PHYSICS MAJORS

1. Overview of the new curriculum

In Fall Term 1997 the OSU Physics Department implemented a total revision of all the upper-division theory courses. This handout describes the requirements of the new curriculum. Consult your advisor if you have questions. We believe that the new curriculum will better serve the needs of all students, from those seeking an applied career to those intending to pursue graduate degrees.

The restructured curriculum represents a departure from the traditional one that is firmly rooted in courses of equal difficulty devoted to a particular subfield of physics. Our new approach attempts to teach physics as physicists think about it, namely in terms of concepts that broadly underlie the various subfields: energy, symmetry, wave motion, rotations and so forth. The major structural change during the junior year is that two separate sequences running in parallel have merged to form a single intensive sequence, to encourage mastery of the concepts as you go along. These paradigm courses, taken typically in the junior year, are followed by capstone courses in each of the major sub-disciplines.

2. Background

Your high-school background should include math at least through pre-calculus. It is helpful if you complete chemistry and physics courses in high school, but they are not required. You will probably find the material in your first-year chemistry and physics classes more familiar if you have taken the courses in high school, but you shouldn't hesitate to take these university courses even if you lack the high school background. Your math background is much more important; you should be ready to start calculus (Mth 251) at the beginning of your freshman year. However, if you must complete one term of math (Mth 112) before starting calculus you can do so without delaying your physics curriculum; if more than one term of pre-calculus math is needed, it will delay your entry into the physics curriculum. If you lack an adequate math background, you will find it helpful to use the summer before you start at OSU to strengthen your background, perhaps by taking courses at your local community college.

3. Degrees offered

B.S. in Physics: The B.S. is appropriate for those interested in careers in physics or a related area or in preparing for graduate study. The B.S. in Physics is the degree program described in this handout.

B.S. in Physics with Option: To allow students the opportunity to specialize in a related field, several degree options are available. Under these options, available only with the B.S. degree, several physics courses are waived, and in their place the student must complete a selection of courses from the related field. To graduate under one of these options, the student must have a plan of study approved in advance by a departmental advisor. Completion of the option is indicated on the student's transcript, which will read "Awarded Bachelor of Science in Physics with Option in...." The options presently available are:
 

For information about the requirements for these options, see the OSU General Catalog and consult with a departmental advisor.

B.A. in Physics: The B.A. degree requires fewer physics courses but more courses from the College of Liberal Arts; in addition, second-year proficiency in a foreign language is required for the B.A. degree. There is no foreign language requirement for the B.S. degree.

4. Advising

Each undergraduate major should meet with the Head Advisor before registration each term and agree on the courses you will take. These meetings are to help you make acceptable progress toward completing your degree and to see that you don't overlook any departmental or university requirements.

All variations from the approved departmental curricula must be approved in writing by the advisor and the Department Chair. Discuss the proposed changes with your advisor and then make the request in writing, a copy of which will be maintained in your academic file. Note that this procedure applies only to modifications of departmental requirements. College or university requirements can be changed only through academic petitions to the College of Science or the Registrar's Office respectively.

5. Degree requirements

University requirements are summarized in the Schedule of Classes and the General Catalog. You should check in particular the grade-point-averages required to remain in good standing and to graduate. No physics or math course may be taken under S-U grading. A grade of D (including D+) is not acceptable in any required Physics course. A required physics course in which a D grade is received may not be used to satisfy the requirements of the Physics major, although the course may satisfy College or University degree requirements. If a grade of D is received in a required Physics course, the student must repeat the course until a satisfactory grade is received. In exceptional circumstances, petitions for waiver of this requirement may be submitted to the Physics advisor for consideration by the advisor and the Department Chair.

You must satisfy the requirements of the Baccalaureate Core. See the General Catalog for details. Note that the physical science requirement can be satisfied by either your introductory physics course (PH 211, 212, 213) or chemistry course (CH 221, 222, 223). It is not necessary to complete another physical science course for the Baccalaureate Core (although you may do so if you wish). You must, however, complete at least one term of biological science; this is required by both the Baccalaureate Core and the College of Science.

In order to satisfy the Writing Intensive Course (WIC) requirement of the OSU Baccalaureate Core, Physics and Computational Physics majors are required to write a senior thesis on a research project. Students must enroll in PH 403 (Thesis) for one credit in each of the three terms of the senior year (or the year of graduation, for those in a five-year program). These courses meet biweekly and the three total credits satisfy the OSU WIC requirement.

The following physics courses must be completed as part of the basic degree program:
 

Some of these courses are waived under the various degree options, but only with the advisor's approval and only if an approved list of courses is substituted for the physics courses. Written approval for all substitutions must be obtained in advance.

Other minimum requirements are:

Chemistry: CH 221, 222, 223
Mathematics: MTH 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 341

6. Transfer students

Students who intend to transfer to OSU from another institution should arrange to speak with an advisor at the earliest possible time. Community college transfers should speak with an advisor before planning the community college curriculum, if possible.

