Syllabus for Physics 601 –Fall
2018
(Check here
frequently for important announcements related
to the course)
Official Course
Description: Title: Theoretical Dynamics Credits: 3; Grade Method:
REG/AUD; Prerequisite: PHYS410 (or equivalent);
Topics: Lagrangian
and Hamiltonian mechanics, two-body central force problem, rigid body motion,
small oscillations, continuous systems.
Instructor: Professor Kaustubh Agashe Phone: (301)-405-6018
Office
(note different building than
lecture): Room 3118 of Physical Sciences Complex (PSC), e-mail:
kagashe_at_umd.edu
Office Hours (note locations and days carefully): Tuesday 2-3 pm. in Rm. 1304 of Toll building (this will be sort of an informal discussion session, i.e., you are not
required to attend it, but it will be useful to do so.) and Thursday 2.30-3.30 pm. in Rm. 3118 PSC. It
might be possible to have office hours at other times by appointment.
Teaching Assistant: Kaustubh Deshpande [email: ksd_at_umd.edu; office: Rm. 3260 of PSC; Phone: (516)-225-4807]; Office hours (note locations and
days carefully): Monday 11 am.-noon
and Wednesday 3-4 pm. in Rm.3260 of PSC. It might be possible to have office hours at other times by appointment.
Lecture
Time: 12:30-1:45 pm. on Tuesday and
Thursday
Lecture
Room: Room 0115 of Hornbake Library (Building # 147)
Required Textbook:
Classical Mechanics (domestic, 3rd edition)
by Goldstein, Poole & Safko (abbreviated below as GPS)
Recommended textbook:
Mechanics (volume 1 of course of
Theoretical Physics) by Landau and Lifshitz (LL) and lecture notes given at the
University of Cambridge by David Tong (DT), posted here.
A note on prerequisite: this course assumes that students have had a
strong undergraduate background in classical mechanics, for example, (roughly)
at the level of the course Phys410 taught here (see for typical syllabi here), based
on the textbook Classical Mechanics by John R.Taylor.
Homework: The homework assignments (problem sets) will generally be
assigned here on
Tuesdays, and should be handed in class the following Thursday or in folder
outside Room 3118 of PSC by 5 pm. Late homework will be accepted at the
discretion of the instructor (in particular, a valid documented excuse such a
medical problem, religious holiday, or serious family crisis is required), but
not after solutions have been handed out.
No homework will be dropped for any reason. For full credit for any written homework or
exam problem,
in
addition to the correct answer, you must show the steps/justify your approach
as much as possible.
Solutions to homework (and exams) will be posted here.
Exams: There will be one midterm exam, which will be take-home (of
approximately 24 hours duration) and contribute to the
final grade for the course. Tentatively, this is scheduled for middle/end of October.The
final exam will also be take-home (over a few days), given during the final
exam period around middle of December. You must take the final exam to pass the
course. There will be no make-up for the exams, unless there is a strong
documented excuse (a serious medical problem or family crisis).
Details such as which topics will be covered in each exam, the
exact dates etc. will be posted later.
Grade: The semester grade will be based on the homework, one midterm
exam (take-home) and the final exam (also take-home) with the following
(tentative) weights: one midterm exam: 20%, homework: 50%, final exam: 30%
Attendance: Regular attendance
and participation in this class is the best way to grasp the concepts and
principles being discussed. Please try to attend every class and to read up
the relevant chapter(s) of the textbook before
coming to the class.
Some
class notes will be posted here.
Academic Honesty: Note that, although you are encouraged to discuss
homework with other students, any work you submit must be your own and should
reflect your own understanding. In fact, the main way you will understand
Physics (and thus do well on the exams) is by doing the homework (that too by
yourself).
In addition, academic dishonesty, such as cheating
on an exam or copying homework, is a serious offense which may result in
suspension or expulsion from the University.
The University of Maryland, College Park has a nationally recognized Code of Academic Integrity, administered by the Student Honor Council. This Code sets standards for academic integrity at Maryland for all undergraduate and graduate students. As a student you are responsible for upholding these standards for this course. It is very important for you to be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism. For more information on the Code of Academic Integrity or the Student Honor Council, please visit here. To further exhibit your commitment to academic integrity, please sign the Honor Pledge (which covers all
examinations and Assignments) and turn it in as “Homework 1”:
"I
pledge on my honor that I will not give or receive any unauthorized assistance
(including
from other persons and online sources) on all examinations, quizzes and homework assignments in this course."
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mid-December for you to complete your evaluations for
Spring semester courses. By completing all of your evaluations each semester,
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(TENTATIVE) schedule of Physics 601 topics, exams, and homeworks (more detailed schedule, for example, by
chapter-sections, might be posted as part of the “announcements” here
roughly at the beginning of each week; the homework assignments will also
indicate this.).
Homework: typically
1 per week, except during exams weeks (for a total of about 10 for the course)
Midterm exam: take-home, assigned and
due (after about 1 day) in middle-to-end of October (exact dates to be
announced).
Final exam: take-home, assigned and due (after
about 1 week) around middle-December (exact dates to be announced).
Topics:
(I)
Lagrangian Formalism (chapters 1, 2 of GPS; chapter 2 of DT)
o Basics of variational principle: Lagrange’s
equations from Hamilton’s principle (or principle of stationary action) (GPS
section 2.1-2.3; section 2.1 of DT)
o Velocity-dependent (Lorentz) force: Lagrangian
for particle in electromagnetic field (section 1.5 of GPS; section 2.5.7 of DT)
o Change of coordinates/variables (exercise 1.10 of GPS; section 2.2 of DT)
o Systems with constraints (GPS section 2.4; section 2.3 of DT)
o Symmetries and Conservation Laws (GPS section 2.6, 2.7; section 2.4 of
DT)
o Form of Lagrangian from Galileo’s relativity
principle (LL sections 1.3-1.5)
(II) Basic Applications
o Small oscillations (one-body and many-body linear systems) (section 2.6
of DT ; chapter 6 of GPS)
o Central force problems (for example, gravity: Kepler problem) (chapter 3
of GPS)
o Classical scattering theory (sections 3.10, 3.11 of GPS)
o Rigid body motion (sections 3.1-3.6 of DT; chapters 4, 5 of GPS)
(III) Hamltonian Formalism (chapter
8 through 10 and 12 of GPS; chapter 4 of DT)
o Hamilton’s equations (sections 8.1, 8.2 and 8.5 of GPS; section 4.1 of
DT)
o Poisson brackets (section 9.5-9.7 of GPS; section 4.3 of DT)
o Canonical transformations (chapter 9 of GPS; section 4.4 of DT)
o Action angle variable (sections 10.6 and 10.7 of GPS; section 4.5 of DT)
o Hamilton-Jacobi equation (chapter 10 of GPS; section 4.7 of DT)
o Adiabatic invariants (section 12.5 of GPS; sections 4.6 of DT)
(IV) Additional topics (time permitting)
o Special theory of relativity (chapter 7 of GPS; will also be covered in
Phys606: Electrodynamics): Basic postulates: mechanics; Relativistic formulation
of electromagnetism
o Classical perturbation theory (chapter 12 of GPS)
o Non-linear dynamics: aspects of chaos theory (chapter 11 of GPS)
o Continuous systems: classical field theory (chapter 13 of GPS)