 | PHYSICS: COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Not all courses listed will necessarily be offered in each year.
64-114. Physical Concepts and Numeracy I
The development of critical quantitative thinking in applications of physics to everyday phenomena. The course is designed for general, non-science students but should also serve students majoring in science but weak in problem solving skills. By helping students to sharpen their analytical skills in applications of physical concepts, the course is meant to increase numeracy without being heavily mathematical. It concentrates on mechanics, properties of matter, and heat with the aid of tools such as vectors, functional relationships, their graphical representations, and elements of statistics and error analysis. (3 lecture hours a week.)
64-115. Physical Concepts and Numeracy II
A continuation of 64-114. Elements of sound, light, electricity and magnetism, and concepts of waves, cycles, resonance, input/output, and feedback, investigated with analytical tools including order-of-magnitude estimates, elementary dimensional analysis, relative sizes, and scaling. (Prerequisite: 64-114 or consent of instructor.) (3 lecture hours a week.)
64-140. Introductory Physics I
Mechanics; properties of matter and heat. A calculus-based course. (Prerequisites: OAC Calculus. Recommended corequisite: 62-140. Students weak in physics and problem solving may wish to take 64-114 and 64-115 first.) (3 lecture, 3 laboratory hours a week.)
64-141. Introductory Physics II
Wave motion, sound, electricity and magnetism, light, and modern physics. (Prerequisite: 64-140.) (3 lecture, 3 laboratory hours a week.)
64-151. Introduction to Theoretical Methods
An introduction to practical problem solving and data analysis techniques in physics, emphasizing computer-aided graphical and approximate computational methods; order-of-magnitude estimations, the elements of dimensional analysis, approximate evaluation of functions, parameter optimization, complex numbers, an introduction to fractals, vector algebra, dyads. (Prerequisites: 64-140 and 62-140.) (2 lecture, 2 laboratory hours a week.)
64-190. Introduction to Astronomy I
The solar system with emphasis on the results of recent space exploration. This is a descriptive course suitable for the non-scientist. (May be taken by B.Sc. students for credit, but does not count as a Physics course or other science option towards the fulfillment of the requirements for the B.Sc. degree.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
64-191. Introduction to Astronomy II
The stars, galaxies, including pulsars, black holes, and quasars. Current theories of the structure of the universe will be discussed. This is a descriptive course suitable for the non-scientist. (May be taken by B.Sc. students for credit, but does not count as a Physics course or other science option towards the fulfillment of the requirements for the B.Sc. degree.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
64-202. Physics and Society-The Past
The interaction between physics and society from prehistoric times up to the industrial revolution is discussed. The ways in which man's growing understanding of the physical universe has influenced practical skills, and political, economic, and philosophical thinking are extensively explored and developed. (Not open to first-year students.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
64-203. Physics and Society-The Present
Modern society is dominated by the explosive development of physics and technology from the industrial revolution to the present. This development and its impact on society are explored. A number of topics of current interest such as nuclear energy, world energy supplies, pollution, and possible solutions to the energy crisis are discussed in detail. (Not open to first-year students.) (2 lecture hours a week.)
64-204. Elements of Atomic Physics
Properties of waves, atomic structure, wave nature of matter. This course is recommended for students in the Faculty of Engineering, and is not available for credit toward a B.Sc. degree in Physics. (Corequisites: 85-111 and 85-124 or equivalent.) (3 lecture, 1.5 laboratory hours a week.)
64-220. EM Fields and Photons
Electrostatic fields and potentials. Charges and capacitance. Currents and conduction in solids. Magnetic fields; induction; introduction to Maxwell equations, electromagnetic waves, and photons; the photoelectric effect. (Prerequisite: 64-141, or 85-124, or equivalent.) (3 lecture, 3 laboratory hours a week.)
64-222. Optics
Geometrical optics: review of laws of reflection and refraction; lenses and mirrors (matrix optics); stops, optical systems, aberrations. Introduction to wave optics; interferometry, diffraction, polarization, Fresnel equations, elements of dispersion theory. (Prerequisites: 64-141 and 62-141.) (3 lecture, 3 laboratory hours a week.)
