Professor Thomas C. Marshall, Chair
108 Lewis Hall

Professors Bass, Baird, Bhatt, Raspet, and Reidy
Associate Professors Cremaldi, Kroeger, and Summers
Assistant Professors Bombelli, Hiller, and Keppens
Research Professors Breazeale, and Gilbert
Associate Research Professor Sabatier
Assistant Research Professor Gaitan.

MASTER OF ARTS AND MASTER OF SCIENCE

Requirements
A Master of Arts in Physics requires 30 hours of suitable graduate course work, at least 15 hours of which must consist of graduate course work in physics at the 600 level. A Master of Science degree requires 24 hours of suitable course work and 6 hours of thesis; at least 12 hours of the graduate course work must consist of courses in physics at the 600 level.

Prerequisite
Thirty semester hours of acceptable undergraduate study in physics and mathematics through differential equations are usually required for admission to graduate study. New graduate students should obtain a set of departmental rules for examinations. These rules apply to all graduate degrees offered by the department.

Career Preparation
Graduate work in physics is planned primarily to meet the needs of students who are looking forward to professional careers in physics, either as teachers or as research physicists. Students are required to participate in the teaching of physics lectures or laboratory as a part of their graduate training.

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DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Specific Requirements
In addition to the general requirements, candidates for the Ph.D. must complete a minimum of 54 credit hours of graduate course work exclusive of thesis credit, in a program approved by the student's advisory committee. Core courses consisting of Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics (PHYS 627, 628), Advanced Mechanics (PHYS 609, 610), Quantum Mechanics (PHYS 611, 612), Modern Physics (PHYS 617, 618) and Advanced Electromagnetic Theory (PHYS 621, 622) are required of all candidates. Six hours of credit in a related field such as mathematics, chemistry or engineering (or a field approved by the chair) are required, and 12 hours are recommended. A total of 30 hours of credit must be in physics courses at the 600 level.

Preliminary Examination
The preliminary examination referred to in the general requirements for the doctoral program shall cover the following fields: mechanics, thermodynamics, optics, electricity and magnetism, modern physics and experimental physics.

Comprehensive Examination
The comprehensive examination has both written and oral components. The written part consists of four three-hour examinations as follows:

1. classical and quantum mechanics
2. thermodynamics and statistical mechanics
3. electromagnetic theory and optics
4. modern physics

The oral part of the exam can be taken only after the written part has been passed.

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Course Descriptions

Physics - PHYS

503. SELECTED TOPICS IN PHYSICS. Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor; may be repeated for credit up to nine hours. (3).

507. DIRECTED RESEARCH. Guided experimental work for the development of research laboratory skills. (Departmental approval required; cannot be used for degree credit; may be repeated for credit). (1-3). (Z grade).

510. RESEARCH SEMINAR. Philosophy and principles of modern physics research. May be repeated for credit. (Z grade). (1).

521. ACOUSTICS. Mathematical description of sound propagation with various boundary conditions. Prerequisite: PHYS 401, PHYS 402. (Same as ENGR 515). (3).

522. ACOUSTICS LABORATORY. A laboratory course to complement an acoustics lecture course; emphasis on a study of wave phenomena and acoustical measurements. Pre- or corequisite: PHYS 521. (1).

523. INTRODUCTION TO ELEMENTARY PARTICLE PHYSICS. Phenomenology. Symmetries and conservation laws. Quarks, leptons, gauge bosons. Standard model. Experimental techniques of particle physics. (3).

532. ADVANCED ACOUSTICS LABORATORY. Advanced laboratory projects in acoustics involving experiments in sound measurement and analysis, vibration, transducers, architectural and underwater acoustics. Prerequisite: PHYS 521 or consent of instructor. (3).

533, 534. SURVEY OF TOPICS IN PHYSICS. Topics of special interest to teachers of life and physical sciences. Not applicable to a professional degree in physics. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. (3, 3).

551, 552. THEORETICAL PHYSICS. Mathematical aspects of the theoretical formulation of classical and modern physics. (3, 3).

605. ADVANCED ACOUSTICS. Advanced course in theoretical acoustics. The course will treat the acoustic wave equations for a variety of actual physical situations. Prerequisites: successful completion of PHYS 521 or consent of instructor. (3).

609, 610. ADVANCED MECHANICS. Lagrange's equations, Hamilton's principle, normal coordinates, and advanced problems. Prerequisite: PHYS 310. (3, 3).

611, 612. QUANTUM MECHANICS. Schrodinger's equation and Hilbert spaces. Symmetry and conservation laws. Path integral quantization. Quantum theory of angular momentum. Systems of identical particles and many-electron atoms. Perturbation theory. Nonrelativistic scattering. Prerequisite or corequisite: PHYS 609, 610, 617, and 618. (3, 3).

617, 618. MODERN PHYSICS. Special relativity and quantum mechanics; applications to atomic and nuclear physics, particle physics, and solid state physics. (3, 3).

621, 622. ADVANCED ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY. Electromagnetic waves, scattering and dispersion, and advanced boundary value problems. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. (3, 3).

623, 624. INTRODUCTION TO NUCLEAR PHYSICS. Prerequisite: MATH 454 and consent of instructor. (3, 3).

625, 626. SOLID STATE PHYSICS. Properties of solids and solid state theory; lattices, lattice imperfections and vibrations, cohesive energy, band structure, magnetism, transport and optical properties. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. (3, 3).

627, 628. ADVANCED THERMODYNAMICS AND STATISTICAL MECHANICS. Theory and applications of the laws of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics from the classical and quantum viewpoints. Prerequisite or corequisite: PHYS 611, 612, 617, 618. (3, 3).

629, 630. SELECTED TOPICS IN PHYSICS II. Topics of current interest, both experimental and theoretical. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. (3, 3).

631, 632. QUANTUM PARTICLE PHYSICS. Quantized relativistic fields. QED. Renormalization. Gauge fields. Spontaneous symmetry breaking. Electrotweak interactions. QCD. Grand Unification. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. (3, 3).

697. THESIS RESEARCH IN PHYSICS. (1-12).

797. DISSERTATION. (1-18).

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