PHYSICS 224: Discoveries and Inventions of Modern
Physics
Fall 2002
- Instructor: Prof. Clare Yu
- Office: FRH 2168
- Phone: 949-824-6216
- E-mail: cyu@uci.edu
- Office Hours: Mon 4:30-5:30 pm, Tues 1:30-2:30 pm
- Grader: Shiwei Wu
- Phone: 949-824-3492
- E-mail: shiweiw@uci.edu
Lecture: 11:00 am--12:20 pm Tu-Th RH 390
- Required Texts:
- Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules,
Solids, Nuclei, and Particles,
by Robert Eisberg and Robert Resnick, published by John Wiley and Sons.
- Recommended Texts:
- More Things in Heaven and Earth: A Celebration of Physics
at the Millennium, edited by Benjamin Bederson, published by
Springer-Verlag.
- The First Three Minutes (Updated Edition),
by Steven Weinberg, published by Basic Books, A division
of Harper--Collins (1993).
- The New Physics, edited by Paul Davies, published by
Cambridge University Press.
- URL for this course: http://eiffel.ps.uci.edu/cyu/p224/class.html
Lecture notes, syllabus, assignments, etc. will be posted at this URL.
If you want to print the lecture notes, download the postscript (.ps) or
pdf files; the html files are slightly corrupted and do not contain
the figures.
Assignments : There will be homework
assignments, due weekly or semiweekly. The homework assignments
will be due at the beginning of class. Late homework that
is turned in within 24 hours of the deadline will be given half credit.
No homework will be accepted after that.
You are required to attend at least 5 departmental colloquia.
These are held at 3:30 pm on Thursday afternoon in room 101 Rowland Hall.
Attendance will be taken at the colloquia via a sign in sheet.
Grading : 45% homework, 40% final exam, 15% colloquium.
List of Topics :
- Basic quantum mechanics: Energy Levels and Quantum Numbers
- Basics of statistical mechanics: Fermi--Dirac, Bose--Einstein
and Maxwell--Boltzmann distributions
- Black body radiation
- Atomic physics: atomic and molecular orbitals and energy levels,
Zeeman effect, periodic table, spectroscopic notation, electronic
transitions, spin-orbit coupling, jj coupling
- Chemical bonding: ionic, covalent, metallic
- Nuclear physics: nuclear shell model, fission
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)
- How a laser works + applications (laser cooling, laser tweezers)
- Bose--Einstein Condensation and superfluidity
- First and second order phase transitions, broken symmetry
- Superconductivity (BCS theory, Meissner effect, flux quantization,
Josephson effect, high temperature superconductors)
- Energy Bands : Metals, Insulators and Semiconductors (
semiconductor devices: diodes, transistors, MOSFETs, Quantum Hall
Effect)
- Elementary Particle Physics: Standard Model (quarks, leptons,
basic forces, Higgs mechanism), CP violation, neutrino mass
- Cosmology: The Big Bang, cosmological constant, dark matter,
nucleosynthesis
- Astrophysics: Star formation, stellar evolution,
white dwarfs, black holes, etc.