Handbook

Table of Contents
Undergraduate Courses in Physics ................................................. 1

1.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 PHYSICS COURSES IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2013-14 .................................................................. 1
1.2.1 The First Year (Part IA) .......................................................................................................... 1
1.2.2 The Second Year (Part IB) ..................................................................................................... 2
1.2.3 The Third Year (Part II) - Physics ....................................................................................... 2
1.2.4 The Fourth Year (Part III) - Physics .................................................................................... 3
1.2.5 Master of Advanced Studies (MASt) in Physics .................................................................... 3
1.3 MATHEMATICS AND THE PHYSICS COURSES .............................................................................. 3
Aims and Objectives of the Physics Teaching ................................ 4
Programme ................................................................................... 4
2.1 THE UNIVERSITYS AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ................................................................................ 4
2.2 COURSE AIMS .................................................................................................................................... 4
2.3 COURSE OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................................................... 4
Part IA Physics .............................................................................. 6
3.1 AIMS OF THE COURSE ...................................................................................................................... 6
3.2 THE LECTURE COURSES .................................................................................................................. 6
3.3 PRACTICALS ....................................................................................................................................... 6
3.4 THE EXAMINATION .......................................................................................................................... 6
3.4.1 Examiners Notices ................................................................................................................ 6
3.4.2 The Written Paper for Part IA................................................................................................ 6
3.5 BOOKS ................................................................................................................................................. 6
3.6 SOME IMPORTANT DATES .............................................................................................................. 8
3.7 LECTURE LIST ................................................................................................................................... 9
PRINCIPLES OF CLASSICAL PHYSICS, QUANTUM PHYSICS & RELATIVITY .................... 10
IA PRACTICAL CLASS ................................................................................................................ 13
Part IB Physics A .......................................................................... 15
4.1 INTRODUCTION AND COURSE AIMS ............................................................................................ 15
4.2 THE CONTENT OF THE COURSE ................................................................................................... 15
4.3 THE EXAMINATION ......................................................................................................................... 15
4.4 SOME IMPORTANT DATES .............................................................................................................16
4.5 LECTURE LIST .................................................................................................................................. 17
EXPERIMENTAL METHODS .................................................................................................... 18
OSCILLATIONS, WAVES AND OPTICS .....................................................................................19
QUANTUM PHYSICS ................................................................................................................. 20
CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS ............................................................................................. 22
MATHEMATICAL METHODS ................................................................................................... 23
GREAT EXPERIMENTS............................................................................................................. 24
IB PRACTICAL CLASS PHYSICS A ........................................................................................ 25
Part IB Physics B .......................................................................... 26
5.1 INTRODUCTION AND COURSE AIMS ........................................................................................... 26

5.2 COURSE CONTENT .......................................................................................................................... 26
5.3 THE EXAMINATION ........................................................................................................................ 26
5.4 SOME IMPORTANT DATES ............................................................................................................. 27
5.5 LECTURE LIST .................................................................................................................................. 28
ELECTROMAGNETISM ............................................................................................................. 29
CLASSICAL DYNAMICS ............................................................................................................. 31
THERMODYNAMICS ................................................................................................................. 32
INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTING .......................................................................................... 33
MATHEMATICAL METHODS ................................................................................................... 35
GREAT EXPERIMENTS ............................................................................................................. 36
IB PRACTICAL CLASS PHYSICS B ......................................................................................... 37
IB PRACTICAL CLASS PHYSICS A and B .............................................................................. 38
Part II Physics ..............................................................................42
6.1 THE THREE- AND FOUR-YEAR COURSES IN PHYSICS .............................................................. 42
6.2 OUTLINE OF THE COURSES .......................................................................................................... 42
6.3 FURTHER WORK ............................................................................................................................. 43
6.3.1 Computing ............................................................................................................................ 43
6.3.2 Experimental Investigations ................................................................................................ 43
6.3.3 Courses in Theoretical Physics ............................................................................................. 43
6.3.4 Research Review ................................................................................................................... 45
6.3.5 Long-Vacation Work ............................................................................................................ 45
6.3.6 Physics Education................................................................................................................. 45
6.4 SUPERVISIONS AND EXAMPLES CLASSES .................................................................................. 45
6.5 NON-EXAMINED WORK ................................................................................................................. 46
6.6 THE EXAMINATION ........................................................................................................................ 46
6.6.1 Examiners Notices ............................................................................................................... 46
6.6.2 The Written Papers for Part II ............................................................................................. 46
6.6.3 Requirements ....................................................................................................................... 46
6.6.4 Examination Entries............................................................................................................. 46
6.6.5 Submission of Further Work ................................................................................................ 46
6.7 HALF SUBJECT PHYSICS ................................................................................................................ 47
6.8 SOME IMPORTANT DATES ............................................................................................................. 48
6.9 LECTURE LIST .................................................................................................................................. 49
ADVANCED QUANTUM PHYSICS ............................................................................................ 50
OPTICS AND ELECTRODYNAMICS ......................................................................................... 51
RELATIVITY ............................................................................................................................... 52
THERMAL AND STATISTICAL PHYSICS ................................................................................. 54
ASTROPHYSICAL FLUID DYNAMICS ...................................................................................... 55
PARTICLE AND NUCLEAR PHYSICS ....................................................................................... 57
QUANTUM CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS ......................................................................... 59
SOFT CONDENSED MATTER .................................................................................................. 60
COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS .................................................................................................... 61
COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS PROJECT ................................................................................... 62
THEORETICAL PHYSICS 1 - CLASSICAL FIELD THEORY (TP1) ........................................... 63
THEORETICAL PHYSICS 2 - TOPICS IN QUANTUM THEORY (TP2) ................................... 65
PART II EXPERIMENTS ............................................................................................................ 66
RESEARCH REVIEWS ............................................................................................................... 69
PHYSICS EDUCATION .............................................................................................................. 71
CONCEPTS IN PHYSICS ............................................................................................................ 73
Part III Physics ............................................................................. 75
7.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................... 75
7.2 MASTER OF ADVANCED STUDIES (MAST) IN PHYSICS ............................................................. 75
7.3 OUTLINE OF THE COURSE ............................................................................................................. 75
7.4 DETAILS OF THE COURSES............................................................................................................ 76

7.4.1 Project work ......................................................................................................................... 76
7.4.2 Major Topics......................................................................................................................... 76
7.4.3 Minor Topics ........................................................................................................................ 76
7.4.4 Other Lent Term courses ..................................................................................................... 77
7.4.5 Further Work ....................................................................................................................... 77
7.4.6 Long-Vacation Projects ........................................................................................................ 77
7.4.7 Entrepreneurship ................................................................................................................. 77
7.4.8 Examples Class in General Physics ...................................................................................... 77
7.5 RESTRICTIONS ON COMBINATION OF COURSES ...................................................................... 78
7.6 SUPERVISIONS ................................................................................................................................ 78
7.7 NON-EXAMINED WORK ................................................................................................................. 78
7.8 THE EXAMINATION ........................................................................................................................ 78
7.8.1 Examiners Notices .............................................................................................................. 78
7.8.2 Examination Entries ............................................................................................................ 78
7.8.3 The Written Papers for Part III ........................................................................................... 78
7.9 SOME IMPORTANT DATES ............................................................................................................ 81
7.10 LECTURE LIST ................................................................................................................................. 83
ADVANCED QUANTUM CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS ................................................... 84
ATOMIC AND OPTICAL PHYSICS ............................................................................................ 85
PARTICLE PHYSICS .................................................................................................................. 86
PHYSICS OF THE EARTH AS A PLANET ................................................................................. 88
QUANTUM CONDENSED MATTER FIELD THEORY ............................................................ 90
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY ......................................................................................................91
RELATIVISTIC ASTROPHYSICS AND COSMOLOGY ............................................................. 92
SOFT MATTER AND BIOLOGICAL PHYSICS .......................................................................... 94
ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS ......................................................................................................... 95
BIOLOGICAL PHYSICS ............................................................................................................. 96
FORMATION OF STRUCTURE IN THE UNIVERSE ............................................................... 97
GAUGE FIELD THEORY ........................................................................................................... 99
MEDICAL PHYSICS ................................................................................................................. 100
NONLINEAR OPTICS AND QUANTUM STATES OF LIGHT ................................................ 102
PARTICLE ASTROPHYSICS .................................................................................................... 103
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND QUANTUM COHERENCE ..................................................... 104
THE FRONTIERS OF OBSERVATIONAL ASTROPHYSICS .................................................. 105
QUANTUM INFORMATION ................................................................................................... 107
ADVANCED QUANTUM FIELD THEORY .............................................................................. 108
NUCLEAR POWER ENGINEERING ....................................................................................... 109
INTERDISCIPLINARY TOPICS NST PART III ..................................................................... 111
MATERIALS, ELECTRONICS AND RENEWABLE ENERGY ................................................. 112
ENTREPRENEURSHIP ............................................................................................................ 113
ETHICS IN PHYSICS................................................................................................................. 115
PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICS ..................................................................................................... 116
PROJECTS ................................................................................................................................. 117
Guide for Students ..................................................................... 123
Academic Staff ........................................................................................................................... 125
Administration .......................................................................................................................... 126
Aims and Objectives ................................................................................................................. 126
Appeals ...................................................................................................................................... 126
Astronomical Society (CUAS) ................................................................................................... 126
Bicycles ...................................................................................................................................... 126
Books ......................................................................................................................................... 126
Bookshops ................................................................................................................................. 126
Buildings .................................................................................................................................... 127
Calculators ................................................................................................................................. 127
CamCORS .................................................................................................................................. 127
CamSIS ....................................................................................................................................... 127

CamTools ................................................................................................................................... 127
Canteen ...................................................................................................................................... 127
Careers ....................................................................................................................................... 127
Cavendish Laboratory ............................................................................................................... 127
Cavendish Stores ....................................................................................................................... 127
Cheating .................................................................................................................................... 127
Classing Criteria ........................................................................................................................ 128
College ....................................................................................................................................... 128
Common Room ......................................................................................................................... 128
Complaints ................................................................................................................................ 128
Computing ................................................................................................................................. 128
Counselling ................................................................................................................................ 129
Courses ...................................................................................................................................... 129
Databases .................................................................................................................................. 129
Department of Physics .............................................................................................................. 129
Director of Studies .................................................................................................................... 130
Disability ................................................................................................................................... 130
Electronic Mail .......................................................................................................................... 130
Examinations ............................................................................................................................ 130
Examples Classes ....................................................................................................................... 131
Examples Sheets ........................................................................................................................ 131
Faculty of Physics and Chemistry .............................................................................................. 131
Feedback ..................................................................................................................................... 131
Fire Alarms ................................................................................................................................. 131
Formulae .................................................................................................................................... 131
Handbook .................................................................................................................................. 132
Harassment ............................................................................................................................... 132
Institute of Physics .................................................................................................................... 132
Laboratory Closure.................................................................................................................... 132
Late Submission of Work .......................................................................................................... 132
Lecture handouts ...................................................................................................................... 132
Lectures ..................................................................................................................................... 133
Libraries .................................................................................................................................... 133
MASt .......................................................................................................................................... 133
Managed Cluster Service (MCS formally PWF) .................................................................... 133
Moore Library ........................................................................................................................... 133
Natural Sciences Tripos ............................................................................................................ 133
Part II and Part III Library ....................................................................................................... 134
Past Tripos papers ..................................................................................................................... 134
Personal Computers .................................................................................................................. 134
Philosophical Society ................................................................................................................ 134
Physics Course Handbook ........................................................................................................ 134
Photocopying ............................................................................................................................. 134
Physics Society (CUPS) ............................................................................................................. 134
Plagiarism .................................................................................................................................. 134
Practical Classes ........................................................................................................................ 134
Rayleigh Library ........................................................................................................................ 134
Raven ......................................................................................................................................... 135
Recording of Lectures ............................................................................................................... 135
Refreshments ............................................................................................................................ 135
Registration ............................................................................................................................... 135
Reporter .................................................................................................................................... 135
Research .................................................................................................................................... 135
Safety ......................................................................................................................................... 136
Scientific Periodicals Library .................................................................................................... 136
Smoking ..................................................................................................................................... 136
Staff-Student Consultative Committee ..................................................................................... 136
Supervisions .............................................................................................................................. 136

Synopses .................................................................................................................................... 136
Teaching Committee .................................................................................................................. 137
Teaching Information System ................................................................................................... 137
Teaching Office .......................................................................................................................... 137
Telephones ................................................................................................................................. 137
Transferable Skills ..................................................................................................................... 137
University Library ...................................................................................................................... 137
World-Wide Web ...................................................................................................................... 138

Web Site
This Physics Course Handbook and some of the references therein can be found on the Cavendish Laboratory
World-Wide Web teaching pages at http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/.
Teaching Office
The Cavendish Laboratorys Teaching Office is situated in the Bragg Building, Room 212B. Opening
times during full term will be posted outside the office. Enquiries can also be made via the e-mail address
teaching-office@phy.cam.ac.uk.

Undergraduate Courses in Physics

1.1 INTRODUCTION
The Department of Physics in Cambridge offers
both three and four year courses in physics, which
form the two basic routes to a first degree with
specialisation in physics. The four-year course is
designed for students who wish to pursue a pro-
fessional career in physics, for example, in aca-
demic or industrial research: it leads to an
honours degree of Master of Natural Sciences,
M.Sci., together with an honours degree Bachelor
of Arts, B.A. The three year course is designed for
students with a deep interest in the subject but
who may not intend to become professional
physicists: it leads to an honours degree of B.A.
Physics graduates from Cambridge go in a wide
range of directions. Nearly half embark on re-
search leading to a higher degree, and about a
quarter go straight into full-time employment in a
wide variety of fields, such as teaching, business
and finance, and computing. The remainder are
spread over other types of postgraduate activities.
Our graduates have an excellent record of finding
employment promptly after graduation.
As regards research towards a Ph.D., at present
the policy announced by the UK Research Coun-
cils is that an Upper Second or First Class in ei-
ther the third or fourth years formally qualifies a
student for a Ph.D. award. However, the policy of
this Department and many others is that Part III
is an essential preparation for a Ph.D.
In both the three and four year courses our aims
are to provide a solid foundation in all aspects of
physics and to show something of the very broad
spectrum of modern physics. Vital basic areas
such as Electromagnetism, Quantum Mechanics,
Dynamics and Thermodynamics are covered in
the first three years, where we also aim to develop
experimental, computational and mathematical
skills. Advanced work in the fourth year can in-
clude fundamental subjects such as Advanced
Quantum Theory, Particle Physics, Condensed
Matter Physics and Cosmology as well as applied
topics such as Biological Physics and Geophysics.
A substantial piece of independent project work is
required in the fourth year, and there are also
possibilities for experience of industrial research
during the long vacations.
In the following sections, brief descriptions are
given of the undergraduate courses currently of-
fered by the department. The flow chart inside the
front cover shows routes through the three- and
four-year courses. Synopses for all the courses to
be delivered in the academic year 2013-14 are in-
cluded in this booklet.
The aims and outcomes for the courses can be
found through the course web site located at
http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching
1.2 PHYSICS COURSES IN THE
ACADEMIC YEAR 2013-14
In this section we give a brief overview of the
courses offered; fuller details are given in the in-
troduction to each year below.
1.2.1 The First Year (Part IA)
Students in the first year of the Natural Sciences
Tripos (NST) choose three experimental subjects
with a free choice from Physics, Chemistry, Mate-
rials Science, Earth Sciences, Biology of Cells,
Evolution and Behaviour, and Physiology of Or-
ganisms. In addition, all NST students reading
Physics will take the NST Mathematics course.
Paper 1 of Part IA of the Computer Science Tripos
may be substituted for Biology of Cells.
The Physics course assumes either A2 level Phys-
ics (or equivalent), or A2 level Further Maths (in-
cluding the Mechanics modules). Ideally students
would have done both Physics and Further Maths,
but this is definitely not essential.
The first-year course, Part IA Physics, covers fun-
damental principles in physics. The aim is to
bridge the gap between school and university
physics by providing a more complete and logical
framework in key areas of classical physics, as well
as introducing new areas such as relativity and
quantum physics. The Part IA Physics course is
given in three lectures per week plus a four-hour
experiment once every two weeks. Subjects stud-
ied include Mechanics, Relativity, Oscillations and
Waves, Quantum Waves, and Fields.
The first-year physics course is also available in
Part IA of the Computer Sciences Tripos, where it
is combined with courses in Mathematics for
Natural Sciences and Computer Science Courses.
It is also possible to read Part IA Physics as part of
the Mathematical Tripos in the first-year course
Mathematics with Physics. Both of these routes
provide for possible specialisation in physics in
later years.
There is no limit on numbers and we usually have
about four hundred students reading Part IA
Physics.
Undergraduate Courses in Physics 2
1.2.2 The Second Year (Part IB)
There are two physics courses in Part IB: Physics
A and Physics B. Physics A provides a grounding
in quantum mechanics and solid-state physics,
while Physics B covers the core of classical phys-
ics, including electromagnetism, dynamics and
thermodynamics.
The combination of IB Physics A and Physics B of-
fers a firm grounding in key areas of physics -
theoretical and experimental - and covers special-
ised topics that lead naturally to Part II/III Phys-
ics and other quantitative subjects. Students
taking both courses combine them with one other
IB subject. This third subject is often NST IB
Mathematics, and this is useful for students wish-
ing to pursue theoretical options in Part II. How-
ever, choosing a different subject provides
additional breadth and gives greater choice of Part
II and Part III courses. Common choices for the
third subject are Materials Science, Chemistry A,
Geology A or History and Philosophy of Science.
For students taking either Physics A or Physics B
without NST IB Mathematics, additional lectures
in Mathematical Methods are provided within the
course.
There is no limit on the number of students taking
IB Physics A and Physics B; usually about 170 stu-
dents take both. Most proceed into Part II Phys-
ics, but some go into other third-year science
subjects or into other triposes.
Students come into the combination of IB Physics
A and B mostly having taken both Physics and
Mathematics in Part IA of the Natural Sciences or
Computer Sciences Triposes. Of those who have
taken the first-year Mathematics with Physics
course in the Mathematics Tripos, a significant
proportion subsequently take IB Physics A and B.
A smaller number of students, usually ten to
twenty, take IB Physics A as their only physics
course. IB Physics A provides a self-contained
package of quantum, condensed matter and ex-
perimental physics. It builds on IA Physics and of-
fers a firm grounding in important areas of
physics that is very useful for scientists with a
wide range of career destinations. The students
will normally take two other Part IB subjects, and
then go into a wide range of third-year courses.
Note that Part IB Physics A alone is not an ade-
quate preparation for Part II Physics.
It is also possible for students to take IB Physics B
as their only physics course, and this may suit
students with a particular interest in the topics
covered in that course. Note that Part IB Physics
B alone is not an adequate preparation for Part II
Physics. Further, the practical work draws heavily
on material presented in Physics A in the
Michaelmas Term: students taking just Physics B
are advised to attend the Experimental Methods
lectures for Physics A for necessary background.
We expect that the majority of students wishing to
pursue a single physics course will find IB Physics
A the more attractive option.

1.2.3 The Third Year (Part II) -
Physics
The aim of the third-year Part II Physics course is
to complete instruction in core physics and to be-
gin to introduce more advanced topics required
for a professional career in research. The available
courses cover a broad range of experimental,
theoretical and computational subjects, with an
element of choice that allows students to explore
topics they find particularly interesting and, if
they wish, to concentrate on more experimental or
theoretical work. Professional skills are developed
through lectures, example classes, computing ex-
ercises and extended experiments, depending on
the courses taken.
In the Michaelmas term, there are core courses in
Advanced Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, Optics
and Electrodynamics and Thermal and Statistical
Physics.
In the Lent and Easter term, students have some
choice amongst lecture courses including Astro-
physical Fluid Dynamics, Particle and Nuclear
Physics, Quantum Condensed Matter, and Soft
Condensed Matter. Additionally there is a short
course on Computational Physics, with associated
(compulsory) exercises, and a short, more general
course on Concepts in Physics.
Students are also required to submit three or
more items of Further Work. You may choose an
experimentally-biased course or one with a
stronger emphasis on theory, or some intermedi-
ate combination of experiment and theory. For
example, there is the option of carrying out up to
two experimental investigations, each lasting two
weeks. For theorists, there are two courses in
Theoretical Physics, consisting of lectures plus ex-
amples classes, which run through the Michael-
mas and Lent terms. Other possible units of
Further Work include: the Computational Physics
project, assessed Long Vacation work, the Physics
Education course and a Research Review.
Part II Physics and we usually have about 120
students, the largest class in any Part II Natural
Science subject.
Undergraduate Courses in Physics 3
An alternative for the third year is Half Subject
Physics in Part II Physical Sciences of the Natural
Sciences Tripos. This is offered to students who
wish to retain an interest in physics but to keep
other options open at the same time. They select
about half the workload from the third-year phys-
ics course, combined with a Part IB subject which
they have not previously taken, such as History
and Philosophy of Science plus a Dissertation. We
expect that students offering Half Subject Physics
will have read IB Physics A or Physics B in the
second year. Advice on suitable combinations of
Part II Physics courses can be obtained from your
Director of Studies.
1.2.4 The Fourth Year (Part III) -
Physics
The fourth-year course, Part III Physics, is de-
signed to provide the necessary foundation for a
professional career in academic or industrial re-
search. The course spans the spectrum from
strongly experimental to highly theoretical physics
and offers the flexibility for students to select a
wide range of different combinations of subjects,
according to their career aspirations. Many of the
courses reflect major research interests of staff of
the Cavendish. There is a substantial amount of
independent project work, which may be pro-
posed by the students themselves, together with
opportunities to include work in external labora-
tories and industry through assessed vacation
projects.
Our aim in the fourth year is to present physics as
a connected subject of enormous flexibility and
applicability. Revision classes in general physics
are given in the Easter Term and all students un-
dertake a substantial project which is worth one
third of the years marks. Lecture courses in the
first and second terms provide more advanced
treatments of major areas of physics and are se-
lected to reflect broad areas of current interest.
Many of them have an interdisciplinary character.
The overall course provides excellent preparation
for a research career inside or outside physics in
either the academic or industrial sectors.
1.2.5 Master of Advanced Studies
(MASt) in Physics
This is a taught postgraduate course, which con-
sists of the same content as Part III Physics. This
course is designed for students who hold a 3-year
undergraduate degree who wish to pursue a re-
search degree. The entry requirement for the
MASt is a qualification comparable to an upper
second class or better UK Bachelors degree in
Physics.
1.3 MATHEMATICS AND THE
PHYSICS COURSES
The mathematical skills needed by students who
follow the three or four-year physics course are
quite varied. Students taking entirely experimen-
tal options may need much less sophisticated
mathematics than those taking the more advanced
theoretical options. The level of mathematics
preparation at school is also variable. Some stu-
dents entering Part IA Physics have studied two
A2-levels in Mathematics and others have studied
only one A2-level.
The aim of the Physics Department is to challenge
the most gifted and best-prepared students, while
providing access to theoretical courses for those
less well prepared. The Mathematics course for
Natural Scientists In Part IA assumes only single
Mathematics A2-level.
In the second year, both IB Physics courses as-
sume only mathematical material from NST IA
mathematics. Other necessary mathematical
techniques are taught alongside the physics or in
Part IB Mathematics: for those not taking
Mathematics in Part IB, there is a non-examined
(but supervised) course in Mathematical Methods
given in the Michaelmas Term. This covers all the
mathematical material needed for the Part II core
and options courses.
The optional theoretical courses in Part II prepare
students for the theoretical options in Part III.
Students intending to take TP1 and/or TP2, and
who have not taken Part IB NST Mathematics,
will find it helpful to do some extra preparation in
the long vacation at the end of Part IB.

Aims and Objectives 4
Aims and Objectives of the Physics Teaching
Programme

2.1 THE UNIVERSITYS AIMS AND
OBJECTIVES
The Quality Assurance Agency, through its institu-
tional audit of the University, is concerned with
the assurance of the quality of teaching and learn-
ing within the University. The University in turn
requires every Department to have clear aims and
objectives and to monitor their teaching and
learning activities and consider changes where
necessary. Students should be aware of these
Aims and Objectives, which have been the subject
of considerable discussion within the Department,
with the University and with the Physics Staff-
Student Consultative Committee. If you have any
comments on the Aims and Objectives of the
Physics Teaching Programme, which are printed
below, please contact Dr John Richer, Director of
Undergraduate Teaching, Cavendish Laboratory.
The Universitys stated aims are to foster and de-
velop academic excellence across a wide range of
subjects and at all levels of study. Furthermore,
the University aims to provide an education of the
highest calibre at both the undergraduate and
postgraduate level, and so produce graduates of
the calibre sought by industry, the professions,
and the public service, as well as providing aca-
demic teachers and researchers for the future.
The broad aims of the Department of Physics are
identical with these.
In the context of the Departmental teaching pro-
grammes, the specific aims and objectives are
given below.
2.2 COURSE AIMS
To provide education in physics of the highest
quality at both the undergraduate and gradu-
ate levels and so produce graduates of the cali-
bre sought by industry, the professions, and
the public service, as well as providing the aca-
demic teachers and researchers of the future;
To encourage and pursue research of the high-
est quality in physics, and maintain Cam-
bridges position as one of the worlds leading
centres in these fields;
To continue to attract outstanding students
from all backgrounds;

To provide an intellectually stimulating envi-
ronment in which students have the opportu-
nity to develop their skills and enthusiasms to
the best of their potential;
To maintain the highest academic standards in
undergraduate and graduate teaching and to
develop new areas of teaching and research in
response to the advance of scholarship and the
needs of the community.
2.3 COURSE OBJECTIVES
By the end of the first year (Part IA Physics),
students, whether continuing with physics or not,
should have:
attained a common level in basic mathemati-
cally-based physics, and so laid a secure foun-
dation in physics for their future courses
within the Natural Sciences or other Triposes;
acquired a broad introduction to a range of sci-
ences at University level, generally through
having studied two other experimental sub-
jects as well as mathematics;
developed their experimental and data analysis
skills through a wide range of experiments in
the practical laboratories.
By the end of the second year, students tak-
ing Part IB Physics A and Physics B should
have:
been introduced to powerful tools for tackling
a wide range of topics, including formal meth-
ods in classical and quantum physics;
become familiar with additional relevant
mathematical techniques;
further developed their experimental skills
through a series of whole-day experiments,
some of which also illustrate major themes of
the lecture courses, and developed their com-
munication skills through group activities.
ing Part IB Physics A should have:
covered a wide range of topics in quantum and
condensed matter physics with emphasis upon
their practical applications and utility;
further developed their practical skills through
a series of whole-day experiments, some of
which illustrate major themes of the lecture
courses.
Aims and Objectives 5
ing Part IB Physics B should have:
covered a range of topics in classical physics,
including electromagnetism, dynamics and
thermodynamics;
further developed their practical skills through
a series of whole-day experiments, some of
which illustrate major themes of the lecture
courses.
have been introduced to scientific computing
using the C subset of the C++ language.
By the end of the third year (Part II Physics),
students taking Part II PHYSICS should
have:
completed their study of core physics;
substantially developed professional skills in
experimental and/or theoretical and/or com-
putational physics, or in Physics Education;
had experience of independent work, including
an introduction to aspects of research;
had experience of the application of computers
to physical problems;
developed their communication skills
had experience of independent work .
By the end of the third year, students taking Half
Subject Physics in Part II Physical Sciences
should have:
enhanced their understanding of core physics,
in the context of a broader exposure to science
with the Natural Sciences Tripos;
had some experience of independent work.

By the end of the fourth year (Part III Phys-
ics), students completing the four-year option
should have:
had experience of a number of broad areas of
physics from a choice of options, taken to an
advanced level, at which current research can
be appreciated in some depth;
carried out a substantial independent research
project amounting to the equivalent of about
six weeks of full-time work;
maintained their skills in core physics;
enhanced their communications skills;
become well prepared for a career in academic
or industrial research.

Part IA Physics 6
Part IA Physics

Comments may be sent to IA-physics@phy.cam.ac.uk
Enquiries/queries: teaching-office@phy.cam.ac.uk

3.1 AIMS OF THE COURSE
An important objective of the course is to develop
an understanding of core physics at successively
deeper levels, each stage revealing new phenom-
ena and greater insight into the behaviour of mat-
ter and radiation.
The first year of the course has several distinct
aims. First, it aims to bridge the gap between
school- and university-level physics, and to bring
students from different backgrounds to a common
point. Second, it aims to consolidate school phys-
ics by providing a much more logical and analyti-
cal framework for classical physics, which will be
essential for all years of the course. Third, it in-
cludes new themes such as special relativity and
quantum physics, which foreshadow key topics to
be developed in the subsequent years of the
course. Fourth, the individual lecture courses aim
to broaden your perspective, so that you can begin
to appreciate the great flexibility and generality of
the laws of physics and their application.
There is an introductory talk at 11.00 am on the
first Wednesday of Michaelmas full term
(9
th
October 2013), at the Cavendish Labora-
tory, in the Pippard Lecture Theatre.
3.2 THE LECTURE COURSES
Details of the lecture courses are given in the syn-
opses which follow. All students attend the same
lectures.
3.3 PRACTICALS
Students attend a physics practical for one after-
noon once every two weeks. The primary aim of
the class is the development of experimental
skills, which are important to all professional
physicists. A second aim of the practical session is
to illustrate ideas and concepts in physics. Some
of the experiments are concerned with illustrating
topics covered in the Part IA Physics lecture
course, but this is not their main purpose.
Registration and assignment of days for practicals
are dealt with centrally, via your College. You are
expected to do your practical on the same day of
the week in each term. The practicals are continu-
ously assessed. In addition, to prepare for each
practical you are asked to carry out a brief exercise
beforehand, which you will hand in to your dem-
onstrator at the start of the practical class. To give
you practice in technical writing you are required
to do two formal reports. The first, partial, report,
to be written over the Christmas vacation, will be
based on one of the experiments carried out over
the Michaelmas term. The second, to be written
over the Easter vacation, will be a full report on
one of the Lent-term experiments. Full details are
given in your practical class manual, and tips and
further advice is given in the booklet entitled
Keeping Laboratory Notes and Writing Formal
Reports, which is handed out to students at the
start of the year. The overall practical mark
counts 25% towards the Part IA Physics examina-
tion. Around a third of the practical mark comes
from the Formal reports.
3.4 THE EXAMINATION
3.4.1 Examiners Notices
Specific information about the examination is
given in notices put up in a special Examinations
section of the notice board inside the Part IA Prac-
tical class.
3.4.2 The Written Paper for Part IA
The Part IA Physics written examination consists
of one three-hour paper. The exact content of the
paper is a matter for the relevant examiners, but
the expected pattern will consist of questions on
general physics and the material covered in the
lecture courses. Note that the Part IA syllabus
was changed at the start of the academic
year 2009-2010 and earlier examination
papers will occasionally refer to topics
which are no longer taught.
3.5 BOOKS
There are two books recommended for the IA
Physics course these will be available in College
libraries. Lecturers will give references both to
relevant sections of these books, and to worked
examples in them, which help explain or expand
on the material they present in their lectures.
Similarly, the question sheets may sometimes re-
fer to the examples in these books for students
who wish to try additional problems. This is to en-
courage you to develop your skills in utilising the
more extensive resource material provided in text-
books to deepen your understanding of physics.

