Physics 329: Introduction to Computational Physics (Fall 1996)

Schedule: Mon, Wed, Fri, 3:00 - 4:00 PM --- RLM 6.118 --- Unique # 53630

Instructor: M.W. Choptuik
Office: RLM 9.208A --- Office Hours: Tue, Thu 10:00-11:30 and by appointment
Phone: 471-1541 --- E-mail: matt@infeld.ph.utexas.edu
WWW Home Page: http://godel.ph.utexas.edu/Members/matt/welcome.html

Syllabus
News (last update Fri. Nov 22, 9:45 pm)
Course Topics
Course Notes
Suggested References
Course Resources
Homework Schedule, Problem Sets and Keys
Suggested Term Projects and Utilities (including source for 'libp329f.a' functions)
Student Pages

Course Overview: This course will provide an introduction to techniques and applications in computational physics. Topics to be covered include: Unix fundamentals; symbolic & numeric computation and programming with Maple; scientific programming using Fortran 77 and C; basic numerical analysis; simulation of lattice and particle systems; random numbers and Monte Carlo techniques. There will be a significant programming component in virtually all stages of the course: tutorials with the instructor will be provided for those of you requiring additional help with programming. See below for a concise syllabus and the Course Topics page for a more detailed description of course coverage.

Text: Due to the significant diversity in topics to be covered, there is no required text for the course. For testing purposes, you will be responsible only for material covered in lectures and homework assignments. I will distribute some class notes when appropriate, but you will usually be responsible for taking notes in class. The optional text, Numerical Recipes (2nd edition), by Press et al is particularly recommended for those of you who anticipate doing further numerical work. Note, however, that the full text of the book is available on-line. Also note that there are distinct Fortran 77 and C versions of the book: choose the one which you feel will suit you best. See the Suggested References web page for texts and other references pertinent to the course, and the Course Resources web page for a collection of on-line reference/instructional material.

Grades: Homework, Term Projects and Tests:

Your mark in this course will be determined on the basis of your performance on six homework assignments, a term project, and three one-hour tests, with the following weighting: Final marks will be subject to small adjustments based on overall class performance.

Tests: There will be a total of three tests: two in-class and one in the final exam period:

Your best 2 out of 3 test scores count equally towards your final grade. Note that attendance at the final exam is mandatory and although it is scheduled for 3 hours, it should take you no longer than 1 hour to complete. There will be no make-up tests under any circumstances. Each test will focus on material from the preceding third of the course. All tests will be closed-book.

Homework: See the syllabus below for scheduled homework due dates. Homework will be assigned at least a week before it is due and late homework is subject to 5% devaluation per each full day it is late. As the course progresses, the Homework Schedule web page will contain information concerning current and past assignments. Each homework will contribute roughly equal weight to your final mark but I will discount your worst mark.

Term Papers: Either individually or in consultation with the instructor, each student must choose a topic for a term paper in some area of computational physics. A list of suggested topics will be posted by Friday, September 27 and a one-page outline of your selected project is due Wednesday, October 30 at the latest. All topics must be approved by the instructor. Even if the bulk of the project involves programming, the term paper per se must be prepared in the style of a technical paper or a scientific essay. You are free to submit preliminary drafts of their paper to the instructor for critique; such pre-assessment will not effect your final grade on the paper. You are encouraged to use LaTeX (or TeX) mathematical typesetting software to prepare your papers. Suggested paper length is 15-20 pages double spaced, including figures, graphs and source code listings. Note that the project need not involve programming: for example, a critical essay on the impact of computation on a particular sub-field of physics is a viable option. Term projects are due on December 6: late projects will be devalued 5% per full day late.

Computer Access:

All students will be provided with accounts on the Physics Dept. public Unix systems located in the Graduate Computer Lab, RLM 3.118. You will be sharing the facility with a lot of graduate students, so getting an open seat in the Lab on demand, particularly during peak hours, may become difficult. You should promptly report serious difficulties in getting access to a machine to the instructor so that alternative arrangements can be made. You will be also be given remote access to Center for Relativity Unix machines, and you will be encouraged to use these machines for C and Fortran programming. To the extent possible physical access to Relativity machines will also be provided. If you have a home computer and a modem, you are encouraged to contact the Physics Dept. Computer Group for information regarding access to campus systems via home machines.

Tutorials:

As mentioned above, individual or small-group tutorial sessions may be arranged at mutually agreeable times for those of you who require additional help, particularly with the programming aspects of the course. Although I will try to detect when supplementary instruction is required, please contact me (e-mail preferred) if and when you think you could use a session or two.

Other Help:

You should also feel free to contact me via e-mail (preferred) or phone if you have quick questions, or if you are having difficulty getting something to work. Perhaps most importantly, you should strive to develop the ability to make effective use of the available documentation for the software you are using (on-line help, man pages, Web resources, etc.). On-line help tends to be extensive these days (particularly for systems such as Maple) and a little time invested in learning how to extract the information you are looking for usually pays off.

Syllabus

Due Monday Wednesday Friday


August 28
Unix		 August 30
Unix


September 4
Unix		 September 6
Maple
H1 September 9
Maple		 September 11
Maple		 September 13
Maple
H2 September 16
Scientific Programming		 September 18
Scientific Programming		 September 20
Scientific Programming

September 23
Scientific Programming		 September 25
Scientific Programming		 September 27
Scientific Programming
H3
 September 30
Scientific Programming		 October 2
Soln of Linear Systems		 October 4
Test 1

October 7
Soln of Linear Systems		 October 9
Soln of Linear Systems		 October 11
Finite Difference Methods

October 14
Finite Difference Methods		 October 16
Finite Difference Methods		 October 18
Finite Difference Methods
H4 October 21
Finite Difference Methods		 October 23
Finite Difference Methods		 October 25
Non-linear Equations

October 28
Non-linear Equations		 October 30
Finite Difference Methods		 November 1
Cellular Automata

November 4
Particle Simulations		 November 6
No Class		 November 8
Particle Simulations
H5 November 11
Test 2		 November 13
Particle Simulations		 November 15
Particle Simulations

November 18
Solution of ODEs		 November 20
Solution of ODEs		 November 22
Solution of ODEs

November 25
Solution of ODEs		 November 27
Solution of ODEs
H6 December 2
Stochastic Simulations		 December 4
Stochastic Simulations		 December 6
Course Evaluation

Syllabus Notes: