Course Descriptions

This is an introductory course about the fundamental and modern ideas in physics and their applications in technological developments. The essential mathematical skills will be developed and applied to everyday physics in an interactive and conceptual learning environment.

*Note: PHYS 103 may not be taken for credit if a student has previously received credit for PHYS 109 or a higher number physics course (with the exclusion of PHYS 140 & 142).*

General algebra-based physics, including classical mechanics and geometrical optics.
Prerequisite: Pre-Calculus 30 or Calculus 30 or Math B30 and C30 or Math 102.

* Note: May not be taken for credit if a student has received credit for PHYS 111 or PHYS 112. Students cannot receive credit for both PHYS 105 and PHYS 109. *

A continuation of PHYS 109. Fluid mechanics, heat and thermodynamics, waves, sound, radiation, electrostatics and electric current.
Prerequisite: PHYS 109 or ENGG 140 

*Note: Phys 119 may not be taken for credit if a student has previously received credit for Phys 111 or Phys 112*

A conceptual approach will be used in this course which is directed towards liberal arts students. The aim is to understand the physical world, from the microscopic (building blocks of nature), through the macroscopic (everyday phenomena), to the galactic (universe). Only simple algebra will be employed.

*Note: Physics majors may not take this course for credit*

An introduction to the concepts of temperature and thermometry, the laws of thermodynamics and applications, kinetic theory.
Prerequisite: MATH 111 and one of PHYS 111 or PHYS 112

*Note: PHYS 119 may be substituted for PHYS 112, with permission of the Department Head.*

Operator formalism of modern quantum mechanics, commutation relations, the Schrodinger equation and its applications for the harmonic oscillator and one-dimensional potentials, central fields, the hydrogen atom and complex atoms.
Prerequisite: PHYS 112, 242 and 251. PHYS 251 may be taken concurrently.

*Note: PHYS 119 may be substituted for PHYS 112, with permission of the Department Head.*

This course must be taken by all honours physics students, and by applied physics cooperative students in one semester of their final year of study. Students are required to attend all seminars and to present an oral presentation and written report on a topic determined in consultation with the PHYS 498/499 coordinator.
Prerequisite: Completion of 90 credit hours

*Note: Permission of the Department Head is required to register.*

This course must be taken by all honours physics students. Students are required to attend all seminars and to present an oral presentation and written report on a topic determined in consultation with the PHYS 498/499 coordinator.
Prerequisite: PHYS 498

*Note: Permission of the Department Head is required to register.*

Mathematics of general relativity; unconnected manifold, affinely connected manifolds and metrically connected manifolds; physics of general relativity, conversation laws and variational principles.
Prerequisite: PHYS 411 or PHYS 811

*Note: Students may receive credit for only one of PHYS 430 or PHYS 810.

Hamilton-Lagrange equations. Hamilton-Jacobi theory and applications, transformation theory, and special relativity.
Prerequisite: Enrolment restricted to graduate students in Physics, except with permission of the Department Head.

*Note: Students may receive credit for only one of PHYS 411 or PHYS 811.

Nucleon electromagnetic form factors and structure functions, Quark-Parton Model, Elements of Perturbative QCD, treatment of Deep Inelastic Scattering within QCD, and various aspects of non-Perturbative QCD including incorporation of transverse degrees of freedom.
Prerequisite: PHYS 835

*Note: Students may receive credit for only one of PHYS 890AE and PHYS 838

The Structure of the Proton for Ph.D. students in Subatomic Physics.

Topics include: Parton densities at small x, Hadronic form factors in perturbative QCD, QCD factorization, generalized parton distributions, nucleon spin structure, nuclear EMC effect.
Prerequisite: PHYS 838

*Note: Students may receive credit for only one of PHYS 890AF and PHYS 839.*

The physics and experimental aspects of synchrotron radiation light sources and the different methods applied to areas from physics to biology. Techniques such as hard and soft X-ray spectroscopy and imaging, infrared microscopy and spectrometry and X-ray diffraction will be covered in detail.
Prerequisite: Permission of the Department Head

*Note: Students may receive credit for only one of PHYS 890AG and PHYS 875

The course will primarily focus on positron emission tomography (PET) instrumentation, data collection, sources of noise in data, image reconstruction and analysis. Topics common to many tomographic imaging modalities; including reconstruction of images from non-uniformly sampled data, from projections, from undersampled data, and image auto-focusing, will be discussed.
Prerequisite: Permission of the Department Head

*Note: Students may receive credit for only one of PHYS 890AJ and PHYS 877

The course has emphasis on practical tasks with four major components: review of C++ programming applicable in particle physics, data analysis with ROOT, detector simulations with GEANT4 and optional topics (e.g. python, event generators, fast detector simulations, code repositories, batch queueing systems, shell scripts).
Prerequisite: Permission of the Department Head

*Note: Students may receive credit for only one of PHYS 887AE and PHYS 888

This course is available to full-time Physics Graduate students in good standing. Students will participate in a summer school offered by an approved institute. The school and credit award must be approved by a committee consisting of the Department Head, Physics Graduate Coordinator, and the student's supervisor.
Prerequisite: Permission of the Department Head

*Note: This class can be taken more than once in a program, for a maximum total of 3 credit hours, provided the institute and course content are different each time.*