Part IA Physics 7
[1] Understanding Physics (Second Edition),
Mansfield M & OSullivan C (Wiley 2011)

[2] Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Ex-
tended Version), Tipler P A & Mosca G (6th Edi-
tion, Freeman 2008)

Part IA Physics 8
3.6 SOME IMPORTANT DATES

Note: This list is not exhaustive, and may be superseded by announcements on the TIS
Tuesday 8
th
October 2013 Start of Michaelmas full term
Wednesday 9
th
October 2013 11.00 Introductory talk and registration and as-
signment of days for practicals, at the Caven-
dish Laboratory (Pippard Lecture Theatre)
Thursday or
Friday
5
th
& 6
th
December
2013
10.00-16.00 Pick up notebook and instructions for
formal report from IA Practical Class
Friday 6
th
December 2013 End of Michaelmas full term
Tuesday 14
th
January 2014 Start of Lent full term
Tuesday or
Wednesday
14
th
& 15
th
January
2014
10.00-16.00 Formal report must be handed in to
the IA Practical Class
Thursday or
Friday
13
th
& 14
th
March
2014
10.00-16.00 Pick up notebook and instructions for
formal report from IA Practical Class
Friday 14
th
March 2014 End of Lent full term
Tuesday 22
nd
April 2014 Start of Easter full term
Tuesday or
Wednesday
22
nd
& 23
rd
April
2014
10.00-16.00 Formal report must be handed in to
the IA Practical Class
Friday 13
th
June 2014 End of Easter full term

Late Submi ssi on of Work
In accordance with the Universitys regulations, work submitted after the advertised deadline will not
count towards your final examination mark, unless the Department grants an extension of time on the
grounds that there are mitigating circumstances. Any application for such an extension should be made by
your college Tutor or Director of Studies to the Director of Undergraduate Teaching, c/o Teaching Office,
Cavendish Laboratory, (teaching-office@phy.cam.ac.uk). In such circumstances, you should submit the
work as soon as possible after the deadline.
Part IA Physics 9
3.7 LECTURE LIST

PART IA PHYSICS

Departmental Contact: Helen Marshall, email: IA-physics@phy.cam.ac.uk
Course Website: http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/

All lectures are on M. W. F. at 9
All lectures take place in the Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre, Chemical Laboratory, Lensfield Road.

For the up-to-date lecture list please go to:

http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/lectures.php

Laboratory Work takes place at the Cavendish Laboratory (West Cambridge). The experimental labora-
tories are open M. 2-5.45, Tu. 2-5.45, Th. 2-5.45 and F. 2-5.45. Students will be allocated a session within
these times. All students must attend an introductory talk and register for Laboratory Work at 11.00 a.m. on
W. 9 Oct. at the Cavendish Laboratory. The Laboratory may be approached by the Madingley Road, or via
the Coton cycle and footpath. For cyclists and pedestrians the latter is strongly recommended. Laboratory
work is continuously assessed.
Part IA Physics 10
PRINCIPLES OF CLASSICAL PHYSICS, QUANTUM PHYSICS & RELATIVITY

J M Riley, G A C Jones, A M Donald, S F Gull and M C Payne

This lecture course consists of five 12-lecture modules. It covers a number of fundamental topics
in classical physics mechanics, oscillations, waves and gravitational and electromagnetic fields
but also introduces some of the unusual non-classical ideas encapsulated in quantum physics and
special relativity. In addition a number of concepts in the collection and analysis of experimental
data which form the basis for our understanding of the physical world are also discussed.

Key ideas on the setting up of mathematical models to describe physical systems are introduced
using mathematical tools such as differentiation, integration, complex numbers and vectors. The
lectures will also introduce you to a variety of techniques for tackling physics problems which will
be developed through illustrative examples.

Each module is accompanied by a set of examples, which tie in closely with the ideas and concepts
introduced in the lectures; during the term you are expected to work through all these examples
averaging about six per week with the help of your supervisor.

1 DYNAMICS J M Riley

Introduction to university physics: role of experiment; mathematical models; dimensional
analysis; tackling physics problems.

Experimental physics: random and systematic errors; Gaussian probability distribution;
mean, standard deviation, error in the mean; errors in functions of a single variable, combining
errors in two variables; examples of techniques for dealing with systematic errors; graphs.

Dynamics: Concept of a force: tendency to produce motion; forces as vectors; action and reac-
tion; friction. Calculus in physics: use of integration. Work: potential energy; stable and unsta-
ble equilibrium. Kinematics: displacement, speed, velocity, acceleration. Newtons laws of
motion: equations of motion. Kinetic energy: concept and definition; principle of the conservation
of energy. Linear momentum: concept and definition; conservation of linear momentum; rockets;
elastic and inelastic collisions; impulse of a force. Frames of reference: relative velocities, inertial
frames of reference, zero-momentum frame, collisions.

Part IA Physics 11
2 OSCILLATING SYSTEMS G A C Jones

Simple harmonic motion (SHM): equation of un-damped oscillation for a mass on a spring,
its solution, relative phases of displacement, velocity and force. Approximations of oscillating sys-
tems to SHM: simple pendulum. Energy in SHM: vibration of two masses joined by a spring,
quantum well.

Phasor diagrams: superposition of oscillations, beats, amplitude modulation.

SHM using complex numbers: Curves of time-dependence for an oscillator, amplitude, fre-
quency, angular frequency and phase.

Damped oscillations: amplitude and energy decay, quality factor.

Forced oscillations: qualitative frequency response and resonance.

Revision of electrical circuits: voltage, current and charge in circuits, electrical resistance,
Kirchhoff's laws, resistors in series and parallel. Inductors and capacitors. Circuits with exponen-
tial decays: discharge of a capacitor through a resistor, decay of current through an inductor.

Oscillations in electrical circuits and complex impedance: Oscillation in an LC circuit,
relative phases of voltages, charge and currents. Complex current and voltage in resistors, capaci-
tors and inductors. Complex impedance. Electrical resonance in an LCR circuit, simple filter,
bandwidth, Q factor. Relationship of behaviours seen in electrical systems to those of mechanical
systems. Mechanical impedance.

3 WAVES AND QUANTUM WAVES A M Donald

Waves: The 1-D equation, application to waves on a string, sinusoidal solutions, amplitude, fre-
quency wavelength, energy transport, transverse and longitudinal waves; boundary conditions at
free or fixed end; superposition, interference; travelling and standing waves including complex
form; plane waves in 2-D and 3-D, the wave vector and wave number.

Optics: Huygens Principle, laws of reflection and refraction, lenses, lens formulae, real and vir-
tual images, the simple telescope and microscope.

Diffraction: diffraction using complex amplitudes, Youngs slits and the diffraction grating, fi-
nite slit using complex amplitude and via integration.

Quantum waves: reminder of wave-particle duality and de Broglie relation; introduction to the
wavefunction and 1-D time independent Schrodinger equation; waves in wells and boxes and
quantisation of wavelength; reflection at potential steps; penetration through a barrier and eva-
nescent waves.

Part IA Physics 12
4 ROTATIONAL MECHANICS AND SPECIAL RELATIVITY S F Gull

Rotational Mechanics: Turning moments: lever balance; turning moment as a vector; mo-
ment of a couple; conditions for static equilibrium. Centre of mass: calculation for a solid body by
integration. Circular motion: angle, angular speed, angular acceleration; as vectors; rotating
frames; centripetal force. Angular momentum: concept and definition; angular impulse; conser-
vation. Moment of inertia: calculation of moment of inertia; theorems of parallel and perpendicu-
lar axes. Rotational kinetic energy: simple collisions involving angular rotation. Gyroscope: how
it works; precession.

Special Relativity: Historical development: problems with classical ideas; the Aether; Michel-
son-Morley experiment. Inertial frames: Galilean transformation. Einsteins postulates: state-
ment; events, and intervals between them; consequences for time intervals and lengths; Lorentz
transformation of intervals; simultaneity; proper time; twin paradox; causality; world lines and
spacetime diagrams. Velocities: addition; aberration of light; Doppler effect. Relativistic me-
chanics: momentum and energy; definitions; what is conserved; energymomentum invariant.
Nuclear binding energies, fission and fusion.

5 GRAVITATIONAL AND ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS M C Payne

Gravitation: Newtons law, measurement of G. Action at a distance and concept of a local force
field. Properties of conservative fields, including potential energy as a path integral. Superposition
of fields. Gauss law for gravity with simple quantitative applications.

Orbits: Keplers laws. Derivation of elliptical orbits for planetary motion from Newtons law.
Simple orbital calculations. Qualitative examples of gravity at work including tidal effects.

Electrostatic Fields: Static electricity, Coulombs Law for point charges, the electric field E and
the corresponding potential for point charges and electric dipoles. Gauss law for electrostatic
fields. Properties of ideal conductors. Capacitance including calculation for simple geometries.
Mention effects of dielectric materials on capacitance and dipole moment of water molecule.

Magnetic Fields: Properties of bar magnets. Magnetic flux density B. Magnetic dipoles and cur-
rents as sources of B. Lorentz force and motion of charged particles in electric and magnetic
fields; J.J. Thomsons experiment. Ampre and Biot-Savart laws, calculation of B field in simple
cases. Faradays law of induction; self and mutual inductance, energy stored in B field.

Maxwells Equations: Displacement current term. Integral and differential statements. Exam-
ple of plane wave solutions.

BOOKS

There are two books recommended for the IA Physics course these will be available in College
libraries. Lecturers will give references both to relevant sections of these books, and to worked
examples in them, which help explain or expand on the material they present in their lectures.
Similarly, the question sheets may sometimes refer to the examples in these books for students
who wish to try additional problems. This is to encourage you to develop your skills in utilising the
more extensive resource material provided in text-books to deepen your understanding of physics.

Understanding Physics (Second Edition), Mansfield M & OSullivan C (Wiley 2011)
Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Extended Version), Tipler P A & Mosca G (6th Edition,
Freeman 2008)
Part IA Physics 13
IA PRACTICAL CLASS
J M Riley and D A Green
The aim of the Part IA practical course is to teach basic experimental, data-analysis and record-
keeping skills. The experiments have been chosen to develop particular skills, although the ex-
periments in the Lent and Easter terms also reinforce material from the lectures. Students work
in pairs throughout.

Michaelmas Term

Four experiments are carried out. These are primarily intended to teach experimental skills in-
cluding how to keep a good laboratory notebook and to introduce experimental errors and their
treatment. The required theory, as well as a general overview of experimental skills, will be in-
cluded in the Dynamics lecture course.
Marks for the first practical (E1) do not count towards the final total.
E1. Attenuation of -ray photons. Through the statistics of radioactive decay, this aims to
develop an understanding of random and systematic errors in count rates and to estimate the lin-
ear attenuation coefficient for photons in lead.

E2. Galileos rolling ball experiment. This aims to introduce the basic methods of ex-
perimental measurement and errors through an investigation of the acceleration of a mass rolling
down a ramp.

E3. Thermal excitation in a semiconductor. This experiment measures the variation of
the electrical resistance of a semiconductor with temperature, testing the behaviour predicted by
quantum physics.

E4. Measurement of g using a rigid pendulum. The aim of this experiment is to meas-
ure the value of g with a precision of about one part in a thousand using the oscillations of a rigid
pendulum.

Lent Term

Four experiments are carried out, all of which illustrate material from the lecture courses. E5, E6
and E7 use concepts introduced in the Oscillating systems course. E5 is an investigation of
damped oscillations and resonance in a mechanical system. E6 is an introduction to measuring
electrical signals with a picoscope; the picoscope is then used in E7 to investigate electrical reso-
nance. E8 investigates the geometric optical properties of simple lenses and mirrors, illustrating
material from the section on optics in the Waves and quantum waves course.
E5. Mechanical resonance*. This experiment studies the free and forced rotational oscilla-
tions of a torsion pendulum, and investigates the phenomenon of resonance and the effect differ-
ent levels of damping have on the motion.

E6. Electrical measurement. This experiment introduces the picoscope as a measuring
instrument, through experiments looking at the output of a signal generator.

E7. Electrical resonance and signal filtering*. In this experiment the picoscope is used
to study free and forced oscillations in LCR resonant circuits, and a practical application of an
LCR network is investigated.

Part IA Physics 14
E8. Geometric optics using lenses and mirrors*. This practical involves a series of
simple experiments demonstrating the properties of optical lenses and mirrors, and real and vir-
tual images.

Easter Term

Two experiments are carried out, illustrating material from the lecture course Waves and quan-
tum waves. E9 is an investigation into diffraction by slits and gratings. E10 looks at the photo-
electric effect one of the experiments fundamental to the development of quantum physics. Half
the class will carry out Experiment E9 in the first session of the Easter term, followed by E10 in
the second session; the other half of the class will do E10 in the first session and E9 in the second.
E9. Diffraction of laser light by slits and gratings. This is a quantitative investigation
into the diffraction patterns produced by double and multiple slits when illuminated by a laser.

E10. The photoelectric effect. This practical investigates the photoelectric effect; an esti-
mate of Plancks constant is obtained, using the dependence of stopping voltage on the frequency
of the incident light.

Formal Reports

Students are required to produce two formal reports which are assessed by a Head of Class; the
marks awarded count towards the end-of-year assessment. The first report, to be handed in at the
start of the Lent term, will be based on one of the experiments carried out in the Michaelmas
term. The second one, to be handed in at the start of the Easter term, will be a full report on one
of the three starred* Lent-term experiments (i.e. E5, E7 or E8).

BOOKS
Practical Physics, Squires G L (4th edn CUP 2001).
Experimental methods: An Introduction to the Analysis and Presentation of Data, Kirkup L
(Wiley 1994).
Experimental Physics: Modern Methods, Dunlap R A (OUP 1989)
An Introduction to Experimental Physics, Cooke C (Routledge 1996)
Measurements and their Uncertainties: A Practical Guide to Modern Error Analysis, Hughes I G
& Hase T P A (Oxford 2010)
Part IB Physics A 15
Part IB Physics A

Comments may be sent to IB-physicsA@phy.cam.ac.uk

4.1 INTRODUCTION AND COURSE
AIMS
The objective of the IB Physics A course is to pro-
vide a self-contained package of quantum and
condensed matter physics. The course builds on
IA Physics and offers a firm grounding in impor-
tant areas of physics that are very useful for scien-
tists with a wide range of career destinations. It
can be taken by those not taking Physics B; in this
case IB Physics A might, for able students, lead to
Half Subject Physics in Part II Physical Sciences
but does not by itself lead to Part II Physics.
While it is also possible to take IB Physics B with-
out IB Physics A, for the majority of students
wishing to take a single physics option in Part IB,
Physics A is likely to be the more attractive option.
Students will be contacted by e-mail and asked to
register on-line at www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching
before the start of Michaelmas Term. Those tak-
ing only one of Physics A or Physics B must
register for practical classes between 2.00
pm and 4.00 pm on Tuesday 8
th
October
2013 at the Cavendish Laboratory. Stu-
dents taking both Physics A and Physics B
should register at 2.00pm on Wednesday
9th October 2013 at the Cavendish Labora-
tory.
4.2 THE CONTENT OF THE
COURSE
The lecture course Oscillations, Waves and Optics
covers central aspects of physical phenomena that
underpin much of physics. The Quantum Physics
course builds on this and treats quantum phe-
nomena both from the wave equation and by
means of operator methods. Condensed Matter
Physics shows how ideas from waves and quan-
tum mechanics can be applied to understand the
properties of solids. The practical class and Ex-
perimental Methods lectures are integrated to-
gether to provide training on designing and doing
experiments and on analysing the results.
Physics A and Physics B both require mathematics
beyond that in the syllabus for IA Mathematics for
Natural Sciences; students not taking the NST
Part IB subject Mathematics should attend the
lectures on Mathematical Methods given at the
same time on weekdays during Michaelmas Term.
This course is supervised, and covers all the addi-
tional mathematics required for both Part IB
Physics courses, and for the Part II Physics core
and options courses. It does not provide full cov-
erage of the mathematics assumed for the Part II
Theoretical Physics (TP) courses, but mathemati-
cally-able students would need to do some extra
work during the long vacation after Part IB in or-
der to catch up.
4.3 THE EXAMINATION
The IB Physics A examination consists of two
three-hour papers. Details of the material covered
in each paper will be published in a Form and
Conduct Notice during the course of the year.
Note that the NST IB courses were changed
considerably in 2007-08, with the previous
Physics and Advanced Physics material
re-arranged into Physics A and Physics
B.
given in notices put up on the Part IB examination
notice board outside the Part IB laboratory. The
practicals are continuously assessed and overall
count approximately 25% towards the IB Physics
A examination, with about 40% of this coming
from a formal report on one of the experiments
(for those not doing Physics B) or from a group
presentation of an extended investigation (for
those doing both Physics A and Physics B); full de-
tails are given in the class manual and additional
help is given in the booklet Keeping Laboratory
Notes and Writing Formal Reports.


Tuesday 8
th
October 2013 Start of Michaelmas full term.
Tuesday 8
th
October 2013 14.00-16.00 Practical Registration for Students taking IB Phys-
ics A or B at the Cavendish Laboratory
Wednesday 9
th
October 2013 14.00 Practical registration for Students taking IB Phys-
ics A and B at the Cavendish Laboratory
Friday 6
th
Monday 9
th
December 2013 16.00 Head-of-Class report must have been
handed in to the IB Practical Class if chosen
for submission (see synopsis of Physics A
practical class for details)
Tuesday 14
th
Friday 14
th
Monday 17
th
March 2014 16.00 Head-of-Class report must have been
handed in to the IB Practical Class if chosen
for submission (see synopsis of Physics A
practical class for details)
Tuesday 22
nd
Tuesday 22
nd

April 2014 16.00 Extended Investigation presentation slides
(only for students take Physics A and Phys-
ics B) must have been submitted to relevant
Head of Class
Friday 13
th

In accordance with the Universitys regulations, work submitted after the advertised deadline
will not count towards your final examination mark, unless the Department grants an extension
of time on the grounds that there are mitigating circumstances. Any application for such an ex-
tension should be made by your college Tutor or Director of Studies to the Director of Under-
graduate Teaching, c/o Teaching Office, Cavendish Laboratory, (teaching-
office@phy.cam.ac.uk). In such circumstances, you should submit the work as soon as possible
after the deadline.
4.5 LECTURE LIST
NATURAL SCIENCES TRIPOS

PART IB PHYSICS A

Departmental Contact: Helen Marshall, email: IB-physicsA@phy.cam.ac.uk

Lectures are given in the Cockcroft Lecture Theatre, New Museums Site, M. W. F. 12
unless otherwise stated.

For the up- to-date lecture list please go to:


Laboratory Work takes place at the Cavendish Laboratory (West Cambridge). The experi-
mental laboratories are open M. 2-5.45, Tu. 10-5.45, Th. 10-5.45 and F. 2-5.45. Students will be
allocated periods within these times. Students taking both Part IB Physics A and Part IB Physics
B should register at 2.00 p.m. on W. 9 Oct. at the Cavendish Laboratory. Students taking Part IB
Physics A or IB Physics B, must register between 2.00 p.m. and 4.00 p.m. on Tu. 8 Oct., when
they will be allocated practical sessions that fit with their other IB subjects. Laboratory work
is continuously assessed.
EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
C G Smith
Physics is an empirical subject based on measuring physical phenomena. This course introduces
techniques for putting together experiments and analysing the results. Many complex systems,
ranging from telescopes to mobile phones, can often be understood in terms of a set of black
boxes with simple interactions between them. This systems approach is particularly useful in ex-
perimental physics where the signal chain from the physical phenomenon under investigation to a
measurement can involve many sequential and complex components such as transducers, ampli-
fiers, filters and detectors.

The first part of this course explores this process with reference to some of the experiments un-
dertaken in the practical classes while the second part introduces you to some of the essential
material that a physicist needs to know so as to design experiments (including computational
ones), to analyse data, and to evaluate other peoples results.

This course requires the material covered in the IA Physics and Maths for Natural Scientists
courses, and exploits the ideas of Fourier theory that are more fully developed in the Mathematics
options that run in parallel with this course in the Michaelmas term. Ideas of Fourier decomposi-
tion will be introduced, along with Fourier series, but they are covered more fully in the Mathe-
matics option.

Systems: Impedance and measurement. Operational amplifiers and filters. Positive and negative
feedback with ideal and non-ideal amplifiers.

Random errors: examples, propagation, reduction with repeated sampling.

Systematic errors: examples, designs to reduce them (e.g. nulling), selection effects.

Basic data handling: taking and recording data. The right plot; error bars. Sampling, aliasing,
Nyquists criterion. Digitization errors.

Exclusion of unwanted influences: filtering, phase-sensitive detection and lock-in amplifi-
ers. Vibrational, thermal and electrical shielding.

Probability distributions: binomial, Poisson and Gaussian; central limit theorem; shot noise
and Johnson noise.

Parameter estimation: likelihood, inference and Bayes theorem, chi-squared, least-squares,
hypothesis testing, non-parametric tests.

Getting the message across: writing a scientific report and presenting results.
BOOKS
There are no books which cover the complete course syllabus, and so each lecture handout will be
augmented with a set of supplementary notes. Reading these prior to the lectures will be helpful.
The following books may be useful to refer to on certain aspects of the course:

The Art of Electronics, Horowitz P & Hill W (2nd edn CUP 1989)
Analogue and Digital Electronics for Engineers, Ahmed H & Spreadbury P J (CUP 1984)
An Introduction to Experimental Physics, Cooke C (CRC Press 1996)
Practical Physics, Squires G L (4th edn CUP 2001)
Experimental Physics: Modern Methods, Dunlap R A (OUP 1988)

Copies of some of these will be available for consultation in the practical classes.


OSCILLATIONS, WAVES AND OPTICS
J S Richer
An understanding of waves is fundamental to many areas of physics. This course develops further
the ideas presented in the Part IA courses on oscillations and waves, and introduces the theory of
diffraction. First, the physics and mathematics of oscillations and waves are revised, and applied
to a variety of physical systems. The use of the Fourier Transform as a powerful tool for under-
standing the behaviour of general linear systems is then introduced, and used to relate the time-
domain and frequency-domain behaviour of damped electrical and mechanical oscillators. Fi-
nally, these ideas are further developed in the context of classical optics, with particular regard to
diffraction and interference phenomena.

Oscillations: Driven damped oscillations, frequency response, bandwidth, Q-factor. Impulse
response and transient response.

Waves: Revision of 1-d wave equation. Waves on a stretched string. Polarisation. Wave imped-
ance. Reflection and transmission. Impedance matching. Compression waves in a fluid. Waves
in 2 and 3 dimensions. Standing waves in a box. Wave groups, group velocity, dispersion.
Waveguides: cut-off and dispersion.

Fourier transforms in linear systems: Linear response and superposition in physics. Fou-
rier series and Fourier transforms. Frequency response as Fourier transform of pulse response.
Convolution. Applications to oscillating systems.

Optics and diffraction: Huygens principle as a solution to the wave equation. Fraunhofer dif-
fraction, Fraunhofer integral, relation to Fourier transform. Wide slit as example of extended
source. The width of spectral lines. Gratings and spectroscopy. 2-d apertures, circular apertures,
Babinets principle. Fresnel diffraction, Cornu spiral, zone plate.

Interference: Thin film interference. Fabry-Perot etalon. Michelson interferometer, Fourier
transform spectroscopy.
BOOKS
Vibrations and Waves in Physics, Main I G (3rd edn CUP 1993)
The Physics of Vibrations and Waves, Pain H J (5th edn Wiley 1999)
Vibrations and Waves, French A P (Chapman & Hall 1971)
Optics, Hecht E (4th edn Addison-Wesley 2001)

QUANTUM PHYSICS
V Gibson
The Birth of Quantum Physics: Quantization of electromagnetic radiation: u-v catastrophe,
photoelectric effect, Compton scattering. Wave properties of matter: de Broglie hypothesis, the
Bohr model of the atom and atomic structure, electron and molecular diffraction. The central role
of Plancks constant.

Wave Particle Duality and the Uncertainty Principle: Youngs double-slit experiment.
Free particle in one dimension: plane waves and wave-packets. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Prin-
ciple. Time evolution of wave-packets: dispersion and propagation.

The Schrdinger Equation: Time-independent and time-dependent Schrdinger Equation.

Wave Mechanics of Unbound Particles: Particle flux. One dimensional potentials and
boundary conditions. The potential step: reflection and transmission. The potential barrier: tun-
nelling. Radioactivity : o, | and decay.

Wave Mechanics of Bound Particles: The infinite square well potential and bound states.
Normalization, parity and orthogonality. The Correspondence principle. The finite square well
potential. The harmonic oscillator: vibrational specific heat. Wave mechanics in 3D: particle in a
box, degeneracy and 3D harmonic oscillator.

Operator Methods: Operators, observables, linear hermitian operators and operator algebra.
Dirac notation: eigenstates and eigenvalues. Orthogonality, degeneracy and completeness of ei-
genstates. Compatible and incompatible observables: commuting operators and simultaneous ei-
genstates, non-commuting operators, generalized uncertainty relations, minimum-uncertainty
states. Ladder operators: the harmonic oscillator, equipartition.

Time-Dependent Quantum Mechanics: Time-dependence: expectation values, Ehrenfests
theorem, stationary states, the time-evolution operator, time-energy uncertainty relation, con-
served quantities.

Quantum Mechanics in Three Dimensions: General formulation. Orbital angular momen-
tum: eigenfunctions and parity. The 3D harmonic oscillator. The rigid rotator: rotational specific
heats of gases. Central potentials: conservation of angular momentum, quantum numbers, sepa-
ration of variables. The hydrogen atom. Non-central potentials and hybridization.

Spin: The Stern-Gerlach experiment. Spin angular momentum, spin operators, spin eigenstates.
Combining spin and orbital angular momentum, combining spins. Matrix methods. Pauli spin
matrix and spinors.

Identical Particles: Identical particle symmetry: multiparticle states, fermions and bosons, ex-
change operator, exclusion principle, symmetry and interacting particles, counting states. Two-
electron system: helium ground and excited states. The Standard Model of Particle Physics.

BOOKS
Books to consider buying:
Quantum Physics, Gasiorowicz S (Wiley 2003) A fine exposition of the subject, suitable for Part
IB and Part II.
Quantum Mechanics, McMurry S M (Addison-Wesley 1994). Quite well suited to the course and
includes a disc with interactive illustrative programs.
Quantum Mechanics, Rae A I M (Hilger 1992) A good alternative to Gasiorowicz or McMurry,
much shorter and consequently less full in its treatment of difficult points.
Quantum Mechanics Mandl F (Wiley 1992). A good book, suitable for Part IB and Part II.
Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, Bransden and Joachin (Longman, 1989). A thick book, with
very full coverage but perhaps less elegance and clarity than Gasiorowicz.
Problems in Quantum Mechanics, Squires (CUP, 1995). Worked solutions and summaries, ex-
tending beyond this course.

Books for College libraries:
Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei and Particles, Eisberg R and Resnick R
(Wiley 1985). Too elementary to recommend as a main textbook, but very good descriptive cover-
age of a wide range of quantum phenomena.

CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
J Ellis

Periodic Systems: Overview of crystal structures, the reciprocal lattice.

Phonons: Phonons as normal modes classical and quantum picture. 1D monatomic chain, 1D
diatomic chain, examples of phonons in 3D. Debye theory of heat capacity, thermal conductivity
of insulators.

Electrons in solids:
Free electron model: Fermi-Dirac statistics, concept of Fermi level, electronic contribution to heat
capacity. Bulk modulus of a nearly free electron metal. Electrical and thermal conductivity.
Wiedemann-Franz law. Hall effect.

Nearly free electron model: Derivation of band structure by considering effect of periodic lattice
on 1-D free electron model. Blochs theorem. Concept of effective mass. The difference between
conductors, semiconductors and insulators explained by considering the band gap in 2D. Hole
and electron conduction.

Doping of semiconductors, p and n types, pn junctions diodes, LEDs and solar cells.

BOOKS
In general the course follows the treatment in Solid State Physics, J.R. Hook and H.E. Hall (2
nd

edition, Wiley, 1991).

Introduction to Solid State Physics, Charles Kittel (8
th
edition, Wiley, 2005) is highly recom-
mended. (need not be the latest edition)

Other books, generally available in College libraries and may usefully be consulted:

The Solid State, Rosenberg H M (3rd edn OUP 1988)
Solid State Physics, Ashcroft N W and Mermin N D (Holt-Saunders 1976).

MATHEMATICAL METHODS
C A Haniff

This course is offered to students taking either or both of Physics A and Physics B, but who are
not taking "Mathematics'' in NST IB. In conjunction with the material from "Mathematics'' in
NST IA, this course provides the mathematics required for Physics A and Physics B in NST IB,
and the core and option lecture courses in Part II Physics.

This course requires the material covered in the NST IA Mathematics and Physics for Natural Sci-
entists courses, and uses examples showing how the mathematical methods introduced can be
utilised in a wide range of physical problems. Fluency with integration of the tools from NST IA
Mathematics with the topics taught in NST IA Physics is required.

Vector and Scalar fields in Cartesian coordinates: Basic definitions of scalar and vector
fields. Line, surface, and volume integrals. Grad, Div and Curl. V and Laplacian operators. Diver-
gence Theorem, Stokes' Theorem, and Green's Theorem. Conservative fields. Maxwell's equations
as example of vector differential operators.

Cylindrical, Spherical, and Curvilinear coordinate systems: Basic definitions of cylin-
drical and spherical coordinate systems. Application to scalar and vector fields. Curvilinear coor-
dinate systems. Vector differential operators in cylindrical, spherical, and curvilinear coordinate
systems.

Variational Principles: Lagrange multipliers. EulerLagrange equation.

Fourier Series: Fourier series of periodic functions using trigonometric functions. Discontinui-
ties and Gibbs phenomenon. Even and odd functions. Fourier series in complex form. Solving
one-dimensional differential equations using Fourier series. Notions of completeness and or-
thogonality.

Fourier Transforms: Definition. Symmetry considerations. Fourier transforms of differentials.
The Dirac delta function. Convolution. Green's functions. Parseval's theorem.

Differential Equations: Laplaces equation, Poisson's equation, the diffusion equation, the
wave equation, Helmholtz equation, Schrdinger's equation. Separation of variables in Cartesian,
cylindrical polar, and spherical polar coordinate systems. Summary of common differential equa-
tions and orthogonal functions. Examples, including Bessel, Legendre, Hermite functions etc.
Analogy between function expansions and geometrical vector expansions: orthogonality and
completeness. Convergence of power series. Power series expansions and solution of ordinary dif-
ferential equations. Legendre polynomials, Bessel functions, Hermite polynomials and Spherical
Harmonics illustrated by examples. Brief summary of SturmLiouville theory.

Matrices and Tensors: Basic matrix algebra. Determinants. Special matrix types, including
Hermitian matrices. Eigenvalues, eigenvectors and diagonalization. Basic concept of a tensor.
Summation convention: Kronecker delta and LeviCivita symbol.

BOOKS
Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences, Boas M L (3
rd
edn, Wiley 2006)
Mathematical Methods for Physics and Engineering, Riley K F, Hobson M P and Bence S J
(3
rd
edn, CUP 2006)

GREAT EXPERIMENTS
A N Lasenby and others
This non-examinable course looks at a selection of great experiments, considering both the spe-
cial techniques, and also the context in which they were conceived and their effect on our under-
standing of physics. Each lecture will cover a different experiment and these are likely to include
the following:

Tests of classical gravity: Eotvos experiment, Precision measurements of G, search for higher
dimensions at the mm-scale.

Understanding neutrinos: Chemical methods (the Homestake mine experiment), the Solar
neutrino problem, neutrino oscillations at SNO.

The search for the Higgs boson.

The Cosmic Microwave Background: Discovery (Penzias and Wilson), implications for Big
Bang cosmology, fluctuations (COBE) and the Planck Satellite Experiment.

The Structure of DNA: The story of Crick and Watsons determination of the structure of DNA
is well known; this account will include some of the Physics involved in both 1952 and the present
day.

Ultracold atoms: The need for a low-temperature gas, laser cooling, Bose-Einstein condensa-
tion, atom scattering from optical crystals.

Fundamental tests of Quantum Mechanics: Spooky action at a distance. Hidden vari-
ables and Bells inequality, demonstrations of Quantum entanglement.

The search for Extrasolar Planets.

IB PRACTICAL CLASS PHYSICS A
W Allison and R T Phillips
The Practical Classes for the IB Physics options (i.e. both the A & B courses) are organized around
a set of fourteen experiments, six in the Michaelmas term and eight in the Lent term. Students
taking the A, B or both A+B courses undertake different numbers and combinations of these ex-
periments during the year. Candidates taking only the Physics A course will usually undertake a
total of 7 experiments during the year (3 in the Michaelmas term and 4 in the Lent term) attend-
ing two 3 hour long afternoon sessions (over a fortnight) per experiment. Candidates taking
both the Physics A and Physics B courses are expected to undertake 6 experiments in the
Michaelmas term and 4 experiments in the Lent term, but will complete each of these over the
course of a week (usually in one day). They also undertake a longer experimental investigation in
groups of four, spread over the final two weeks of the Lent term.

