ICTS Graduate Courses for Aug - Nov 2018

  1. Course on Fluid Mechanics (Elective)

    Instructor: Rama Govindarajan

    Venue: Chern lecture hall, ICTS Campus, Bangalore

    Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00 AM

    First Meeting: Tuesday, 21st August 2018

  2. Advanced Quantum Mechanics (Core)

    Instructor: Suvrat Raju

    Venue: Feynman Lecture Hall, ICTS Campus, Bangalore

    Timings: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:30 - 4:00 pm

    First Class: Tuesday (2:30 pm), 7th August 2018

    Description: This is a core course covering some fundamental concepts in quantum mechanics. We will discuss some simple linear algebra, Hilbert spaces, the Heisenberg and Schrodinger pictures, discrete symmetries, continuous symmetries with a focus on the theory of angular momentum, perturbation theory, identical particles and some elements of scattering theory. If time permits, we will also discuss some selected topics from quantum information theory.

    Textbook: The course will closely follow the textbook "Modern Quantum Mechanics" by Sakurai. Additional references, if required, will be provided in class.

  3. Classical Mechanics (Core)

    Instructor: Manas Kulkarni

    Venue: Chern lecture hall, ICTS Campus, Bangalore

    Timings: Wednesdays and Fridays, 4:00 - 5:30 pm

    First Class: Wednesday (4:00 pm), 1st August 2018

    Topics:

    1) Recap:

    - Recap of Newton's laws and their consequences
    - System of point masses, Rigid Bodies
    - Classical driven-dissipative systems

    2) Lagrangian Formulation:

    - Principle of least action
    - Noether's Theorem, Symmetries
    - Small Oscillations, Applications

    3) Rigid body motion:

    - Euler Angles
    - Tops

    4) Hamiltonian formulation:

    - Liouville's Theorem
    - Action-Angle variables
    - Hamilton-Jacobi Equations

    5) Classical Integrable Models and Field Theory:

    - Lax Pairs
    - Toda Model
    - Calogero Family of Models
    - Integrable Field Theories
    - Integrable Partial Differential Equations and applications in physics.

  4. Statistical Physics I (Core)

    Instructor: Abhishek Dhar

    Venue: Chern Lecture Hall, ICTS Campus, Bangalore

    Timings: Monday 4:00 - 5:30pm, Wednesday: 2:30 - 4:00pm

    First Class: Friday, 3rd August 2018. at 2:15pm

    Details: The course on statistical physics-I will be based on the book Statistical Physics of Particles: Mehran Kardar 

    Topics to be covered:

    1. Thermodynamics, 
    2. Probability,  
    3. Kinetic theory of gases
    4. Classical statistical mechanics
    5. Interacting particles
    6. Quantum statistical mechanics
    7. Ideal quantum gases
  5. Biological Physics (Elective)

    Instructor:  Vijay Kumar Krishnamurthy, Sriram Ramaswamy, Shashi Thutupalli

    Venue: Physics department, IISc, Bangalore

    Time: Tuesdays and Fridays, 2:00 pm- 3:30 pm

    First Meeting: Tuesday, 7th August 2018

    Outline:

    • the living state as a physicist sees it
    • what a cell contains
    • noise and biological information
    • random walks, Brownian motion, diffusion
    • fluid flow in cell and microbe biology
    • entropic forces, electrostatics, chemical reactions, self-assembly
    • macromolecules: statistics, forces, folding, melting
    • molecular machines
    • electrical transport across membranes: neurons, nerve impulses
    • cell membrane mechanics: elasticity, order, shape, dynamics
    • the cytoskeleton and cell mechanics
    • collective motility

    Prerequisites:

    Mechanics and Statistical physics at 1st-year graduate student level

    Evaluation:

    Homework assignments, mid-semester & end-semester exams

    Reference Texts:

References in biophysics