Students who plan to enter OSU after two years of previous work and to graduate in two additional years should complete courses equivalent to PH 211, 212, 213; MTH 251-256; and CH 221, 222, 223. Failure to complete these courses, especially the physics and math courses, will almost certainly add a full year to your studies at OSU.

7. Sample Curriculum

The following curriculum illustrates one possible way to satisfy all of the departmental, college, and university requirements in four years. Of course, your particular set of courses and the sequence in which you take them may differ from this sample. Perspective and Synthesis courses are chosen according to your interests from lists of Baccalaureate Core courses to satisfy University requirements.

Sample Curriculum -- B.S. in Physics

PARADIGMS: The dictionary defines paradigm as an example or pattern. Paradigm is used to describe a 2-unit course that discusses an important example of a concept in physics.

Each term has 3 Paradigms courses, for a total of 6 credits per term. There will be 9 Paradigms in the junior year. The catalogue descriptions are given on the next pages. All the Paradigms courses are scheduled at 13:00-13:50 on M, W, F and 12:00-13:50 on T, R ( 7 hours per week).  PH 428 and PH 429 are scheduled in alternate years.

A supplemental Paradigm, PH 320 SYMMETRIES AND IDEALIZATIONS, opens the Fall term.  It is intended to ease the transition from lower to upper division courses.

The Winter and Spring Paradigms courses are 4 weeks each, but one week is common to all three in a particular term, so that only one Paradigm in any term runs for 4 weeks continuously. The other two run for three weeks continuously with an additional week either at the beginning or end of the term. In Winter, the first week of term is occupied by a Preface - a series of classes common to all the Winter term Paradigms. (There is not a separate Preface for each Paradigm.)  In Spring, the last week is a series of classes, called a Postscript, common to the Spring term Paradigms.

You'll attend 10 weeks of classes if you're taking all three Paradigms for a particular term (the usual situation for majors), 7 weeks if you take two of them, and 4 weeks if you take one. Your particular academic history may excuse your from attending the Prefaces if you have the prior consent of the instructor.

Finals for the Paradigms will be entirely at the descretion of the instructor. The instructor may choose to use regularly scheduled class time for all or part of the evaluations. Alternatively, the instructor may choose an appropriate Finals Week slot or may schedule a Wednesday evening final the week after the last class of that Paradigm. If used, this last alternative will be listed in the Schedule of Classes.

Add/Drops and Withdrawals: Special add/drop and withdrawal procedures are in place for the Paradigms, because of their unusual structure. These will be announced in class.

CAPSTONES: A capstone is the stone that sits on top, and here, Capstone refers to a regular 10-week course in each of several major subdisciplines in physics that rounds out the ideas learned in the Paradigms. We offer Capstone courses in Classical Mechanics, Electromagnetism, Mathematical Methods, Statistical Mechanics, and Quantum Mechanics.

SPECIALTY COURSES: You are required to choose at least one course in the new curriculum from a list of specialty courses which includes computational physics (PH 465/565, PH 466/566) and more optics (PH 482/582, PH 483/583). In addition, advanced survey courses in Solid State Physics (PH575), Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (PH585) and Nuclear and Particle Physics (PH495/595) have been made available to undergraduates with the appropriate prerequisite courses. We encourage you to use the physics elective and free electives for these courses to gain some advanced knowledge of modern topics, many of which are important in today's technology.

MTH 251. *DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS (4).
Differential calculus for engineers and scientists. Rates of change: the derivative, velocity, and acceleration. The algebraic rules of differential calculus and derivatives of polynomial, rational, and trigonometric functions. Maximum-minimum problems, curve sketching, and other applications. Antiderivatives and simple motion problems. PREREQ: MTH 112. (Bacc Core Course)

MTH 252. *INTEGRAL CALCULUS (4).
Definite integrals, elementary applications to area, force, and work. Integral tables and basic techniques of integration, calculus of logarithmic and exponential functions, polar coordinates, applications to areas, volumes, force, work, and growth and decay problems. PREREQ: MTH 251. (Bacc Core Course)

MTH 254. *VECTOR CALCULUS I (4).
Vectors and vector functions. Surfaces, partial derivatives, gradients, and directional derivatives. Multiple integrals wit applications. Related matrix and linear algebra concepts. PREREQ: MTH 252. (Bacc Core Course)

MTH 255. *VECTOR CALCULUS II (4).
Double integrals in polar coordinates, triple integrals in rectangular, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates. Introduction to vector analysis: divergence, curl, line integrals and work, surface integrals, conservative fields, and the theorems of Gauss and Stokes. PREREQ: MTH 254. (Bacc Core Course)

MTH 256. *APPLIED DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS (4).
First order linear and nonlinear equations, and second order linear equations. Applications to electric circuits and mechanical oscillators. Introduction to the Laplace transform and higher order equations. Introduction to linear systems of differential equations, eigenvalues and normal modes. Related matrix and linear algebra concepts. Solution methods and applications appropriate for science and engineering. PREREQ: MTH 254. (Bacc Core Course)

MTH 341. *LINEAR ALGEBRA (3).
Vector spaces, linear transformations and matrices, systems of linear equations. PREREQ: MTH 254. (Bacc Core Course)

PH 421. PARADIGMS IN PHYSICS 1: HARMONIC OSCILLATIONS (2).
Dynamics of small oscillations in mechanical and electrical systems, Fourier spectral analysis, vector spaces, coupled oscillators, damped and driven oscillators, resonance. PREREQ: PH 213.

