scalise@smu.edu>
- Exam Dates: Open book, open notes, open Mathematica, closed internet.
- Midterm - Thursday 8 March (before break) in lecture
- Final - Friday 11 May 2018, 11:30 AM-2:30 PM
- Old midterm exams 4321,7305.
- Practice final exam
- Mathematica tutorial PostScript 4 pages,
537511 bytes; PDF 4 pages, 32563 bytes
- Grading:
- Homework - 60% (drop lowest)
- Midterm Examination - 20%
- Final Examination - 20%
- Texts
There is no course textbook, but any of the following may be useful.
They are in the library and you can find them used (any edition) at
abebooks.com
- Lecture slides
- Fourier Series, Fourier Transform: 01, 02, 03,
Peter Olver's notes. See also
- Generalized functions,Distributions: 04, 05
- Differential equations: 06, 07
- Numerical Approximations to Solutions of Differential Equations
- Green functions (PDF format), Green functions (1/2), Green functions (2/2),
Green function for heat equation
- Nonlinear Simple Pendulum
- Curvilinear Coordinates: 08, 09.
See also Curvilinear coordinates,
Orthogonal coordinates,
Scale factors (h's).
- Divergence, gradient, curl, laplacian: 10, 11, 12.
- Lecture notes
- 26Jan16. Mathematica notebook, PDF file.
- 28Jan16. See also
Aleph number,
Georg Cantor's diagonalization.
- 04Feb16. See also
Gaussian integrals.
- 09Feb16.
- 18Feb16. See also Green function example
Mathematica notebook, PDF.
- Guest lecture: Thursday 22 March 2019, Professor Stephen Sekula on Monte Carlo methods
- 25Feb16. Second root to dD/dw=0; Green function homework solution.
- 01Mar16. Practice midterm solutions.
- 22Mar16. See also Visualizing Divergence and Curl.
- 24Mar16. See also
Mixed partial derivatives.
- 29Mar16. See also
Separation of variables.
- 31Mar16. See also
Particle in a two-dimensional box.
- 05Apr16. See also Separation of variables 1/8, 2/8, 3/8, 4/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, 8/8.
- 07Apr16.
See also Variational Calculus, 1/2, 2/2
- Evolutionary computation (Genetic Algorithms)
- 12Apr16. Complex functions of a complex variable
1/2. See also
- 14Apr16. Complex functions of a complex variable 2/2. See also
Cauchy's integral theorem.
- 19Apr16. See also
Residue.
- Linear Algebra, Matrix Operations:
1/3, 2/3, 3/3. See also
LU Decomposition.
- Group Theory:
1/2,2/2
See also
- Dirac Belt Trick
- Knot Theory Rope Trick
- Paperclip trick
- Pages 1 - 10 (PDF format)
- Pages 11 - 20 (PDF format)
- Pages 21 - 29 (PDF format)
- Green functions (PDF format), Green functions (1/2), Green functions (2/2)
- Nonlinear Simple Pendulum
- Pages 30 - 40 (PDF format)
- Pages 41 - 50 (PDF format)
- Pages 51 - 55 (PDF format)
- Pages 56 - 66 (PDF format)
Separation of variables 1/6, 2/6, 3/6, 4/6, 5/6, 6/6.
- Vibrating Rectangular Membrane - solutions to the wave equation in 2 dimensions
- 2D Vibrations of a Membrane
- Pages 67 - 77 (PDF format)
- Pages 78 - 88 (PDF format)
- Variational Calculus, 1/2, 2/2,
Feynman Lectures: Principle of Least Action
- Complex Numbers;
Complex Variables and Functions;
Conformal Mapping;
Contour Integration and Residues; Laurent Expansion; Laurent Series Examples; Residue Examples;
Lecture slides: 1/2, 2/2
- Group Theory:
1/2,2/2
- 26Apr16. See also
- Introduction to the general theory of relativity,
- General relativity,
- Is Middle Earth flat?,
- Curved Space - Feynman lecture II-42
audio,
- Relativistic rocket I,
- Relativistic rocket II,
- Tests of general relativity,
- What Do You Mean, The Universe Is Flat? (Part I),
- What Do You Mean, the Universe Is Flat? Part II: In Which We Actually Answer the Question,
- metric tensor and Christoffel symbols for a sphere,
- Expanding Confusion: common misconceptions of cosmological horizons and the superluminal expansion of the Universe,
- The Universe Never Expands Faster Than the Speed of Light by Sean Carroll,
- Covariance and contravariance of vectors.
- Breit-Wigner links
- Homework Due dates are strictly enforced. 50% if late; 0%
once the solutions are posted. You may work together, but the work
that you turn in should be unique. Identical work will receive a grade
that is divided among all parties. It is possible to find answers to
some homework problems on the internet; do not do this. The point,
after all, is not to fool me into thinking that you have learned
physics, but rather actually to learn some physics.
- homework #1 (PDF format) - due Wednesday 31 Jan 2018 at 11:00:00AM
(Mathematica example notebook PDF format, Fourier.nb)
- homework #2 (PDF format) - due Wednesday 7 Feb 2018 at 11:00:00AM
- homework #3 (PDF format) - due Wednesday 14 Feb 2018 at 11:00:00AM
- homework #4 (PDF format) - due Wednesday 21 Feb 2018 at 11:00:00AM
- homework #5 (PDF format) - due Wednesday 28 Feb 2018 at 11:00:00AM
- No homework due on 7 Mar 2018 because of the midterm exam on Thursday 8 Mar 2018.
- No homework due on 14 Mar 2018 because of Spring Break.
- homework #6 (PDF format) - due Wednesday 21 Mar 2018 at 11:00:00AM
- homework #7 (PDF format) - due Wednesday 28 Mar 2018 at 11:00:00AM
- homework #8 (PDF format) - due Wednesday 4 Apr 2018 at 11:00:00AM
- homework #9 (PDF format) -
pseudocode
for Monte Carlo assignment #12 due Wednesday 11 Apr 2018 at 11:00:00AM
- homework #10 (PDF format) - due Wednesday 18 Apr 2018 at 11:00:00AM
- homework #11 (PDF format) - due Wednesday 25 Apr 2018 at 11:00:00AM
- homework #12 (PDF format) - due Wednesday 2 May 2018 at 11:00:00AM
You may find the discussion of Olbers' Paradox
in chapter 2 of Barbara Ryden's Introduction to Cosmology useful.
Be careful to use "flat" variables.
- Homework Solutions
- Disability Accommodations, Religious and Excused Absences
- Official University Calendar
- Links:
Back to Professor Scalise's Home Page
