PY 502, Computational Physics (Fall 2008)

Department of Physics, Boston University

Instructor: Anders Sandvik

Lectures: Tuesday, Thursday 11 - 12:30, in CAS 327
Office hours: Monday 3-4 PM, Wednesday 11 AM - 12 noon, in SCI 316
Computer lab (CAS 327) reserved for practice Fridays 1-3 PM

This course provides an introduction to some of the most widely used methods of computational physics, including numerical integration (elementary algorithms and Monte Carlo techniques), numerical solutions of differential equations (classical equations of motion, time independent and time dependent Schrodinger equations), molecular dynamics simulations (liquids and gases), Monte Carlo simulations (classical models of magnetism), and exact diagonalization of quantum many-body Hamiltonians (models of quantum magnetism). In addition to giving the students a basic working knowledge of these particular techniques, the goal is to make them proficient in scientific computing and programming in general, so that they will be prepared to tackle also other computational problem that they may encounter in the future. The Fortran 90 programming language will be used. The full syllabus is available here.

Course News

Lecture Notes and Program Examples

1) Introduction to the Fortran 90 programming language [Notes] [Programs]
     Lecture slides: [Sep. 2] [Sep. 4] [Sep. 9]
2) Numerical integration and Monte Carlo integration [Notes] [Programs]
     Lecture slides: [Sep. 11] [Sep. 12 (animation)]
3) Solving classical equations of motion [Notes] [Programs]
     Lecture slides: [Sep. 16] [Sep. 18] [Sep. 23] [Sep. 25](animation)
4) Solving the Schrodinger equation in quantum mechanics [Notes] [Programs]
     Lecture slides: [Sep. 30 (anim 1 anim 2 anim 3 anim 4 anim 5 anim 6)] [Oct. 2] [Oct. 3] [Oct. 7]
                             [Oct. 9] [Oct. 21 (anim 1 anim 2 anim 3 anim 4)]
                             [Oct. 23 (anim 1 anim 2 anim 3 anim 4 anim 5)]
5) Monte Carlo simulations in statistical physics [Notes] [Programs]
     Lecture slides: [Oct. 28] [Oct. 30 (anim 1 anim 2 anim 3 anim 4 anim 5 anim 6 anim 7)]
                             [Nov. 4] [Nov. 6] [Nov. 13 (anim 1 anim 2 anim 3)]
                             [Nov. 18] (anim 1 anim 2 anim 3 anim 4 anim 5 anim 6 anim 7 anim 8)]
6) Numerical studies of quantum magnetism [Notes] [Programs]
     Lecture slides: [Nov. 20] [Dec. 2] [Dec. 4]

Homework assignments

1) Due: Thursday, 9/25/08 [Problem text] [Solutions]
2) Due: Thursday, 10/9/08 [Problem text] [Solutions]
3) Due: Tuesday, 11/4/08 [Problem text] [Solutions]
4) Due: Thursday, 11/13/08 [Problem text] [Solutions]
TAKE-HOME EXAM Due: Tuesday, 12/2/08 [Problem text] Data files needed: [l4.in] [l10.in] [l20.in]

Data analysis, graphics and animation tools

[Simple line-fitting program]
[User's guide for Xmgrace graphing program]
[2D color intensity plot program]
[Tutorial on the PostScript language]
[File conversion and animation with ImageMagick]

Updated December 5, 2008