91 - 100 of 104 results for: PHYSICS

Classical and quantum gravity in Anti-de Sitter spacetime (AdS). History and uses of AdS. Basic classical physics of AdS: metric, conformal structure, common coordinate systems. Black holes in AdS: thermodynamics, Hawking-Page transition. Classical fields in AdS: action of conformal group, singletons. Stability of AdS and positive energy theorems. Towards the holographic correspondence: geodesics and the UV-IR relation. AdS from supergravity. Recommended: PHYSICS 330, some familiarity with general relativity.

Existing and emerging statistical techniques and their application to astronomical surveys and cosmological data analysis. Topics covered will include statistical frameworks (Bayesian inference and frequentist statistics), numerical methods including Markov Chain Monte Carlo, and machine learning applied to classification and regression. Hands on activities based on open-source software in python.

Experimental methods in particle physics, particle astrophysics and cosmology. The course will cover detector fundamentals including the passage of radiation through matter, signal production and collection in detector media, and front-end electronics, with a focus on the fundamental limits of technology. The course will include case studies of specific experiments chosen to illustrate a range of experimental techniques, what the underlying physics questions are and how they are probed with the instrumentation. A typical case study will include instrumentation papers that describe the detector design and a physics results paper that elucidates how the measurement follows from the detector capabilities. Students will make an oral presentation on an experiment, covering both the design of the experiment, and a science result that exploits the apparatus.

Create virtual Universes and understand our own using your computer. Techniques for studying the dynamics of dark matter and gas as it assembles over cosmic time to form the structure in the Universe. The use of modern computer codes on supercomputers to combine modeling of gravitation, gas dynamics, radiation processes, magnetohydrodynamics, and other relevant physical processes to make detailed predictions about the evolution of the Universe. Practical exercises to explore how cosmic microwave background observations are sensitive to cosmological parameters, how key numerical algorithms work, how different cosmological observations can be combined to constrain what the Universe is made of and how it changed over time. Additional current topics in computational cosmology depending on student interest. Hands-on activities based on open-source software in C++ and Python. Pre- or corequisites: PHYSICS 361. Recommended prerequisite: PHYSICS 366.

Fermi liquid theory, many-body perturbation theory, response function, functional integrals, interaction of electrons with impurities. Prerequisite: APPPHYS 273 or equivalent.

Superfluidity and superconductivity. Quantum magnetism. Prerequisite: PHYSICS 372.

String theory provides a strong candidate for quantum gravity as well as contributing insights into many areas of physics. The class will start by evaluating the need for an extension of general relativity and quantum field theory, and assess the circumstances under which it becomes relevant (or `dangerously irrelevant' in the renormalization group sense). We will develop the basic tools for perturbative calculations and study their implications at short and long distances and in nontrivial spacetime geometries and topologies. The course will survey non-perturbative objects, dualities, compactification, and the structure of cosmological backgrounds of string theory, discussing their implications for early universe models and for the problem of upgrading holographic duality to cosmology.

This course will cover the developing intersection between quantum information theory and the quantum theory of gravity. We will focus on the central roles of entanglement and computational complexity in black hole physics. Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, and general relativity.

A brief introduction to integer quantum Hall effect. Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model and one-dimensional topological insulators. Topological band theory of time-reversal invariant topological insulators. Various approaches of determining the topological invariant from the bulk and the boundary. An overview of key experiments. Topological superconductivity. Topological response theory. A brief summary of more recent developments on interacting topological insulators/symmetry protected topological states. Prerequisite: PHYSICS 172/ APPPHYS 272 or equivalent; knowledge on second quantization; knowledge on path integral.May be repeat for credit