Courses
Courses currently being offered:
Check the course schedules/descriptions available via the Registrar's Office for official semester schedules.
General and Introductory Specialty Courses
The University's numbering scheme has been employed to indicate very roughly the level of the graduate courses. The 400 series is "at the master's lever," which means in practice that such courses are normally taken by students in their first two or three semesters of graduate work. The 500-level courses are more likely to be taken by second- or third-year students. In some cases, a sequence spans the two levels: 407-408-509-510 is a complete quantum mechanics sequence, 415-516 covers all of graduate electromagnetic theory, and 418-519 is a two-semester sequence in statistical mechanics.
There is an underlying numbering scheme which reflects an attempt to keep some order to the curriculum:
| Masters Level | Advanced Level | |
Mathematics and Quantum Physics | 400-409 | 500-510 |
| General Physics | 410-419 | 511-519 |
| Specialized Physics | 420-489 | 520-589 |
| Reading, Research Special Topics | 490-499 | 590-599 |
Advanced Specialty Courses and Research
All courses whose number lie below 520 are of interest, in principle, to all graduate students. Those whose numbers lie above 520 are of primary interest to specialists in the sub-fields of physics. This is an appropriate point to explain the number scheme which has been developed for courses in the 420-489 and 520-589 series. 5X1 and 5X2 are the basic two-semester sequence in a department specialty; occasionally third courses (such as 523 and 583) have been found desirable. 5X5 and 5X9 are reserved for closely related fields. A course 4XY is an introductory course in the field X. The complete scheme for the 500 series is:
521-524 Condensed Matter Physics
531-534 Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
541-544 Nuclear Physics
A551-569 Astronomy and Astrophysics
581-584 Elementary Particle Physics
The Graduate Bulletin lists several courses called "Special Topics in ..." whose numbers are of the general number 5X4. These courses are given on demand and consist, usually, of a continuation or specialization of the material in courses 5X1, 5X2, and 5X3. The current listing of instructors should be consulted to determine which of these courses are being offered.