Selected Tools of Theoretical Physics IA (first half)

Instructor

Time and Place

Course Description

This first half of the course introduces essential numerical approaches to physics problems. We begin with the fundamentals of solving differential equations, progress to Monte Carlo methods, and explore foundational topics in quantum many-body systems.

We employ a problem-based approach: lectures and exercises are woven together, and we learn by working on concrete problems. Selected applications include the logistic equation, the Lorenz model, the Schroedinger equation, the Ising model, and percolation theory.

Helps needed

Feel free to comment and connect.

Grading Scheme

TBA

Textbooks

computational physics

Supplementary texts

Topics

Primary topics to be discussed are

Preparation and Help

This course is not about hard-core programming, nor about solving large scale computing problems. Mostly we will be writing little scripts for toy numerical experiments to gain understanding of some quantum mechanical problems. (The Julia language is easy to learn even for beginners in programming. Helps will be provided during tutorial sessions. Also, you are free to choose any language you like as long as you can explain and communicate your work effectively.)

The presentation of physics topics aims to be self-contained, but it is best to come prepared. This means remembering your undergraduate classical and quantum physics.

For documentation of codes and works, use of latex and markdown is recommended.