For full details of the classes, see p.38

Part IB Physics B 26
Part IB Physics B

Comments may be sent to IB-physicsB@phy.cam.ac.uk

5.1 INTRODUCTION AND COURSE
AIMS
The IB Physics B covers a range of topics that are
complementary to the IB Physics A course. Stu-
dents wishing to proceed to part II Physics must
take both Physics A and Physics B.
Students taking both courses combine them with
one other IB subject. While NST IB Mathematics,
is frequently taken, and is useful for those wishing
to pursue Theoretical Physics options within the
Part II Physics course, students should be advised
that this is both a demanding and constraining
choice. (For students taking subjects other than
Mathematics, appropriate support is provided
through the Michaelmas Term course in Mathe-
matical Methods.) The selection of a different
subject in place of NST IB Mathematics provides
greater breadth and gives greater choice of Part
II/III subjects within the Natural Sciences Tripos,
should Part IB physics not prove to be rewarding.
It is possible to take IB Physics B without IB Phys-
ics A, but this is not adequate preparation for Part
II Physics. The practical work draws heavily
on material from Physics A in the
Michaelmas Term, and students taking just
Physics B are advised to attend at least the
Experimental Methods lectures from Phys-
ics A for necessary background. For the ma-
jority of students wishing to take a single physics
option in Part IB, Physics A is likely to be the
more attractive option.
Students will be e-mailed and asked to register via
http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/ before the
start of Michaelmas Term.
Students not taking both Physics A and
Physics B must register between 2.00 pm
and 4.00 pm on Tuesday 8
th
October 2013.
Students taking both Part IB Physics A and
Part IB Physics B should register at 2.00
pm on Wednesday 9
th
October 2013 at the
Cavendish Laboratory.
5.2 COURSE CONTENT
The lectures on Electromagnetism cover key con-
cepts in this important subject. Classical Dynam-
ics provides more advanced approaches to
classical problems than were given in Part IA, and
introduces key concepts in fluid mechanics.
Thermodynamics provides an introduction to
classical thermodynamics and kinetic theory. A
non-examinable course Great Experiments pro-
vides valuable insight into the importance of ex-
periments in the progress of physics, and their
historical context. The Computing course pro-
vides an introduction to C++ programming tech-
niques and their application in physics-based
problems. The practical class extends the teach-
ing of experimental physics and analysis offered
in IB Physics A.
Physics A and Physics B both require mathemat-
ics beyond that in the syllabus for IA Mathematics
for Natural Sciences; students not taking the NST
Part IB subject Mathematics should attend the
lectures on Mathematical Methods given at the
same time on weekdays during Michaelmas Term.
This course is supervised, and covers all the addi-
tional mathematics required for both Part IB
Physics courses, and for the Part II Physics core
and options courses. It does not provide full cov-
erage of the mathematics assumed for the Part II
Theoretical Physics (TP) courses, but mathemati-
cally-able students would need to do some extra
work during the long vacation after Part IB in or-
der to catch up.
5.3 THE EXAMINATION
The IB Physics B examination consists of two
three-hour papers. Specific information about the
examination is given in notices put up on the Part
IB examination notice board outside the Part IB
laboratory. The practical elements of this course
(i.e. the practicals and computing) are continu-
ously assessed and overall count approximately
25% towards the IB Physics B marks. (Students
should note that roughly 40% of the marks for the
practicals will come from a Head of Class Re-
port/Group Presentation). Full details are in the
class manual and additional help is given in the
booklet Keeping Laboratory Notes and Writing
Formal Reports.

Tuesday 8
th
Tuesday 8
th
October 2013 14.0016.00 Practical registration for Students taking IB Physics
A or B at the Cavendish Laboratory
Wednesday 9
th
October 2013 14.00 Practical registration for Students taking IB Physics
A and Physics B at the Cavendish Laboratory
Friday 6
th
Monday 9
th
December 2013 16.00 Head-of-Class report must have been handed
in to the IB Practical Class if chosen for
submission (see synopsis of Physics B practi-
cal class for details)
Tuesday 14
th
Friday 14
th
Monday 17
th
March 2014 16.00 Head-of-Class report must have been handed
in to the IB Practical Class if chosen for
submission (see synopsis of Physics B practi-
cal class for details)
Tuesday 22
nd
Tuesday 22
nd
April 2014 16.00 Extended Investigation presentation slides
(only for students take Physics A and Physics
B) must have been submitted to relevant
Head of Class
Friday 6
th
June 2014 Deadline for obtaining approval for Part IB
students to do Long-Vacation Work for sub-
mission as part of Part II
Friday 13
th

In accordance with the Universitys regulations, work submitted after the advertised deadline
will not count towards your final examination mark, unless the Department grants an extension
of time on the grounds that there are mitigating circumstances. Any application for such an ex-
tension should be made by your college Tutor or Director of Studies to the Director of Under-
graduate Teaching, c/o Teaching Office, Cavendish Laboratory, (teaching-
office@phy.cam.ac.uk). In such circumstances, you should submit the work as soon as possible
after the deadline.


5.5 LECTURE LIST
NATURAL SCIENCES TRIPOS

PART IB PHYSICS B

Departmental Contact: Helen Marshall, email: IB-physicsB@phy.cam.ac.uk

Lectures are given in the Cockcroft Lecture Theatre, New Museums Site, M.W.F. 9 unless other-
wise stated.



Laboratory Work takes place at the Cavendish Laboratory (West Cambridge). The experi-
mental laboratories are open M. 2-5.45, Tu. 10-5.45, Th. 10-5.45 and F. 2-5.45. Students will be
allocated periods within these times. Students taking both Part IB Physics A and Part IB Physics
B should register at 2.00 p.m. on W. 9 Oct. at the Cavendish Laboratory. Students taking Part IB
Physics B or IB Physics A, must register between 2.00 p.m. and 4.00 p.m. on Tu. 8 Oct., when
they will be allocated practical sessions that fit with their other IB subjects. Laboratory work
is continuously assessed.

ELECTROMAGNETISM
S Withington
The electromagnetism course further develops the idea of electric and magnetic fields introduced
in Part IA, with electrostatics and magnetostatics being treated as special cases of Maxwells equa-
tions. The course introduces dielectric and magnetic media, and examines wave propagation in
free space, as well as in insulating and conducting media and on transmission lines and
waveguides

Introduction: Electromagnetism in physics, and the role of Maxwells equations.

Electrostatic fields: Electrostatic force, electric field, potential, grad, curl, line integrals,
Stokess theorem, conservative fields, electric monopoles, electric dipoles, field of a dipole, couple
and force on a dipole, energy of a dipole, multipole expansions, electric flux, divergence, diver-
gence theorem, Gausss law, solutions for simple geometries, Laplaces and Poissons equations,
boundary conditions and uniqueness, conducting sphere in uniform E field, method of images,
point charge near conducting sphere, line charge near conducting cylinder, capacitance, capaci-
tance of parallel cylinders, energy stored in electric field, force and virtual work, force on charged
conductor.

Electrostatic fields in dielectric materials: Isotropic dielectrics, polarisation, polarisation
charge density, Gausss law for dielectric materials, permittivity and susceptibility, properties of
D and E, boundary conditions at dielectric surfaces, field lines at boundaries, relationship be-
tween E and P, thin slab in field, dielectric sphere in field, energy density in dielectrics, general
properties of dielectrics.

Magnetostatic fields: Force on and between current elements, magnetic flux, the ampre,
V.B=0, magnetic dipoles, force and couple on a dipole, energy, magnetic scalar potential, solid
angle of a loop, Ampres law, magnetic vector potential.

Magnetostatic fields in magnetic materials: magnetisation, existence of diamagnetism and
paramagnetism, permeability and magnetic susceptibility, properties of B and H, boundary con-
ditions at surfaces, methods for calculating B and H, magnetisable sphere in uniform field, elec-
tromagnets.

Time varying electromagnetic fields: Faradays law, emf, electromagnetic induction, Fara-
days law for a circuit, interpretation of Faradays emf, self-inductance, inductance of long sole-
noid, coaxial cylinders, parallel cylinders, mutual inductance, transformers, magnetic energy
density.

Electromagnetic waves: equation of continuity, displacement current, Maxwells equations,
electromagnetic waves, velocity of light, plane waves in isotropic media, energy density,
Poyntings theorem, radiation pressure and momentum, insulating materials, plasmas and the
plasma frequency, evanescent waves. characteristic impedance, reflection and transmission at an
angle, total internal reflection, conducting media, skin effect, guided waves, transmission lines,
characteristic impedance; coaxial, parallel-wire, strip transmission lines; power flow; terminated
lines, matching, reflection and transmission coefficients, impedance of short circuited lines, im-
pedance matching, introduction to waveguides, TE and TM modes, waveguide equation, cut-off
frequency, characteristic impedance, cavity resonators, optical fibres.

Summary of Maxwells equations: Restatement of equations, physical interpretation,
classes of solutions, and applications.

BOOKS

Electricity and Magnetism, Duffin W J (4th edn McGraw-Hill 1990). A general introductory text.
Fields and Waves in Communication Electronics, Ramo S, Whinnery JR, and van Duzer T (2nd
edn Wiley 1984). This text is aimed at engineers. It has an attractive style and achieves a good
balance between mathematical rigour and physical insight. It provides an excellent introduction
to the subject.
Electromagnetism, Grant I S and Phillips W R (2nd edn Wiley 1990). This treatment is at about
the right level for the course. It is easier to read than Bleaney & Bleaney, but does not go as far.
Electricity and Magnetism, Bleaney B I and Bleaney B (3rd edn OUP 1989) (two volumes). A
classic text that will see you through Part IB and Part II, but it is currently out of print.
CLASSICAL DYNAMICS
D A Green
This course builds on the ideas introduced in NST Part IA Physics, using the machinery of vec-
tor calculus taught in NST Part IA Mathematics. The main areas covered are orbits, rigid body
dynamics, normal modes and continuum mechanics (elasticity and fluids).
Newtonian mechanics, frames of reference: Review of Part IA mechanics: many-particle
system, internal and external forces and energy. Central forces, motion in a plane. Non-inertial
frames, rotating frames, centrifugal and Coriolis forces. Examples.
Orbits: Effective potential and radial motion, bound and unbound orbits. Inverse-square law or-
bits, circular and elliptic, Kepler's laws. Escape velocity, transfer orbits, gravitational slingshot.
Hyperbolic orbits, angle of scattering, repulsive force. Two-body problem, reduced mass. General
features of three-body problem. Brief treatment of tidal effects in gravitational systems.
Rigid body dynamics: Instantaneous motion of a rigid body, angular velocity and angular
momentum, moment of inertia tensor, principal axes and moments. Rotational energy, inertia el-
lipsoid. Euler's equations, free precession of a symmetrical top, space and body frequencies.
Forced precession, gyroscopes.
Introduction to Lagrangian mechanics: Generalised coordinates. Hamiltons principle and
Lagranges equations. Symmetries and conservation laws. Conservation of the Hamiltonian for
time-independent systems.
Normal modes: Analysis of many-particle system in terms of normal modes. Degrees of free-
dom, matrix notation, zero-frequency and degenerate modes. Continuum limit, wave equation.
Standing waves, energy and normal modes. Motion in three dimensions, modes of molecules.
Elasticity: Hooke's law, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio. Bulk modulus, shear modulus, stress
tensor, principal stresses. strain tensor. Elastic energy. Torsion of cylinder. Bending of beams,
bending moment, boundary conditions. Euler strut. Brief treatment of elastic waves.
Fluid dynamics: Continuum fields, material derivatives, relation to particle paths and stream-
lines. Mass conservation, incompressibility. Convective derivative and equation of motion. Ber-
noulli's theorem, applications. Velocity potential, applications: sources and sinks; flow past a
sphere and cylinder; vortices; Magnus effect. Viscosity, Couette and Poiseuille flow. Reynolds
number, lamina and turbulent flow.
BOOKS
Classical Mechanics, Barger V D and Olsson M G (McGaw-Hill, 1995).
Fluid Dynamics for Physicists, Faber T E (Cambridge, 1995).
Lectures on Physics, Feynman R P, Leighton R B and Sands S L (Addison Wesley 1964).
Principles of Dynamics, Greenwood D T (Prentice & Hall 1988).
Classical Mechanics, Kibble T W B and Berkshire F H (Imperial College 2004).
THERMODYNAMICS
E Eiser
This is a general introduction to classical thermodynamics, followed by an introduction to the sta-
tistical representation of gases and the kinetic gas theory. The final part of this course introduces
basics of transport phenomena. Examples relevant to Astrophysics and Soft Matter Physics will be
discussed.

Fundamentals: Thermodynamic variables; functions of state; zeroth law; concept of tempera-
ture; work and heat; 1
st
law of thermodynamics; heat capacities.

2
nd
Law and Entropy: Reversible and irreversible changes; Clausius and Kelvin formulations of
2
nd
law; Carnot cycle and Carnot's theorem; definition of thermodynamic temperature; heat en-
gines, pumps and refrigerators; efficiency; Clausius theorem; entropy and its increase; entropy of
ideal gas.

Analytical Thermodynamics: Thermodynamic potentials and their uses. Chemical potential.
Introduction to Maxwell relations and their applications.

Phase Changes: Real gases and van der Waals equation; conditions for equilibrium. Latent
heat. Clausius-Clapeyron equation. Gibbs-Duhem relation. Phase rules.

Third Law: Entropy at low temperatures; adiabatic demagnetisation; unattainability of absolute
zero.

Kinetic Gas theory: Introduction of Boltzmann distribution; Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution
(velocity distribution in gases); pressure and fluxes; barometric height distribution; equipartition
theorem; degrees of freedom.

Basic terms & equations in transport phenomena: Momentum - viscosity, energy - heat,
mass - concentration gradients. Viscosity and flux in Astrophysics. Flow problems in Soft Matter
Physics.

Applications to Simple Physical Problems: Thermodynamics of Radiation. Heat capacity of
a vacuum black body radiation; pressure and energy density. Kirchhoffs Law. Stefan-
Boltzmann Law. Plancks Law.

BOOKS
The course will mainly follow the book Concepts in Thermal Physics S.J. Blundell & K.M. Blun-
dell (Oxford University Press).

For further reading:
Equilibrium Thermodynamics Adkins C J (3rd edn CUP 1983).
Thermodynamics and an Introduction to Thermostatistics H. P. Callen (John Wiley & Sons
1985).

INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTING
C G Lester
This course in computer programming will take place in Michaelmas. The course will teach the
C subset of C++. The course strongly takes the view that best way to learn how to write com-
puter programs is to sit in front of a computer and to "have a go". Programming is a skill that
(like learning to play a musical instrument) is best learned through direct experience, through
practice, by learning from ones mistakes, by attempting to copy and understand examples etc. It
is not a skill that can be absorbed simply by sitting in a lecture theatre and listening to a lecturer.
For this reason, the course will mostly be taught through self-guided study in practical classes in
which students will work through examples in the course handout. The self-study part of the
course will be preceded by two introductory lectures. The purpose of these lectures is to outline
the basics tools required to follow the instructions in the course booklet, and to give a very brief
introduction to the concept of computer programming. Students must understand that it is not
the lecture course that will teach them how to program. Their most important resources for
learning will be the handout, the student sitting next to them in the practical class, the practical
class demonstrator, the other students on the course, and last but not least printed and on-line
reference materials.
Anyone attempting to teach themselves to program will benefit strongly from having a C++ refer-
ence book beside them at all times (see some suggestions below) and an open web-browser in
which to look up examples of code, etc.
Students are actively encouraged to discuss what they are doing with others doing the course, to
work in pairs or small groups, and to and ask questions of the demonstrators and the people sit-
ting near them in the examples classes.
The general structure of the course will be:
Two introductory lectures, followed by practical classes in the MCS (formally PWF) in
which the students will work through the self-study guide. Each practical session will have
a specific programming task. The aim of the first half of the course is for every student to
become familiar with linux, gnuplot, a text editor, elementary C++ programming, and a
C++ debugger. In the second half of the course, students will each complete two or three
mini-projects. Each mini-project will consist of a core task which all students will have to
complete and optional parts introducing more interesting computational/physics ideas.

Assessment
The assessment will be weekly. After each practical session, each student will be required to up-
load work which shows how they solved the tasks described in the handout for that week. (Work
may also be handed in early!) Each submission will lead to a simple pass/fail mark for that week.
There are no bonus marks for fancy submissions -- the simpler the submission the better. For
each project there will be two deadlines - (i) the recommended deadline, and (ii) the extended
deadline. The latter will be one week after the former. All students should hand in work by dead-
line (i) in order to keep pace with the course, but applications for extension to deadline (ii) will be
automatically granted when requested to cover problems caused by illness etc. Any work submit-
ted later than the (already extended!) deadline (ii) will not be accepted therefore under any cir-
cumstances.

Week 1
Computing concepts What a C++ program looks like. Conditionals, loops. Monte Carlo meth-
ods.
Computing skills Using linux, bash, text editor, C++ compiler, execution.
Week 2
Computing concepts Representation of numbers in a computer. .
Computing skills Boolean expressions. Relational operators. Simple control structures. C++
debugger.
Week 3
Computing concepts Functions. Debugger.
Computing skills Defining, declaring, and calling functions. Passing values to and returning
values from functions. Using gnuplot.
Weeks 4-6
Computing concepts Pointers. Memory allocation. Arrays. Passing arrays to functions. Code-
testing.
BOOKS
Any web-search or visit to a book-shop or library will rapidly show that there are hundreds of C
and C++ books on the market. Any of them is better than nothing, as all contain important refer-
ence material an example programs. Use whatever you have in your college library, or anything
owned by "someone on your staircase", as any book is better than nothing. If you can really find
no other sources, and want guidance, you could do worse than buy one of the following:
Recommended by the 2007 and 2008 lecturer:
C++: A Beginner's Guide, Second Edition (Beginner's Guides (McGraw-Hill)) by Herbert Schildt
The resource the current lecturer learned C++ from:
C++ Primer by Stanley B. Lippman, Jose Lajoie, and Barbara E. Moo,
The first and most influential (but not necessarily the best written) book about C++:
The C++ Programming Language, Special Edition by Bjarne Stroustrup
Everyone needs pocket reference, and it is only 4 on Amazon:
C++ Pocket Reference (Pocket Referemce) by Kyle Loudon
Likely to be useful:
Accelerated C++: Practical Programming by Example (C++ in Depth Series) by Andrew Koenig
and Barbara E. Moo
Sams Teach Yourself C++ in One Hour a Day by Jesse Liberty, Siddhartha Rao, and Bradley L.
Jones

Not about C++ per se, and far beyond what the course requires, but worth reading if the rest of
the course is too easy and you want to do "real" object-oriented programming:
Design patterns : elements of reusable object-oriented software by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm,
Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides

Website:
The course website for the last academic year may be found at
http://www.hep.phy.cam.ac.uk/lester/c++2012/

MATHEMATICAL METHODS
C A Haniff

This course is offered to students taking either or both of Physics A and Physics B, but who are
not taking "Mathematics'' in NST IB. In conjunction with the material from "Mathematics'' in
NST IA, this course provides the mathematics required for Physics A and Physics B in NST IB,
and the core and option lecture courses in Part II Physics.

This course requires the material covered in the NST IA Mathematics and Physics for Natural Sci-
entists courses, and uses examples showing how the mathematical methods introduced can be
utilised in a wide range of physical problems. Fluency with integration of the tools from NST IA
Mathematics with the topics taught in NST IA Physics is required

The full synopsis is given on p.23 of this course guide.

GREAT EXPERIMENTS
A N Lasenby and others
This non-examinable course looks at a selection of great experiments, considering both the spe-
cial techniques, and also the context in which they were conceived and their effect on our under-
standing of physics.

The course runs in the Lent Term, on Mondays at 10, which unfortunately conflicts with both Bio-
chemisty & Molecular Biology, and Geology A: students not taking either of these subjects, and
taking either or both of Physics A and Physics B, are warmly encouraged to attend.

Full details are given on p.24.

IB PRACTICAL CLASS PHYSICS B
periments during the year. Candidates taking only the Physics B course will usually undertake a
total of 6 experiments during the year (3 in the Michaelmas term and 3 in the Lent term) attend-
ing two 3 hour long afternoon sessions (over a fortnight) per experiment. Candidates taking
both the Physics A and Physics B courses are expected to undertake 6 experiments in the
groups of four, spread over the final two weeks of the Lent term.

For full details of the classes, see p.38.
Part IB Practical Work (Physics A & B) 38
IB PRACTICAL CLASS PHYSICS A and B

periments during the year.

Candidates taking a single Physics course will usually undertake a total of either 6 or 7
1
experi-
ments during the year (3 in the Michaelmas term and either 3 or 4 in the Lent term) attending
two 3 hour long afternoon sessions (over a fortnight) per experiment. One experiment must be
written up as a Head of Class report.

Candidates offering both Physics courses are expected to undertake 6 experiments in the
groups of four, spread over the final two weeks of the Lent term. One of the experiments under-
taken in the Michaelmas term must be written up as a Head of Class report.

The primary aim of the classes is to provide students with an opportunity to develop the key
skills associated with the design and execution of experiments, and with analysing experimental
data, hypothesis testing, presenting results and, importantly (especially for theoreticians), assess-
ing others experimental results and analyses. Topics covered include a systems approach to ex-
perimental design, managing noise, offsets and systematic errors, and using experiments to tie
down physical phenomena whose theoretical basis is uncertain or unknown this is the standard
situation for a research physicist. For those taking both the A and B courses, presentational skills
and team-working also feature in the extended investigation at the end of the Lent term.

A secondary aim of the classes is to demonstrate aspects of, and reinforce the content of, some
of the Michaelmas and Lent term lectures.

The following sections outline the full set of 14 experiments available during the year, although
students will only ever be expected to undertake a subset of these. Students must refer to the ta-
ble at the end of this section to determine which experiments they will be required to undertake.
MICHAELMAS TERM: SYSTEMS AND MEASUREMENT
These experiments demonstrate key aspects of real world physics, i.e. as an experimentally-
driven subject where measurements both validate theories and provide the stimulus for new theo-
retical developments. Many of the experiments also demonstrate critical features of the physics
introduced in the Physics A Experimental Methods, Oscillations, Waves and Optics, and Electro-
magnetism lecture courses. Students will usually be expected to work in pairs, with the classes
running from week 2 through week 7 of the term.

There are six experiments in total, each lasting about six hours, as follows.

[1] Basic skills: Using a PicoScope; measuring input and output impedances, frequency re-
sponse and phase shift; ensuring the measuring device does not affect the measurement; using an
operational amplifier.

1
Students taking only Physics A undertake 7 experiments, whereas students taking only Physics B undertake 6 experi-
ments since they also take an assessed computing course.
[2] Linear systems and feedback: An operational amplifier is used to explore various linear
systems, including voltage amplifiers and integrators. The system concepts of negative and posi-
tive feedback are investigated.

[3] Non-linear systems: An analogue multiplier will be used to explore the properties of non-
linear systems. Frequency doubling, mixing and de-modulation will be investigated.

[4] Hysteresis: Building a simple magnetometer and investigating hysteresis in three magnetic
materials.

[5] Signals and noise in an optical link: An optical communication link is constructed.
Phase-sensitive detection is used to extract the signal in the presence a very high level of con-
taminating noise.

[6] Twangs and clicks (data sampling and Fourier methods): An investigation of sam-
pling, aliasing and Nyquists theorem, followed by the design, construction and use of apparatus
to test the validity of a model developed to explain the properties of a tuning fork.

LENT TERM: WAVES AND OPTICS First of term
The first part of the Lent term focuses on investigations that continue the development of the
skills associated with the design, execution, and interpretation of experiments. Additionally, they
provide further opportunities to demonstrate some of the relevant physical principles developed
in the Physics A and B lecture courses.

Students taking only one of Physics A or Physics B will be expected to work in pairs and attend
for two afternoon session on the same day on two consecutive weeks per experiment. Pairs will be
expected to start these main experiments in either week 2, week 4 or week 6 so that at most
three from the list below can be undertaken. All single subject students will also be expected to
undertake the short initial class Key experimental techniques in week 1 starting at 2pm.

There will be no attendance for single subject students in week 8, and they will not
undertake the extended investigation.

Students taking Physics A with Physics B will be expected to work in pairs (or triples this will
depend on the class size) and will undertake each of their main experiments in a single weekly
session. Students will be expected to sign up to undertake three main experiments from the list
below over the course of weeks 2 through 5. This will allow one week off. All double subject
students will also be expected to undertake the short initial class Key experimental techniques
in week 1 starting at their usual 10am or 2pm time.

There will be no attendance for double subject students in week 6, but they will un-
dertake an extended investigation in weeks 7 and 8 (see below for details).

In this first part of the term seven experiments will be run, the first taking roughly 3 hours, and
the remainder about seven hours, as follows.

[7] Key experimental techniques: Developing observational skills: descriptive skill, using a
PicoScope for data acquisition and laptop-based software for data analysis, observation as a tool
for developing theories, review of random and statistical errors and their diagnosis, practice with
Excel.

[8] Fraunhofer diffraction of light: This is investigated experimentally using a laser and a
variety of apertures. Quantitative analysis of the measurements is used as a sensitive test of this
diffraction theory. The experiment also provides a visualisation of Fourier transforms and helps
develop intuition for these and the concept of spatial filtering.

[9] Ultrasonic waves: This experiment is designed to investigate the propagation of ultrasonic
waves in air and other fluids. Not only is it possible to examine the standard wave-like behaviour
of ultrasound (reflection, diffraction, etc.), but also the experiment demonstrates how ultrasound
can be used to probe the kinetic properties of materials.

[10] Waves in liquids: A wave tank is used to study the propagation of waves at the interface
layer between two liquids. The dispersive nature of the system makes it particularly interesting.
The propagation and spectral structure of wavepackets is also studied.

[11] Fresnel diffraction of light: This experiment demonstrates important features of Fresnel
diffraction and allows a quantitative verification of Fresnel theory. It also allows the investigation
of off-axis effects which are difficult to analyse theoretically.

[12] Microwaves and waveguides: A solid-state device, a Gunn diode, is used to generate
microwaves which are used to investigate a wide variety of electromagnetic phenomena. Propaga-
tion in free space, in materials and along waveguides is studied.

[13] Interferometers and spectroscopy: Interferometry is a very important tool for spec-
troscopy and one aim of this experiment is to demonstrate the great accuracy that can be
achieved. Two types of interferometer are used, a Michelson interferometer and a Fabry-Perot
etalon. A variety of effects is demonstrated, and an introduction provided to the practical prob-
lems of setting up and calibrating high precision instrumentation.

LENT TERM: EXTENDED INVESTIGATION Last of term
In weeks 7 and 8 of the Lent term students taking both Physics A and Physics B will be expected
to undertake a more open-ended and less structured investigation of a single topic over two con-
secutive weekly sessions. These will be executed in randomly-selected groups of four. The assess-
ment of the investigation will primarily be via an hour long oral and slide-based presentation to a
Head of Class in which all the members of the group will be expected to participate. This presen-
tation will take place at the start of the Easter term.

[14] Extended investigation: The topic of the investigation will change from year to year.

CHOICE OF EXPERIMENTS in Lent Term
The selection of experiments available for students taking Physics A or B alone and students tak-
ing both the Physics A and Physics B courses is summarized in the table below. Experiments
marked with a tick () are compulsory. Where a box is greyed-out in a particular column, that ex-
periment is not available for the particular combination of subjects. Experiments identified with a
report icon ( ) can be chosen from to write a Head of Class report.

Physics A only
(7 experiments
in total)
Physics B only
(6 experiments
in total includ-
ing either op-
tion 1 or option
2)
Physics A+B
(11 experiments
in total including
three from ex-
periments 9-13)
Michaelmas Term
[1] Basic skills
[2] Linear systems and feedback
[3] Non-linear systems

[4] Hysteresis

[5] Signal and noise in an optical link

[6] Twangs and clicks

Lent Term first of term
[7] Key experimental techniques
[8] Fraunhofer diffraction of light

[9] Ultrasonic waves

[10] Waves in liquids
Option 1
Do three out of
five
[11] Fresnel diffraction light
[12] Microwaves and waveguides
Option 2
[13] Interferometry and spectroscopy
Lent term last of term
[14] Extended investigation

In all cases, students must attend the first class of the Term on their pre-assigned day of the week
at which time the detailed timetable and sequence of experiments will be determined. Students
must do all the experiments checked in the relevant column of the table above.

HEAD OF CLASS REPORTING
All students are required to write up one of the experiments they have performed in the form of a
formal Head of Class write-up. Students taking only the Physics A or only the Physics B
course may choose to submit a Head of Class write-up in either the Michaelmas or Lent Terms.
The report must be on one of the experiments marked with the report icon ( ) in the table
above. Students taking both the Physics A and the Physics B course must submit their
Head of Class write-up in the Michaelmas term, again on one of the experiments marked with the
report icon in the right-hand column.

Each write-up will be assessed by a Head of Class and the marks awarded will count towards the
end of year assessment. Students who undertake the extended investigation in the Lent term must
also present the results of their investigation in the form of an hour-long oral and slide-based
presentation to a Head of Class at the beginning of the Easter Term. As for the Head of Class
write-up, this presentation will be assessed by the Head of Class and the marks awarded will
count towards the end of year assessment.

