Physics 3821
Mathematical Physics III

• Instructor: Dr. Iakov Afanassiev
• Office: Physics C-4065
• email: yakov@physics.mun.ca

• Course Times: TR 12:00-12:50, F 1.00-1.50 C-3067
• Office Hours: TR 12:50-1:50
• Web Page: http://www.physics.mun.ca/ ~ yakov

Tentative Evaluation Scheme:

• Mid-Term 15%
• Assignments 25%
• Project Paper and Presentation 20%
• Final 40%

Textbook:

• G. Arfken and H. Weber, Mathematical Methods for Physicists, 5th Edition, Academic Press, New York (2001)

Reference Books:

• E. Butkov, Mathematical Physics, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass. (1968)

• H. Cohen, Mathematics for Scientists and Engineers, Prentice-Hall, Englewood-Cliffs (1992)
• K. Riley, M. Hobson and S. Bence, Mathematical Methods for Physics and Engineering, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1997)
• L. C. Andrews, Elementary Partial Differential Equations with Boundary Value Problems, Academic Press.

In this course we will cover some of the important methods of solving partial differential equations as applied to particular problems in physics (Laplace eq. for potential flows in hydrodynamics, Poisson eq. in electromagnetism, wave eq. for oscillation of strings and air in organ pipes, Schrodinger eq. for hydrogen atom etc.). Some numerical approaches to solving difficult boundary value problems using widely available software environments such as Mathlab or Mathematica will be reflected in the course.

Course Outline:

• I Introduction
• II Laplace equation
• III Poisson equation
• IV Wave equation
• V Heat transfer equation