PH 422. PARADIGMS IN PHYSICS 2: STATIC VECTOR FIELDS (2).
Theory of static electric and magnetic fields, including sources, superposition, using the techniques of vector calculus, including Stokes and divergence theorems, computational techniques and computer visualizations. PREREQ: PH 213, COREQ: Mth 255.

PH 423. PARADIGMS IN PHYSICS 3: ENERGY AND ENTROPY (2).
Energy and entropy in heat engines, refrigerators, heat pumps, thermodynamic potentials, phase transitions, applications. PREREQ: PH 212.

PH 424/524. PARADIGMS IN PHYSICS 4: WAVES IN ONE DIMENSION (2).
One dimensional waves in classical and quantum mechanics, barriers and wells, reflection and transmission, resonance and normal modes, wave packets with and without dispersion, continuous bases. PREREQUISITES: PH 314, PH 321.

PH 425/525. PARADIGMS IN PHYSICS 5: QUANTUM MEASUREMENTS AND SPIN (2).
Quantum postulates and sequential measurements, superposition and basis transformations, Stern-Gerlach experiment, matrices and commutators, quantum uncertainty and statistical ensembles. PREREQ: PH 314, PH 424. COREQ: Mth 341.

PH 426/526. PARADIGMS IN PHYSICS 6: CENTRAL FORCES (2).
Central forces - gravitational and electrostatic, angular momentum andspherical harmonics, separation of variables in classical and quantum mechanics, hydrogen atom. PREREQ: PH 314, PH 323.

PH 427/527. PARADIGMS IN PHYSICS 7: PERIODIC SYSTEMS (2).
Quantum waves in one-dimensional periodic potential, Bloch waves, band structure, phonons and electrons in solids, reciprocal lattice, x-ray diffraction. PREREQ: PH 314, PH 424/524.

PH 428/528. PARADIGMS IN PHYSICS 8: RIGID BODIES (2).
Rigid body dynamics, invariance, angular momentum, rotational motion, tensors and eigenvalues. PREREQ: PH 314, PH 426/526.

PH 429/529. PARADIGMS IN PHYSICS 9: REFERENCE FRAMES (2)
Inertial frames of reference, collisions, rotations, Special Relativity, Galilean and Lorentz transformations, symmetries and conservation laws, invariants, non-intertial frames, equivalence principle. PREREQ: PH 314.

PH 431/531. CAPSTONES IN PHYSICS: ELECTROMAGNETISM (3).
Static electric and magnetic fields in matter, electrodynamics, Maxwell equations, electromagnetic waves, wave guides, dipole radiation. PREREQ: PH 424/524, PH 426/526.

PH 435/535. CAPSTONES IN PHYSICS: CLASSICAL MECHANICS (3).
Hamiltonian and Lagrangian formulation of classical mechanics, systems of particles, scattering, noninertial reference frames, continuous systems. PREREQ: PH 424/524, PH 426/526.

PH 441/541. CAPSTONES IN PHYSICS: THERMAL AND STATISTICAL PHYSICS (3).
Entropy and temperature, Boltzmann distribution, thermal radiation, ideal gas, Fermi and Bose gases, chemical reactions, phase transformations, kinetic
theory. PREREQ: PH 322, PH 451/551.

PH 451/551. CAPSTONES IN PHYSICS: QUANTUM MECHANICS (3).
Wave mechanics, Schroedinger equation, operators, harmonic oscillator, identical particles, atomic fine structure, approximation methods and applications. PREREQ: PH 424/524, PH 425/525, PH 426/526.

PH 461/561. CAPSTONES IN PHYSICS: MATHEMATICAL METHODS (3).
Complex algebra, special functions, partial differential equations, series solutions, complex integration, calculus of residues. PREREQ: PH 424/524, PH 426/526, Mth 256.

PH 575. INTRODUCTION TO SOLID STATE PHYSICS (3).
Introduction to condensed matter physics for majors in physics, chemistry, and engineering. Topics include band structure, free electron behavior, optical properties, magnetism, and lattice excitations. PREREQS: (PH 451 or PH 551) or equivalent. COREQ: PH 427 or PH 527

PH 485/585.ATOMIC, MOLECULAR AND OPTICAL PHYSICS (3).
Atomic and molecular structure, interaction with electromagnetic fields, atomic and molecular spectra, spectroscopic techniques, laser theory, nonlinear optics. PREREQS: (PH 431 or PH 531) or (PH 451 or PH 551)

PH 495/595 INTRODUCTION TO NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE PHYSICS (3).
Elementary particles and forces, nuclear structure and reactions. PREREQ: PH 451, PH 441, PH 429

last update November 7, 2011