PHYS 601 Course Outline F2005

Newton's laws 8/31 – 9/1

Mechanics of a system of particles

Conservation Laws

Lagrange's equations

Constraints 9/5 – 9/7

D'Alembert's principle

Constants of motion

Examples

Variational Principles 9/12-9/14

Hamilton's principle

Calculus of variations

Two body central force 9/19-9/26

Lagrangian approach

Periodic and quasiperiodic orbits

Inverse square law potential

Scattering – collisions

Kinematics of rigid body motion 9/28-10/5

Coordinates

Orthogonal transformations

Euler's theorems

Rate of change of a vector - Coriolis force

Exam #1

Rigid body equations of motion 10/10-10/12

Energy and Angular momentum

Inertia tensor

Torque free motion

Small oscillations 10/17-10/19

Free motion- normal modes

Driven motion

Special Relativity 10/24-10/26

Lorenz transformations

Four vectors

Relativistic motion of charged particles

Exam #2

Hamilton's equations 10/31-11/09

Construction

Relativistic motion

Cyclic coordinates and conservation laws

Variational principles

Extra Topics 11/14-11/30

Geometric optics

Phase space

Symplectic notation

Canonical transformations

Action angle variables - quantization

Liouville theorem

Adiabatic invariants

Perturbation theory

Chaos

Continuous systems 12/05-12/12

Vibrations in mechanical systems

Electromagnetic fields

Final Exam