Graduate Elective Courses

Graduate Elective Courses which may be taken in the Baylor Physics graduate program. In addition to these, several advanced undergraduate courses, including 4322, 4340, 4350, 4351, 4360, 4372, 4373, and 4374, may be taken for graduate credit.

5155 Advanced In-Situ Instrumentation Techniques
Prerequisite(s): PHY 4155, 4350, and concurrent enrollment in 4351.
Computer modeling and instrument design and development of detectors for the in-situ measurement of physical and dynamic characteristics of dust in interplanetary space and planetary ring systems. (0-3)

5199 Non-Thesis Degree Completion
To fulfill requirements for non-thesis master’s students who need to complete final degree requirements other than coursework during their last semester. This may include such things as a comprehensive examination, oral examination, or foreign language requirement. Students are required to be registered during the semester they graduate.

5321 Classical Mechanics II
Prerequisite(s): PHY 5320.
Small oscillations; canonical transformations, Hamilton-Jacobi theory; canonical perturbation theory; Lagrangian and Hamiltonian densities, critical points, Lyapunov exponents, bifurcations, chaos, noise, and other topics in non-linear dynamics.

5342 Solid State Physics
Prerequisite(s): PHY 4372 and 5370.
Theory of solids: crystal symmetry, lattice dynamics, band theory, lattice defects, impurity states. Applications to the thermal, magnetic, and electrical properties of solids. (3-0)

5350 Fundamentals of Stellar Structure and Evolution
Prerequisite(s): PHY 4350 and 4351.
Stellar structure, hydrostatic equilibrium, radiative transfer, stellar surface phenomena, and corona interactions. Cosmical electrodynamics and nuclear reactions in astrophysics, basic stellar evolution, variable stars, degenerate cores, white dwarfs, and neutron stars. (3-0)

5351 General Relativity
Prerequisite(s): PHY 5360.
A systematic exposition of Einstein's general theory of relativity, with emphasis on applications to astrophysical and cosmological problems.

5352 Space Plasma Physics
Prerequisite(s): PHY 4322 and 5360 (concurrently) or consent of the instructor.
Space plasma and electromagnetic field phenomena; the guiding center drift equation(with applications); adiabatic invariant theory; the basic equations of magnetohydrodynamics; plasma convection, currents (including Chapman-Ferraro currents and ring currents), oscillations; magnetohydrodynamic boundaries, diffusion, waves, shocks, and instabilities. (3-0)

5361 Mathematical Physics II
Prerequisite(s): PHY 5360 or consent of instructor.
Conformal mapping, electrostatic problems, dispersion relations, asymptotic expansions, method of steepest descent, calculus of variations, Rayleigh-Ritz principle, finite-dimensional vector spaces, matrix theory, orthogonal transformations, normal coordinates, Hilbert vector spaces, unitary transformations, resolvent operators, operator calculus, integral equations, and approximate methods for solution of boundary value problems. (3-0)

5381 Special Topics in Physics
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor and the departmental adviser.
Selected topics in physics. May be repeated once with change of content. (3-0)

5V95 Graduate Research 1 to 9 sem. hrs.
Prerequisite(s): Consent of student's research supervisor and departmental adviser.
The research is intended for those students who have not yet passed the Ph.D. qualifying examination and who have not yet selected a Ph.D. dissertation topic. May be repeated for no more than twelve semester hours of credit. (Not to be counted on master's degree).

5V99 Thesis 1 to 6 sem. hrs.
Prerequisite(s): Twelve semester hours of graduate work and consent of the department.

6350 Relativistic Astrophysics
Prerequisite(s): PHY 5350 and 5351.
Relativistic astrophysics, and the final stages of stellar evolution; supernovae, binary stars, accretion disks, pulsars; extragalactic radio sources; active galactic nuclei; compact objects.

6351 Cosmology
Prerequisite(s): PHY 5350 and 5351.
Cosmology: extragalactic distance determinations; relativist relativistic cosmological models; galaxy formation and clustering; thermal history of the universe, microwave background; cosmological tests, advanced topics in general relativity.

6352 High-Energy Astrophysics
Prerequisite(s): PHY 5330, 5340, 5360 and 5370.
Radiative transfer, scattering, the interaction of matter and radiation, atomic and molecular structure, magnetohydrodynamics and plasma physics, accretion disks and spiral density waves.

6370 Advanced Quantum Mechanics
Prerequisite(s): PHY 5371.
Identical particles and symmetry, self-consistent field theory, spin and angular momenta, electromagnetic interactions, semiclassical radiation theory, many-body perturbation theory, topics in scattering theory. Applications to atomic, molecular, and nuclear systems. (3-0)

6371 Relativistic Quantum Mechanics
Prerequisite(s): PHY 5371.
Klein-Gordon equation, Dirac equation, solutions of Dirac equation for scattering and bound states, non relativistic limits of Dirac solutions, hole theory, Feynman diagrams, quantum electrodynamics, renormalization procedures, non-electromagnetic processes, solutions. (3-0)

6372 Elementary Particle Physics
Prerequisite(s): PHY 5371.
Basic concepts of elementary particle physics; symmetries, groups, and invariance principles; hadron-hadron interactions; static quark model of hadrons; weak interactions; brief introduction to quantum chromodynamics. (3-0)

6373 Quantum Field Theory I
Prerequisite(s): PHY 4374, 5370, 5371 or 6371; or consent of instructor.
Second quantization of free fields, second quantization of interacting fields, elementary processes - Q.E.D. and non-Q.E.D. examples, perturbation theory methods for higher-order processes; renormalization theory; path integral realization of quantum field theory.

6374 Quantum Field Theory II
Prerequisite(s): PHY 6373.
Modern formulation of quantum field theory; quantization and renormalization of gauge theories, both Abelian and non-Abelian; third quantization; applications in the Q.E.D. example; SU2(L) x U1 theory; quantum chromodynamics; grand unified theories; theories of everything including quantum gravity such as the superstring theory.

6375 Quantum Field Theory III
Prerequisite(s): PHY 6374.
Continuation of 6374: Detailed theory of higher order corrections to Standard Model and beyond the Standard Model processes; detailed presentation of recent developments in superunification, superstring/M theory, superstring field theory, and other approaches to quantum general relativity, depending on the instructor. May be repeated for credit by instructor for a maximum of nine credits.

6380 Special Topics in Advanced Physics
Prerequisite(s): Consent of student's graduate committee.
Special topics which are related to specialized fields of research sponsored in the department. May be repeated once with change of content.

6V00 Dissertation Proposal 1 to 9 sem. hrs.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of Physics Graduate Program Director.
Research for doctoral students studying for preliminary examinations or preparing their dissertation topic proposals.

6V99 Dissertation 1 to 12 sem. hrs.
Prerequisite(s): Consent of the student's supervisory committee and admission to candidacy.
A minimum of twelve semester hours is required.