In real physical systems the various areas of fundamental physics that are studied separately in semesters 3-5 are usually required all at once. The purpose of this course is to show how fundamental physics can be used to study a number of interesting phenomena.
Recommended course content: Elastic properties of solids. Crystals and band structure. Semiconductors, insulators, and conductors. Electronic devices. Superconductivity. Glasses and amorphous materials. Liquids. Colloids. Polymers. Bose-Einstein condensation. The Chandrasekhar mass limit: white-dwarf and neutron stars.
Pre-requisites: All mandatory courses in the physics-major sequence.
gautam.menon@ashoka.edu.in