64-250. Mechanics
Newton's Laws, Galilean transformations, rotating reference frames, conservation laws, angular momentum and torque, driven oscillators with damping, dynamics of rigid bodies, inverse square forces, Lorentz transformation, relativistic kinematics and dynamics. (Prerequisite: 64-140 or equivalent and 64-151 or consent of instructor; corequisite: 62-215 or equivalent.) (3 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour a week.)
64-298. Co-op Work Term I
Supervised experience in an approved career-related setting with a focus on the application of theory and the development of transferable skills. The co-op work experience is designed to provide students with an enriched learning opportunity to integrate academic theory and concepts in an applied setting. (Prerequisite: Student must be enrolled in a co-operative education program. Offered on a Pass/non-Pass basis. Supervised practicum requires the successful completion of a minimum of 420 hours. Students who do not pass the course can not continue in the co-op program.)
64-310. Quantum Physics and Chemistry
Classical and quantum physics, relativistic physics, black-body radiation, photoelectric effect, Compton scattering, atomic structure, Schroedinger equation, particle in a box, harmonic oscillator, conduction in solids; semiconductor and superconductor devices. (Prerequisites: 62-215 and 62-216 or equivalents.) (3 lecture, 3 laboratory hours a week.)
64-311. Atomic and Molecular Spectra
Introduction to atomic and molecular spectroscopy, hydrogen and helium atoms, perturbation theory, isotopes; introduction to nuclear physics. (Prerequisites: 64-310 or 64-314, 62-215, and 62-216, or equivalents.) (3 lecture, 3 laboratory hours a week.)
64-314. Quantum Physics and Chemistry
(Same as 64-310 without the laboratory.) Classical and quantum physics, black-body radiation, photoelectric effect, Compton scattering, atomic structure, Schroedinger equation, particle in a box, harmonic oscillator, conduction in solids; semiconductor and superconductor devices. (Prerequisites: 62-215 and 62-216 or equivalents.) (3 lecture hours a week.)
64-315. Atomic and Molecular Spectra
(Same as 64-311 without the laboratory.) Introduction to atomic and molecular spectroscopy, hydrogen and helium atoms, perturbation theory, isotopes; introduction to nuclear physics (Prerequisites: 64-310 or 64-314, 62-215, and 62-216 or equivalents.) (3 lecture hours a week.)
64-320. Electromagnetic Theory
Electrostatics, potential theory, boundary-value problems, multipole expansion, electrostatics of ponderable media, magnetostatics, electromagnetic induction, Maxwell's equations. (Prerequisites: 62-215, 64-220) (Corequisite: 62-216) (3 lecture hours a week.)
64-323. Electromagnetic Waves
Maxwell's equations in macroscopic media, gauge invariance; electromagnetic waves in a relativistic formulation; propagation, refraction, and reflection at dielectric and metal interfaces; polarization, Stokes parameters; Fourier analysis; transmission lines, wave guides, relativistic dynamics of charges in external fields. (Prerequisites: 64-222, 64-320, and 62-318.) (3 lecture, 3 laboratory/tutorial hours a week.)
64-331. Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics
The nature of heat, the first, second, and third laws of thermodynamics and their applications, equation of state, Maxwell's relations and applications of thermodynamics to the properties of matter. Kinetic theory; statistical mechanics and the statistical interpretation of thermodynamics; Boltzmann, Fermi, and Bose distributions; applications. (Prerequisites: 64-141, 62-215, and 62-216 or equivalents.) (3 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour a week.)
64-350. Classical Mechanics I
Dynamics of particles and systems of particles; Newtonian mechanics in the Lagrangean formulation; variational principles, conservation laws; symmetry and Noether's theorem; two-body central forces, scattering; small oscillations. (Prerequisites: 64-250, 62-215, and 62-216 or equivalents.) (3 lecture hours, 1 tutorial hour a week.)
64-398. Co-op Work Term II
Supervised experience in an approved career-related setting with a focus on the application of theory and the development of transferable skills. The co-op work experience is designed to provide students with an enriched learning opportunity to integrate academic theory and concepts in an applied setting. (Prerequisite: Student must be enrolled in a co-operative education program. Offered on a Pass/non-Pass basis. Supervised practicum requires the successful completion of a minimum of 420 hours. Students who do not pass the course can not continue in the co-op program.)