Advisory note to candidates taking only the Physics B course:

The practical work in the Michaelmas and Lent Terms draws heavily on lecture material pre-
sented in the Physics A course in the Michaelmas Term: students are advised to attend at least the
Experimental Methods lectures from the Physics A course for the necessary background to the
practical classes.
Part II Physics 42
Part II Physics

Comments may be sent to II-physics@phy.cam.ac.uk

6.1 THE THREE- AND FOUR-YEAR
COURSES IN PHYSICS
It is assumed that all students taking Part II Phys-
ics will have attended both Physics A and Physics
B in Part IB (or equivalent courses in the Mathe-
matics Tripos).
There are two paths to graduating in Physics, both
leading to a wide range of career options. Both
groups of students take the same course in the
third year. The paths are:
- 3-year course leading to B.A. hon-
ours degree: this path is designed for
students with a deep interest in the sub-
ject but who do not intend to become pro-
fessional physicists. It is a challenging
course and exposes students to core areas
of physics at an advanced level. Students
on this path will graduate at the end of the
Part II course with a B.A.
- 4-year course leading to an M.Sci.
honours degree (master of Natural
Sciences), together with a B.A. hon-
ours degree: students who wish to pur-
sue a professional career in physics (for
example in academic or industrial re-
search) take the usual third year Part II
but do not graduate at the end of the third
year. Subject to requisite funding, college
approval and achievement of a 2:1 result
or better in Part II Physics students are
admitted to take Part III Physics in their
fourth year. Both B.A. and M.Sci. degrees
are conferred at the end of this fourth
year.
The Part II Physics course is very flexible, and can
range from strongly experimental to highly theo-
retical physics, with a range of specialist options.
There are possibilities for substantial independent
work and for experience of industrial research.
Part II Physics and we usually have about 150 stu-
dents, the largest class in any Part II Natural Sci-
ence subject.
6.2 OUTLINE OF THE COURSES
The detailed timetable is available online
The course begins with a meeting on the first
Wednesday of Full Term (9
th
October 2013) at
9.30 am in the Pippard Lecture Theatre at
the Cavendish Laboratory.
Part II Physics contains work of two types: Core
lectures in the Michaelmas term and Options lec-
tures in the Lent/Easter terms, which are exam-
ined at the end of the year in the usual way, and
units of Further Work, which are assessed during
the year. Students take three or more of the
Lent/Easter lecture courses together with at least
three units of Further Work.
We do not expect any student to take more than
the minimum number of units of work in any
category. The great majority of students will find
the workload demanding even at this level. We
recognise, however, that some students may have
good reasons for wishing to take additional
courses for credit. Marks for all examination pa-
pers sat will appear on the students University
transcripts. Within any part of the examination
(options courses, Further Work) the best results
meeting the minimum requirement will count to-
wards the class for the year.
The aim of the Michaelmas Term lecture courses
is to complete basic instruction in physics. In this
term, there are four core courses:
- Advanced Quantum Physics;
- Relativity;
- Optics and Electrodynamics;
- Thermal and Statistical Physics.
In the Lent and Easter terms, four option courses
are offered, introducing broad areas of physics:
- Astrophysical Fluids;
- Particle and Nuclear Physics;
- Quantum Condensed Matter;
- Soft Condensed Matter.
All students are also expected to take the course
on Computational Physics, which is assessed by a
series of short exercises. In addition, an extended
Computational Physics project is available as one
of the optional units of Further Work.
The remainder of the Further Work offers a free
choice. Students may select an experimentally-
biased course by carrying out up to two experi-
mental investigations (E1 and E2), each lasting
Part II Physics 43
two weeks. Alternatively, there are two possible
courses in Theoretical Physics (TP1 and TP2),
consisting of lectures plus examples classes, which
run respectively in the Michaelmas and Lent
terms. We expect that almost all students will of-
fer at least one of E1 and TP1. Further optional
elements of Further Work are a Computing Pro-
ject, Research Review, Physics Education or a
Long Vacation Project. All units of further work
are outlined in Section 6.3 and a table setting out
the range of options is given on p.45.
There are also two unexamined courses, on Topics
in Astrophysics and Concepts in Physics.
6.3 FURTHER WORK
Of the optional Further Work, note that not more
than two Experiments may be offered. Other rules
for choosing Further Work are set out in Section
6.6 on Examinations and in the Table on page 44.
Students will be contacted by e-mail and should
register on-line via the teaching web pages
start of Michaelmas Term and to give an indica-
tion of which units of Further Work they intend to
complete. In particular, they will be asked to
make a provisional choice of experiments for E1
and E2 if they intend to take those options. These
arrangements may be modified at the registration
meeting at the beginning of term. Students wish-
ing to change their choice during the course of the
year (for example those wishing to take E2 instead
of TP2 in light of their TP1 results) should contact
the Teaching Office.
The arrangements for submitting and assessing
Further Work are described in 6.6.4 below and in
the Course Synopses later in this handbook.
6.3.1 Computing
All students are expected to attend the Computa-
tional Physics lectures in Lent term, which build
on the Part IB C++ course. Associated with the
lectures are Computing exercises which are
equivalent to 0.2 units of work, and are compul-
sory for all Part II Physics students. In addition,
students may elect to offer an extended Comput-
ing Project, which will involve analysing a physics
problem, and writing a program to solve it. This
project is optional, and counts as one unit of Fur-
ther Work. Further details are given on p.62.
6.3.2 Experimental Investigations
Each experiment will involve 30 to 40 hours work
and will be equivalent to one unit of Further
Work. The E1 and E2 sessions are run in the
Michaelmas and Lent terms respectively, with in-
dividual experiments starting on the first, third
and fifth Mondays in Term. The details of these
sessions will be announced during registration at
the start of term. E1 is assessed during the
Michaelmas Term so that any appropriate advice
and constructive criticism can be given before a
decision has to be taken on whether or not to offer
E2. Students opting for E2 only after taking the
TP1 examination (see Section 6.3.3) are likely to
be allocated to E2b or E2c. No student is allowed
to offer more than two units of experimental in-
vestigation.
The experiments available in Part II are offered by
the experimental research groups from within the
Department. A list is given on p 66 below. The ex-
periments give you the chance to develop profes-
sional ability, both in performing a substantial
experiment and in relating experiment to theory.
Most students find these experiments more de-
manding and more satisfying than the short ex-
periments of the Part I classes. They are assessed
by a Head of Class write up followed by an oral
examination.

6.3.3 Courses in Theoretical Physics
The Theoretical Physics Courses are challenging
courses aimed at students who find mathematics
relatively easy and who have a strong interest in
the mathematical description of physical systems.
The majority of students taking these courses will
have taken Part IB Mathematics for NST, but the
Mathematical Methods course offered as part of
Physics A and B in Part IB provides nearly all of
the necessary background. Usually the mark dis-
tributions for these courses have a tail of low
marks obtained by students who would probably
have scored higher marks if they had done ex-
perimental work.
Theoretical Physics Course TP1 is taken in the
Michaelmas Term and students take a written test
paper at the start of the Lent Term. The results
will be made available to guide your choice of fur-
ther work for the Lent term. A second Theoretical
Course, TP2, is taken in the Lent Term and tested
at the start of the Easter Term. TP1 and TP2 each
count for one unit of Further Work. As well as
lectures, four examples classes are given in each of
TP1 and TP2. Detailed synopses are given on
p.63.
Part II Physics 44
Part II Physics Core and Options Schemes

Lectures Course Half Subject PHYSICS
Michaelmas
Term Core courses

18 Thermal and Statistical Physics
24 Relativity choose
24 Advanced Quantum Physics 2
16 Optics and Electrodynamics
Lent/Easter
Terms Option Courses

8 Computational Physics FW (0.2 units)
24 Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics
22 Particle and Nuclear Physics choose choose
22 Quantum Condensed Matter 1 3 or 4
22 Soft Condensed Matter

Further Work (FW), (1 unit 1.5hrs examination) FW units
Research Review 1
Physics Education (limited numbers) 1
Computational project 1 choose choose
Experiment E1 & E2 1 each 2 3 or more
Theory TP1 & TP2 1 each
Long Vacation project (approval required) 1
FW units 2 3+
Exam Units 3 7+
Notes: % FW 40% 30%
Papers: 2hrs for each course ( 4 Units FW)
Half Subject Physics students choose a Research Review as the
topic for their dissertation in Part II Physical Sciences.

Part II Physics 45
6.3.4 Research Review
A Research Review is equivalent to one unit of
Further Work, and consists of a review (of 3000
words max.) on some area of physics, approved in
advance. Such a review must have a Supervisor.
In about the sixth week of the Lent Term supervi-
sors will organise a meeting at which students will
have the chance to present their interim work to
other students working on reviews in similar ar-
eas and their supervisors. As well as providing a
chance to obtain feedback this should ultimately
raise the standard of the submitted work. You re-
ceive 5% of the available marks for the Research
Review for giving the presentation (irrespective of
its quality). Research Reviews are assessed by two
staff members with a short oral examination early
in the Easter Term. This examination will usually
begin with a short oral presentation.
Further details are given on p.69.
6.3.5 Long-Vacation Work
Scientific work during the Long Vacation prior to
your third year can count as project work worth
one unit of Further Work. The full details can be
obtained from Dr Padman (rp11@cam.ac.uk, As-
trophysics Group), but you must get your pro-
posal approved in advance, before the end of the
preceding Easter Term. Forms are available from
the Teaching Office. You will be required to name
in advance a suitably qualified on-site supervisor
who is willing to write retrospectively to Dr Pad-
man describing the work you have done and giv-
ing an assessment of your effectiveness. Normally
the programme must be of at least two months
duration and must include a substantial element
of independent or original work. It is important
that the project includes a significant amount of
physics and is not, for example, simply a series of
routine measurements or entirely devoted to
computer programming.
Vacation projects within the University may be of-
fered through the Undergraduate Research Op-
portunities Programme (UROP). See
http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/UROPS/uro
p.php for details. Some of these projects may be
suitable as assessed Long-Vacation Work. The
teaching web pages http://www
teach.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/vacWork.php
might offer some useful suggestions.
6.3.6 Physics Education
The Physics Education course counts as one unit
of further work. It offers the possibility of devel-
oping and presenting teaching material in a sec-
ondary school. It develops a wide range of
transferable skills and provides a real opportunity
to explore the possibility of a career in teaching.
Details of the nature and scope of this course are
given at length in the course synopsis on page 71
below. Numbers are restricted and students wish-
ing to take part must attend the introductory ses-
sion between 2-5pm on Thursday 10
th
October
2013.
6.4 SUPERVISIONS AND EXAM-
PLES CLASSES
Supervision for Part II is organised by the De-
partment on behalf of the Colleges. During the
Michaelmas term Physics students are supervised
in all four core lecture courses, and Half Subject
Physics students in two. Supervisions for these
courses will be allocated automatically according
to the option for which you are registered.
In the Lent term students choose their supervi-
sions according to their choice of subjects for ex-
amination. The sign-up procedure is web-based,
and you will be notified by email in plenty of time.
We ask you to sign up by 2.00 pm on the last Fri-
day of Michaelmas Full Term, so that arrange-
ments can be made during the Christmas
vacation. Obviously this does not allow you to
sample the courses: if you subsequently decide
that you wish to change options, then please visit
or email the Teaching Office to request a change
of supervisor.
The number of supervisions for each course is
summarised in the table overleaf.
Supervision will normally be in groups of three,
although you may occasionally find yourself in a
two or a four, to allow supervisors to accommo-
date odd numbers or students who are wildly
mismatched in their ability in a particular subject.
You must be prepared to work much more
independently than at Part I. Difficulties that
arise in lectures are often more conveniently dis-
cussed with the lecturers themselves at the end of
lectures, or by arrangement at other times
You must take responsibility for ensuring that the
supervisions go as far as possible in meeting your
needs. Supervisors are usually willing within rea-
sonable limits to be flexible about the detailed ar-
rangements. You should expect to be asked to
hand in work for each supervision, in time for
your supervisor to look through the work and
identify any potential problems. However, the
quantity and complexity of the work at this level
means that supervisors may be unable to provide
the detailed personal marking that you experi-
enced in Parts IA and IB
Supervisors may range from established lecturers
with long teaching experience to relatively inexpe-
rienced graduate students. New supervisors are
expected to seek advice on supervising, to attend
the courses provided by the University, and to
Part II Physics 46
commit to the necessary preparation for each su-
pervision. However, experience is the only real
teacher, and inevitably some supervisors will be
more confident than others, particularly at an-
swering subtle and unexpected questions.

SUPERVISIONS IN PART II (2013-14)

Half
Subject
PHYSICS
MICHAELMAS
Thermal and Statistical 4
Electrodynamics & Light Choose 2 4
Relativity 4
Adv. Quantum Physics 4
SUBTOTAL 8 16

LENT
Astrophysics
Particle & Nuclear Phys-
ics
choose 1 4 in each of
3 chosen
Quantum Condensed
Matter
subject subjects
Soft Condensed Matter

SUBTOTAL 4 12
TOTAL 12 28

Without an influx of new supervisors the system
will rapidly decay, so please be understanding. If
you do have problems with your supervisor that
cannot be solved by direct two-way discussion,
please contact your Director of Studies in the first
instance. If he or she feels that intervention is
warranted, s/he should contact the Supervisions
coordinator (currently Dr Rachael Padman).
6.5 NON-EXAMINED WORK
There is a non-examinable course of 24 lectures in
the Michaelmas term on Topics in Astrophysics.
These lectures should be interesting for all stu-
dents and are intended to provide valuable back-
ground for those who are interested in pursuing
Astrophysical courses in Part III
There is a non-examinable course of 8 lectures in
the Lent term on Concepts in Physics, intended to
place in perspective some major themes of phys-
ics, to sketch connections between them and to
investigate unresolved questions. Attendance is
strongly encouraged for all students.
Open Days (open to Part II and Part III students)
will be held during the year and are intended to
give an idea of the range of current research in the
laboratory. Dates are given on-line and posted on
the Part II and Part III notice boards.
Undergraduates are encouraged to attend the
Cavendish Physical Society lectures, at 4.00 pm
on some Wednesdays. Part II students are also
welcome at the many Research Seminars and
other lectures in the Department, particularly
those organised by the Cambridge Physics Centre.
These are advertised on notice boards, and on the
Cavendish groups web pages.
6.6 THE EXAMINATION
given in notices put up on the Part II notice board
outside the Pippard Lecture Theatre. You should
make sure that you read these regularly.
6.6.2 The Written Papers for Part II
The exact content of each Paper is a matter for the
relevant Examiners. Each of the core and op-
tional lecture courses is examined in a separate
two hour paper.
6.6.3 Requirements
The written examinations consist of the core lec-
ture course papers, plus three or four of the op-
tion lecture course papers. In addition to the
computing exercises, three or more other units of
Further Work must be offered and may be drawn
from the various choices described in Section 6.3
(see the Table on p.44).
6.6.4 Examination Entries
You are required to make a preliminary indication
of which papers you intend to offer when you fill
in your exam entry on CamSIS at the start of
Michaelmas term. You will then be required to
specify which final combination of papers you in-
tend to offer by modifying the exam entry during
Lent term, in liaison with your College Tutorial
Office. Any questions on completing the exam en-
try should be discussed with your Director of
Studies.
6.6.5 Submission of Further Work
When any piece of Further Work is submitted it
should be in a complete and final form.
Students are permitted to submit more than the
minimum number of units of Further Work. Once
a piece of Further Work has been submitted, it
will be marked: the best marks for the required
minimum number of units will count towards the
class, but all marks will appear in the markbook,
and on the transcript.
TP1 and TP2 are assessed by written tests during
the year. Once you have entered the room for the
TP1 or TP2 test the unit of Further Work will
count towards the final total.
Part II Physics 47
In accordance with the Universitys regulations,
work submitted after the advertised deadline will
not count towards your final examination mark,
unless the Department grants an extension of
time on the grounds that there are mitigating
circumstances. Any application for such an ex-
tension should be made by your college Tutor or
Director of Studies to the Director of Under-
graduate Teaching, c/o Teaching Office, Caven-
dish Laboratory, (teaching-
office@phy.cam.ac.uk). In such circumstances,
you should submit the work as soon as possible
after the deadline.
The Regulations require that assessed Records of
Further Work be submitted to the Examiners
through the Head of the Department; this hap-
pens automatically after assessment.
There is a list of important dates at the end
of this section.
6.7 HALF SUBJECT PHYSICS
Half Subject Physics is part of Natural Sciences
Part II Physical Sciences. It comprises about half
of the work load of Part II Physics, and may be
combined with a subject from Part IB not previ-
ously taken.
Candidates offer
i) Two of the core lecture course papers.
ii) One of the option lecture course papers.
iii) Computing exercises and two units of Further
Work (not including a Research Review).
In addition, Physical Sciences students must offer
a dissertation on a topic consistent with their Half
Subject. For Half Subject Physics this dissertation
will be on a topic from those offered for Research
Reviews, but with a word limit of 5000 (rather
than 3000 for a Research Review.
You will be required to specify which combination
of papers you intend to offer by the third week of
the Lent Term.
Vacation work may be arranged as described in
Section 6.3.6, and, if approved as there detailed,
may be counted as one unit of Further Work.
The arrangements for submitting Further Work
are the same as those for Part II Physics candi-
dates.
Part II Physics 48
Note: This list is not exhaustive, and may be superseded by announcements on the TIS. I n par-
ti cular please note that those student wi shi ng to progress to Part I I I wi ll need to
make thei r choi ce of Part I I I proj ect i n Lent term 2014. Further detai ls wi ll be an-
nounced on the TI S.
Tuesday 8
th
Wednesday 9
th
October 2013 9.30 General Registration (Pippard Lecture Theatre,
Cavendish Laboratory)
Monday 14
th
October 2013 14.00 Briefing for E1a, in relevant laboratory
Monday 14
th
October 2013 16.00 Vacation work report deadline
Monday 14
th
October 2013 14.00 First TP1 lecture
Wedn 16
th
October 2013 14.00 First TP1 examples class
Friday 25
th
October 2013 17.00 E1a laboratories close
Monday 28
th
October 2013 14.00 Briefing for E1b, in the relevant laboratory
Wed 30
th
October 2013 16.00 E1a report deadline
Friday 1
st
November 2013 Research review topics preliminary selection deadline
Friday 8
th
November 2013 17.00 E1b laboratories close
Monday 11
th
November 2013 14.00 Briefing for E1c, in the relevant laboratory
Wed 13
th
November 2013 16.00 E1b report deadline
Monday 18
th
November 2013 14.00 Last TP1 lecture
Friday 22
nd
November 2013 17.00 E1c laboratories close
Wed
27
th
November 2013
16.00 E1c report deadline
Wed 27
th
November 2013 14.00 Last TP1 examples class
Friday 6
th
Tuesday 14
th
Wed 15
th
January 2014 TP1 examination
Thursday 16
th
January 2014 12.00 First TP2 lecture
Monday 20
th
January 2014 14.00 Briefing for E2a, in relevant laboratory
Tuesday 28
th
January 2014 14.00 First TP2 examples class
Friday 31
st
January 2014 17.00 E2a laboratories close
Monday 3
rd
February 2014 14.00 Briefing for E2b, in the relevant laboratory
Wed 5
th
February 2014 16.00 E2a report deadline
Friday 14
th
February 2014 17.00 E2b laboratories close
Monday 17
th
February 2014 14.00 Briefing for E2c, in the relevant laboratory
Wed
19
th
February 2014
16.00 E2b report deadline
Thursday-
Wed
20
th
26
th
February 2014 Presentations of Research Reviews (will be organised
by your supervisor)
Friday 28
th
February 2014 17.00 E2c laboratories close
Wed 5
th
March 2014 16.00 E2c report deadline
Tuesday 11
th
March 2014 14.00 Last TP2 examples class
Friday 14
th
Tuesday 22
nd
Wed 23
rd
April 2014 TP2 examination
Monday 28
th
April 2014 16.00 Computing Report deadline
Monday 28
th
April 2014 16.00 Research Review deadline
Monday 28
th
April 2014 16.00 Physics Education deadline
Tuesday-
Monday
29
th
April
- 12
th
May 2014
Oral examinations on Research Reviews
(will be organised by your supervisor)
Friday 6
th
June 2014 Deadline for obtaining approval for Part II
students to do Long-Vacation Work for sub-
mission as part of Part III
Friday 13
th

Part II Physics 49
6.9 LECTURE LIST

PART II PHYSICS

PHYSICAL SCIENCES:
HALF SUBJECT PHYSICS

Departmental Contact: Helen Marshall: E-mail: II-physics@phy.cam.ac.uk

Students taking Part II Physics must take all four Core courses in the Michaelmas Term, three
or more of the Options courses in the Lent and Easter Terms, and Computational Physics.
They must in addition take three or more courses from Physics Education, Theoretical Op-
tions and Other Further Work. There is a test (under exam conditions) of the material of the
Theoretical Options at the start of the term following that in which each block, TP1 and TP2, is
given.
All students are recommended to attend the Non-examinable courses Concepts in Physics and
Current Research Work in the Cavendish Laboratory.

Students taking Half Subject Physics as part of Part II Physical Sciences will take any two of the
Core courses in the Michaelmas term and any one of the Options courses in the Lent and
Easter terms. Candidates also take two units of further work selected from Theoretical Op-
tions, Physics Education and Experiments or Long Vacation Project. A prior knowledge
of Physics equivalent to the material covered in Part IB Physics A and Part IB Physics B will be as-
sumed.

The course will begin with a meeting on the first Wednesday of Full Term (9 Oct.) at 9.30 a.m. in the Pip-
pard Lecture Theatre.



Part II Physics 50

ADVANCED QUANTUM PHYSICS
N R Cooper
Review of Quantum Physics: Postulates of quantum mechanics, operator methods, time-
dependence, symmetry. Solutions to the Schrdinger equation in one dimension. Angular mo-
mentum and spin; matrix representations.
Motion of charged particle in electromagnetic field: normal Zeeman effect; diamagnetic
hydrogen; gauge invariance; Aharonov-Bohm effect; Landau levels.
Approximate Methods: Time-independent perturbation theory, first and second order expan-
sion; Degenerate perturbation theory; Stark effect; nearly free electron model. Variational
method: ground state energy and eigenfunctions; excited states. The WKB method: bound states
and barrier penetration.
Identical particles: Particle indistinguishability and quantum statistics; free particle sys-
tems;effects of interactions.
Atomic and molecular structure: Revision of Hydrogen Atom. Fine structure: relativistic
corrections; Spin-orbit coupling; hyperfine structure. Multi-electron atoms: LS coupling; Hunds
rules; Zeeman effect. Born-Oppenheimer approximation; H
2
+
ion; molecular orbitals; H
2
mole-
cule; ionic and covalent bonding.
Time-dependent perturbation theory: Two-level system, Rabi oscillations, Magnetic reso-
nance. Perturbation series, Fermis Golden rule, scattering and the Born approximation. Radia-
tive transitions, dipole approximation, spontaneous emission and absorption, stimulated
emission, Einsteins A and B coefficients, selection rules; Cavity rate equations and lasers.
Elements of quantum field theory: Quantization of the classical atomic chain; phonons;
rules of field quantization and quantum electrodynamics; number states, coherent states, non-
classical light.

BOOKS
Quantum Physics, Gasiorowicz S (2
nd
edition Wiley, 1996; 3
rd
edn Wiley, 2003)
Quantum Mechanics, Non-relativistic theory vol. 3, Landau, L D and Lifshitz L M, (3
rd
edition
Butterworth-Heineman, 1981)
Quantum Mechanics, F. Schwabl (Springer, 4
th
edition, 2007)
Quantum Mechanics, Bransden B H and Joachain C J (2
nd
edition Pearson, 2000)
The Physics of Atoms and Quanta, Haken H and Wolf H C (6
th
edition Springer, 2000)
The Principles of Quantum Mechanics Shankar R (2
nd
edition Springer, 1994)
Problems in Quantum Mechanics, Squires G L (CUP 1995)
Part II Physics 51
OPTICS AND ELECTRODYNAMICS
H Sirringhaus
Note that the later parts of this course depends on material from the Part II Relativity course,
which runs in parallel with this in the Michaelmas Term.

Electromagnetic Waves and Optics: Revision of Maxwells equations. Light as an EM wave.
Polarization and partial polarization. Light in media; anisotropic media; polarizers and wave-
plates; optical activity; Faraday rotation. Jones matrices. Layered media; photonic structures.
Temporal and spatial coherence.

Electrodynamics: Vector potential A. Calculation of A in simple cases; Aharonov-Bohm ef-
fect; Maxwells equations in terms of A and |; choice of gauge. Wave equations for A and |; and
general solution; retarded potentials.

Radiation: Time-varying fields and radiation. Hertzian dipole; power radiated including angu-
lar distribution; magnetic dipoles. Properties of antennas: effective area; radiation resistance;
power-pattern. Half-wave dipole. Antenna arrays. Scattering: cross-section; Thomson and
Rayleigh scattering; denser media and the structure factor.

Relativistic Electrodynamics: Charges and currents; 4-current; 4-potential; transformation
of E and B; covariance of Maxwells equations; invariants of the EM field; energy and momentum
of the EM field; magnetism as a relativistic effect.

Radiation and relativistic electrodynamics: fields of a uniformly moving charge; erenkov
radiation; accelerated charges; Larmor and Linard formul; cyclotron and synchrotron radia-
tion; Bremsstrahlung.

BOOKS

Optics, Hecht E (4
th
edn Addison Wesley 2002)
Optical Physics, Lipson S G, Lipson H & Tannhauser D S (3
rd
edn CUP1995)
Electromagnetic Fields and Waves, Lorrain P & Corson D R (3
rd
edn Freeman 1998)
Classical Electrodynamics, Jackson J D (3
rd
edn Wiley 1998)
Part II Physics 52
RELATIVITY
M P Hobson
Foundations of special relativity: Inertial frames, spacetime geometry, Lorentz transfor-
mations, spacetime diagrams, length contraction and time dilation, Minkowski line element, par-
ticle worldlines and proper time, Doppler effect, addition of velocities, acceleration and event
horizons in special relativity.

Manifolds, coordinates and tensors: Concept of a manifold, curves and surfaces, coordinate
transformations, Riemannian geometry, instrinsic and extrinsic geometry, the metric tensor,
lengths areas and volumes, local Cartesian coordinates, tangent spaces, pseudo-Riemannian ge-
ometry, scalar, vector and tensor fields, basis vectors, raised and lowered indices, tangent vectors,
the affine connection, covariant differentiation, intrinsic derivative, parallel transport, geodesics.

Minkowski spacetime and particle dynamics: Cartesian inertial coordinates, Lorentz trans-
formations, 4-tensors and inertial bases, 4-vectors and the lightcone, 4-velocity, 4-acceleration,
4-momentum of massive and massless particles, relativistic mechanics, accelerating observers,
arbitrary coordinate systems.

Electromagnetism: the electromagnetic force, the 4-current density, the electromagnetic field
equations, the electromagnetic field tensor, the Lorentz gauge, electric and magnetic fields, invar-
iants, electromagnetism in arbitrary coordinates.

The equivalence principle and spacetime curvature: Newtonian gravity, the equivalence
principle, gravity as spacetime curvature, local inertial coordinates, observers in a curved
spacetime, weak gravitational fields, intrinsic curvature, the curvature tensor, the Ricci tensor,
parallel transport, geodesic deviation, tidal forces, minimal coupling procedure.

Gravitational field equations: the energy-momentum tensor, perfect fluids, relativistic fluid
dynamics, the Einstein equations, the weak field limit, the cosmological constant, particle motion
from the field equations.

Schwarzschild spacetime: static isotropic metrics, solution of empty-space field equations,
Birkhoffs theorem, gravitational redshift, trajectories of massive particles and photons. Singulari-
ties, radially infalling particles, event horizons, Eddington-Finkelstein coordinates, gravitational
collapse, tidal forces, Hawking radiation.

Experimental tests of general relativity: precession of planetary orbits, the bending of light,
radar echoes, accretion discs around compact objects, gyroscope precession.

Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime: the cosmological principle, comoving coordi-
nates, the maximally-symmetric 3-space, the FRW metric, geodesics, cosmological redshift, the
cosmological field equations.

Kerr spaceti me: the general stationary axisymmetric metric, the dragging of inertial frames,
stationary limit surfaces, event horizons, the Kerr metric, structure of a rotating black hole, tra-
jectories of massive particles and photons, Penrose process.

Li neari sed gravi ty and gravi tati onal waves: weak field metric, linearised field equa-
tions, Lorenz gauge, wave solutions of linearised field equations.

Topics in italics are non-examinable, and might be omitted.
Part II Physics 53
BOOKS

General relativity: an introduction for physicists, Hobson M P, Efstathiou G P & Lasenby A N
(CUP 2005). This covers all parts of the course.

Relativity: special, general and cosmological, Rindler W (OUP 2001). Good for the concepts and
methods. Provides a lot of physical and geometrical insight.

Introducing Einstein's Relativity, d'Inverno R (OUP 1992). Provides a clear description covering
most of the gravitation course material.

Gravity: an introduction to Einsteins general relativity, Hartle J B (Addison Wesley 2003). A
clear introduction that does not rely too much on tensor methods.

Spacetime and geometry, Carroll S M (Addison Wesley 2004). A very thorough, yet highly read-
able, introduction to general relativity and the associated mathematics

General theory of relativity, Dirac P A M (yes, that Dirac!) (Princeton University Press 1996). A
short and well-argued account of the mathematical and physical basis of general relativity. Proba-
bly only useful once you already understand the subject.

Part II Physics 54
THERMAL AND STATISTICAL PHYSICS
W A Allison

Introduction and revision of Thermodynamics:
The ideal gas; the van der Waals gas; equations of state; phase diagrams. Thermodynamic vari-
ables and potentials. Thermodynamic equilibrium in closed systems, maximum entropy; open
systems and availability relation to thermodynamic potentials and to the probability of a state

Fundamentals of statistical mechanics:
Principle of equal equilibrium probability; microcanonical, canonical and grand canonical ensem-
bles; partition function and grand partition function relation to thermodynamic potentials and
variables; maximisation of partition function. Paramagnetic salt in an external field; ensemble of
simple harmonic oscillators.

Classical ideal gas:
Counting of states in the phase space; equipartition theorem; indistinguishability; ideal gas in the
canonical ensemble; additional degrees of freedom and external potentials; chemical reactions
and chemical equilibrium. Grand partition function; density series expansion; p-T ensemble; -p-
T ensemble; ideal gas in the grand canonical ensemble

Quantum statistical mechanics:
Quantum to classical crossover; Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics; quantum states of an
ideal gas. The ideal Fermi gas; low-temperature limit; entropy and heat capacity of fermions of at
low temperatures. The ideal Bose gas; Bose-Einstein condensation. Black-body radiation, pho-
nons and spin waves

Classical interacting systems:
Liquids; radial distribution function; internal energy and equation of state; pair interaction and
virial expansion; van der Waals equation of state revisited. Mixtures and mixing entropy; phase
separation; phase diagrams and critical points. Phase transformations; symmetry breaking and
order parameters; the Ising model; the Landau theory of phase transitions; 1st and 2nd order
transitions, critical points and triple points; transitions in external fields; critical behaviour and
universality

Fluctuations and stochastic processes:
Fluctuations in thermodynamic variables; probability distribution of fluctuations; fluctuations at
critical points. Thermal noise; Brownian motion; stochastic variables and Langevin equation; fluc-
tuation-dissipation theorem. Probability distribution and simple diffusion; diffusion in external
potentials; the Kramers problem; generalised diffusion equations
BOOKS
Equilibrium Thermodynamics, Adkins (3rd edn CUP 1983).
Concepts in Thermal Physics, Blundell and Blundell (Oxford 2006)
Introductory Statistical Mechanics, Bowley & Sanchez (Oxford 1996).
Statistical Physics (Course of Theoretical Physics, v.5), Landau & Lifshitz (Pergamon 1980)
Brownian Motion, Mazo (Oxford 2002)

Part II Physics Options Courses 55
ASTROPHYSICAL FLUID DYNAMICS
D Sijacki
Fluids are ubiquitous in the Universe on all scales. As well as obvious fluids (e.g. the gas that is in
stars or clouds in the interstellar medium) a variety of other systems are amenable to a fluid dy-
namical description - including the dust that makes up the rings of Saturn and even the orbits of
stars in the galactic potential. Although some of the techniques of conventional (terrestrial) fluid
dynamics are relevant to astrophysical fluids, there are some important differences: astronomical
objects are often self-gravitating or else may be accelerated by powerful gravitational fields to
highly supersonic velocities. In the latter case, the flows are highly compressible and strong shock
fronts are often observed (for example, the spiral shocks that are so prominent in the gas of galax-
ies like the Milky Way).

In this course, we consider a wide range of topical issues in astronomy, such as the propagation of
supernova shock waves through the interstellar medium, the internal structure of stars and the
variety of instabilities that affect interstellar/intergalactic gas. These include, perhaps most im-
portantly, the Jeans instability whose action is responsible for the formation of every star and gal-
axy in the Universe. We also deal with exotic astronomical environments, such as white dwarfs
and neutron stars (supported by electron and neutron degeneracy pressure respectively) as well as
the orbiting discs of gas and dust which feed black holes.

On completion of the module students should:
- understand and learn to manipulate fluid dynamical equations in both Eulerian and
Lagrangian form;
- be able to set up and solve simple hydrostatic equilibrium situations in spherical and disc
geometries;
- be able to perform simple linear stability analyses and apply to wave propagation in
hydrodynamical and magnetohydrodynamical systems;
- apply Bernoulli's theorem to astrophysical applications;
- understand the concept of shocks and their application to astrophysical blast waves;
- understand the role of viscosity in accretion discs.
Introduction. The concept of a fluid, density and velocity. Kinematics: steady and unsteady
flows, streamlines and particle paths; conservation of mass. Derivative following the fluid motion.
Dynamics. Pressure. (Inviscid) momentum equation for a fluid under gravity, application to
force of jet on a wall, momentum equation in conservative form, role of u
i
u
k,
Poisson's equation
for the gravitational potential and its derivation. The Virial Theorem.
Simple steady states. Simple (barotropic) relation between pressure and density, physical ex-
amples. Hydrostatic atmosphere under uniform gravity; self-gravitating isothermal slab and its
relevance to galactic discs; self-gravitating polytropes as simple models of stars, mass-radius rela-
tion.
Energy. (entropy) equation with simple cooling law.
Sound waves. Sound speed (adiabatic and isothermal). Description of why shocks occur.
Rankine-Hugoniot conditions. 1-D shock tube, application to blast waves and supernova rem-
nants.
Bernoulli's equation and its applicability. De Laval nozzle and its relevance to astrophysical
jets, Bondi accretion, stellar winds and mass loss.
Fluid instabilities. Rayleigh-Taylor instability, Schwarzschild criterion; Thermal instability,
Field criterion; statement of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, Jeans instability.
Viscous flows. Linear and circular shear flows. Accretion discs.
Magnetohydrodynamics. The ideal MHD equations ( E +v^B = 0). Alfven waves.

