Course Descriptions

Designed to develop those mathematical skills that are required for solving physical problems. Emphasis is placed on the various initial value and boundary value problems occurring in physics and engineering. This course requires that students do a large number of homework problems.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): PHYS 356.3; PHYS 383.3; and MATH 379.3

Some special techniques of mathematical physics are dealt with in detail. The subjects covered include integral equations, calculus of variation, and the application of group theory to physical problems.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): PHYS 356 .3 and PHYS 383.3; and MATH 164.3 or MATH 266.3.

Intended to make the student familiar with a variety of modern techniques in experimental physics including physical properties of materials and their use in the laboratory, radiation sources and radiation detection, vacuum techniques and cryogenics.

Weekly hours: 1 Lecture hours and 7 Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s): STAT 241.3, STAT 245.3 or GE 210.3.

The structure and composition of the Earth's atmosphere; solar radiation and atmospheric radiative transfer; mean circulation, tides and wave motions; the major photochemical processes and their implications; the physical processes of the ionosphere and the magnetosphere.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): PHYS 223.3 and PHYS 356.3
Prerequisite(s) or Corequisite(s): EP 370.3 or PHYS 371.3
Note: Students with may receive credit for only one of PHYS 821.3 or PHYS 422.3

An introduction to the physics of the nucleus and of the fundamental particles and their interactions. Topics in nuclear physics include nuclear phenomenology, radioactive decay, nuclear reactions; nuclear models: semi-empirical mass formula, shell model, collective models, the deuteron and the nucleon-nucleon interaction. Topics in particle physics include strong and electroweak interactions; global and local symmetries of the weak and strong interactions; the neutral Kaons and CP violation; Feynman diagrams; the Standard Model: quarks, gluons and colour; decay and reaction probabilities; hadron production; meson and baryon masses; charmonium; asymptotic freedom; neutrino oscillations.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): PHYS 383.

This laboratory course focuses on advanced nuclear techniques, including coincidence measurements and neutron activation analysis. There will be five experiments and students will need 3 hours per experiment. For each experiment there will also be a 2 hour lecture.

Weekly hours: 0.8 Lecture hours and 1.2 Practicum/Lab hours
Prerequisite(s): EP 353 or PHYS 383

This course provides an advanced treatment of electromagnetic waves in matter, electromagnetic radiation, and relativistic electrodynamics.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): PHYS 356.
Note: First offered in 2014-2015. Students may receive credit for only one of PHYS 816 or PHYS 456.

Provides students with an exposure to basic ideas of fluid and plasma dynamics as used in various applications, including ocean and atmosphere motions, space and laboratory plasmas, and controlled thermonuclear fusion. A unified discussion of neutral fluids and plasmas is emphasized whenever possible. Topics include fluid (moment) models, motion of charged particles in electric and magnetic fields, oscillations and waves in neutral fluids and plasmas, plasma properties and equilibria.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): PHYS 356 and PHYS 371.

Covers perturbation theory, crystal structure and binding of solids, lattice vibrations, electrons in crystalline lattices, magnetic and transport properties of solids, and superconductivity.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): PHYS 371 and PHYS 383.

Provides an introduction to the physics of synchrotrons and their applications. The first part introduces accelerator physics, synchrotron radiation and its sources, and beamline optics. The second part discusses X-ray spectroscopy with synchrotrons as well as elastic and inelastic scattering.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): PHYS 356 and PHYS 383.

There are over 30,000 particle accelerators in use worldwide in research, industry and medicine. An introduction to the physics and engineering of accelerators will be given with an emphasis on synchrotron light sources. Topics include electron optics, electromagnets, Special Relativity, Radio Frequency waves and synchrotron radiation. Laboratory classes will also be conducted including computer labs and electron accelerator labs at the Canadian Light Source.

Prerequisite(s): EP 253 and PHYS 356
Note: Students are required to attend the after-hours laboratory classes at the CLS and complete an online safety induction to satisfactorily complete this course.

CERN is the world’s premier particle accelerator laboratory with research achievements such as the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle and the invention of the World Wide Web. The mission of CERN is Science for Peace and their goal is to build and operate the best possible particle accelerators to conduct fundamental and applied research. This course taught at CERN during a few weeks in the summer term is designed to help students understand how accelerators can be used for their research in a very broad field from high energy particle physics to medical applications. Dr. Boland will combine with experts from CERN to lecture on the physics of particle accelerators with emphasis on how these impact the research that can be conducted with them in the fields of high energy particle and nuclear physics.

Prerequisite(s): EP 253.3 and PHYS 356.3
Note: This is a taught abroad course that will be delivered at CERN, Switzerland, over two weeks during the summer term.
Note: There are costs in addition to tuition fees. Please contact the department for information.

Linear vector spaces and quantum mechanics; hermitian and unitary linear operators; Schrodinger equation in various representations; the operator method as applied to the harmonic oscillator and to angular momentum eigenvalues; the spin statistics theorem; minimal coupling of electromagnetic fields; time independent perturbation theory and applications.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): PHYS 383.3; and MATH 164.3 (formerly MATH 264.3) or MATH 266.3; and EP 320.3, MATH 331.3, or MATH 339.3.

Continues PHYS 481 and begins with an extensive discussion of time dependence in quantum mechanics. Exactly solvable problems such as spin-magnetic resonance are used to illustrate the time-dependent perturbation series. Applications include emission and absorption of radiation, multipole selection rules, and electron scattering from atoms and nuclei. Further topics discussed in detail are symmetry in quantum mechanics, rotation matrices and applications, many particle systems, collision theory, and variational methods including Hartree-Fock theory.

Weekly hours: 3 Lecture hours
Prerequisite(s): PHYS 481.
Note(s): Students may receive credit for only one of PHYS 886 or PHYS 482.

Students are required to attend both Departmental seminars and special student seminars. In each case the seminar material is intended to introduce students to some of the new developments in Physics and Engineering Physics.

Weekly hours: 1 Seminar/Discussion hours
Prerequisite(s): Minimum 9 credit units of 300-level PHYS or EP courses.
Note: Required for Engineering Physics, Physics Honours and Physics Four-year programs.

The student will work on an advanced research project in Physics under the supervision of a faculty member in the department specializing in the selected area. The project will be evaluated by a committee (including the supervisor) on the basis of oral and written reports.

Weekly hours: 6 Practicum/Lab hours
Permission of the department required.
Prerequisite(s): Registration in the final-year Physic Honours program.
Note: Students who wish to do an undergraduate research project in T1 and/or T2 must notify the department by February 28 of the previous academic year. Students can normally do only one research project.

The student will work on a research project in physics under the supervision of a faculty member. The project will be evaluated by a committee (including the supervisor) on the basis of two oral and two written reports.

Weekly hours: 6 Practicum/Lab hours
Permission of the department required.
Note:Students who wish to do an undergraduate research project in T1 and/or T2 must notify the department by February 28 of the previous academic year. Students can normally do only one research project.

Offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations to cover, in depth, topics that are not thoroughly covered in regularly offered courses.

Weekly hours: 3 Seminar/Discussion hours

Offered occasionally by visiting faculty and in other special situations to cover, in depth, topics that are not thoroughly covered in regularly offered courses.

Weekly hours: 3 Seminar/Discussion hours