Dr. Donald Luttermoser's
PHYS-4007/5007 Course Web Page
This web page has been set up for the students at ETSU taking PHYS-4007/5007
Computational Physics with Dr. Luttermoser. Links have been set up for
the students to download the course notes, appendicies, homework assignments,
and the course project web page. Most of the files that can be downloaded are
PDF (Portable Document Format) files (which requires
Acrobat Reader to view).
Until further notice, ALL STUDENTS MUST wear face masks while
attending this course on campus as per ETSU policy. This is due to the
significant increase in the number of reported cases of COVID-19 across our
region. This increase is primarily the result of the emergence of the highly
infectious Delta variant, coupled with the reality that vaccination rates
across our region trail national averages. In addition, your professor is
immune-compromised due to the medications he is taking. Please,
wear face masks to class to keep us all safe!
Note that we will be using Version 7.1 of these course notes for
this semester. As the semester progresses additional links will be added to
this page.
Course Overview
Computational Physics (PHYS-4007 for undergraduate credit,
PHYS-5007 for graduate credit) is designed to cover techniques used in
modeling physical systems numerically and analyzing data. It is designed
to help the students gain experience with programming languages in
carrying out this work. It is also important to know how these programming
languages are accessed in an operating system. Note however that
this is NOT a course in computer programming! Instead, this
course is designed to use computer programming to solve scientific problems
in physics and astronomy. Two of the most common programming languages used
in these sciences are FORTRAN and Python. In
addition, many astronomers and astrophysicists use the Interactive Data
Language (IDL) in their research. Techniques will be developed to
numerically differentiate and integrate, and to solve systems of linear
equations, ordinary differential equations (ODE), trajectory and orbit
problems with numerical methods, and finally partial differential
equations (PDE). The students also will be introduced to data fitting
techniques. Note that the theoretical foundations to each of these subjects
will be introduced to the students prior to focusing on the numerical
techniques.
Students should have already taken PHYS-2110/20 (Technical Physics I
& II) and/or MATH-2120 (Differential Equations) before taking this
course. Though previous computer programming experience is not required, such
experience will be beneficial to the student. We will primarily be using the
Python programming language throughout most of the course, though
we will occasionally also use FORTRAN since it is widely used
in physics and astronomical research. Tutorials on the use of
FORTRAN, Python, and IDL are given
in Appendices B, C, and D, respectively, of the course notes.
Appendix E contains a reference guide to the C programming
language for those of you interested in using this language.
Computational Physics is a problem-solving course, that
is, the measure of a student's progress is demonstrated by the ability to solve
numerical problems in physics and astronomy using computer programming methods.
Upon completion of this course, the student will possess the basic knowledge of
numerical modeling and data analysis that may be required for graduate school
or in a position at
a technical corporation.
In this course, the student will primarily be using the Linux
operating system on the computers in Brown Hall Room 264. Besides learning
how to solve numerical problems with a computer, the student also will gain
experience writing manuscripts in a scientific journal style using the mark-up
language LaTeX. As a matter of fact, the syllabus and all
of the course notes are written in LaTeX with the graphics being
created in IDL. LaTeX is used by a large number of
professional journals, conference proceedings, and textbooks in both the
physical sciences and mathematics.
Course Syllabii
Course Syllabus for PHYS-4007/5007, Computational
Physics.
ETSU Supplemental Syllabus Attachment.
Computational Physics Course Notes Sections
D2L Course Website
Even though most of the material you will need for this course is on the
Course Web Page (where you are at now), there may be times when you will
need to log into the D2L Course Website.
To access the ETSU D2L web site, click on the following link:
D2L Web Site Login Page
,
then select the PHYS-4007 course link once you log in, in
order to get to the D2L Course Web Page.
Homework Assignments
Additional Homewotrk Assignments will be posted below as the semester ptogresses.
Programming Tutorials Web Page
Click
Computer Programming Tutorials to view the tutorials web page.
Course Project Web Page
Information about the course computer project can be found at the
Computer Project web page (just click on the link).
Useful Fortran 77 Subroutines Web Page
Click here to access the course web page that contains the Fortran 77
subroutines that can be used to solve sets of ordinary differential equations
as described in Chapter IX of the course notes..
Useful Python Programs Web Page
Click here to access the course web page that contains useful Python tutorials and
program files for student use..
Samples of LaTeX Files Web Page
Click here to access the course web page that contains sample LaTeX files for
student use..
Useful Web Sites for this Course
- Web site of PCTeX.
The current price [2015] for PCTeX is $79.00.
- A free version of LaTeX, called
MikTeX for Microsoft Windows
machines, can be downloaded from this link.
- Another free version of LaTeX, can be used at the
web site ShareLaTeX. At this
site, one does all LaTeXing online through a web GUI.
- Software (Ghostscript and Ghostview) to view and print
postscript files on a Windows machine can be found at the
GhostScript site.
- Details of programming in PostScript can be found at this
link.
- Web site of
NetLib, which contains
high-quality free-ware, software packages for Fortran.
- Web site of the
Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG), which has developed various
numerical
libraries containing over 1000 user-callable subroutines for solving
general applied math problems, including: ordinary and partial differential
equations, optimization problems, FFT and other transforms, quadrature, linear
algebra, non-linear equations, integral equations, and more.
- Web site of GAMS
(Guide to Available Mathematical Software) from the National Bureau of
Standards and Technology (NIST).
- A very useful textbook concerning the mathematics of data
reduction is Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences
3rd Edition by Bevington and Robinson. One can buy this book on Amazon
at this
link (just click).
- Web site of the
Digital
FORTRAN compiler as sold by Intel. Note that this version of Fortran
is one of the best Fortran compilers on the market.
- TechXtend:
Vendor for the Intel Fortran compiler.
- Web site of the free-ware
GNU version
of the Fortran compiler. Note that GFortran is an updated and improved
version of the g77 Fortran compiler.
Last modified: October 1, 2021 by D.G. Luttermoser