BOOKS
Elementary Fluid Dynamics, Acheson, D (Oxford University Press 1994)
An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics, Batchelor, G K (CUP 1991)
Principles of Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, Clarke, C J & Carswell, R F (CUP 2007)
Hydrodynamics, Lamb, H (CUP 6
th
edn 1932, reprinted 1993)
Fluid Mechanics, Landau & Lifshitz, (Pergamon Press 1987)
An informal introduction to theoretical Fluid Mechanics Lighthill, M J (Oxford University Press
1993)
PARTICLE AND NUCLEAR PHYSICS
D R Ward
This course assumes familiarity with many of the topics in the "Advanced Quantum Physics"
course. At the end of the course, the students should be familiar with the following features of
Nuclear Physics:

- the structure of nuclei, and simple nuclear models such as the liquid drop model and the
shell model;
- techniques in scattering theory which are relevant in nuclear physics -- partial waves,
Born approximation and compound nucleus formation;
- the main types of nuclear decays, and with models for calculating these and the associated
selection rules;
- the key features of nuclear fission and fusion and their applications;

and with the following aspects of Particle Physics:

- how forces arise from virtual particle exchange (in outline only);
- the particle content and interactions of The Standard Model, together with an under-
standing of how to apply (spinless) Feynman Diagrams to make order-of-magnitude esti-
mates for rates and signatures of allowed/disallowed Standard Model processes;
- the types of evidence upon which the three key parts of The Standard Model (i.e. electro-
magnetic, strong and weak), are founded;
- how to determine which hadron decays would or would not be consistent with the quark
content of the Standard Model, with parity violation/conservation, with energy-
momentum conservation, etc.

INTRODUCTION
Matter and Forces: Matter and generations. Leptons, quarks, hadrons and nuclei. Forces and
gauge bosons.

NUCLEAR PHYSICS
Basic Nuclear Properties: Natural units. Stable nuclei. Binding energy. Nuclear mass (Semi-
Empirical Mass Formula). Spin and parity. Reactions and cross-sections. Scattering in Quantum
Mechanics. Form factors and nuclear size. Nuclear moments.

Scattering and the Nuclear Force: General features. The deuteron. Nucleon-nucleon scatter-
ing. Partial waves. Scattering Length. Resonances. Partial decay widths. Breit-Wigner cross-
section.

Nuclear Structure: Magic numbers, the Nuclear Shell Model and its predictions, excited states
of nuclei (vibrations and rotations).

Nuclear Decay: Particle decays. Radioactivity and dating. o decay. | decay, Fermi theory of |
decay. decay.

Nuclear Fission and Fusion: Nuclear fission. Reactors. Nuclear fusion. Nucleosynthesis. So-
lar Neutrinos.

PARTICLE PHYSICS
The Standard Model: Relativistic Kinematics (Four-vectors, invariant mass, colliders and \s).
Summary of the Standard Model of particle physics. Theoretical framework. Klein-Gordon and
Dirac equations. Antimatter. Interaction via particle exchange. Yukawa potential. Virtual parti-
cles. Feynman diagrams.

Electromagnetic Interaction: QED. Gauge invariance. Electromagnetic interaction vertices.
Scattering in QED. Discovery of quarks. Drell-Yan process. Experimental tests of QED. Higher or-
ders and running of o.

Strong interaction: QCD. Strong interaction vertices. Gluons, colour and self-interactions, col-
our factors. QCD potential, confinement and jets. Jets. Running of the strong coupling
.
Scattering
in QCD. Experimental evidence for gluons, colour, self-interactions and the running of o
s
.

Quark Model of Hadrons: Hadron wavefunctions and parity. Light quark mesons and masses.
Baryons, baryon masses and magnetic moments. Hadron decays. Discovery of the J/. Charmo-
nium. Charmed Hadrons. Discovery of the T. Bottomonium and bottom hadrons.

Weak Interaction: Bosons and self-interactions. Weak charged current (W
boson). Parity vio-

lation. Weak charged current lepton vertices. and t decay. Lepton universality. Weak charged
current interactions of quarks. Cabibbo suppression and the CKM matrix. Weak charged current
quark vertices

Electroweak Unification: Neutral currents (Z
0
boson). Electroweak Unification and the
Glashow-Weinberg-Salam Model. Weak neutral current vertices and couplings. Summary of
Standard Model vertices and drawing Feynman diagrams. Precision tests of the Standard Model
at the Large Electron Positron collider (LEP). The top quark. The Higgs mechanism and the
Higgs boson.

The Standard Model and Beyond: Incompleteness of the Standard Model.Neutrino oscilla-
tions. Beyond the Standard Model - supersymmetry.

BOOKS
Particle physics books (Perkins is closest to the course; Thomson or Griffiths are good if you
want to go beyond):
Introduction to High Energy Physics, Perkins D H (4
th
edn CUP 2000).
Particle Physics, Martin B R & Shaw G (3
rd
edn Wiley 2008).
Introduction to Elementary Particles, Griffiths D J (2
nd
edn Wiley 2009).
Modern Particle Physics, Thomson, M A (CUP 2013)

Nuclear physics books (Krane is closest to the course):
Introductory Nuclear Physics, Krane K S (Wiley 1988).
Basic Ideas and Concepts in Nuclear Physics, Heyde K (3
rd
edn CRC Press 2004).
Fundamentals of Nuclear Physics, Jelley N (CUP 1990).

Introductory books that cover the whole course, (at a lower level generally):
Nuclear and Particle Physics, Martin B R (2
nd
edn Wiley 2009).
The Physics of Nuclei and Particles, Dunlap P A (Thomson Brooks/Cole 2003).
QUANTUM CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS

F M Grosche

This course will focus on collective quantum phenomena in solids, namely how physical phenom-
ena emerge from the interaction of large numbers of atoms.

Electrons and phonons: The free Fermi gas. Elementary excitations. Heat capacity of insula-
tors and metals. Semiclassical approach to electron transport in electric and magnetic fields.
Screening and Thomas-Fermi theory. Plasma oscillations. Optical conductivity of metals.

Structure and bonding in solids: The variety of condensed matter: ordered, partially ordered
and disordered. Types of bonding. Description of periodic solids. Bonding and structure. X-ray
diffraction and reciprocal space.

Electrons in periodic solids: Blochs theorem, Brillouin zones, band structure. Crystal mo-
mentum. Nearly localised electrons: tight binding method, 1D chain, polymers. Nearly free elec-
trons: plane waves and band gaps. High magnetic field: quantum oscillations and quantum Hall
effect. Band structures of real materials: insulators and metals, optical transitions, de Haas-van
Alphen, photoemission, tunnelling spectroscopies.

Semiconductors and semiconductor devices: Crystal structure and bandstructure. Effec-
tive mass. Thermal equilibrium of quasiparticles in an intrinsic semiconductor. Doped semicon-
ductors. pn junctions. Heterostructures and quantum wells. Devices: LED, solar cell,
semiconductor lasers, field effect transistor.

Instabilities: Charge density waves. Interactions in the electron gas. Condensates. The standard
model of condensed matter physics and how it may fail.

BOOKS

Band Theory and Electronic Properties of Solids, J. Singleton (OUP 2008)
Solid State Physics, Ashcroft N W and Mermin N D, (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1976)
Introduction to Solid State Physics, Kittel C (7th edn Wiley 1996)
Principles of the Theory of Solids, Ziman J M (CUP 1972)
SOFT CONDENSED MATTER
E M Terentjev
Introduction: What is soft matter? Forces, energies and timescales.

Elements of fluid dynamics: Navier-Stokes equation; Reynolds number; Laminar and bound-
ary layer flows; Stokes Law and drag; Hydrodynamic interaction between colloidal particles; Im-
plications for living systems; How bacteria swim; Viscosity of a hard sphere suspension; Non-
Newtonian behaviour; Idea of complex viscosity; Linear viscoelasticity; Simple phenomenological
models.

Surface energy and interactions: Surface energy and tension; Cahn-Hilliard model of a liquid
interface; Wetting: Youngs equation and contact angles; hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity; Elec-
trolyte solutions: Debye-Huckel theory; Interactions between colloidal particles, DLVO potential.

Self assembly: Chemical potential of systems that aggregate; Aggregation equilibria; Aggrega-
tion of amphiphilic molecules; Critical micelle concentration; Shape of micelles; Lipid bilayers;
Nature of the cell membrane; Curvature elasticity; Fluctuations of membranes; Examples of self
assembly: viruses and nanotechnology.

Polymers and biological macromolecules: Examples of polymers; Single-chain statistics,
self-avoiding walks; Entropic forces and excluded volume; Wormlike chain and persistence
length, DNA; Phase transitions: Flory Huggins free energy for solutions; Good, theta and poor
solvent conditions; Osmotic pressure in dilute conditions; Scaling in semi-dilute solutions; Chain
dynamics in the Rouse model; Rubber elasticity.

BOOKS
Fluid Dynamics for Physicists, Faber T.E (CUP 1995)
Soft Condensed Matter, Jones R.A.L. (OUP 2002)
Biological Physics, Nelson P. (Freeman 2003)
Molecular Driving Forces, Dill K.A. and Bromberg S., (Garland 2003)
ADVANCED TEXTS
Statistical Thermodynamics of Surfaces, Interfaces and Membranes, Safran S.A. (Addison
Wesley 1994)
Applied Biophysics, Waigh, T.A. (Wiley 2007)
Physical Biology of the Cell, Phillips, R. Et al, (Garland 2009)
Molecular Biophysics, Daune M. (OUP 1999)

Part II Physics Computing Exercises 61
COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS
J S Richer and D F Buscher
Summary

This compulsory course builds on the IB course Introduction to Computing, and aims to develop
further the computational physics skills acquired in that course. It consists of eight lectures in
the first four weeks of Lent term, and four 3-hour practical classes in the MCS (formally
PWF) during weeks 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the Lent term. In the lectures, various computational tech-
niques used in physics will be presented, as well as general advice on programming and creating
good quality software. In the practical classes, students will solve a series of computational phys-
ics problems. As in the IB course, programs will be written in C++ running under a LINUX envi-
ronment. More sophisticated techniques and problems will be addressed, using external
numerical libraries to handle some of the detailed computations. The focus is on self-learning, and
learning by doing: the lectures are important, but it is only in the practical classes that real skills
are developed. Demonstrators will be on hand in the MCS (formally PWF) to assist with prob-
lems.

This course also covers the material required for students planning to offer an (optional) Comput-
ing Project (see separate page for full description).

Assessment

The credit for this course is approximately equal to one fifth of a unit of further work. During
each of the practical sessions, a computational physics problem is to be solved by writing, running
and testing a piece of software. When complete and tested, students will upload their solutions for
checking to a dedicated file space for marking. The expectation is that students will gain high
marks if they complete the exercises satisfactorily.

Syllabus

The computational physics topics covered will include
Representation of numbers; roundoff error.
Solution of Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs): Euler and Runge-Kutta schemes; accuracy
and stability.
Dealing with data: interpolation, extrapolation; Fourier Transform techniques, including the FFT;
fitting models to data.
Pseudo Random Numbers; Monte-Carlo techniques; Ising model.
Linear algebra
Part II Physics Further Work 62
COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS PROJECT
J S Richer and D F Buscher

A Computational Physics Project constitutes one unit of further work and may be offered, option-
ally, by all Part II Physics students. There are no lectures or practical classes, but the compulsory
course in Computational Physics provides the essential background for this work. Students chose
one of a range of problems to investigate independently, using MCS (formally PWF) facilities or
other equivalent facilities if they prefer. They will analyse the problem, write and test computer
program to investigate and solve it, then write up their work in a report. It is required that the
programs will be written in C++ running under LINUX, as in the IB course. However, if a student
wishes to use other supporting languages (e.g. Java, or a scripting language like Python), this may
be acceptable given prior consent from the Head of Class.

Students may start their project work at any time in the Lent term. The deadline for submission of
the project report is 4:00pm on the first Monday of Easter term (28
th
April 2014).

One copy of the report should be handed in to the Teaching Office (Room 212B, Bragg Build-
ing) in person before the submission deadline. In order to preserve anonymity when your report is
looked at by the Part II examiners, your name must not appear on the report itself, but
only on the cover sheet which you will be given when you hand it in. You should ensure
that your candidate number appears on the first page of the report, together with the title of
the report.

In addition, you should also upload, by the same deadline, your report in PDF format to the
electronic course pigeon holes on the Physics PWF, along with the source code, program ex-
ecutable, and possibly other relevant files you have created for the project (e.g. Makefiles, large
graphic files, videos, etc).

The form of solution expected, and of the write up, will be described in more detail in the handout
which contains the suggested projects. It will be marked by one of the Heads of Class, acting as
Assessor for the Examiners. After the examination, you will receive a copy of the mark sheet,
which will provide feedback on your performance. The marks allocated by the Head of Class
are subject to moderation and scaling by the examiners, so the mark you receive
may not match the final mark for this piece of work in the College Markbook.

Candidates may be selected for viva voce examination after submission, as a matter of routine,
and therefore a summons to a viva should not be taken to indicate that there is anything amiss.
You will be asked some straightforward questions on your project work, and may be asked to
elaborate on the extent of discussions you may have had with other students. So long as you can
demonstrate that your write-ups are indeed your own, your answers will not alter your project
grades.
THEORETICAL PHYSICS 1 - CLASSICAL FIELD THEORY (TP1)
C Castelnovo and M P Hobson
The course covers theoretical aspects of the classical dynamics of particles and fields, with empha-
sis on topics relevant to the transition to quantum theory. This course is recommended only for
students who have achieved a strong performance in Mathematics as well as Physics in Part IB, or
an equivalent qualification. In particular, familiarity with variational principles, Euler-Lagrange
equations, complex contour integration, Cauchys Theorem and transform methods will be as-
sumed. Students who have not taken the Part IB Physics B course Classical Dynamics should
familiarise themselves with the Introduction to Lagrangian Mechanics material.

Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics: Generalised coordinates and constraints; the La-
grangian and Lagrange's equations of motion; symmetry and conservation laws, canonical mo-
menta, the Hamiltonian; principle of least action; velocity-dependent potential for
electromagnetic forces, gauge invariance; Hamiltonian mechanics and Hamilton's equations;
Liouville's theorem; Poisson brackets and the transition to quantum mechanics; relativistic dy-
namics of a charged particle.

Classical fields: Waves in one dimension, Lagrangian density, canonical momentum and Ham-
iltonian density; multidimensional space, relativistic scalar field, Klein-Gordon equation; natural
units; relativistic phase space, Fourier analysis of fields; complex scalar field, multicomponent
fields; the electromagnetic field, field-strength tensor, electromagnetic Lagrangian and Hamilto-
nian density, Maxwell's equations.

Symmetries and conservation laws: Noether's theorem, symmetries and conserved currents;
global phase symmetry, conserved charge; gauge symmetry of electromagnetism; local phase and
gauge symmetry; stress-energy tensor, angular momentum tensor; transition to quantum fields.

Broken symmetry: Self-interacting scalar field; spontaneously broken global phase symmetry,
Goldstone's theorem; spontaneously broken local phase and gauge symmetry, Higgs mechanism.

Phase transitions and critical phenomena: Landau theory, first order vs. continuous phase
transitions, correlation functions, scaling laws and universality in simple continuous field theo-
ries.

Propagators and causality: Schrdinger propagator, Fourier representation, causality; Kram-
ers-Kronig relations for propagators and linear response functions; propagator for the Klein-
Gordon equation, antiparticle interpretation.

BOOKS
The Feynman Lectures, Feynman R P et al. (Addison-Wesley 1963) Vol. 2. Perhaps read some at
the start of TP1 and re-read at the end.
Classical Mechanics, Kibble T W B and Berkshire F H (4th edn Longman 1996): A clear basic text
with many examples and electromagnetism in SI units.
Classical Mechanics, Goldstein H (2nd edn Addison-Wesley 1980): A classic text that does far
more than is required for this course, but is clearly written and good for the parts that you need.
Classical Theory of Gauge Fields, Rubakov V (Princeton 2002): The earlier parts are closest to
this course, with much interesting more advanced material in later chapters.
Course of Theoretical Physics, Landau L D & Lifshitz E M: Vol.1 Mechanics (3rd edn Oxford 1976-
94) is all classical Lagrangian dynamics, in a structured, consistent and very brief form;
Vol.2 Classical Theory of Fields (4th edn Oxford 1975) contains electromagnetic and gravitational
theory, and relativity. Many interesting worked examples.
Quantum and Statistical Field Theory, Le Bellac M, (Clarendon Press 1992): An excellent book on
quantum and statistical field theory, especially applications of QFT to phase transitions and criti-
cal phenomena. The first few chapters are particularly relevant to this course.
THEORETICAL PHYSICS 2 - TOPICS IN QUANTUM THEORY (TP2)
A Lamacraft and M C Payne
The development of quantum theory during the 20th century leads to the introduction of com-
pletely new concepts to physics. At the same time, physicists were forced - sometimes unwillingly
- to adopt myriad new techniques and mathematical ideas. In this course, we'll survey some of
these more advanced topics.

This course is recommended only for students who have achieved a strong performance in
Mathematics as well as Physics in Part IB, or an equivalent qualification. You should be VERY
comfortable with the material from the Advanced Quantum Physics course. Some familiarity with
Lagrangian mechanics (as discussed in TP1) is also useful but not essential.

The adiabatic approximation and Berrys phase: A spin in a field. The adiabatic approxi-
mation. Berrys phase.

Introduction to path integrals: The propagator. How does the Lagrangian appear in quan-
tum mechanics? The method of stationary phase and the semiclassical limit.

Scattering Theory: Scattering in one dimension. Scattering amplitude and cross section. Opti-
cal theorem. Green's function and relation to propagator. Born series and Born approximation.
Partial wave analysis. Bound states.

Density Operators: Two kinds of probability. The density matrix and its properties. Time de-
pendence of the density operator. Applications in statistical mechanics.

Identical Particles in Quantum Mechanics: Second quantisation for bosons and fermions.
Density matrices for identical particles. Interference of condensates. Hanbury Brown and Twiss
effect.

Lie Groups: Rotation group, SO(3) and SU(2). How Pauli solved the Hydrogen atom without the
Schrdinger equation.

Relativistic Quantum Physics: Klein-Gordon equation. Lorentz group. Spinors and the Dirac
equation.
BOOKS
Principles of Quantum Mechanics, Shanker R (2
nd
edn Springer 1994)
Modern Quantum Mechanics, Sakurai J J (2
nd
edn Addison-Wesley 1994)
Lectures on Quantum Mechanics, Baym G (Benjamin WA 1969)

For mathematical background wed heartily recommend Mike Stone and Paul Goldbarts Mathe-
matics for Physicists: A guided tour for graduate students (SUP, 2009). This contains a lot of
advanced material as well as much of what you covered in IB Mathematics.

A great resource for just about anything you may need to know about any of the functions we meet
is the NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions at http://dlmf.nist.gov.
PART II EXPERIMENTS
D A Ritchie
There are 12 separate experiments, with varying numbers of places. Not all experiments will run
in all six sessions availability will depend in part on demand, and partly on the effort required to
run them. The experiments are listed below.

([..] = maximum numbers of places available)

Waveguide [5] Dr Ri chard Saunders
Part II Laboratory, Room 170 AP
Waveguide propagation of a cm wavelength radio wave is investigated.

Phase-Locked Loops [6] Dr Andrew I rvi ne
Part II Laboratory, Room 173 ME
Operation and optimisation of phase-locked loops is investigated, for frequency locking and for
recovery of signals buried in noise.

Optical Pumping of Rb [3] Dr Mete Atatr e
Part II Laboratory, Room 168 AMOP
The Zeeman effect in the ground state of the rubidium atom is studied, nuclear spins of
85
Rb and
87
Rb are obtained and multi-photon absorption and power broadening are investigated.

Semiconductor Quantum Devices [6] Prof. David Ri tchi e
Part II Laboratory, Room 167 SP
The resonant tunnelling of electrons in semiconductors is investigated at both room temperature
and 77K.

Mobility [6] Prof. Henning Si rri nghaus
Part II Laboratory, Room 173 OE
Propagation of carriers through a semiconductor is measured by a direct method.

Ferro-fluids [6] T.B.A.
Part II Laboratory, Room 173 BSS
An investigation is made of instabilities and pattern formations at Ferro-fluid interfaces.

Illuminance Fluctuation Spectroscopy [5] Dr Chri s Edgcombe
Part II Laboratory, Room 169 SMF
The Boltzmann constant is obtained by studying the correlated fluctuations in scattering of laser
light from polystyrene spheres dispersed in water.

Josephson [5] Dr Mi ke Sutherland
Part II Laboratory, Room 186 QM
The ratio of e/h is measured by studying the I-V characteristic of a Josephson junction immersed
in liquid helium.

Particle Tracks [5] Dr Susan Hai nes
Bragg, Room 178 HEP
Properties of short-lived hyperons are measured by analysing photographs from a liquid hydrogen
bubble chamber.

Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy [4] Dr Andrew J ardi ne
Part IB Laboratory, Room 152 SMF
The growth kinetics of graphite oxidation pits are investigated on atomic length scales.

Pulsed NMR at 15 MHz [10] Dr Sarah Bohndi ek
Part II Laboratory Room 170 BSS
This experiment investigates and demonstrates the principles of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
(NMR). Spin-echo methods are employed to study the characteristic NMR properties of a number
of samples.

Submission of your report

One copy of your report should be handed in to the Teaching Office (Room 212B, Bragg Build-
ing) in person before the submission deadline. In order to preserve anonymity when your report is
looked at by the Part II examiners, your name must not appear on the report itself, but
only on the cover sheet which you will be given when you hand it in. You should ensure
that your candidate number, if known, appears on the first page of the report, together with the
name of the experiment and the name of your Head of Class.

Before the end of the relevant term, the report will be assessed by the Head of Class, who will then
conduct a viva voce examination (typically 30 minutes long). The student will be asked to give a
short verbal summary (typically 10 minutes), normally uninterrupted, of the report during the ex-
amination. Students should expect to be contacted by the Head of Class shortly after the submis-
sion of their report, to arrange the examination.

These Head of Class will write a report to the Part II Examiners and will recommend a mark.
These marks are not necessarily final and may be amended by the examiners, who will also look at
the report and the Head of Classs written assessments. After the viva, you will receive a copy of
the mark sheet, which will provide feedback on your performance. The marks allocated by the
Head of Class are subject to moderation and scaling by the examiners, so the mark
you receive may not match the final mark for this piece of work in the College Mark-
book.
The following guidelines for allocation of marks to Part II experimental reports will be given to the
Head of Class.
- Understanding: (30%): of the physical system being measured, and of the experimental
design.
- The experiment (40%): how well the work was done, quality of results, discussion of er-
rors.
- Communications skills 1 - Report (20%): Was the report well written and clearly organ-
ised, with clear and well balanced arguments, appropriate use of figures, tables and refer-
ences.
- Communications skills 2 - Viva (10%): Was the student able to summarise the work and
respond coherently to questions?

After the viva, the Head of Class will send the report and recommended mark to the Teaching Of-
fice. After publication of the Part II Class List, students may, if they wish, retrieve their report
from the Teaching Office.

If there are any queries concerning these arrangements, contact, Helen Marshall in the Teaching
Office (teaching-office@phy.cam.ac.uk).
Contact details

Staff member Telephone
(secretary)
Room Group E-mail
Atatre, Dr M 66465(66298) 982 AMOP ma424@cam.ac.uk
Bohndiek, Dr S T.B.A. T.B.A. BSS seb53@cam.ac.uk
Edgcombe, Dr C 37335 443 PCS cje1@cus.cam.ac.uk
Haines, Dr S C 37231 959 HEP haines@hep.phy.cam.ac.uk
Irvine, Dr A C 37555 M232 ME aci20@cam.ac.uk
Jardine, Dr A P 37279(37336) 417 PCS apj24@cam.ac.uk
Ritchie, Prof. D A 37331/37255 361 SP dar11@cam.ac.uk
Saunders, Dr R D E 37301 F09 AP rdes@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Sirringhaus, Prof. H 37557 M208 OE/ME hs220@cam.ac.uk
Sutherland, Dr M 37389 463 QM mls41@cam.ac.uk

RESEARCH REVIEWS
F M Grosche
A research review is aimed at producing a descriptive and critical review of an area of physics of
particular interest to the student. Its precise form may vary, and is to be agreed with the supervi-
sor. The topic could range from a review of the very latest research in a particular area to, for ex-
ample, a classic discovery of the twentieth century. In some cases the supervisor may indicate one
or two articles which serve as an introduction; in other cases the student may need to search in
computerised databases or citation indices to find relevant papers.

The research review abstracts are available on the web:
see (www.teach.phy.cam.ac.uk/pt2reviews/) for a direct link to the research review page). Stu-
dents may also suggest reviews of their own, but they must have a supervisor (who may be exter-
nal) and the review must be approved in advance. Students interested in a particular review
should discuss it as soon as possible with the relevant supervisor. The list of reviews on the web
will be continuously updated as new ones are added.

By Friday 25
th
October 2013, students should select (via a form on the Web) the review topics
they would like to do, in order of preference. A ballot will then be held in order to assign titles to
students in a fair way, and students and supervisors informed of the outcome.

Reviews can be started during the Michaelmas term or they may be deferred until the Lent term.
It might be a good idea to start some reading over the Christmas vacation. It is important to re-
member that the review counts for only about half a Tripos paper, so students should bear this in
mind when deciding how much time to devote to it. During the preparation for the writing of the
report, students will be asked to give a short talk presenting their preliminary work to a group of
students writing research reviews in similar areas. It is expected that supervisors will organise
these group sessions, which will consist of, say, four to eight students, in the last two or three
weeks of the Lent term. Students will receive feedback on the content and presentation of their re-
views from the supervisors present and from their fellow students. This form of presentation is
aimed at developing communication and presentational skills. You will be awarded 5% of the
available marks for the Research Review upon giving the presentation (irrespective of its quality).

The Web of Science database (http://wos.mimas.ac.uk) may be used to find relevant papers. Stu-
dents must first sign a form (available from the Rayleigh Library) unless they signed one last year.

The write-up of the review will typically be in the style of a paper published in a scientific journal.
The style of the review should be agreed with the supervisor. The review should describe and ex-
plain the main features of the subject, suggesting in which direction the field is moving, and draw-
ing some conclusions. The main text should be concise (3000 words maximum, including any
appendices). In addition, there must be an abstract of not more than 250 words. The student and
supervisor should discuss the general structure of the review before writing is started, but the su-
pervisor should not read a full version of the text until it is submitted. A set of handy tips and in-
formation is given in the booklet entitled Keeping Laboratory Notes and Writing Formal
Reports, which is handed out to students at the start of the year - make sure you get one.

The deadline for submission of the research review is 4:00 pm on the first Monday of Easter
Full Term (28
th
April 2014). Two copies of the review should be handed in to the Teaching
Office (Room 212B, Bragg Building) in person before the submission deadline. In order to pre-
serve anonymity when your review is looked at by the Part II examiners, your name must not
appear on the review itself, but only on the cover sheet which you will be given when
you hand it in. You should ensure that your candidate number appears on the first page of the
research review, together with the title of the review and your supervisors name.

As soon as possible after submission, the review will be assessed by two people, normally the su-
pervisor and another staff member, who will conduct an informal oral examination (typically 30
minutes long) of the student on the work. The student will be asked to give a short verbal sum-
mary, normally uninterrupted, of the review during the interview. The assessor, who will be ap-
pointed by the Teaching Committee, will generally not be a specialist in the field. Students should
expect to be contacted by their supervisor shortly after handing their review in, to arrange the oral
examination.

These assessors will write a report to the Part II Examiners and will recommend a mark. These
marks are not necessarily final and may be amended by the examiners, who also look at the re-
views. After the viva, you will receive a copy of the mark sheet, which will provide feedback on
your performance. The marks allocated by the assessors are subject to moderation and
scaling by the examiners, so the mark you receive may not match the final mark for
this piece of work in the College Markbook.

The following guidelines for allocation of marks to Part II Research Reviews will be given to asses-
sors. Each heading carries equal weight.

- Scientific content: How much appropriate understanding of science (particularly phys-
ics) was shown?
- Quality of work: How carefully/accurately/successfully was the work planned and per-
formed? Was an appropriate amount of relevant material included?
- Communication skills: Report: was the report well written and clearly organised, with
clear and well-balanced arguments, appropriate use of figures and tables, etc? Viva: was
the student able to summarise the work and to respond coherently to questions?

After the oral examination, the assessors will send the report and recommended mark to Dr Malte
Grosche, (Room 501, Mott Building) and will return the review to the Teaching Office (Room
212B, Bragg Building). After publication of the Part II Class List, students may, if they wish, re-
trieve one copy of their review from the Teaching Office.

If there are any queries concerning these arrangements, contact Dr Malte Grosche, (Room 501,
Mott Building, telephone 37392, e-mail: fmg12@cam.ac.uk).
PHYSICS EDUCATION
L Jardine-Wright
Physics Education represents one unit of Further Work. It is aimed at those students considering
a career in Physics Education, and offers experience of developing and presenting teaching mate-
rial at the secondary-school level. This course aims to provide practical experience for the devel-
opment of a wide range of transferable skills including: planning and organisation; time-
management; communication and negotiation.

The course will typically be based on planning and preparing for, and successfully completing, a
day per week placement at a local school during the Lent Term, including developing and de-
livering a Special Project, under the supervision of a teacher. The student and their Supervising
Teacher will collaborate to identify the basis of the Special Project. The Special Project must sup-
port physics education in the placement school and be approved by the Supervising Teacher.

All those interested in undertaking this course must attend a Preliminary Meeting, which will be
held at the Cavendish Laboratory between 2-5pm on Wednesday 9
th
October 2013, in the
Bragg Committee Room (room 213) and pass a background check conducted by the Criminal
Records Bureau. Access to places on this course is limited and candidates will be selected by inter-
view and reference from their Director of Studies. Interviews will take place on Friday 11
th
Oc-
tober 2013 in the Department Administrators office (room 207) and students will be
asked to sign up for times at the preliminary meeting on the 9
th
. Interviews will be 15 minutes
long and may require a short period to be missed from lectures on that day.

Placements will be identified for each student by the end of November 2012. It will be the respon-
sibility of the student to contact their Supervising Teacher to arrange an appropriate date and
time to begin their placement, and to make appropriate arrangements to complete a placement to-
talling 30 hours contact time. All placements must begin before the end of the first week of the
Lent Term, and be completed before the end of Lent Term.

Students must write a written report about their work. The written report should be concise
(2000 words maximum, excluding any appendices) on some area of Physics Education, ap-
proved in advance by the Head of Class. The student should discuss the general structure of the
report with their Supervising Teacher, and the Head of Class, before writing is started, but the
Head of Class should not read a full version of the text until it is submitted. During the prepara-
tion for the writing of the report, students will be asked to give a short talk presenting their pre-
liminary work to the Head of Class and a group of students writing similar reports. It is expected
that the Head of Class will organise the group session in the last two or three weeks of the Lent
term. Students will receive feedback on the content and presentation of their reports from those
present. This form of presentation is aimed at developing communication and presentational
skills. You will be awarded 5% of the available marks for the written report upon giving the pres-
entation (irrespective of its quality).

Assessment will be based on:
- The candidates class presentation (5 %);
- A written assessment of performance from the Supervisory Teacher (5%)
- The candidates project delivery, written report and viva-voce examination with the Head
of Class and an Assessor (90 %).
The written assessment of performance by the Supervisory Teacher is considered confidential to
the Head of Class, and will therefore be sent directly to the Head of Class by the Supervising
Teacher: it will not be seen by the student.

