Physics 507
Methods of Theoretical Physics II
1
General Information
Instructor : Bom Soo Kim
Email: bom.soo.kim at uky.edu
Phone: 257-2757
Office: Chemistry-Physics 265
Course website: https://pa.as.uky.edu/bki247/phy507
Location & time: Chemistry-Physics 208, MWF 12:00-12:50
Discussions : to be announced
Office hours : to be announced
2
Course Outline
2.1
About the course
This course, aimed primarily at first-year graduate students, will cover various mathematical topics
which are useful for various physics courses, including Quantum Mechanics and Electrodynamics.
Topics covered in the previous semester can be found in Phy 506. Topics to be covered in PHY 507
will include
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6.
Group theory
Sturm-Liouville systems
Special functions
Partial differential equations
Green’s functions
Integral equations
During the class we are going to ask ‘why’ questions continuously and will try to answer. Most of
the cases, we will quickly end up these mathematical branches to go further.
2.2
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Textbooks
Mathematical Methods for Physicists (4th ed. or higher) by G. Arfken and H. Weber
Mathematical Methods of Physics (2nd ed.) by J. Mathews and R. L. Walker
Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics (Dover) by F. W. Byron and R. W. Fuller*
Graduate Mathematical Physics, With Mathematica Supplements by J. J. Kelly**
* Byron and Fuller is a very good book. It will be available in the book store. We are going to
closely follow the book for some parts of the topics.
** Mathematica becomes an essential part of Physics research. Our course will try to integrate
Mathematica as much as possible. It is not necessary to purchase this book.
2.3
Homework
Homework assignments*** will be given once a week and will be due at the beginning of class on
the due date. Late homework will be accepted until the following homework due, but the grade will
be lowered by one scale (see below). Late homework should be turned in directly to the instructor
or, if he is not available, by putting it in his department mailbox followed by email notice to him.
Please set up a Mathematica account in the department, which will be necessary to finish homework.
*** It is highly encouraged to work together while turning the solutions individually. Sometimes,
I will ask you to form groups to finish some of the homework.
2.4
Exams and Grades
Final grades will be based on homework scores (27%), exam scores (70%), and completion of the
online course evaluation (3%). There will be two midterm exams (20% each) and one final exam
(30%). In case you can not take an exam at the scheduled time, contact the instructor by email
at least 24 hours in advance. Grading exams and homework will be done in 0-3 scale: 0 means
not-turned-in, 1 needs improvements, 2 means satisfactory, 3 means good. There will be an extra
point for the excellent solution.
2.5
Evaluation Window
Online course evaluation is 3% of the final grade. The window for the semester will be from Monday,
April 13th to Wednesday, April 29th . The course will start on January 14th and the last day of the
class is Friday May 1st .