Course 241

Advanced Mechanics

Sergey Cherkis


Instructors


Sergey Cherkis
Office: 19.31 Hamilton Building
Phone:  01 608 3453
Office Hours: Friday 3:00-4:00
E-mail: cherkis@maths.tcd.ie
 Graders:
Odd Numbered Homework Sets are graded by:
 Barry Laffoy
E-mail:laffoyb@tcd.ie
and
Even Numbered Homework Sets are graded by:
David Barrett
E-mail: dabarret@tcd.ie

Class Meetings

Problem Session:
Tuesday
12:00-12:50 Salmon Lecture Theatre
1
Lectures: Wednesday
11:00-11:50 Salmon Lecture Theatre
1

Friday
9:00-9:50 Maxwell
5

Course Description

First part is devoted to classical mechanics


Second and third parts continue with classical mechanics of continuous systems and fields and introduce special theory of relativity and conclude with the introduction to quantum mechanics.

Books

Classical Mechanics:

Required: Herbert Goldstein, "Classical Mechanics," third edition, Addison Wesley

Recommended:
  1. L.D. Landau and E.M. Lifshitz, "Mechanics," Butterworth-Heinemann
  2. V.I. Arnold, "Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics," Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K

Relativity:

    L D Landau and  E M Lifshitz, "The Classical Theory of Fields" : Volume 2 (Course of Theoretical Physics Series),    
    Butterworth-Heinemann;

Quantum Mechanics:

  1. Richard P. Feynman and A. R. Hibbs,  "Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals,"  McGraw-Hill Companies
  2. Hagen Kleinert, "Path Integrals in Quantum Mechanics, Statistics, and Polymer Physics, and Financial Markets," Third Edition, World Scientific Publishing Company

Exams 

  1. Midterm at the end of Michaelmas term: 2 hours     
  2. End of year Final exam: 3 hours

Grading

  • Homework
 15%
  • Midterm
 15%
  • Final Exam
 70%

Homework

problems will be given on Friday and are due at the BEGINNING of the class on Friday the following week.
Students can collaborate on their homework, however, each student should hand in her or his own copy of solutions.

Problem Sets:
First (due 22 October),  Generalized coordinates, forces, Lagrange's equations
Second (due 29 October),  Variational calculus, Constraints
Third (due 9 November),  One-dimensional motion
Fourth in PDF and PS formats (due 12 November),  Scattering
Fifth in PS ans in PDF (due 19 November),  Tensor of Inertia
Sixth in PS and in PDF (due 30 November), Rigid Body Motion (conservation)
Seventh in PS and in PDF (due 3 December) Rigid Body Motion and rotating systems of reference

Eighth in PS and in PDF (due 21 January 2005) Small Oscillations (one dimension)
Ninth in PS and in PDF (due 28 January 2005) Multi-dimensional oscillations
Tenth in PS and in PDF (due 4 February 2005) Hamiltonian Formalism
Eleventh in PS and in PDF (due 11 February 2005) Legendre transform, Poisson Bracket
Twelfth in PS and in PDF (due 18 February 2005) Canonical Transformations
Thirteenth in PS and in PDF (due 25 February 2005) Hamilton-Jacobi Equation
Fourteenth in PS and in PDF (due 4 March 2005) Adiabatic Invariants

Fifteenth in PDF and in PS (due 15 April 2005) Special Relativity (Kinematics)
Sixteenth in PDF and in PS (due 22 April 2005) Special Relativity (Dynamics)
Seventeenth in PDF and in PS (due 29 April 2005) Quantum Mechanics (Schrodinger equation, Action as a function)
Eighteenth in PDF and in PS (due 6 May 2005) Path Integral
 

Midterm Exam

Wednesday, 15 December 2004 at 09.30 - 11.30 in Drawing Office in the Museum Building.

Your Comments


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