Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• CAS PY 543: Introduction to Solid State Physics
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPY406 & CASPY410 & CASPY451) or consent of instructor. - Graduate Prerequisites: (CASPY406 & CASPY410 & CASPY451) - An introduction to crystal structure; lattice vibrations; electronic energy bands and Fermi surfaces; semiconductors, conductors, and insulators; superconductivity and magnetism.
• CAS PY 551: Introduction to Particle Physics
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPY451 & CASPY452) - Graduate Prerequisites: (CASPY451 & CASPY452) - Fundamental particles and their symmetries. Isospin and flavor. Discrete symmetries. Phenomenology of weak and strong interactions. Introduction to detector techniques.
• CAS PY 555: Cosmological Physics
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPY 406 & CASPY 408), or consent of instructor. CASPY 410 is recommended but not required. - Early universe cosmology: inflation, thermodynamics in an expanding universe with radiation, matter, vacuum energy. Growth of density perturbations, cosmic microwave background, large scale structure. The cosmological standard model and open questions, dark matter, dark energy, neutrinos.
• CAS PY 559: Quantitative Microbiology
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASBI108 & CASMA121 & CASPY105) or equivalents; or consent of instructor. - QUANT MICROBIO
• CAS PY 565: Dynamics of Nonlinear Systems
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor. - Introduces the modern approach to the dynamics of nonlinear systems, which approach is often called "nonlinear science," a term that stresses the interdisciplinary applications of nonlinear dynamics that go well beyond classical mechanics to include examples from all the natural sciences, engineering, and even social sciences and medicine. Organized around three "paradigms" of nonlinear science: (1) chaos and fractals; 2) "solitons" and coherent structures; and 3) patterns and pattern selection and will involve analytical, computational, and experimental studies.
• CAS PY 571: Introduction to Biological Physics
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPY410 OR CASCH352) may be taken concurrently as a co-requisite. - Introduction to biomolecular forces, energy flow, information and thermodynamics in biological systems. Nucleic acid, protein, and biomembrane structure. Mechanisms of transport and signaling in biological membranes. Biophysical techniques including spectroscopy. Emphasis on the physical principles underlying biological structure and function.
• CAS PY 580: Machine Learning for Physicists
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPY541) or consent of instructor. - Machine learning is one of the most dynamic areas of modern research and application. This class provides an introduction to the core concepts and tools of machine learning in a manner easily understood and intuitive to physicists.
• CAS PY 581: Advanced Laboratory
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPY351) First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - Classical experiments in atomic and nuclear physics, development of new experiments, basic research projects. Experiments include magnetic resonance, nuclear-decay studies, Zeeman effect, holography, black-body radiation, X-ray diffraction, Mossbauer studies, and flux quantization, positron annihilation. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• CAS PY 582: Quantum Lab
  Experiments in quantum optics and quantum physics, chemistry and engineering to (i) explore basic quantum effects various physical systems, including single photon, entangled photons, Spin systems, superconductivity superconductivity, Integer quantum Hall effect, laser interference, and (ii) experiment with color defects in diamond as qubits implementing the basic single-qubit operations such as initialization, applying quantum gates, and read-out.
• CAS PY 677: An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching
  Online course with in-person faculty-led sessions. Participants learn about effective teaching strategies and the research that supports them, and apply approaches to lesson design and assignments for future teaching opportunities. Also offered as GRS BI 677 and GRS CH 677.
• CAS PY 681: Electronics for Scientists
  Graduate Prerequisites: (CASMA124 & (CASPY212 OR CASPY252)) or consent of instructor. - A survey of practical electronics for all College of Arts and Sciences science students wishing to gain a working knowledge of electronic instrumentation, and in particular, its construction. Two four-hour laboratory-lecture sessions per week. Effective Spring 2020 this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Creativity/Innovation, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
  • Research and Information Literacy
• CAS PY 701: Advanced Mathematical Physics
  Graduate Prerequisites: (CASPY501) or equivalent. - Mathematical structures; algebraic systems, topological spaces, measure theory, and integration. Functional analysis: Banach and Hilbert spaces, linear functionals, operators, and spectral theory. Other applications at discretion of instructor.
• CAS PY 713: Quantum Field Theory 1
  Graduate Prerequisites: (CASPY511 & CASPY512) - Provides an introduction to the techniques of quantum field theory with applications to high-energy and condensed-matter physics. Topics include field equations and quantization of many-body systems; Green function and linear response theory; S-matrix and scattering theory; path integration; perturbation expansions and the Feynman rules; renormalization and effective field theories; epsilon expansion and critical exponents.
• CAS PY 714: Quantum Field Theory 2
  Graduate Prerequisites: (GRSPY713 & GRSPY751) or equivalent. - A continuation of GRS PY 713 for particle physicists. Topics include relativistic fields; LSZ formalism; the Lorentz group; quantum electrodynamics; non-Abelian gauge symmetry; spontaneous symmetry breaking; Goldstone's theorem; the Higgs mechanism; the Glashow-Weinberg-Salam model.
• CAS PY 731: Theory of Relativity
  Graduate Prerequisites: (CASPY521 & CASPY522 & CASPY531) or consent of instructor. - An introduction to general relativity: the principle of equivalence; Riemannian geometry; Einstein's field equation; the Schwarzschild solution; the Newtonian limit; experimental tests; black holes; cosmology.
• CAS PY 741: Solid-State Physics I
  Graduate Prerequisites: (CASPY511 & CASPY512 & CASPY541 & CASPY543) or equivalent. - One electron band structure: Formalism: Hartree-Fock, density functional frameworks. Methods: Green function, pseudopotentials and tight binding. Linear response. Optical properties. Elastic properties. Phonons: lattice dynamics and phenomenological methods. Electronic instabilities and transitions. Topological aspects of band structure and topological phases.
• CAS PY 742: Solid-State Physics II
  Graduate Prerequisites: (GRSPY741) - Many-body formalism: second quantization, Green function, perturbation theory, Feynman diagrams. BEC and superfluidity. Fermi liquids; Luttinger liquids, bosonization. Electron-phonon interactions and superconductivity. Quantum magnetism: exchange mechanisms; magnetic insulators, spin-wave theory; itinerant magnetism, spin-density waves. Magnetic impurities, Anderson model, Kondo effect.
• CAS PY 743: Low-Temperature Physics
  Graduate Prerequisites: (CASPY512 & CASPY542) - Superconductivity, superfluidity, and properties of 3He and 4He at low temperatures. Techniques and measurement of physical quantities near absolute zero.
• CAS PY 744: Polymer Physics
  Graduate Prerequisites: (CASPY541 OR GRSCH653) and consent of instructor. - Introduction to polymer physics, focusing on the structure, phase behavior, and dynamics of isolated chains, polymer solutions, and gels. Development of underlying theoretical formalism and comparison with experimental results. Discussion of applications to novel polymeric materials.
• CAS PY 745: Experimental Surface Physics and Chemistry
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASPY543) or consent of instructor. - Introduction to the principles and experimental techniques of surface and interface physics and chemistry. Electronic, structural, vibrational, and magnetic properties of solid surfaces and interfaces. Emphasis on how these properties are measured. Also vacuum technology and x-ray generation.