Course Description
Course Name
Advanced Physics A
Session: VCPS3118
Hours & Credits
36 Host University Units
Prerequisites & Language Level
Course entry requirements: PHY2014F and PHY2015S, and 40% in MAM2000W or (MAM2004H and MAM2047H).
Taught In English
- There is no language prerequisite for courses at this language level.
Overview
Course outline:
PHY3021F and PHY3022S together lead to a major in Physics. The course includes the following topics: Electromagnetism: Maxwell's equations in vacuum and in matter, conservation laws, momentum and angular momentum in electromagnetic fields, electromagnetic waves, the Fresnel relations, laws of optics, absorption and dispersion, frequency dependence of permittivity, wave guides, gauge transformations, retarded potentials, electric and magnetic dipole radiation, power radiated by a point charge, special relativity, four-vectors, relativistic kinematics, relativistic electrodynamics, the electromagnetic field tensor. Thermodynamics and statistical physics: Temperature, heat and work, First law of thermodynamics, Ensembles and entropy, Second law of thermodynamics, Boltzmann distribution and Helmholtz free energy, thermal radiation, chemical potential and Gibbs distribution, Fermi-Dirac statistics, electrons in metals, Bose-Einstein statistics, phonons, photons and the black-body distribution, the Bose-Einstein condensate, applications to classical and quantum systems.
PHY3021F and PHY3022S together lead to a major in Physics. The course includes the following topics: Electromagnetism: Maxwell's equations in vacuum and in matter, conservation laws, momentum and angular momentum in electromagnetic fields, electromagnetic waves, the Fresnel relations, laws of optics, absorption and dispersion, frequency dependence of permittivity, wave guides, gauge transformations, retarded potentials, electric and magnetic dipole radiation, power radiated by a point charge, special relativity, four-vectors, relativistic kinematics, relativistic electrodynamics, the electromagnetic field tensor. Thermodynamics and statistical physics: Temperature, heat and work, First law of thermodynamics, Ensembles and entropy, Second law of thermodynamics, Boltzmann distribution and Helmholtz free energy, thermal radiation, chemical potential and Gibbs distribution, Fermi-Dirac statistics, electrons in metals, Bose-Einstein statistics, phonons, photons and the black-body distribution, the Bose-Einstein condensate, applications to classical and quantum systems.
*Course content subject to change