64-412. Research
Design, researching, execution and managing, analysis, and reporting (Written and oral) of a supervised physics project in a recognized research laboratory, on- or off-campus. This is a problem-based course with emphasis on team work. Normally, three reports are to be submitted: a report on background, one on the research plan, and a final report containing the main results, conclusions, and suggestions for further work. With departmental approval, the research may be applied toward partial fulfillment of the M.Sc. degree. (35-40 laboratory hours a week.) (9.0 credit hours.)
64-420. Classical Electrodynamics
Conservation laws, Bremsstrahlung scattering of radiation, multipole radiations fields, Liénard-Wiechert potentials, Green functions, radiation reaction, Lorentz-Dirac equation, radiation from time-dependent currents. (Prerequisites: 64-320 and 64-323.) (3 lecture hours a week.)
64-443. Quantum Optics and Spectroscopy
Emission and absorption of optical radiation, the widths of spectral lines, stimulated emission and transition probabilities, atomic structure and angular momentum coupling, the Zeeman effect, introduction to molecular spectroscopy. (Prerequisites: 64-323 and 64-450.) (A directed, self-study course. 1 consultation hour a week.)
64-450. Quantum Mechanics I
Probability amplitudes and transformations; operators and physical observables; symmetries and conservation theorems; time-development operator and Dyson expansion; two-state systems, density matrices; perturbation theory and the variational method; identical particles, spin, the Thomas-Fermi atom. (Prerequisites: 64-315, 64-350, and 62-360 or consent of instructor.) (3 lecture hours a week.)
64-451. Quantum Mechanics II
Scattering in one and three dimensions, the S matrix, partial waves, scattering phase shifts; JWKB approximation; the harmonic oscillator with annihilation and creation operators; Schroedinger, Heisenberg, and interaction pictures; matrix mechanics and Hilbert space; angular momenta and rotations. (Prerequisite: 64-450.) (3 lectures a week.)
64-460. Condensed-Matter Physics
Elements of crystallography, crystal diffraction, reciprocal lattices, lattice dynamics and thermal properties of solids, phonons, solution of Schroedinger equation in periodic potential, band theory, Fermi surfaces of metals and semiconductors, optical properties of dielectrics. (Prerequisite: 64-314 or consent of instructor.) (A directed, self-study course. 1 consultation hour a week.)
64-463. Special Topics in Physics
Advanced topics in contemporary physics. (Prerequisite: to be determined according to the topic.) (May be given as a seminar course , or as a directed, self-study course.)
64-474. Introduction to General Relativity
Curved spacetime, an introduction to differential geometry, general covariance, Riemann tensor, Einstein field equations. (Prerequisite: 64-250 or consent of the instructor.) (3 lecture hours a week.)
64-481. Thin Films: Experiments, Theory and Applications
Definition of thin films and their classification; methods of preparation; elements of high-vacuum technology; thin film formation, structure and methods of investigation; mechanical, optical, electrical properties of thin films and their application in modern technology. (Prerequisites: 64-311 or 64-220, and 64-222, or three years of Electrical Engineering or Engineering Materials, or equivalent.) (3 lecture hours a week.)
64-484. Design and Application of Lasers
Stimulated emission, rate equation approach to amplification and output power calculations; Gaussian beams, stable and unstable resonators, Q-switching, mode-locking and cavity dumping, ruby, Nd:YAG and other solid-state lasers, semi-conductor, gas and dye lasers. (Prerequisites: 64-311 or 64-220, and 64-222, or three years of Electrical Engineering or Engineering Materials, or equivalent.) (3 lecture hours a week.)
64-496. Technical Communication Skills
Introductory lectures and workshops on technical writing and instruction, followed by supervised instruction of first-year Physics students in 64-151, and projects in writing resumes and technical manuals and in preparing a multimedia computer module for a problem area in physics instruction. The computer module can employ any suitable combination of Maple C++, Visual Basic, HTML, Java. (Prerequisite: 64-151.) (2 lecture, 2 laboratory honours a week.)
64-498. Co-op Work Term III
Supervised experience in an approved career-related setting with a focus on the application of theory and the development of transferable skills. The co-op work experience is designed to provide students with an enriched learning opportunity to integrate academic theory and concepts in an applied setting. (Prerequisite: Student must be enrolled in a co-operative education program. Offered on a Pass/non-Pass basis. Supervised practicum requires the successful completion of a minimum of 420 hours. Students who do not pass the course can not continue in the co-op program.) |