The Mathematical Physics Concentration

in the Bachelor of Science in Physics Degree Program

(updated on May 12, 2008)

 

Students who are interested in theoretical physics and who have a strong background in mathematics may consider applying for admission to a variation on the B.S. in Physics, officially a 'B.S. in Physics with a Mathematical Physics Concentration'. This program is based on the B.S. in Physics but with certain substitutions in the course requirements. Several of the laboratory courses are replaced by advanced mathematics courses and some of the undergraduate physics courses are replaced by graduate courses. This program is not the same as the separate degree program, the B.S. in Mathematics and Physics, which is a coherent and parallel education in both mathematics and physics.

The following table shows the requirements for the Bachelor of Science in Physics with Mathematical Physics Concentration. Those courses in the standard B.S. program that are replaced are shown in brackets and are followed by their replacements.

Course		Yr*	Cred	Course		Yr*	Cred it
PHYS 121 or 123	Intro Mech	1	4	CHEM 105 or 111	Chem 1	1	3 (4)
PHYS 122 or 124	Intro E&M	1	4	CHEM 106 or ENGR 145	Chem 2	1	3 (4)
PHYS 221	Modern	2F	3
[PHYS 203] M-group 1**	[Elec Lab] Adv. Math	[2F] 2	3	ENGR 131 ****	CompP	1	3
PHYS 204	Instr Lab	2S	4	MATH 121 or 123	Calc 1	1	4
PHYS 250	CompMeth	2S	3	MATH 122 or 124	Calc 2	1	4
PHYS 310	Clas. Mech	2S	3	MATH 223 or 227	Calc 3	2F	3
[PHYS 301] PHYS 349	[Adv Lab 1] Math Meth I	[3F] 3F	3	MATH 224	Diff E	2S	3
PHYS 303***	AdvLabSem	3F	1	PHED 2 semesters			0
M-group 2**	Adv math	3	3
PHYS 313	Thermo	3F	3	Subtotal			25 (27)
[PHYS 331] PHYS 481	[QM 1] QM I grad	[3F] 3F	3
PHYS 302	Adv Lab 2	3S	4
[PHYS 324] PHYS 423	[E&M 1] E&M grad	[3S] 4F	3	SAGES first/univ sem		1&2	10
[PHYS 332] PHYS 482	[QM 2] QM 2 grad	[3S] 3S	3	Breadth Requirement*****			12
[PHYS 325] PHYS 350	[E&M 2] Math Meth II	[4F] 3S	3	[Open electives] Open electives******			[13] 17
M-group 3**	Adv math	4	3
PHYS 351***	SrPrj	4	4
PHYS 352***	SrPrjSem	4	2
Choose 1 of the following 3
PHYS 315	Solid State	4F	3
PHYS 326	Phys. Optics	S	3
PHYS 327	Quant. Elec.	4S	3
Choose 1 of the following 4
PHYS 316	Nuc Par	4S	3
PHYS 328	Cosmo. Univ.	4	3
PHYS 336	Mod. Cosmo.	4	3
PHYS 365	General Rel.	4S	3
Subtotal			65	Total			127

* course usually taken in this year, offered only in F = fall, S = spring

** M-group 1, 2 and 3 are to be chosen from among approved advanced mathematics or statistics courses.

*** PHYS 303 + PHYS 352 satisfy the SAGES departmental seminar requirement. PHYS 351 is an approved SAGES capstone course.

**** or other approved computational course

***** The breadth requirements include 6 hours of Social Sciences and 6 hours of Arts and Humanities. This may increase by 3 credits if the required Global and Cultural Diversity course is not also one of the breadth requirement courses. Courses required for the BS in Physics satisfy the 6 credit GER for Natural Sciences and Mathematics as well as the Quantitative Reasoning course requirement.

****** The number of open electives may vary as determined by the degree requirement that the total number of credits add to 127 or more.

For more information, contact Prof. Gary Chottiner, gary.chottiner@cwru.edu or Prof. Harsh Mathur, hxm7@po.cwru.edu .

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