The deadline for submission of the written report is 4:00pm on the first Monday of Easter
Full Term (28
th
April 2014).

Two copies of the report should be handed in to the Teaching Office (Room 212B, Bragg
Building) in person before the submission deadline. In order to preserve anonymity when your
report is looked at by the Part II examiners, your name must not appear on the report it-
self, but only on the cover sheet which you will be given when you hand it in. You
should ensure that your candidate number appears on the first page of the report, together with
the title of the report, the name of the Head of Class, and the name of your Supervis-
ing Teacher.

As soon as possible after submission, the report will be assessed by two people, normally the Head
of Class and another staff member, who will then conduct the viva voce examination (typically 30
minutes long) to be given by the student. The student will be asked to give a short verbal summary
(typically 10 minutes), normally uninterrupted, of the report during the examination. The asses-
sor, who will be appointed by the Teaching Committee, will generally not be a specialist in the
field. Students should expect to be contacted by the Head of Class shortly after the submission of
their report, to arrange the examination. These assessors will also be given a copy of the Supervis-
ing Teachers written assessment.

These assessors will write a report to the Part II Examiners and will recommend a mark. These
marks are not necessarily final and may be amended by the examiners, who will also look at the
reports and the Supervising Teachers written assessments. After the viva, you will receive a copy
of the mark sheet, which will provide feedback on your performance. The marks allocated by
the assessors are subject to moderation and scaling by the examiners, so the mark
you receive may not match the final mark for this piece of work in the College Mark-
book.

The following guidelines for allocation of marks to Part II Physics Education reports will be given
to assessors.
- Quality of work (60%): How carefully and accurately was the work planned and per-
formed? Was an appropriate amount of relevant material included?
- Communications skills 1 - Report (20%): Was the report well written and clearly organ-
ised, with clear and well balanced arguments, appropriate use of figures, tables and refer-
ences.
- Communications skills 2 - Viva (10%): Was the student able to summarise the work and
respond coherently to questions?

After the formal presentation, the assessors will send their report and recommended mark to the
Head of Class and will return the students report to the Teaching Office. After publication of the
Part II Class List, students may, if they wish, retrieve one copy of their report from the Teaching
Office.

If there are any queries concerning these arrangements, contact, Dr L Jardine-Wright (Room
212A, Bragg Building, telephone 33318, email ljw21@cam.ac.uk).
Part II Physics Non-examinable courses 73
CONCEPTS IN PHYSICS
R Needs

This course is not examinable, but the material covered overlaps with and illustrates many aspects
of the Part II syllabus. It aims to consolidate core physics and provide revision of a number of key
topics from a somewhat different perspective to that presented in the core course. The aim is to
provide additional background to a number of major themes of physics, to sketch the connections
between them and to investigate unresolved questions. Attendance is strongly advised for all Part
II students. The lectures are likely to cover at least some of the following:

Scaling Laws in Physics and Elsewhere: Dimensional analysis and the Buckingham H theo-
rem, general pendulum, explosions, drag in fluids, flow past a sphere, Kolmogorov spectrum of
turbulence, law of corresponding states.

Chaos: Discovery of chaotic behaviour. Necessary conditions for chaos. Damped driven non-
linear pendulum, phase space diagrams, Poincare sections, bifurcation diagrams, Lorenz attrac-
tor. Logistic map, limit cycles, period doubling, Hyperion.

More on non-linear behaviour: Self-organised criticality, examples of scaling laws, fractals,
sand piles.

Order, broken symmetry and phase transitions: the development of long-range order as a
broken symmetry; why phase transitions are abrupt; scaling laws and critical phenomena.

The Galileo Case: Ptolemy, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler and the Galilean revolution. The
origins of experimental science, Galileos physics, what Galileo got right and what he got wrong.
The trial of Galileo. Physics as a hypothetical-deductive system. Galilean relativity, the Newtonian
revolution.

Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics: The nature of heat, caloric theories, real
steam engines and the genius of Carnot, caloric as entropy, the statistical nature of the Second
Law, the origin of irreversibility.

Atoms get real - the kinetic theory:
Tracing the history of atoms from Boyle to the 19th century.

The Origin of Quantum Mechanics: The discovery of quanta. Classical derivation of the
Stefan-Boltzmann
law. Planck's (non)-statistical mechanics, how Einstein discovered photons.

The Origin of Maxwells Equations: Origins of electromagnetism, Maxwell and analogy in
physics, vortices and magnetic fields, a physical model for the aether, the origin of the displace-
ment current, a paper which is great guns - light as electromagnetic waves. Hertz and the proper-
ties of electromagnetic waves. The discovery of the photoelectric effect.

Relativity: The real story of the discovery of the Special Theory of Relativity, the difficult route to
the General Theory, Machs principle, tests of General Relativity, unresolved issues

Physics of the Cosmos: The technology of cosmology. Application of laboratory physics to the
Universe on the largest scales: its successes, the origin of the Cosmic Microwave Background Ra-
diation.

Part II Physics Non-examinable courses 74
BOOKS

The following books may be useful as background reading to help your understanding:
Theoretical Concepts in Physics, Longair M S (2nd edn 2003)
The New Physics, Davies P C W (CUP 1989)
The Galileo Affair, Finocchiaro M A (U Calif Press 1989)
Inward Bound: Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World, Pais A (OUP 1986)
Subtle is the Lord. The Science and Life of Albert Einstein, Pais A (OUP 1982)
Scaling, Self-similarity, and Intermediate Asymptotics, Barenblatt G I (CUP 1996)
Does God Play Dice? Stewart I (2nd edn Penguin 1997)
Chaos: Making a New Science, Gleick J (Viking NY 1987)
Chaotic Dynamics - an Introduction, Baker G L and Gollub J P (CUP 1990)

Part III Physics 75
Part III Physics

Comments may be sent to III-physics@phy.cam.ac.uk

7.1 INTRODUCTION

The four-year course, of which Part III is the final
component, is designed for students who wish to
pursue a professional career in physics, in aca-
demic or industrial research. It leads to an hon-
ours degree of Master of Natural Sciences, M.Sci.,
together with a B.A., though the latter cannot be
conferred until the end of the fourth year.
Part III Physics is a demanding course, and
courses assume an upper second class level of un-
derstanding of the core and relevant optional ma-
terial in Part II Physics. Candidates for the
four-year course must achieve at least a 2:1
in Part II Physics, (or have received from the
Faculty Board a dispensation from this condition).
Admission to Part III Physics is also available to
those who have obtained a First Class in Half Sub-
ject Physics in Part II Physical Sciences.
The qualification requirement for students who
have studied other Part II tripos e.g. Part II As-
trophysics or Part II Mathematics will be pub-
lished in the Reporter.
You must have made financial provision by se-
curing a four-year grant from your LEA or
equivalent funding body during your second
year. If you have any doubt about this, you
should see your college Tutor or Director of
Studies without delay.
7.2 MASTER OF ADVANCED STUD-
IES (MASt) IN PHYSICS
This is a taught postgraduate course, which con-
sists of the same content as Part III Physics. The
course is designed for students who hold a 3-year
undergraduate degree who wish to pursue a re-
search degree. The entry requirement for the
MASt is a qualification comparable to an upper
second class or better Bachelors degree in Phys-
ics.
7.3 OUTLINE OF THE COURSE
The course aims to bring you close to the bounda-
ries of current research, and is therefore some-
what linked to the expertise from within the
specific research groups. You make a series of
choices as the year proceeds which allow you, for
instance, to select a bias towards particular broad
areas of physics such as condensed matter phys-
ics, particle physics, astrophysics, or semiconduc-
tor physics. You can also range over the spectrum
from strongly experimental to highly theoretical
physics, and choose from a range of specialist op-
tions.
All students undertake a substantial research pro-
ject, the equivalent of about six weeks of full-time
work.
The Michaelmas Term lectures are the Major Top-
ics, which cover substantial areas of physics. You
are examined in three or more of them at the start
of the Lent Term.
The Lent Term lectures are the Minor Topics,
which cover more specialised areas, mostly of ac-
tive research interest in Cambridge. You are ex-
amined in three or more of them at the start of the
Easter Term.
We do not expect any student to take more than
the minimum number of units of work in any
category. The great majority of students will find
the workload demanding even at this level. We
recognise, however, that students may have good
reasons for wishing to take additional courses for
credit. Marks for all examination papers en-
tered will appear on the students Univer-
sity transcripts. Within any part of the
examination (Major Topics, Minor Topics)
the best results meeting the minimum re-
quirement will count towards the class for
the year. You are of course free to attend as
many lecture courses as you wish, without neces-
sarily offering them for examination.
Some of the Major and Minor Topics are given by
staff from other Departments such as the Institute
of Astronomy and the Department of Earth Sci-
ences. You can also take as Major or Minor Topics
certain courses given in Part III of the Mathemati-
cal Tripos but you should note that the style of the
Part III Mathematical Tripos Options and Exami-
nation is different from that experienced in the
Part III Physics Options, reflecting the difference
in approaches of the two Departments.
The possibility exists of undertaking a vacation
project during the previous Long Vacation or the
Part III Physics 76
optional course on Entrepreneurship during the
Lent Term, for credit in the Tripos by replacing a
Minor Topic in each case.
Ability in general physics is fostered by examples
classes in the Easter Term and examined by a
general paper at the end of the Easter Term.
7.4 DETAILS OF THE COURSES
Students will be e-mailed to register via
start of Michaelmas Term. The course will begin
with a meeting on the first Wednesday of Full
Term (9
th
October 2013) at 12.30pm in the
Small Lecture Theatre at the Cavendish
Laboratory.
7.4.1 Project work
Please note that from 2014-15 the pr oj ect
allocati on procedure wi th be changi ng.

All students must undertake a project which is
worth a third of the years marks. A list of projects
will be provided by the beginning of the Michael-
mas Term. Many of these will be supervised by
members of the Physics Department, but mem-
bers of other Departments will also be involved.
The projects can be experimental, theoretical,
computational, observational, or some suitable
combination of these. There will be scope for ini-
tiative and originality in carrying out a project,
and it should form a valuable preparation for a re-
search career.
Project work will take place mainly in the Lent
Term. Weeks are set aside for finishing up pro-
jects at the beginning of the Easter Term.
Communication skills are essential if you are to
have a successful career in science. Toward the
end of Lent term a meeting will be arranged in
which you will have the chance to give a fifteen
minute oral presentation on your project to other
students working in similar areas and their super-
visors. This presentation counts for 5% of the
available marks for the project (irrespective of the
quality of your presentation). You should note
that about one-third of the total marks for the
project will be based on an assessment of the
quality of your written report and your ability to
explain and defend your work in the viva.
Bench work on experimental projects should be
substantially complete by the end of the Lent
Term. You must submit your project report by the
third Monday of the Easter Term, and it will be
assessed by two staff members after an oral ex-
amination.
7.4.2 Major Topics
The seven options given during the Michaelmas
Term cover major areas, and in each, physics is
presented as a connected discipline drawing upon
the material of the first three years to take the
topic close to the frontiers of current research.
Candidates choose three or more Major Topics for
examination. The courses (of 24 lectures) are:
Advanced Quantum Condensed Matter
Physics
Soft Matter and Biological Physics
Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology
Particle Physics
Physics of the Earth as a Planet
Quantum Condensed Matter Field Theory
Atomic and Optical Physics

All of the courses above are examined at the start
of the Lent Term.
Students who are especially strong in
Mathematics may wish to replace one of the
Topics above with an approved course, also of 24
lectures, taken from Part III of the Mathematics
Tripos. The course available in Part III Mathemat-
ics in the coming year is:
Quantum Field Theory

Students taking this course take the same paper as
the Part III Mathematics students, in June.
7.4.3 Minor Topics
You choose for examination three or more of the
Lent Term Minor Option courses from about
twelve (although you may substitute other courses
for these: see below). They are more specialised
than the Major Topics and most build upon the
material presented in the Michaelmas Term.
Some of them assume specific knowledge of par-
ticular Major Topics the syllabuses make clear
which. The Minor Topics are:
(i) Theoretically biased:
Gauge Field Theory
Quantum Information

(ii) Condensed-Matter Physics:
Superconductivity and Quantum Coherence

(iii) Astrophysics and Particle Physics
Part III Physics 77
The Frontiers of Observational Astrophysics
Particle Astrophysics
The Formation of Structure in the Universe

(iv) Other:
Atmospheric Physics
Medical Physics
Biological Physics
Non-linear Optics and Quantum States of
Light
7.4.4 Other Lent Term courses
You may also take any of the courses below: each
may be substituted for one Minor Topic.
(i) Interdisciplinary Courses:
Materials, Electronics and Renewable Energy
(taught by Physics)
Climate Change
(Department of Earth Sciences)
Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Change
(Department of Chemistry)

(ii) Shared Course with Engineering

Nuclear Power Engineering

All of these courses except for "Materials, Elec-
tronics and Renewable Energy" are taught by de-
partments other then Physics. They are examined
in separate papers the Interdisciplinary Courses
at the end of the Easter Term and Nuclear Power
Engineering with the Part IIB Engineers at the
start of Easter Term.
(iii) The 24 lecture Part III Mathematics course
Advanced Quantum Field Theory
may be substituted for one of the Minor Topics.
This course is only suitable for students
whose mathematics is particularly strong
and will also be examined towards the end of
the Easter Term.
7.4.5 Further Work
One or two units of Further Work may be substi-
tuted for Minor Topics. The two types of Further
Work available in 2013-14 are:
(i) A Long Vacation Project
(ii) A course in Entrepreneurship
These are described in the following sections.
7.4.6 Long-Vacation Projects
Scientific work during the Long Vacation prior to
your fourth year can count as project work which
may replace a Minor Option. The full details can
be obtained from Dr Padman (rp11@cam.ac.uk,
Astrophysics Group), but you must get your pro-
posal approved in advance, before the end of the
preceding Easter Term. Forms are available from
the Teaching Office. You will be required to name
in advance a suitably qualified on-site supervisor
who is willing to write retrospectively to Dr Pad-
man describing the work you have done and giv-
ing an assessment of your effectiveness. Normally
the programme must be of at least two months
duration and must include a substantial element
of independent or original work. It is important
that the project includes a significant amount of
physics and is not, for example, simply a series of
routine measurements or entirely devoted to
computer programming.
Vacation projects within the University may be of-
fered through the Undergraduate Research Op-
portunities Programme (UROP). See
http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/UROPS/uro
p.php for details. Some of these projects may be
suitable as assessed Long-Vacation Work. The
teaching web pages
http://www-
teach.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/vacWork.php
might offer some useful suggestions.
7.4.7 Entrepreneurship
The synopsis for the Entrepreneurship course is
given later. The course will be lectured together
with the Minor Topics, but will be assessed by the
completion of assignments as described in the
synopsis.
7.4.8 Examples Class in General Phys-
ics
The Part III course is designed to build upon the
physics covered in the first three years and will
take many subjects to the frontiers of current un-
derstanding. However, it is important that core
physics is reinforced at the same time, and the ex-
amples classes, which run during the Easter Term
are designed to help with this. They will focus on
the key topics covered in the core Physics courses
and may include introductory summary talks and
examples sheets modelled upon short questions
and more general problems. The June 2003 -
2013 General Papers indicate the type of question
which will be set. They will be designed to empha-
Part III Physics 78
sise the straightforward application of core phys-
ics to reasonable problems, and be an appropriate
preparation for the three-hour examination in
general physics which forms part of the final as-
sessment.
7.5 RESTRICTIONS ON COMBINA-
TION OF COURSES
While every effort is made to arrange the timeta-
ble, it is inevitable that some combinations of
courses will be ruled out by their schedule.
7.6 SUPERVISIONS
We do not offer formal supervisions in Part III.
Lecturers are expected to provide some form of
learning support, but the form it takes is up to the
individual lecturer. It is likely to take the form ei-
ther of examples classes, with or without demon-
strators (depending on the number of students) or
of large-group supervisions or seminars.
A consequence of this is that, neither students nor
lecturers need wait before arranging sessions. The
lecturer may choose to announce arrangements
during the first lecture, or may announce them
through the class email list.
The class email list depends on each student sign-
ing up for the particular course. You will be re-
minded about the sign-up before the start of each
of Michaelmas and Lent Terms. If you decide to
change options during the Term, you should make
the necessary change on the teaching website, and
also notify the relevant lecturers directly.
7.7 NON-EXAMINED WORK
In the Lent Term there are two non-examinable
courses, one on Philosophy of Physics and one on
Ethics of Physics.
To advertise research opportunities at the Caven-
dish various open days will be held which cover
the activities of the major groups in the labora-
tory. Dates are will be posted on the Part II and
Part III notice boards.
Part III students are also welcome at the large
number of Research Seminars and other lectures
in the Department, particularly those organised
by the Cavendish Physical Society lectures at
4.00pm on some Wednesdays. These are adver-
tised on notice boards, and summarised on the
Cavendish web page.
7.8 THE EXAMINATION
The Major Topics and the Project each contribute
approximately one-third of the total marks. The
Minor Topics and General Physics Paper each
contribute approximately one-sixth of the total
marks.
The marks all courses will appear on the Univer-
sity transcript, with the best marks for the mini-
mum requirement being used to establish the final
class for the Examination.
given in notices put up on the Part III notice
board outside the Pippard Lecture Theatre. You
should make sure that you read these regularly.
7.8.2 Examination Entries
Examination entries are made through the Cam-
SIS on-line system, and should be completed in
consultation with your Director of Studies. The
deadline is usually about the middle of November.
You will have a further chance during Lent Term
to modify your entry for the Minor Topics papers.
These procedures are largely outside of the De-
partments control, and are continually evolving.
We will provide further information about proce-
dures for examination entries as it becomes avail-
able.
7.8.3 The Written Papers for Part III
Major Topic Papers:
These are taken at the beginning of the Lent
Term (2 hours each).

Minor Topic Papers:
These are taken at the beginning of the Easter
Term (1.5 hours each).

General Physics Paper:
This is taken towards the end of the Easter
Term (3 hours).

QFT/AQFT:
Those students who have substituted these
Part III Mathematics courses for Major or
Minor Topics will take the same examination
as the Mathematics students, towards the end
of the Easter Term.

Interdisciplinary courses:
Part III Physics 79
Each of the interdisciplinary courses is
treated as a Minor Topic. The three interdis-
ciplinary courses will all be examined in sepa-
rate papers during the main Examinations
Period at the end of Easter Term.

Nuclear Power Engineering:
Students taking these Topics will be examined
with the Part IIB Engineers in one and a half-
hour paper at the start of the Easter Term.
A summary of the choices available is given
below.
Part III Physics 80
Lectures Course Exams
Michaelmas Term
Major Topics
Choose
3
24 Advanced Quantum Condensed Matter Physics
2h paper for each
option, Start of
Lent
24 Atomic and Optical Physics
24 Particle Physics
24 Physics of the Earth as a Planet
24 Quantum Condensed Matter Field Theory
24 Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology
24 Soft Matter and Biological Physics
from Part III Mathematics
24 Quantum Field Theory 3h paper, June
Lent Term
Minor Topics
Choose
3
16 Atmospheric Physics
1.5h paper for each
option, Start of
Easter
12 Biological Physics
16 Formation of Structure in the Universe
12 Frontiers of Observational Astrophysics
12 Gauge Field Theory
12 Medical Physics
12 Non-linear Optics and Quantum States of Light
16 Particle Astrophysics
12 Quantum Information
12 Superconductivity and Quantum Coherence
Interdisciplinary Papers
12 Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Change
1.5h paper for
each, June
12 Climate Change
12 Materials, Electronics & Renewable Energy
from Part III Mathematics
24 Advanced Quantum Field Theory 3h paper for each,
June
from Part IIB Engineering
12 Nuclear Power Engineering 1.5h paper,
Start of Easter
Further Work
Entrepreneurship
Course work
Report of Vacation Project
Other requirements
Research Project Course work
General Paper 3h paper, June
Part III Physics 81

Tuesday 8
th
Wednesday 9
th
October 2013 12.30 General Registration (Small Lecture Theatre, Cavendish
Laboratory) and buffet lunch outside the Pippard Lecture
Theatre
Wednesday 9
th
October 2013 Start choosing a project
Monday 14
th
October 2013 16.00 Vacation work report deadline
Wed 16
th
October 2013 14.00 Deadline for signing up for supervisions on
Major Topics
Thursday 24
th
October 2013 Supervisors can now make decisions on students for
projects
Friday 1
st
November 2013 Deadline for choosing a project (but dont leave it
this late!)
Friday 6
th
December 2013

16.00 Deadline for first brief progress report on Project
(summarising the goals of the project); hand in to the
Teaching Office
Friday 6
th
Monday-
Wed
14
th
16
th
January 2014 Examinations on Major Topics (check the TIS for
details)
Tuesday 14
th
Monday 3
rd
February 2014 14.00 Deadline for commitment to examination in the
Entrepreneurship Course
Monday-
Friday
3
rd
-14
th
March 2014

Presentations of projects (will be organised by your super-
visor). Some supervisors prefer to do these early in Easter
Term.
Wed 5
th
March 2014 16.00 Deadline for second brief progress report on Pro-
ject (outlining progress and confirming that you have
adequate material to complete the project); hand in to the
Teaching Office
Friday 14
th
Tuesday 22
nd
Tuesday-
Friday
22
nd
-25
th
April 2014 Examinations on Minor Topics (check the TIS for
details)
Friday 25
th
April 2014 14.00 Examples Classes on General Physics begin (eight classes
on Tuesdays and Fridays, 14:00-16:00) in the Pippard
Lecture Theatre.
Monday 12
th
May 2014 16.00 Deadline for handing in Project Work (two copies)
13
th
23
rd
May 2014 Oral examinations on Projects (will be organised by your
supervisor)
Monday 2
nd
June 2014 Examination on General Physics (check the TIS
for details)
Friday 13
th

Part III Physics 82

In accordance with the Universitys regulations, a Part III Project (which amounts to more than 10% of the
total years mark) submitted after the advertised deadline will not count towards your final examination
mark, unless the Universitys Applications Committee grants an extension of time on the grounds that there
are mitigating circumstances. Any application for such an extension should be made by your college Tutor
to the Applications Committee.

For units of Further Work amounting to less than 10% of the total years mark, the Department may grant
an extension of time on the grounds that there are mitigating circumstances. Any application for such an
extension should be made by your college Tutor or Director of Studies to the Director of Undergraduate
Teaching, c/o Teaching Office, Cavendish Laboratory, (teaching-office@phy.cam.ac.uk).
In either case, you should submit the work as soon as possible after the deadline.
Part III Physics 83
7.10 LECTURE LIST

PART III PHYSICS

Departmental Contact: Helen Marshall: E-mail: mailto:teaching-office@phy.cam.ac.uk

Students must offer three or more courses from Major Topics, together with three or more courses from
Minor Topics. Quantum Field Theory may be substituted for one Major Topic. A Vacation project
and courses from Interdisciplinary Topics, Advanced Quantum Field Theory, Nuclear Power
Engineering and Further Work may each be substituted for one Minor Topic.

The courses from the Major Topics and Minor Topics and Nuclear Power Engineering, are examined
at the start of the term following that in which they are given. Quantum Field Theory, and Advanced
Quantum Field Theory and courses from the Interdisciplinary Topics will be examined in June. The
Entrepreneurship course from Further Work is continually assessed.

All students are recommended to attend the Non-examinable courses.

The course will begin with a meeting on the first Wednesday of Full Term (9 Oct.) at 12.30 p.m. in the Small
Lecture Theatre.



Part III Physics Major Topics 84
ADVANCED QUANTUM CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
C Barnes
It is expected that students will have taken the Part II option course Quantum Condensed Matter
Physics. However, the course includes an introductory section that discusses and refreshes all
solid state concepts needed. It is therefore possible to take the course without having taken Quan-
tum Condensed Matter Physics.

Revision of key concepts of independent-electron framework (Part II)

Electron-electron interactions: The many-electron problem: Exchange and correlation ef-
fects; Hartree-Fock theory; Phase diagram of the electron gas. Density functional theory: Hohen-
berg-Sham theorem, molecular dynamics. Linear response theory of the electron gas.
Introduction to Fermi liquid theory. Strongly correlated electron systems.

Magnetism: Magnetic exchange, Heisenberg model, giant & colossal magnetoresistance.

Electron-photon interactions: Linear optical response: Kramers-Krnig relations; Optical
properties of semiconductors. Excitons in 3D and low-dimensional systems. Bose-Einstein con-
densation in excitonic systems.

Electron-phonon interactions: Origin of electron-phonon coupling: Scattering, mass en-
hancement, polarons. Effective electron-electron interaction through exchange of phonons.

Electrical transport: Classical transport: Boltzmann equation, AC conductivity of metals, Re-
laxation time. Quantum transport: Conductance quantization; Coulomb blockade.

Superconductivity: Phenomenology; Microscopic BCS theory, High-T
c
superconductivity.
BOOKS
Basic general:
Solid State Physics, Ashcroft & Mermin (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976)
Introduction to Solid State Physics, Kittel (Wiley, 7th edition 1996)
The Physics and Chemistry of Solids, Elliott (Wiley, 1998)

Advanced general:
Solid State Physics, Grosso, Parravicini, (Academic Press, 2000)
A quantum approach to Condensed Matter Physics, Taylor & Heinonen (Cambridge 2002)
Principles of condensed matter physics, Chaikin &Lubensky (Cambridge 1995)
Solid State Physics Phillips (Cambridge University Press 2012)

Specialized subjects:
Quantum Theory of the Electron Liquid, Vignale (Cambridge 2005)
Quantum Theory of Many-Particle Systems, Fetter & Walecka (Dover 2003)
Magnetism in Condensed Matter, Blundell (Oxford 2001)
Superconductivity, Superfluids and Condensates, Annett (Oxford 2004)
Fundamentals of Semiconductors, Yu & Cardona (Springer, 1996)
Optical Properties of Solids, Fox (Oxford 2005)
ATOMIC AND OPTICAL PHYSICS
Z Hadzibabic
The ability to cool and control atoms by laser light has given a completely new twist to the tradi-
tional field of atomic physics in recent years. The Nobel prizes in physics of 1997, 2001, and 2005
document the fascinating recent advances in this field. Macroscopic quantum phenomena such as
Bose-Einstein condensation have become experimentally accessible and the fundamental laws of
quantum mechanics have been studied in new ways and with unprecedented precision. This
course will serve as an introduction to this exciting field and give insight into the current state of
research. It is intended to provide the basic understanding needed for the current research on a
wide range of topics involving atoms, lasers, and quantum gases. Emphasis will be put on the
connection between theory and experimental observation.

There are no special requirements for taking this course, apart from a good knowledge of quan-
tum physics (e.g. from the "Advanced Quantum Physics" Part II course). Supervisions will be done
in groups of 6-8 students.

Introduction and revision of basic concepts: Bohrs theory, Einstein A&B coefficients,
Stern-Gerlach experiment

Atomic structure: Hydrogen atom, fine structure, Lamb shift, hyperfine structure, electric di-
pole transitions, selection rules, Zeeman effect, magnetic dipole transitions, alkali atoms

Fundamentals of atom-laser interaction: Driven two-level system, Ramsey spectroscopy
and atomic clocks, density matrix, optical Bloch equations, dissipation, cross-sections & line
shapes, Doppler-free laser spectroscopy, ac Stark effect, two-photon and Raman transitions

Laser cooling & trapping: Scattering force, slowing of atomic beams, optical molasses, Dop-
pler cooling limit, magneto-optical trap, optical dipole trap, Sisyphus cooling below the Doppler
limit

Evaporative cooling and Bose-Einstein condensation of atomic gases: Requirements,
magnetic trapping, evaporative cooling, critical temperature, condensate fraction, experimental
observation of Bose-Einstein condensation

Properties of atomic Bose-Einstein condensates: Atomic interactions, macroscopic wave
function, matter-wave interference of Bose-Einstein condensates, Gross-Pitaevskii equation,
Thomas-Fermi approximation, Bogoliubov excitation spectrum, superfluidity

BOOKS

Atomic Physics, Foot C J, (Oxford University Press)
Laser Cooling and Trapping, Metcalf H & van der Straten P (Springer - Verlag)
Bose-Einstein Condensation in Dilute Gases, Pethick C J & Smith H (CUP)
PARTICLE PHYSICS
C G Lester
The Part III Particle Physics Major option course aims to provide a reasonably complete descrip-
tion of our understanding of modern particle physics. The Part II Particle and Nuclear Physics
course is not a prerequisite to this course although familiarity with basic particle physics termi-
nology is assumed. The course will concentrate on the Standard Model with the aim of providing
both a detailed description of current experimental data, and the theoretical understanding to
place these experimental results in context. The Minor Option course on Gauge Field Theory
covers particle physics theory at a more advanced level.

Introduction, cross sections and decay rates: The structure of the Standard Model; revi-
sion of basic concepts; relativistic phase space and its role in two-body decays and two-body
scattering.

Solutions to the Dirac equation: The Klein-Gordon equation; the Dirac equation and Dirac
spinors; negative energy solutions and anti-particles; C and P symmetries; spin and helicity.

Interaction by particle exchange and QED: interaction by particle exchange; the QED ver-
tex; Feynman rules for QED; scattering and e
+
e
annihilation in QED; the role of spin and helic-

ity in QED and chirality; QED calculations using Dirac spinors.

Electron proton scattering: Rutherford scattering revisited; low energy electron proton scat-
tering and form factors; deep inelastic scattering and structure functions; Bjorken scaling and
the Callan-Gross relation; the quark-parton model; valance and sea quarks.

The quark model and QCD: symmetries and conservation laws; SU(3) flavour symmetry;
mesons and baryon wave; SU(3) colour symmetry; confinement and gluons; Feynman rules for
QCD; colour factors; the QCD potential; running couplings and asymptotic freedom; experimen-
tal evidence for QCD.

Particle Detectors: Particle interactions in matter, particle detection and large detectors at
modern particle colliders.

Charged-current weak interactions: V-A Theory and parity violation; helicity structure of
the weak interaction; lepton universality; neutrino scattering; neutrino structure functions and
the anti-quark content of nucleon.

Neutrino physics and neutrino oscillations: Neutrino interactions; detecting neutrinos;
solar and atmospheric neutrinos; neutrino oscillations and the PMNS matrix; CP and CPT in the
weak interaction; recent neutrino experiments.

The CKM matrix and CP violation: The Cabibbo angle and the CKM matrix; CP violation in
the early universe; the neutral kaon system and strangeness oscillations; CP violation in the
kaon system; the CKM matrix and CP violation in the Standard Model.

Electroweak Unification and the Standard Model: W boson decay; the W and Z bosons
and a unified electroweak theory; the Z resonance; precision tests of the electroweak theory at
LEP; the Higgs mechanism; hunting the Higgs; problems with the Standard Model.
BOOKS
There are many books available on particle physics, at various levels. The following are suggested
as useful for this course:
Particle Physics, Martin B R and Shaw G (2nd edn Wiley 1997). A good introductory text, more
suited to Part II but covers most of the basic material.
Introduction to High Energy Physics, Perkins D H (4th edn CUP 2000).
Good coverage of experimental techniques and some aspects of theory. A slightly lower level
than this course with a more historical approach.
Introduction to Elementary Particles, Griffiths D (Harper & Row 1987) out of print
Theoretical treatment, going slightly beyond the level of this course, but well written and clear.
Good reference for those wishing to pursue some of the mathematical details.
Quarks and Leptons, Halzen F and Martin A D (Wiley 1984).
Goes beyond the level of this course, but provides a good description of the underlying theoreti-
cal concepts.
PHYSICS OF THE EARTH AS A PLANET
K Priestley, J Rudge and A Deuss
Our aim in this course is to show how concepts from physics, especially from classical physics
and continuum mechanics, can be used to understand the structure and evolution of the Earth,
and to a lesser extent, the other terrestrial planets. Our approach is different from that taken in
Part IA Geology, and does not assume knowledge of the material in that course. The course is
mainly intended for students who are theoretically inclined. It includes practicals, which are de-
signed to help students understand concepts discussed in the lectures. These practicals are like
those in IA Geology, or the unassessed practicals in IA Materials and Minerals, in that they are
not written up and demonstrators are present to help with any problems. An understanding of
the concepts involved in the practicals will be tested in the written examination. Some of the lec-
tures will be given by the other members of the Department of Earth Sciences whose present re-
search is concerned with the topics that are part of the course.

