FAQs

Q: PHY 6623 SPACE PHYSICS LABORATORY

3 hours credit . Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. Vacuum systems, detectors, charged and neutral particle instruments, magnetic and electric field instruments, imagers (optical, UV, X-ray), instrument control and on-board data processing systems, spacecraft systems, data processing and analysis.

Q: PHY 6403 FUNDAMENTALS OF SPACE PHYSICS

3 hours credit . Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. The Sun, solar models, solar and stellar winds, heliosphere and astrospheres, synthesis of elements in the Sun and stars, solar system composition and cosmic abundances, terrestrial magnetosphere, ionosphere and thermosphere, comparative planetary magnetospheres and atmospheres.

Q: PHY 6123 PLASMA PHYSICS AND MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS (MHD)

3 hours credit . Prerequisite: Graduate standing, PHY 5103 and PHY 5203, or consent of instructor. Plasma equations, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), waves and instabilities in two-fluid model, Vlasov and Fokker-Planck equations, Landau damping, turbulence in plasmas, radiation in plasmas, quasi-linear theory, wave-particle interaction, kinetic theory in space plasmas.

Q: PHY 5403 QUANTUM MECHANICS I

3 hours credit . Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. Linear vector spaces and linear operators. Postulates. Hilbert space formulation, the Schrödinger equation and one-dimensional problems, the hydrogen atom, symmetries, rotational invariance and angular momentum, spin, system with N-degrees of freedom. (Formerly PHY 6003. Credit cannot be earned for both PHY 5403 and PHY 6003.)

Q: PHY 5303 STATISTICAL MECHANICS

3 hours credit . Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. Thermodynamics, equilibrium statistical mechanics, Boltzmann equation and the collision operator, moments of the Boltzmann equations, the Navier-Stokes equations, introduction to nonequilibrium concepts, ensembles, classical and quantum gases, statistical physics of solids.

Q: PHY 5203 ELECTRODYNAMICS I

3 hours credit . Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. Electrostatics and magnetostatics; boundary value problems, Maxwelll’s equations; plane waves; wave guides diffraction; multipole radiation.

Q: PHY 5103 CLASSICAL MECHANICS I

3 hours credit . Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. Newtonian mechanics, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics, dynamics of rigid bodies, central force problem and orbital dynamics, symmetries and conservation laws, relativistic dynamics.

Q: PHY 7903 TOPICS IN ASTROPHYSICS

3 hours credit . Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor. May be repeated for credit as topics vary. Topics may include the following: Topic 1: Stellar Astrophysics . Advanced discussion of one or more topics from: stellar structure, physics of accretion disks, physics of star formation and the interstellar medium, structure of collapsed stars and supernova remnants, radiative transport and photoionization. Topic 2: Galactic and Extragalactic Astrophysics . Density wave theory and structure of spiral galaxies. Active galaxies, clusters of galaxies, large-scale structure. Topic 3: Cosmology . Basics of general relativity. The cosmological principle and Friedmann models, thermal history of the universe, structure formation, the cosmic microwave background, baryonic structures formation, dark matter and dark energy, particle physics and the early universe, inflationary cosmology. Topic 4: Astrobiology . Conditions necessary for life, extra-solar planets, discovery strategies and techniques for extrasolar planets and results to date. Basic stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis impacts on development of life on Earth. Topic 5: Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics . Lagrangian, Eulerian, and smooth-particle formulations, rotation, vorticity, circulations, convection, magnetohydrodynamics, shocks, stellar rotation, photon fluid dynamics, relativistic fluids, mass transfer.

Q: PHY 6953 INDEPENDENT STUDY

3 hours credit . Prerequisites: Graduate standing and permission in writing (form available) of the instructor and the student’s Graduate Advisor of Record. Independent reading, research, discussion, and/or writing under the direction of a faculty member. For students needing specialized work not normally or not often available as part of the regular course offerings. May be repeated for credit, but not more than 6 hours, regardless of discipline, will apply to the degree.

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