PHYS 481

Working physicists analyze physical systems and model them mathematically. The equations that arise are often complicated, so specific mathematical techniques have been developed over the years to solve them. These solutions then predict the future behaviour of that physical system. This course includes: Bessel functions and associated Legendre polynomials and their applications in mechanics, electromagnetism, and the hydrogen atom; the calculus of variations, with applications in classical mechanics, optics, and classical field theory, (with attention to coupled systems); Green function techniques; and applications to strings, electromagnetism, and heat. Students will work many problems initially using pen and paper, and then with Maple and/or C or FORTRAN. Computers will be used to generate numerical and/or graphical solutions. -- Prerequisite -- PHYS 381/MATH 381/ENGR 257. -- Corequisite -- None. -- Pre or Corequisite -- None.