41 - 48 of 48 results for: APPPHYS

Physics and impact of particle beams and accelerators from their origins up to the present state of the art. Accelerator fundamentals, special topic lectures by expert scientists, laboratory accelerator experiment using state of the art accelerators at SLAC. nPrerequisites: Advanced undergraduate courses in Maxwell's equations, special relativity, mathematical physics, and introductory quantum mechanics.

Topics include types of disorder, percolation, localization, glasses and spin glasses, fractals, self-organized criticality, aggregation, gelation, and other random processes leading to disordered media.

Physical biology of dynamical and mechanical processes in cells. Emphasis is on qualitative understanding of biological functions through quantitative analysis and simple mathematical models. Sensory transduction, signaling, adaptation, switches, molecular motors, actin and microtubules, motility, and circadian clocks. Prerequisites: differential equations and introductory statistical mechanics.

Atomic spectroscopy, matrix elements using the Coulomb approximation, summary of Racah algebra, oscillator and line strengths, Einstein A coefficients. Radiative processes, Hamiltonian for two- and three-state systems, single- and multi-photon processes, linear and nonlinear susceptibilities, density matrix, brightness, detailed balance, and electromagnetically induced transparency. Inelastic collisions in the impact approximation, interaction potentials, Landau-Zener formulation. Continuum processes, Saha equilibrium, autoionization, and recombination.

Basic concerns and fundamental postulates in quantum theory of measurements. Quantum non-demolition measurements, nonlinear measurements and continuous measurements. Non-local quantum correlation and Bell's inequality. Generation, detection, and application of single photons and entangled photon-pairs. Reservoir theory of an open dissipative system. Laser phase transition versus BCS transition in microcavities.

Survey of methods used to relate RNA sequences to the structure and function of transcribed RNA molecules. Computation of contributions of the counter-ion cloud to the dependence of free energy on conformation of the folded RNA. The relation of structure to function of riboswitches and ribozymes.

Synchrotron radiation sources for scientific exploration. X-ray FELs for studies of ultrafast processes at the atomic scale. Fundamental concepts in electron and photon beams, bending magnet and undulator radiation, one-dimensional and three-dimensional FEL theory and simulations, self-amplified spontaneous emission, seeding and other improvement schemes, x-ray methodology, techniques and instrumentation for the study of ultrafast phenomena. Course may be repeated when a different course is offered as a Special Topics..