PHYS 306: Computational Physics Lab (Electromagnetism)

Course Instructor (Winter 2009)
Prof. Steve McMillan

  Lectures:     Tu 3:00 - 4:50 pm, Disque 704
  Office:       Disque 610
  Phone:        (215) 895-2723
  Fax:          (215) 895-5934
  e-mail:       steve (at) physics.drexel.edu

Course Overview

This is the third in a series of hands-on ``computational labs'' designed to complement the traditional ``lecture/lab/recitation'' Physics instructional sequence. It is intended to be taken after PHYS 305 (Computational Physics II) and PHYS 321 (Electromagnetic Fields I). Students will be introduced to basic scientific programming techniques and problem-solving strategies, as applied to problems in electromagnetic theory (see course outline). Some of the techniques used in the course will rely heavily on material presented in PHYS 105 and PHYS 305.

Topics

  1. Calculation of field lines and equipotentials
  2. Random numbers and Monte-Carlo techniques
  3. Numerical solution of Laplace's equation
  4. Fields due to moving charges
  5. Solving Maxwell's equations
  6. The Fast Fourier transform (if time)

Text

There is no set text for this course. Much of the computational material will be drawn from the text Numerical Recipes in C, by W. Press, S. Teukolsky, W. Vetterling, and B. Flannery (1992, Cambridge University Press). Some material will be distributed in class, or via the World-Wide Web. Also, it probably won't hurt to have your E&M textbook handy!

Evaluation

Grading will be based on homeworks completed during the quarter (80%) and on a longer final project (20%). There will be no mid-term and no final examination.

Course Outline