Course Information :

Instructors : Ali R. Fazely & Rahman Tashakkori
Phone No : 771-3070, 771-2261
e-mail : fazely@grant.phys.subr.edu, rahman@grant.phys.subr.edu
office : Room 129 James Hall
Credit : 3 hours
Time : 5-7 PM (M, W)
Location : Room 130, James Hall
Office hours : 12:00 - 1:00 (M, W) 2:00-4:00 (F), or by appointment
Web Page : /www.phys.subr.edu/courses/phys542/index.htm


Course Outline :
Computational Physics (PHYS 542) is designed as a one-semester course for graduate students majoring in physics. The goal of this course is to give students the opportunity to investigate some important numerical techniques and their application to solving problems in advanced topics of physics such as mechanics, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, relativity, statistical mechanics, and mathematical physics. The course surveys areas of physics in which computational techniques are essencial. Today physicists and engineers are faced with variety of complex problems that can only be simulated and solved numerically. This course is research oriented and encourages students to find and solve some of these problems. This course is designed to give the students a solid background in numerical integration, solving polynomials and differential equations using numerical techniques, and Monte Carlo methods. It is assumed that students have sufficient programming background in C or FORTRAN. It should be understood by the students that the intent of this course is not to teach computer programming or different operating systems.

Text Book:
Since the course is intended to be research oriented and due to the fact that there is no single book that could provide sufficient numerical tools and techniques applicable to physics problems, several books will be used as reference rather than the text. Thus, as it is expected graduate students are to search for their topic of interest in proper references either among the given references or among those in the library. Follow is the list of recommended reference books :
 Numerical Recipes in C, The Art of Scientific Computing, 2nd Edition. William H. Press, Saul A. Teukolsky, William T. Vetterling, Brian P. Flannery.
This book is unique book on scientific computing. In a self-contained manner it proceeds from mathematical and theoretical considerations to actual practical computer routines in C.
 Numerical Recipes in FORTRAN, The Art of Scientific Computing, 2nd Edition. William H. Press, Saul A. Teukolsky, William T. Vetterling, Brian P. Flannery.
This book is unique book on scientific computing. In a self-contained manner it proceeds from mathematical and theoretical considerations to actual practical computer routines in FORTRAN.
Computational Physics: FORTRAN or C Version by S.E. Koonin and D.C. Meredith, published by Addison Wesley.
The material in this book is aimed at reflecting computational skills in advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students by providing direct experience in using a computer to model physical systems. Its scope although may be a little more tedious than usual includes the minimum set of numerical techniques needed to "do physics" on a computer.
 Numerical Methods for Engineers, Steven C. Chapra, Raymond P. Canale.
This book by itself is an excellent textbook that covers most of the key techniques used in solving physics and engineering problems. This book uses a very simple language to explain complex problems.
Grading :
About half of the course grade will be based on the completeness of the assignments and the final project. We are planning to use the following scheme for grading:


No late assignment or assignment of collaborative nature will be accepted. If a student misses an exam with a legitimate excuse, a make-up exam will be arranged. If a student misses an exam without a legitimate excuse, he/she will receive a zero for that exam.
Submission of Assignments :
All assignments are due by 5:00 PM due date. For those assignments that needs a computer code, e-mail or copy the working code to the PHY542 and submit a hard copy in class. Instruction on how to e-mail your codes will be given in class.
Final Projects :
Final project should be completed individually. All students are required to submit a 10 page (1.5 spaced, 1" margined) abstract on their project with all the codes. A copy of the code should be submitted electronically. More information on how to prepare the project report will be given in class.

Topics :
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