Introduction to geophysics: Theories of planetary formation, composition of terrestrial
planets and the bulk composition of the Earth, origin of the crust, mantle, and core, large scale
static structure of the Earth.

Plate tectonics: Rotation vectors and poles of rotation, triple junctions, present-day plate mo-
tion, reconstructing past plate motions.

Continuum mechanics: Fundamental laws of continuum mechanics, analysis of stress, de-
formation and strain.

Seismology and elastic wave propagation: Linearised theory of elasticity and the wave
equation, P and S waves, Eikonal equation and geometrical ray theory, partitioning of seismic
energy at a boundary, ray characteristics in simplified flat and spherical Earth models, and sur-
face wave propagation.

Earth structure: Travel time curves; group and phase velocity dispersion curves; travel time,
dispersion and waveform inversion for velocity structure; velocity structure of the crust, mantle
and core.

The earthquake source: Earthquake locations, fault plane solutions, the seismic moment
tensor, earthquake dynamics, body wave and surface wave modelling, earthquake mechanisms
and crustal deformation.

Thermal and mechanical structure of plates: Structure of oceanic and continental plates,
isostasy and gravity, thermal models, depth of the oceans, subduction, basin formation, the elas-
tic layer on Earth and Venus.

Dynamic processes: Heat sources of Earth and Venus, thermodynamics of convection, con-
vective regime of the mantle, the cooling of the mantle, thermal history of the mantle.

Immediately after the Michaelmas term is over, Part II students in the Department of Earth Sci-
ences take a week long tectonics field trip to Greece. This is an excellent way to see first hand the
surface manifestation of earthquake faulting and other geophysical topics discussed from a more
theoretical viewpoint in the Physics of the Earth as a Planet lectures. Students taking this Part III
Physics course are welcome to come on the Greece field course but the field trip is not connected
to the Physics of the Earth as a Planet lectures as such. The cost for the trip is around 85.

BOOKS
The solid Earth, Fowler C M R (2nd edn CUP 2004)
This is an excellent general book on geophysics. It covers about half of the course, but uses less
mathematics than we do. Fowlers discussion of seismology is briefer than that of the present
course, and she does not discuss mantle convection and dynamics at all.
Introduction to Seismology, P M Sheaver (CUP 1999)
This text covers most of the material discussed in the course lectures on seismology.
Geodynamics, Turcotte D L & Schubert G (Wiley 2002)
This covers much of the material of the course except seismology, at about the same mathematical
level that we will use. It contains many problems with their solutions.
QUANTUM CONDENSED MATTER FIELD THEORY
B D Simons
As well as Part IB NST mathematics, the course will assume a basic knowledge of Lagrangian, sta-
tistical, and quantum mechanics. Exposure to the Part II theory courses (TP1 and TP2) and Quan-
tum Condensed Matter course is useful but not essential.

Collective Phenomena - From Particles to Fields: Linear harmonic chain and free scalar
field theory; functional analysis; quantisation of the classical field; phonons; relation to quantum
electrodynamics; concept of broken symmetry, collective modes, elementary excitations and uni-
versality.

Second Quantisation: Fock states; creation and annihilation operators for Bose and Fermi
systems; represention of one and two-body operators; canonical transformations; Applications to
the interacting electron gas; Wannier states, strong correlation and the Mott transition; quantum
ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism, spin representations and SU(2) spin algebra, spin-
waves;
spin liquids; weakly interacting Bose gas.

Path Integral Methods: Propagators and the construction of the Feynman Path integral;
Gaussian functional integration, stationary phase and saddle-point analyses; relation to semi-
classics and statistical mechanics; quantum harmonic oscillator and the single well; double well,
instantons, and tunnelling phenomena;
metastability.

Many-Body Field Integral: Bose and Fermi coherent states; Grassmann algebra; coherent
state path integral; quantum partition function; Bogoluibov theory of the weakly interacting Bose
gas and superfluidity; Cooper pair instability, and the BCS theory of superconductivity; Ginzburg-
Landau phenomenology and the connection to classical statistical field theory;
Gauge theory and

the Anderson-Higgs mechanism;
Resonance superfluidity in ultracold atomic gases and the BEC

to BCS crossover.

I tali cs denote specific mathematical topics.
Items marked
will be largely used as source material for problem sets and supervision.
Learni ng ai ms: By the end of this course, you will be familiar with the basic foundations of qua-
tum field theory including the method of second quantisation, the Feynman path integral, and
field integral techniques. On the Feynman path integral, you will be able to address the quantum
mechanics of single particle systems from the physics of bound state systems to the estimation of
tunnelling rates in unbound systems. On the field integral, you will be able to formulate the coher-
ent state path integral of many-particle bosonic and fermionic systems. In particular, you will be
able to address the quantum mechanics of superfluid and superconducting systems. Finally, you
will have an appreciation of how the concepts of quantum field theory provide a common lan-
guage to address phase transitions and collective phenomena in both high and low energy quan
tum many-particle systems.
BOOKS
Condensed Matter Field Theory, Altland A and Simons B D (CUP 2006).
Statistical Mechanics, Feynman R P and Hibbs A R (McGraw-Hill 1965).
Quantum Field Theory in Condensed Matter Physics, Nagaosa N (Springer 1999).
Quantum Many-Particle Systems, Negele J W and Orland H (Addison-Wesley 1988).
Techniques and Applications of Path Integration, Schulman L S (Wiley 1981).
The Physics of Quantum Fields, Stone M. (Springer 2000).
Path Integrals in Quantum Mechanics, Zinn-Justin J (Oxford Graduate Texts 2004).
Lectures on Statistical Physics, Levitov L S (http://www.mit.edu/~levitov/8.334/)
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
M J Perry (Part III Maths)
Quantum field theory is the language in which much of modern physics is formulated. It pro-
vides a synthesis of quantum theory and special relativity and offers a mathematical framework
in which to describe many particle systems. This course is an introduction to quantum field the-
ory using the canonical quantization approach in which classical degrees of freedom are replaced
by operators.

This course requires a high-level of mathematical facility.

Classical Field Theory: Lagrangian field theory, Symmetries, Noethers theorem and con-
served currents, Hamiltonian field theory.

Canonical Quantization: The Klein-Gordon equation, Free quantum fields, Vacuum energy,
Emergence of particles, The Heisenberg picture, Causality and propagators, Applications, Non-
relativistic field theory.

Interacting Fields: Types of interaction, The interaction picture, Dysons formula, Scattering,
Wicks theorem, Feynman diagrams and Feynman rules, Amplitudes, Greens functions, Con-
nected diagrams and vacuum bubbles.

The Dirac Equation: The Lorentz group, Clifford algebras, Spinor representation, The Dirac
Lagrangian, Chiral spinors, The Weyl equation, Symmetries and currents.

Quantizing the Dirac Field: A glimpse at the spin-statistics theorem, Fermionic quantization,
Fermi-Dirac statistics, Propagators, Particles and anti-particles, Diracs hole interpretation.

Quantum Electrodynamics: Gauge invariance, Quantization, QED, Lorentz invariant propa-
gators, Feynman rules, Processes in QED involving electrons, positrons and photons.

BOOKS
An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory, Peskin M E and Schroeder D V (Addison-Wesley
1996) A very clear and comprehensive book. To a large extent, the course will follow the first sec-
tion of this book.
Quantum Field Theory, Ryder L H (2nd edn CUP 1996) An elementary text covering most of the
material in this course.
Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell, Zee, A (Princeton University Press 2003). A charming book,
where the emphasis is placed on physical understanding and the author isnt afraid to hide the
ugly truth when necessary. However, Zee primarily uses the path integral approach which we
wont cover in this course.
The Quantum Theory of Fields, Vol 1. Weinberg S (CUP 1995). Weinberg takes a unique route
through the subject, focussing initially on particles rather than fields.

There is a course webpage with lecture notes at:
http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/tong/qft.html
RELATIVISTIC ASTROPHYSICS AND COSMOLOGY
A C Fabian and A N Lasenby
This course builds on material from the Part II Relativity course. It will be helpful to have taken
Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics in Part II.

Introduction: The main constituents of the Universe: solar system, stars, nebulae, star clusters,
galaxies, clusters, radio sources, quasars etc. Sizes, velocities, masses, luminosities. The distance
scale.

General Relativity: Review of foundations of general relativity: equivalence principle, strong
and weak forms, curved spaces, the geodesic equation, the field equations, Schwarzschild solution.

Stars, white dwarfs, neutron stars: The physics of stars and stellar evolution, stellar struc-
ture, white dwarfs and the Chandrasekhar mass. General relativistic treatment of stellar struc-
ture, the Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations. Neutron star structure, mass-radius relation for cold
matter, pair production and annihilation.

The end-points of stellar evolution: Supernovae, pulsars, supernova remnants, shock waves,
accretion, accretion discs, the Eddington limit. X-ray binaries, the Crab Nebula, binary and milli-
second pulsars, tests of general relativity.

Black holes: Formation, observational evidence, accretion discs, effects of spin.

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN): Radiation processes, energy budget, Eddington limit and
growth. Special relativistic effects in jetted sources. Gamma-ray bursts.

Gravitational waves: wave solutions to Einsteins equations in vacuum. Detection of gravita-
tional waves. Astrophysical sources of radiation.

Galaxies and clusters of galaxies: Observational properties and structure. Black hole feed-
back. Evidence for dark matter. Gravitational lenses, rotation curves.

The Robertson-Walker metric: Basic observations. Hubbles law, isotropy and homogeneity
of the Universe, comoving coordinates and spatial curvature, redshift. Distance measures, decel-
eration parameter, luminosity-redshift and angular diameter-redshift relations. Observed flux
versus redshift relations. Number counts.

The standard Friedmann models: General solutions, cosmological constant, the redshift-
cosmic time relation, horizons, the flatness and isotropy problems. Ages of stars and galaxies.
Methods for determining the Hubble constant.

The Microwave Background Radiation: Evolution of blackbody spectrum. Energy densities,
recombination and timescales. Imprints on the CMB and relation to the growth of structure.

The Early Universe: Nucleosynthesis, baryon asymmetry. Inflation and the problems it ad-
dresses. Origin of perturbations. Cosmological parameters and observations. Clues to the earliest
times, links with fundamental theory.

BOOKS
At roughly the level of the course:
Essential Relativity, Rindler W (2nd edn Springer 1990). Good introduction to GR and cosmol-
ogy.
Principles of Cosmology and Gravitation, Berry M V (2nd edn IoP 1989). Elementary but clear
introduction to GR and cosmology, taking similar line to that used in course.
Black holes, White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars (The Physics of Compact Objects), Shapiro S L &
Teukolsky S A (Wiley 1983). Good textbook for parts of course. Aimed at advanced physics stu-
dents.
Accretion Power in Astrophysics, Frank J, King A & Raine D (2nd edn CUP 1992). Useful for high
energy astrophysics aspects.
High Energy Astrophysics, Vols 1 and 2, Longair M S (2nd edn CUP 1992 1994). Useful chapters.
Exploring Black Holes: Introduction to General Relativity, Taylor E F & Wheeler J A (Addison-
Wesley 2001).
Supplementary reading at an elementary level:
The Physical Universe, Shu F (University Science Books 1982). Excellent introduction to the
whole field of astrophysics and cosmology.
The Big Bang, Silk J (2nd edn Freeman 1989).
Our Evolving Universe, Longair M S (CUP 1996)
Black Holes, Luminet J (CUP 1992). Excellent paperback account of black holes
Gravitys Fatal Attraction: Black Holes and the Universe, Begelman M C and Rees M (Freeman:
Scientific American 1996)
More advanced books covering General Relativity in greater detail:
Introducing Einsteins Relativity, dInverno R (OUP 1995)
Introduction to Cosmology, Narlikar J V (2nd edn CUP 1993)
General Relativity: An Introduction for Physicists, Hobson M P, Efstathiou G P & Lasenby A N
(CUP 2006)
SOFT MATTER AND BIOLOGICAL PHYSICS
U Keyser and R Goldstein
This course will assume knowledge of the topics covered in the Part IB Mathematics or Part IB
Mathematical Methods courses, respectively. In addition, students should prepare material on
partial differential equations as discussed for example in Chapters 20 & 21 of Riley, Hobson and
Bence "Mathematical Methods for Physics and Engineering".

Microscopic physics
Poisson Boltzmann equation, Debye Huckel, surface potentials, Poisson-Boltzmann equation in
spherical, cylindrical geometry, Manning condensation of long chain molecules, Brownian mo-
tion, fluctuation-dissipation theorem.

Fluctuation induced forces
Review of polymer physics, freely jointed chains, worm-like chains, single chain experiments, pro-
tein unfolding, Van der Waals interaction, attraction of neutral objects of arbitrary shape, DLVO
theory.

Elasticity
Curve dynamics, Lagrangian dynamics, general 2-dimensional curves, curve shortening equation,
global constraints, space curves, vortex rings, viscous drag, elastic coefficients , Elastohydrody-
namics, Stokes equation, reversibility, Euler Buckling, Strain and Stress tensor, generalization of
Hookes Law, Twisted worm-like-chain.

Chemical kinetics and pattern formation
Michaelis Menten Kinetics, cooperativity, slaving, diffusive effects in pattern formation, instabili-
ties, reaction diffusion systems, Fitz-Hugh Nagumo model, separation of timescales, front dynam-
ics, bioconvection, gyrotaxis.

Membrane transport
Passive diffusion- and energy-driven transport, nucleo-cytoplasmic transport, Diffusion through
membranes, lipophilic ions, ionchannels, ionophores.

Electrokinetic effects
Polymer dynamics in gels, electrophoresis-/osmosis in channels, pressure driven flows, streaming
currents and potentials, electrokinetic and hydrodynamic effects in confinement, nanopores.

Introductory Reading
Biological Physics, P. Nelson, W. H. Freeman (2007)
Mathematical Biology I. and II., J. D. Murray, Springer (2007, 2008)
Molecular Driving Forces, K. Dill and S. Bromberg, Garland Science (2009)

Advanced and Complementary Reading
Soft Condensed Matter Physics in Molecular and Cell Biology, D. Andelman & W. Poon, Taylor &
Francis (2006)
Van der Waals Forces, A. Parsegian, CUP (2005)
Intermolecular and Surface Force, J. N. Israelachvili, Academic Press (1992)
The Theory of Polymer Dynamics, M. Doi & S. Edwards, OUP (1986)
Theory of the Stability of Lyophobic Colloids, E. Verwey and J. Overbeek, Elsevier (1948)
Part III Physics Minor Topics 95
ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS
M Herzog and H Graf
The course is split into two parts. In the first part the principles of atmospheric physics will be intro-
duced followed by an overview of mean circulation and climate variability. The second part focuses on
cloud physical processes and their treatment in numerical models. The titles of the lectures are as fol-
lows:

1. Thermodynamics of the atmosphere
2. Atmospheric radiation
3. Basics of hydrodynamics
4. Vorticity and divergence
5. Waves in the atmosphere
6. General atmospheric circulation
7. Energy cycle in the atmosphere
8. Atmospheric ocean coupling, ENSO
9. Teleconnections, e.g. NAO
10. Climate system modelling
11. Clouds - classification and types
12. Cloud microphysics
13. Cloud dynamics
14. Cloud modelling
15. Cloud parameterization
16. Open science problems, e.g. aerosol cloud interaction

Lectures 1. to 6. and 11. to 16. will be given by Michael Herzog, lectures 7. to 10. by Hans Graf.

BOOKS

An Introduction to Atmospheric Physics. David G. Andrews, Cambridge
University Press, 2005.

A Short Course in Cloud Physics. R. R. Rogers and M. K. Yau, Elsevier
Science, 1996.

Global Warming, Understanding the Forecast. David Archer, Blackwell
Publishing, 2008.

BIOLOGICAL PHYSICS
E Nugent
This course is an introduction to the physics of biological systems at the molecular and cellular level.
The emphasis is on the design principles that living systems use to accomplish multifarious cellular
processes, enabling them to sense and react to their environment. A set of case studies aims to dem-
onstrate how physicists experience of the behaviour of complex systems can complement experimen-
tal investigations by biologists to explain how living systems work, and why biology is the way it is.
The course also introduces some of the methods currently used in biological physics. Exposure to ma-
terial from the Part II Soft Condensed Matter and Biophysics course will be beneficial.

Cells: What's in a cell? Component molecules. Cellular processes. Significance of Brownian motion,
noise and stochasticity.

Information and Regulation: DNA replication. RNA, transcription and translation. Promotors,
repressors and operons, DNA topology.

Structural elements 1: Lipid bilayer, membranes and vesicles. Endocytosis and trafficking.

Energy: Chemiosmotic theory. Membrane potential, Nernst relation, ion channels and pumps. Me-
tabolism and the synthesis of ATP.

Structural elements 2: The cytoskeleton: mictrotubles, actin filaments, networks and gels.
Cell movements and locomotion.

Molecular machines: Motor proteins and isothermal ratchets. Mechanochemistry and the Kramers
equation. Muscle contraction. Processive motors. Rotary motors.

Sensory cells: Hair cells in the ear. Active signal detection and cochlear mechanics. Phototransduc-
tion in the retina.

Nerve impulses: Axons and the action potential. Hodgkin-Huxley model. Spiking and bursting.

Methods 1: Light microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, confocal and multiphoton microscopy,
FRET, FRAP.

Methods 2: Optical tweezers, other optical traps, atomic force microscopy and single molecule ex-
periments.

BOOKS
Essential Cell Biology, Alberts B et al. (Garland 2003).
Biological Physics: Energy, Information, Life, Nelson P (WH Freeman 2003).
Cell Movements, Bray D (Garland 2000).
Mechanics of Motor Proteins and the Cytoskeleton, Howard J (Sinauer 2000)
FORMATION OF STRUCTURE IN THE UNIVERSE
R Maiolino
This course builds on material in the Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology Major option and dis-
cusses how structure forms in the universe on all scales from planets and stars, through galaxies to the
largest structures we know about. Throughout the course we develop physical models motivated by
the evidence from a wide range of observational data we now have available. The topics covered are at
the forefront of active research in astrophysics and failings of our current understanding and models
will be discussed along with likely developments in the near future.
It is assumed that students have taken Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics in Part II.
Introduction: overview of the evolution of structure in the universe; properties of galaxies in the lo-
cal universe; star-forming regions; a first-look at the high-redshift universe.
Physical processes in baryonic gas: heating processes; cooling processes; cooling curves; ther-
mal stability and instability; multi-phase medium in galaxies; baryonic gas in the early universe.
Gravitational stability and instability: the isothermal sphere as a simple model; virial equilib-
rium; Jeans analysis in an infinite medium; role of magnetic fields, turbulence and angular momen-
tum.
Formation of stars and planets: inside-out collapse; formation of the first core and second core;
deuterium burning; hydrogen burning; angular-moment, discs and stellar jets; planet formation; ex-
tra-solar planets.
Star-formation on galactic scales: properties and structure of star-forming galaxies; initial mass
functions; factors controlling star formation; Schmidt-Kennicutt star-formation law; starbursts; a first
look at star formation histories.
Cosmological origins of structure: Origin and early growth of density perturbations and the mat-
ter power spectrum.
Galaxy formation: collapse of a spherical over density; evolution of the baryonic gas; numerical
simulations; hierarchical structure formation; failure of the simple model; the need for feedback; su-
pernova feedback; AGN feedback; improved models for galaxy evolution; galaxy dynamics.
The high-redshift universe and galaxy evolution: properties of galaxies at high redshift;
Lyman-break galaxies; the Hubble deep field; old red galaxies; evolution of the AGN population; evo-
lution of the galaxy population; confronting predictions and observations.
Large-scale structure: clusters and superclusters; correlation functions; remnants of primor-
dial structure; the cosmic web.
Challenges: problems with our current models of galaxy formation; the end of the dark ages the
epoch of re-ionisation; the equation of state of dark energy; testing our predictions.
BOOKS

The physics of the interstellar medium, Dyson J E and Williams D A (2
nd
edition IoP)
Accretion processes in star formation, Hartmann L (Cambridge)
An introduction to modern cosmology, Liddle A (2nd edition Wiley) a good and relatively simple
text to put material in context
The Structure & Evolution of Galaxies, Philips S (Wiley)
Galaxy formation, Longair M S (2
nd
edition Springer)
Cosmology the origin and evolution of cosmic structure, Coles P and Lucchin F (2
nd
edition Wiley)
a more advanced text
GAUGE FIELD THEORY
B M Gripaios
This course is an introduction to the gauge field theories of modern Particle Physics, focusing on the
gauge-invariant Lagrangian of the Standard Model of electroweak and strong interactions, with parti-
cle masses introduced via spontaneous symmetry breaking (the Higgs mechanism). There are no for-
mal prerequisites for the course though it would be helpful to have attended the Part III Particle
Physics or Quantum Field Theory Major Options; for those who have not, the lectures cover the essen-
tial material, including the necessary relativistic quantum field theory.

Relativistic quantum mechanics: Covariant notation; transition rates; phase space; two-body
decay and scattering; interaction and scattering via particle exchange; Feynman graphs; Klein-Gordon
equation; Dirac equation; free-particle spinors; helicity and chirality; electromagnetic interactions,
photons; charge conjugation; gamma matrix algebra; Compton scattering.

Relativistic quantum fields: Classical field theory, Lagrangian densities; Klein-Gordon field; Fou-
rier analysis; second quantization; single-particle and two-particle states; quantising the electromag-
netic field; vacuum energy and normal ordering; complex fields; symmetries and conservation laws;
Noethers theorem; Dirac field; spin-statistics theorem; Majorana fields.

Gauge field theories: Gauge symmetry in QED; non-Abelian gauge symmetry; strong interactions,
QCD; weak interactions; electroweak interactions; spontaneous symmetry breaking; gauge boson
masses; the unitary gauge; Yukawa interactions, quark and lepton masses; Higgs mechanism; parame-
ters of the Standard Model; properties of the Higgs boson.

Renormalisation: Ultraviolet divergences; renormalisability; dimensions of fields and couplings;
non-renormalisable interactions and effective theories.

Beyond the Standard Model: neutrino masses, the seesaw mechanism; grand unification, SU(5).
BOOKS
Quantum Field Theory, Mandl F and Shaw G (2nd edn Wiley 2009)
A Modern Introduction to Quantum Field Theory, Maggiore M (OUP 2005)
Gauge Theories in Particle Physics, Aitchison I J R and Hey A J G (3rd edn 2 vols IoP 2003)
An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory, Peskin M E and Schroeder D V (Addison-Wesley 1995)

MEDICAL PHYSICS
Dr S Bohndiek and Others
This course is intended to give an overview of some of the Medical applications of Physics. Most of the
lectures are given by Addenbrookes Hospital staff. The material should be accessible to all Part III
students.

Introduction: The scope of medical physics, introduction to the biological problem, radiation terms
and units, statutory responsibilities.

Mechanisms of energy loss by ionising radiation in biological materials: Classical calcula-
tion of energy loss by heavy charged particles, extension to electrons, ranges of charged particles and
Bragg curves. Interaction of neutrons with matter. Mechanisms of energy loss by electromagnetic ra-
diation. X-ray production (kilovoltage and Megavoltage). Radiation dosimetry.

Use of X-rays for diagnosis: X-ray imaging: X-ray image transducers and image intensifiers; as-
sessment of image quality and the modulation transfer function. Mammography. X-ray computed to-
mography. Patient dose measurement and typical doses in diagnostic radiology. Radiation Protection.

Imaging with radioactive tracers: Single-photon imaging: optimal tracer properties; photon de-
tection using a gamma camera; acquisition modes. Tomographic image reconstruction: data required
for tomography; analytical and iterative reconstruction algorithms. Positron-emission tomography
(PET): cyclotron production of positron-emitters; positron emission and annihilation; detection of
annihilation photon pairs; acquisition modes; image reconstruction and data corrections.

Diagnostic ultrasound: Interaction of ultrasound with tissue; ultrasound transducer and the ultra-
sound field; A-, M-, B-modes and real-time imaging; common image artefacts; Doppler techniques;
safety considerations; clinical examples.

Magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy: Controlling the magnetic nucleus, proton den-
sity T
1
and T
2
measurements, the imaging process, coil design, field strength and safety considerations,
MR spectroscopy.

Combining imaging modalities: Techniques for image registration. Combining images from mul-
tiple modalities.

Radiotherapy: Introduction to radiobiology. Relative biological effectiveness. Choice of radiation for
radiotherapy. Medical linear accelerators. Radiotherapy treatment planning with external beams. Use
of CT and MR images in treatment planning. Radiation distribution around closed sources, source dis-
tributions and dose specification, equipment and clinical applications.
BOOKS
The physics of radiology, Johns H E & Cunningham J R (4th edn Charles C Thomas 1983). This is a
good general text on the interaction of radiation with matter, and on radiotherapy physics. See par-
ticularly Chapters 2.8-2.11, 3, 4.1-4.5, 5, 6, 15.

The physics of medical imaging, Webb S (ed) (IoP Publ. 1988). This is a good general text for the im-
aging part of the course, particularly chapters 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 & 8.

Physics for Medical Imaging, Farr R F and Allisy-Roberts P J (Saunders 1997)

Radionuclide Imaging Techniques, Sharp P F, Dendy P P & Keyes W I (Academic Press 1985). See
particularly chapters 2 & 3.

Diagnostic ultrasonics; principles and use of instruments, McDicken W N (3rd edn Churchill Living-
stone 1991). Several chapters are relevant, but especially 3, 4, 8 & 11.

The Physics of Radiotherapy X-rays from linear accelerators. Metcalf P, Kron T and Hoban P. (Medi-
cal Physics Publishing 1997)

Physics for Diagnostic Radiology, Dendy P P and Heaton B (2nd edn IOP Publishing 1999).
A good general introduction to diagnostic imaging before consulting other references for more detailed
physics.

The Theory and Practice of 3D PET, Bendriem B and Townsend D W (eds) (Kluwer Academic 1998).
Covers scanner design, data acquisition, image reconstruction and image quantitation.

Atlas of Clinical Positron Emission Tomography, Maisey M N, Wahl R L and Barrington S F (Arnold
1999). Up-to-date coverage of the clinical applications of PET.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Physical Principles and Sequence Design, Haacke E M, Brown R W,
Thompson M R and Venkatesan R (Wiley 1999). A very comprehensive technical reference.

MRI from Picture to Proton, McRobbie D W, Moore E A, Graves M J, Prince M R (CUP 2006). A very
readable, recent book, with a clinical bias which includes some of the basic physics.
NONLINEAR OPTICS AND QUANTUM STATES OF LIGHT
M Atature

These minor option lectures will provide a basic overview on the field of nonlinear optics from classi-
cal to quantum-mechanical descriptions of light. A survey of key nonlinear optical processes will be
covered and recent advances of the field leading to the generation of nonclassical states of light dis-
playing squeezing and entanglement will be discussed.

Introduction: Historical development of nonlinear optics, physical origins of nonlinear response,
anharmonic oscillators, coupled wave equations, classical and quantum mechanical derivation of non-
linear optical susceptibility, symmetry properties of nonlinear susceptibilities.

Second-Order Nonlinear Interactions: second harmonic generation, depleted pump effects,
Gaussian beams, pulse propagation in nonlinear medium.

General Parametric Processes: up-conversion, amplification, optical gain, sum- and difference-
frequency generation, phase matching, quasi-phase matching.

Ultrafast Pulse Phenomena: amplitude and phase measurement of optical pulses using nonlinear
optics, frequency-resolved optical gating and other techniques.

Nonlinearities in Refractive Index: Third-order nonlinearity, Kerr medium, intensity depend-
ence and self-phase modulation, self-focusing, optical filamentation, soliton formation.

Nonclassical light: quantization of electromagnetic waves, parametric fluorescence, squeezed light,
quantum correlations and photon statistics, Fock, thermal and coherent states of light, superposition
and entanglement, vacuum field and spontaneous emission.

Supervisions: The course will include 3 supervisions to cover example problems and supplementary
concepts.

BOOKS

Primary: Principles of Nonlinear Optics, Y. R. Shen, Wiley-Interscience, 1984.
Nonlinear Optics, R. W. Boyd, Academic Press, 2003.

Auxiliary: Quantum Theory of Light, R. Loudon, OUP, 2000.
Optical Coherence & Quantum Optics, L. Mandel & E. Wolf, CUP, 1995. Quantum
Electronics, A. Yariv, John Wiley & Sons, 1989.

PARTICLE ASTROPHYSICS
M A Parker
This course will give a basic introduction to experimental and theoretical aspects of particle astrophys-
ics. The aim of the course is to emphasise the connection between the very large (cosmology) and the
very small (particle physics) and to demonstrate that the early Universe provides the `ultimate' parti-
cle accelerator, giving access to energies that will never be created by machines on Earth.

Overview of astroparticle physics: Links between particle physics and cosmology, the big open
questions.

The thermal history of the Universe: Timeline and concept of freezeout. Synthesis of light ele-
ments. The mystery of baryon asymmetry, Sakharov criteria.

CP violation and baryogenesis: How CP violation can create baryons. Experimental evidence for
CP violation. CP violation in SUSY models.

The matter content of the Universe: Evidence for dark matter, possible explanations, current
searches. Dark energy.

Inflation: Horizon and flatness problem, inflation, reheating. Problems of Higgs field in the early
universe. Use of CMB fluctuations as a cosmological probe.

Relics from the Early Universe: Dark matter abundance, monopoles, cosmic strings and textures.
Comparison of WMAP results with SUSY models and HEP constraints.

Cosmic rays: spectrum, GKZ cut-off, astrophysical sources and acceleration mechanisms.

Neutrinos: neutrino fluxes, detection, neutrino oscillations and masses. Double-beta decay experi-
ments, astrophysical constraints on neutrino masses. Relic neutrinos.

Modified gravity: Gravitational waves. MOND. Extra dimensions, brane-worlds.
Tests of short-range gravity.

Black holes: Black holes, hawking radiation, quantum black holes.

BOOKS

Particle Astrophysics, Perkins D (Oxford University Press). This is available in paperback and is
pitched at about the right level for the course, though it does not cover inflationary cosmology in much
detail.

Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics, Bergstrm L and Goobar A (Wiley 1999). Dated and has more
advanced material than is required for the course.

The Physical Foundations of Cosmology, Mukhnaov V (CUP 2005). Graduate level text, but with use-
ful pedagogical discussions of nucleosynthesis and baryogenisis.

The Early Universe, Kolb E and Turner M (Westview Press 1994). The classic graduate text, but now
very dated.
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND QUANTUM COHERENCE
G G Lonzarich
The course presents a unified treatment of superconductivity, superfluidity and Bose-Einstein conden-
sation as an introduction to the general problem of quantum coherence. It is assumed that students
taking this course will have also done Advanced Quantum Condensed Matter Physics.

Introduction to Superconductivity: Historical overview; superconducting materials; macro-
scopic properties; Meissner effect and levitation; type-I and type-II states; Landau theory; critical field
B
c
.

Ginzburg-Landau Theory: The Ginzburg-Landau free energy and Ginzburg-Landau equations;
London equations; penetration depth and coherence length; gauge transformations and gauge symme-
try breaking (broken symmetry in internal space).

Vortex Matter: Flux quantization; vortex lines and vortex lattice; the critical fields B
c1
and B
c2
, type-
I and type-II superconductivity; vortex pinning and critical currents; vortex liquid state.

Josephson Effect and SQUIDs: DC and AC Josephson effects; gauge invariant phase; quantum
interference for weak links; the DC SQUID; applications.

Superfluidity: Phenomenology; superfluid wavefunction; two-fluid model and the fountain effect;
flow quantization and vortices; first and second sound; rotons; Landaus critical velocity.

Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC): Ultra-cold atomic gases; BEC with weak interactions; co-
herent states and second quantization; the Bogoliubov Theory and connection to the phenomenologi-
cal Ginzurg-Landau Theory.

The Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) Theory: BEC to BCS cross-over; Cooper pairs; the BCS
wavefunction; the Bogoliubov quasiparticles and the energy gap; experimental evidence for the valid-
ity of the BCS theory; order parameter and the Ginzburg-Landau coherence length.

Current Problems in Superfluidity and Superconductivity: Unconventional forms of quan-
tum order; p-wave spin-triplet superfluidity in
3
He; spin-triplet superconductivity in Sr
2
RuO
4
and
UGe
2
; d-wave superconductivity in the high T
c
cuprates; phase-sensitive measurements of the gap ani-
sotropy; the pseudo-gap state; unconventional mechanisms for superconductivity; collective modes in
superfluids and superconductors; the Anderson-Higgs mechanism and superconductivity.

BOOKS

Superconductivity, Superfluids and Condensates, Annett J F (Oxford University Press, 2004)
Superconductivity of Metals and Cuprates, Waldram J R (Institute of Physics Publishing, 1996)

Also:

Bose-Einstein Condensation in Dilute Gases, Pethick C J and Smith H (Cambridge University Press,
2002)
Introduction to Superconductivity, Tinkham M (McGraw-Hill, 1996)
THE FRONTIERS OF OBSERVATIONAL ASTROPHYSICS
R D E Saunders
The course is an entry to the observational and analysis techniques of astrophysics and cosmology. It
outlines the underlying physics and studies example issues at the forefront of current research. It is
about exactly what limits what we know about the Universe and why.

The material is not covered in the Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology major option and so com-
plements that option, and by the same token it doesnt matter if you didnt attend that option. Indeed,
it doesnt matter whether or not you took the Astrophysical Fluids option last year nor how well you
fared with the Relativity course.

Introduction: Some basics. The mass-radius relationship of everything.

Observational design and statistical inference: The replacing of lab measurements by the
study of samples of objects. Hidden correlations and Malmquist bias. Eddington bias. Completeness
and false detection. Selection effects: the critical problems in trying to measure apparently simple
things such as the space density of quasars as a function of their power outputs and the space density
of planets as a function of their masses. Model fitting, chi-squared, likelihood function, etc. Bayesian
methods and the need for them as you push the forefronts. Lutz-Kelker bias and the influence of pri-
ors.

Example: We know from supernovae observations that the cosmic expansion is accelerating; the
course looks at what this is based on, the assumptions and the uncertainties which may surprise you.

Probes of the Universe: Black-body radiation (stars and cosmic microwave background (CMB)),
brightness temperature. Radio and X-ray Bremsstrahlung. Self absorption. Photoionisation, permit-
ted and forbidden UV-optical-IR emission lines. Production of emission and absorption lines across
the wavebands. Absorption features in the spectra of high-redshift quasars. Measuring temperatures
and densities. Measuring the sizes of objects that are observationally unresolved

Fundamental requirements and limitations: range of angular scale; spectral resolution and
matched filtering; shot noise, Johnson noise, coherent and incoherent addition, sensitivity; systemat-
ics.

Example: The detection of planets outside the solar system astrometry, radial velocities, eclipses,
and their biases.

Astronomical measurement techniques: Traditional collectors. Interferometry: coupling to an-
gular scales, resolving out, sensitivity, clever removal of many systematics, coherence length and path
compensation. Following the electric field of the incident radiation versus photon counting. Sky
noise, instrument noise, and the hidden problem of surface brightness. Charge coupled devices.

Example: Imaging the CMB pros and cons of interferometric methods, confusing foregrounds, han-
dling of systematics, the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect and its distance independence.
The effect of the atmosphere: The atmosphere causes high-resolution images in both optical and
radio (for different reasons) to jiggle about, limiting sensitivity as well as resolution. The course con-
siders these phase effects and ways that, without going into space, can overcome them.

Example 1: Adaptive optics methods of wavefront sensing, design of optimum systems.

Example 2: Optical interferometry the direct imaging of stars and nearby active galactic nuclei de-
spite the jiggling phase.

BOOKS

Most of the material hasnt entered textbooks yet, and certainly no book covers the course. The course
is therefore designed to be stand-alone, but references are given in the course where useful.
QUANTUM INFORMATION
C H W Barnes
There are no prerequisites for this course. It is a set of new concepts that people who have taken the
IB quantum mechanics course could easily step into. You should expect your understanding of quan-
tum mechanics to be challenged.

Introduction: The postulates of quantum mechanics - the Copenhagen Interpretation. Quantum en-
tanglement. Density matrices.

Measurement 1: What constitutes a measurement? Schrdingers cat and Wigners friend. The Ein-
stein-Podolsky -Rosen paradox.

Some alternative interpretations of quantum mechanics: Many worlds. Bohms guiding
waves. Transaction interpretation. Histories. Quantum-state diffusion.

Hidden variables theories: Bells theorem; experimental tests.

Quantum Entanglement: Bipartite systems: Schmidt decomposition, reduced density matrix, en-
tanglement measures. Tripartite systems.

Measurement 2: Positive Operator Value Measure (POVM); Weak measurements.

Decoherence: Decoherence time.

Quantum cryptography: The BB84 protocol. The no-cloning theorem. Eavesdropping strategies.
Privacy amplification. Other protocols. Experimental realisations.

Quantum teleportation: Theoretical strategy and experimental realisations.

Quantum computing: Qubits. Logical operations. Algorithms for quantum computers: factorisa-
tion, database searches. Error correction. Possible systems for implementing quantum computing: ion
traps; nuclear magnetic resonance; semiconductor quantum dots.
BOOKS
An easy to understand introduction to the subject can be found in the March 1998 edition of Physics
World and articles on quantum information often appear in the news media.

The following books provide detailed coverage of parts of the course:

Quantum Computation & Quantum Information, Nielson MA & Chuang IL (CUP 2000)
The Physics of Quantum Information, Bouwmeester R, Ekart A, Zeilinger A (Spring 2000)
Introduction to Quantum Computation and Information, H.-K. Lo, S. Popescu and T. Spiller (World
Scientific 1998). Note that this book may not be routinely stocked in bookshops and may have to be
ordered.
Quantum Mechanics, Rae A I M (3rd edn IOP 1992).
The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, Onnes R (Princeton 1994).
Quantum Theory: Concepts and Methods, A. Peres (Kluwer 1993).
There are some very good resources on the World Wide Web such as at:
http://www.theory.caltech.edu/~preskill/ph229 - Lecture notes and examples for a course on Quan-
tum Information taught by John Preskill at Caltech. Note however that this treatment is much more
mathematical than the present course.
http://www.qubit.org - The Quantum Information Research Group in Oxford.
http://www.cam.qubit.org - The Quantum Information Research Group in Cambridge.

ADVANCED QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
D B Skinner (Part III Maths)
This course is only suitable for students whose mathematics is very strong. Physics stu-
dents taking this course may need to do some supplementary reading on Lie group theory, for which
the following are recommended:

G. 't Hooft, Lectures on Lie Groups in Physics (given at the University of Utrecht, 2007), available at
http://www.phys.uu.nl/~thooft/lectures/lieg07.pdf
For more advanced topics: Symmetries, Lie Algebras and Representations, Fuchs J and Schweigert
C, (C.U.P 1997), available in the Rayleigh Library.

Quantum field theory (QFT) is the basic theoretical framework for describing elementary particles and
their interactions (excluding gravity) and is essential in the understanding of string theory. It is also
used in many other areas of physics including condensed matter physics, astrophysics, nuclear physics
and cosmology. The Standard Model, which describes the basic interactions of particle physics, is a
particular type of QFT known as a gauge theory. Gauge theories are invariant under symmetry trans-
formations defined at each point in spacetime which form Lie Group under composition. To quantise
a gauge theory, it is necessary to eliminate non-physical degrees of freedom and this requires addi-
tional theoretical tools beyond those developed in the introductory quantum field theory course.

A variety of new concepts and methods are first introduced in the simpler context of scalar field the-
ory. The functional integral approach provides a formal non-perturbative definition of any QFT which
also reproduces the usual Feynman rules. The course discusses in a systematic fashion the treatment
of the divergences which arise in perturbative calculations. The need for regularisation in QFT is ex-
plained, and the utility of dimensional regularisation in particular is emphasised. It is shown how re-
normalisation introduces an arbitrary mass scale and renormalisation group equations which reflect
this arbitrariness are derived. Various physical implications are then discussed.

The rest of the course is concerned specifically with gauge theories. The peculiar difficulties of quantis-
ing gauge fields are considered, before showing how these can be overcome using the functional inte-
gral approach in conjunction with ghost fields and BRST symmetry. A renormalisation group analysis
reveals that the coupling constant of a quantum gauge theory can become effectively small at high en-
ergies. This is the phenomenon of asymptotic freedom, which is crucial for the understanding of QCD:
the gauge theory of the strong interactions. It is then possible to perform perturbative calculations
which may be compared with experiment. Further properties of gauge theories are discussed, includ-
ing the possibility that a classical symmetry may be broken by quantum effects, and how these can be
analysed in perturbation theory. Such anomalies have important implications for the way in which
gauge particles and fermions interact in the Standard Model.

BOOKS

An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory, Peskin M E and Schroeder D V (Addison-Wesley 1996)
Quantum Theory of Fields, Vols. 1 & 2, Weinberg S (CUP 1996)

NUCLEAR POWER ENGINEERING
G T Parks and R L Skelton

This course is module 4M16 (formerly 4A1) in the Engineering Tripos. It is open to third or fourth year
Engineering students and students doing some MPhil courses, for instance the MPhil in Technology
Policy, as well as Part III Physics students. There are no hard prerequisites in terms of background
knowledge, but familiarity with basic nuclear physics and heat transfer is certainly helpful, and stu-
dents who cannot solve second-order ordinary and partial linear differential equations will not enjoy
parts of the course very much.

This module aims to give the student an introduction to and appreciation of the UK nuclear industry,
particularly the technology used in the production of electricity in nuclear power stations, the prepara-
tion and subsequent treatment of the fuel and its by-products, and the detection of ionising radiation
and the protection of workers within the nuclear industry and the general public from it.

On completion of the module students should:
- Appreciate the nature of neutron-nucleus interactions;
- Be able to classify ionising radiation by physical nature and health hazard;
- Be able to conduct safely a simple experiment involving radiation;
- Understand the principles of radiation detection and shielding;
- Be able to explain the principles of operation of UK nuclear reactors;
- Be able to apply elementary models of neutron behaviour in reactors;
- Know how to compute simple power distributions in reactors;
- Know how to compute simple temperature distributions in reactors and appreciate their conse-
quences;
- Appreciate the significance of delayed neutrons and Xenon-135 to the control and operation of re-
actors;
- Appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of on-load and off-load refuelling;
- Be able to perform simple calculations to predict the refuelling requirements of reactors;
- Be able to explain the operation of enrichment plant;
- Appreciate the problems of radioactive waste management;
- Appreciate the range of activities of the UK nuclear industry.

The course consists of 12 lectures, two within-lecture laboratory demonstrations and two examples
classes.

LECTURE SYLLABUS

Health Physics: Principles of nuclear reactions; Radioactivity and the effects of ionising radiation;
Introduction to health physics and shielding.

Reactor Physics: The fission chain process; Interactions of neutrons with matter; Models for neu-
tron distributions in space and energy.

Reactor Design and Operation: Simple reactor design; Past, present and future reactor designs
and concepts; Heat transfer and temperature distributions in commercial reactors; Time-dependent
aspects of reactor operations; delayed neutrons and Xenon poisoning; In-core and out-of-core fuel cy-
cles.

Fuel Processing: Enrichment and reprocessing; The containment and disposal of radioactive
wastes.

LABORATORY DEMONSTRATIONS

Demonstration of the use of Geiger-Muller and scintillation counters for detecting ionising radiation.

Demonstration of the detection and shielding of fast and thermal neutrons using a 37 GBq Americium-
Beryllium source.

BOOKS

Elements of Nuclear Power, Bennet D J and Thomson J R (Longman 1989)
Nuclear Reactor Engineering Volumes 1 and 2, Glasstone S and Sesonske A (Chapman and Hall 1991)
Principles of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Harms A A (RSP/Wiley 1987)
Introduction to Radiation Protection, Martin A and Harbison S A (Chapman and Hall 1996)
Nuclear Chemical Engineering, Benedict M, Pigford T H and Levi H W (McGraw-Hill 1981)
INTERDISCIPLINARY TOPICS NST PART III
Various departments

Within Part III of the NST, certain courses in the Lent Term, typically of 12 or 16 lectures, are made
available across the Tripos, rather than just to one subject within it. These Interdisciplinary Courses
are examined in a separate papers in the main examination period at the end of Easter Term.

At present there are three interdisciplinary topics, all on an environmental theme. Students taking
Part III PHYSICS may take any of these, each in place of one Minor Topic.

MATERIALS, ELECTRONICS AND RENEWABLE ENERGY
Prof. NC Greenham

This interdisciplinary course looks at the physical issues concerning energy generation, storage and
use. The style will be varied making use of simple physical estimates for a wide range of energy
problems, but also looking in more detail at materials-based approaches to renewable energy. Only
IA-level physics is a prerequisite; those who have experience of solid-state physics will find some parts
of the course more straightforward, but the material will be taught and examined in such a way that
prior knowledge in this area is not required.

This course is given by the Department of Physics.

For more details, see the separate synopsis on page 112.

CLIMATE CHANGE
Prof. D Hodell and others

This course is given by the Department of Earth Sciences and the Department of Geography.

More details will be made available at www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/IDP.php when they
are known.

ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND GLOBAL CHANGE
Dr N Harris and others

This course looks at global change from the perspective of atmospheric composition and its linkage to
the climate system. Issues covered include the fundamental photochemical and dynamical processes
which control atmospheric composition and structure, and how they would differ in a modified cli-
mate. The course is designed to complement the material covered in Course I2 (The Earth system and
Climate Change) although either course can be taken independently. The course will be lectured and
examined in a way which assumes no prior knowledge for those taking the course.

This course is given by the Department of Chemistry.

More details will be made available at www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/IDP.php when they
are known
MATERIALS, ELECTRONICS AND RENEWABLE ENERGY
N C Greenham

Interdisciplinary Course within Part III of the Natural Sciences Tripos
This course is given by the Department of Physics

This interdisciplinary course looks at the physical issues concerning energy generation, storage and
use. The course aims to develop skills in using simple physical estimates for a wide range of energy
problems, while also looking in more detail at materials-based approaches to renewable energy. Only
IA-level physics is a prerequisite; those who have experience of solid-state physics will find some parts
of the course more straightforward, but the material will be taught and examined in such a way that
prior knowledge in this area is not required.

Energy requirements and energy availability: Back-of-envelope models of energy consumption
and production. Current and projected usage. Alternatives to fossil fuels: nuclear, wind, wave, tide,
geothermal, solar.

Hydrogen and batteries: Hydrogen vs. electric vehicles. Generation and storage of hydrogen. Elec-
trochemical principles. Batteries. Fuel cells.

Exergy: Heat engines, heat pumps. Exergy and exergy efficiency.

Heating and cooling: Practical heat pumps. Combined heat and power.

Engines: The Otto cycle. Stirling engines.

Solar energy: Sunlight, solar concentration, solar thermal. Scale of solar installations required.
Theoretical limits to conversion of solar energy.

Electronic structure of molecules and solids: Tight-binding band structure. Interaction with
light. Excitons. Electrons and holes. Doping.

Inorganic semiconductor solar cells: The p-n junction. Photovoltaic operation. Cell design, ma-
terials and performance.

Molecular semiconductors: Materials and optical properties. Excitons. Marcus theory. Photo-
voltaic devices: multilayers, bulk heterojunctions and dye-sensitised cells.

Advanced photovoltaics: Tandem cells. Multiple exciton generation.

Photosynthesis: Structure and optoelectronic operation. Charge separation and recombination. Ef-
ficiency. Biofuels.

BOOKS

Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air, Mackay D J C (UIT Cambridge 2009)
The Physics of Solar Cells, Nelson J (Imperial 2003)
Molecular Mechanisms of Photosynthesis, Blankenship R E (Blackwell 2002)

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
S Barakat

Overview

ETECH Projects is best suited for students who see themselves as would-be entrepreneurs or as those
who expect to work in situations where they will have to assess ideas, technologies or propositions for
their commercial viability.
ETECH Projects has come a long way since its origins in 2001. Since then ETECH Projects has grown
to reach out to more university departments, and more than 600 students have gone through the
course and almost 50 inventors have been supported. The course is offered every year in the Lent term
primarily to students from Chemical engineering, Material Science, Biological Sciences and Physics.
ETECH Projects allows students interested in entrepreneurship to work closely with inventors devel-
oping cutting-edge science and technology. The students work as a team to evaluate the commercial
potential of novel, potentially disruptive technologies. In many instances the teams are multidiscipli-
nary, offering further insights into how a disruptive technology is viewed from different perspectives.
The blend of skills developed through the course are needed in a variety of contexts from early stage
companies, venture capital, corporate venturing and technology transfer environments. By assessing
commercial due diligence of novel technologies, ETECH Projects helps students develop key entrepre-
neurial skills such as opportunity recognition and evaluation in the context of science-based entrepre-
neurship.
Please see more on http://www.cfel.jbs.cam.ac.uk/programmes/etech/index.html
ETECH Projects objectives
Assessment of market potential and viability of novel technology based concepts
Build skills to carry out due diligence on the emerging technology.
Perform practical group work to apply these skills to new business ideas.
Work in a multi-disciplinary setting on projects.
Lectures
Twelve 1-hour sessions will cover the key elements of successful commercialisation of novel, emerging
technologies. There will be practitioner-delivered guest lecturers supplementing the lec-
ture/discussions to be led by the faculty. The guest lectures will be delivered by invited local entrepre-
neurs and investors providing practical insights that come from experience gained in Europes top
technology cluster.

Topics covered will include the key aspects of commercialisation as follows:

Commercialisation aspect Key topics
Technology Attributes, IP position
Application Viability, Linking technical and commercial advantages
Market and Industry Target markets, Size and growth rates
Competitors/Partners Current/future competition, Potential partners
Business Model Potential business models, Pros and cons
Recommendations Target market, Most suitable business model
Next Steps Immediate next steps to commercialisation

Tutor Supervisions
Each student team will prepare a commercial feasibility report and present the findings to the inven-
tor(s). Students will be provided with supervision support during the course of the commercial due-
diligence process. The supervisions will be structured according to the requirements of each ETECH
Project, but will broadly cover opportunity evaluation, developing the business concept and present-
ing the findings. A sample supervision guidance sheet is enclosed in Appendix B.

Readings and Supporting Material
Students will be provided with a comprehensive course pack that includes a course handbook and pro-
viding much of the background material required for the commercial assessment. Reading lists will be
provided at the start of the course and at different points during the term that students can draw on to
deliver assignments and supplement the lecture notes. Lecture slides along with additional materials
are posted on Camtools.
Students wishing to gain further insights into the field before the class should read the following texts,
both of which are excellent:
New Venture Creation, Timmons J A and Spinelli S (6th edn Irwin McGraw Hill 2004)
The High-Tech Entrepreneurs Handbook, Lang J and the Cambridge University Entrepreneurship
Centre (Pearson Education 2001)

Assessment
The course will be assessed by two sets of coursework, which are designed to test candidates ability to
apply the concepts, tools and techniques covered in the syllabus. Similar tasks are regularly performed
by entrepreneurs and investors and are important steps in developing the self-efficacy and compe-
tence of those who take the course. One set of the assessed coursework is made up of individual pieces
of work and the other is the group project mentioned above, working with an inventor and evaluating
the commercial potential of a real invention. Full details are in the course handbook distributed in
class.
Part III Physics Non-examinable courses 115
ETHICS IN PHYSICS
R Jennings
This course of four workshops will address ethical issues that arise in doing physics. The format
will be a moderated discussion of ethical problems that arise in four areas as follows:

Workshop 1 military research
Workshop 2 the politics of science and government funding policy
Workshop 3 the use and abuse of data
Workshop 4 intellectual property and allocation of credit

Broadly speaking the first two workshops are concerned with the responsible conduct of research
and the second two with the applications of physics. My intention is to run a fairly open plan
course, and I am willing to introduce topics of particular interest to participants. That said, the
default topics are as follows:

Workshop 1
For this first ethics in physics workshop I will introduce some of the ethical questions that arise in
doing military research and indicate alternatives to military research. My main resources are pub-
lications of Scientists for Global Responsibility. Three in particular are of interest and are avail-
able as handouts on the TIS:

Soldiers in the Laboratory
More Soldiers in the Laboratory
Behind Closed Doors

Workshop 2

This workshop will look at the politics of science and the origins of the government's funding pol-
icy. The discussion will focus on the question of how to balance the funding of pure basic research
with the governments priority for wealth creation. This is a particularly sensitive issue for the
most basic fields of research such as particle physics and astronomy.
The issues arise in a classic debate in the Journal Minerva Volume 1, 1962:
Michael Polanyi, The Republic of Science: Its Political and Economic Theory pp. 54-73.
Alvin Weinberg, Criteria for Scientific Choice pp. 159-171.

Workshop 3

To compare Robert Millikans dubious presentation of data in his 1913 paper, "On the elementary
Electrical Charge and the Avogadro Constant," [The Physical Review Series II, Volume II, No. 2,
(1913), pp. 109-143] and the more notorious presentation of data by Jan Hendrick Schn. The
Millikan case is available at:
http://www.onlineethics.org/Education/precollege/scienceclass/sectone/cs2.aspx

Workshop 4

Problems of intellectual property range from straightforward plagiarism to industrial espionage.
At a more subtle level, there are problems of how credit is shared out among members of a group
working on a research project. We will discuss two cases: the case of Rosalind Franklin and her
contribution to our knowledge of the chemical structure of DNA, and the case of Jocelyn Bell
Burnell and the discovery of pulsars. In each case there is still a range of opinions concerning the
distribution of credit, and these two cases provide good examples of the difficulties that can be en-
countered in fairly sharing the credit for discoveries. The case of Rosalind Franklin is available at:
http://www.onlineethics.org/Education/precollege/scienceclass/sectone/cs4.aspx
Part III Physics Non-examinable courses 116
PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICS
J Butterfield

This course of four lectures offers an introduction to the philosophy of modern physics. This is a technical
area, although an interdisciplinary one. Its closest cousin is the branch of physics called foundations of phys-
ics. Thus in both areas, we examine the mathematical structures of physical theories. This course will em-
phasise two specific theories: relativity and quantum theory.

The first and second lectures will survey the philosophy of relativity theory. I will emphasise Einsteins fa-
mous hole argument, as a lesson about the foundations of general relativity. Einstein devised this argument
in late 1913, as an argument against general covariance: namely, that any generally covariant theory would
be radically indeterministic. Late in 1915, after he had found the field equations of general relativity, which
are generally covariant, he re-assessed the argument as showing only that we should not think of spacetime
points as objects, on pain of a radical indeterminism. Broadly speaking, there the matter rested, until about
twenty years ago, when the assessment of the argument became again a live topic, because of its connection
with other issues in the interpretation of general relativity. The controversy continues today.

The third and fourth lectures are devoted to the measurement problem of quantum theory: in short,
Schroedingers cat. There are many aspects, technical and philosophical (and even historical), one could dis-
cuss about this. I will in part be guided by the interests of the class. But here are two:

(i) The nature and role of decoherence. In short, decoherence gives a dynamical basis to the selection of a
preferred quantity, but does nothing to select an individual, definite measurement-outcome, or more gener-
ally a definite macroscopic reality.

(ii) The current prospects for the Everett interpretation (also known as: the relative-state, or many worlds,
interpretation). In short, the interpretation is very strange, but its current prospects are surprisingly good!
BOOKS NB: Most of the books cited will surely be in your College library.
All four Lectures: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), and the Pittsburgh philosophy of science
e-arXive, both available online, have many good philosophy of physics articles.
First and second Lectures:
Theoretical Concepts in Physics, Longair M, (2
nd
edn CUP 2003); Chapter 17.1-2.
SEP article on Einsteins philosophy of science: http://www.seop.leeds.ac.uk/entries/einstein-philscience/
SEP article on Einsteins Hole Argument
http://www.seop.leeds.ac.uk/entries/spacetime-holearg/
Third and fourth Lectures:
Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics, Bell J S (2
nd
edn CUP 2004); Chapters 20 and 23
Philosophical Concepts in Physics, Cushing J T (2
nd
edn CUP 1998); Chapters 20-22.
SEP article on Bells theorem:
http://www.seop.leeds.ac.uk/entries/bell-theorem/
SEP article on decoherence in quantum mechanics:
http://www.seop.leeds.ac.uk/entries/qm-decoherence/
Pittsburgh e-arXive articles on the Everett interpretation include the following two:
philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00000208/
and
philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00000681/

Students doing Part III Physics are welcome to attend the weekly non-examinable seminar in Philosophy of
Physics given in Mathematics, in both Michaelmas and Lent Terms. In 2012-2012, the details are:
Thursday s at 4.30, weeks 1 to 8, Michaelmas and Lent Term, Meeting Room 13 in CMS
Part II Physics Projects 117
PROJECTS
C G Smith
Please note that from 2014-15 the proj ect allocati on procedure wi th be changi ng.
Each Part III Physics student is required to undertake a project worth about one-third of the final tripos
mark. A project is aimed at investigating a topic of current interest in physics, giving an opportunity for
original work and ideas. The precise form of the project may vary from topic to topic and will be specified by
the supervisor.

The various types of project work available are as follows:

Experimental Project: generally this is an extended investigation, which is open-ended and gives
considerable freedom of approach.

Theoretical Project: this is a small-scale theoretical research project, requiring an element of
original theoretical development and/or computation.

Computing Project: this generally requires the writing or use of computer programs to investigate
some aspect of physics. Some theoretical work is usually required as a basis for the program.

The project abstracts, provided by members of staff and Senior Research workers, are available on the web:
see (http://www-teach.phy.cam.ac.uk/pt3projects/ for a direct link to the project pages). Students may also
suggest projects of their own, but they must have a supervisor (who may be external) and the project must be
approved in advance by Professor Smith. Students interested in a particular project should discuss it as soon
as possible with the relevant supervisor. The list of projects on the web will be continuously updated to show
which ones have already been taken.

Students must choose their projects by the end of the fourth week of Michaelmas term. Supervisors
will decide, by that same deadline, which students may undertake their projects, but they are asked not to
make a decision until Thursday, October 24
th
2013, at the earliest. The purpose of this delay is to allow
students time to talk to several supervisors and to allow supervisors to find the most suitable students for
their projects. In response to student concerns, a code of practice for projects allocations has been agreed by
both the Teaching Committee and the Staff Student Consultative Committee see below for the full version.

Supervisors will offer the project to a student using the web interface, where they will also indicate the safety
risks associated with the project, and students will be asked to indicate their acceptance of the offer, via
email. In the interests of fairness both to the supervisor and to fellow students, students will not normally
be allowed to change their project once they have accepted an offer.

Safety

In all research there are possible risks associated with performing the work. Each supervisor will indicate
what the risks are associated with their experiment on the sign up form. Before the project starts the student
and supervisor will sign a project card which will confirm that the student will be trained appropriately to
cover the risks associated with the project. No project will start until this card is received in the Teaching Of-
fice. The card will also list the name of the day to day supervisor and the laboratories in which the student
will be working. If there is a safety hazard associated with the project then supervisors will suggest appro-
priate safety courses for the student to go on. The laboratory will provide these safety courses, which will be
held in the Michaelmas term. Attendance records will be taken at these lectures and no student will be al-
lowed to start their project unless they have attended the appropriate courses. Supervisors and Students
will now complete and sign a risk assessment form showing they understand the risks associated with their
project experiments. These forms will be prepared with the help of the supervisor and these will be handed
in to the Teaching Office before the start of experiments or before Friday, December 6
th
2013, whichever
is the sooner. They will then be passed on to the Safety officer. Changes of experimental procedure during
the project will require an updating of the risk assessment forms.

Where work is performed in Laboratories outside the Cavendish Laboratory, the Teaching Office will write to
the department concerned drawing attention to the fact that one of our students will be working there to get
their agreement on the project going ahead. If for any reason a project needs to move between departments
the Teaching Office must be informed and the new department made aware of the arrangements.

Expected time students should spend on the project

The project workload is expected to take up one third of your time for the year:

Michaelmas Term: approximately one sixth of your project time spread through the term.

Lent Term: approximately four sixth of your time with concentrated effort at the beginning and
end of the term.

Easter Term: one sixth of your project work, at the beginning of Full Term.

Students should not devote too much time to the project to the detriment of their preparation for the exami-
nations. Students should schedule their time carefully, and start as early as possible, so as not to conflict
with preparation for exams during the vacations.

Laboratory Note Book

Students will be required to keep a laboratory note book during the project. This will act as a day to day re-
cord of the project work and will be handed in with the project write up. Although the note book will not be
marked, the information in it will be used in assessment of the project and will help indicate how the day to
day issues that come up in the research were dealt with. During the safety course there will be a presentation
on what is expected in the Laboratory note book.

Progress reports

Students will be asked to complete two progress reports. At the end of the Michaelmas Term you should
submit a Project Plan (one copy; approximately 500 words) which would normally include a statement that
the relevant literature has been consulted. This should be signed by your supervisor to indicate his or her
agreement with the plan and should be handed in by Friday, December 6
th
2013. The signed copy of the
Project Plan will be retained by the teaching office and forwarded to the assessor in Easter Term failure
to submit a project plan will result in the loss of 5% of the available project marks. The second report is a
simple tick box form, which will be issued during week 6 of the Lent term. This will invite you to report any
problems with your project, and to confirm that a presentation has been scheduled. The second report will
not form part of any assessment, but will allow any problems to be identified by Professor Smith well before
the time the project has to be handed in.

It is very important that students bring any unforeseen delays or other problems with their projects to Pro-
fessor Smiths attention at the earliest possible opportunity. The earlier such problems are addressed, the
more chance there is of taking suitable remedial action.

Supervi si ons and presentati on

Supervisors should offer up to six supervisions on the project. One of these should be in the form of a presen-
tation of preliminary project results; either to the supervisors research group (strongly encouraged) or to a
small group of say 4 6 project students and supervisors. It is expected that supervisors will organise these
presentations in about the seventh week of the Lent term, (or later, perhaps even at the very start of the
Easter term, if mutually acceptable). Students will receive feedback on the content and presentation of their
projects from the supervisors and others present, which should help them with their oral exam. This form of
presentation is aimed at developing communication and presentational skills. Failure to give this presenta-
tion will result in the loss of 5% of the available marks for the project.

The formal wri te-up

The project should usually be presented in the style of a paper published in a scientific journal. The style of
the project should be agreed with the supervisor. The main text (excluding appendices and abstract) should
be concise (2030 pages, 5000 words maximum). The text should describe and explain the main fea-
tures of the project, the methods used, results, discussion and conclusions. Detailed measurement records,
calculations, programs, etc. should be included as appendices. (Programs of more than a few hundred lines
can be submitted one copy only flash stick or, preferably, CDROM: please ensure it is labelled with your
Examination number.) In addition, there must be an abstract of at most 500 words.

The student and supervisor should discuss the general structure of the report before writing is started, but
the supervisor should not read a full draft before submission. A set of handy tips and information is
given in the booklet entitled Keeping Laboratory Notes and Writing Formal Reports, which is handed out to
students at the start of the year and is also available on the web - make sure you get one.

Submi ssi on of the project

The deadline for submission of the project is:

An request for a delay in the hand-in date of your project report due to illness must go
through your Director of Studies and then be agreed by the Applications Committee. Treat
this deadline like you would an exam date.
Two copies of the project plus your laboratory note book should be handed in to the Teaching Office
(Room 212B, Bragg Building) in person before the submission deadline. In order to preserve anonymity
when your project is looked at by the Part III examiners, your name must not appear on the project
itself. Two cover sheets, available from the Teaching Office, should be attached to the front of each project.
The blue cover sheet, which has a space for both your name and candidate number, goes on the outside. The
green cover sheet, which has only your candidate number, goes immediately behind it. (The blue sheet will
be removed before the Part III Examiners receive your report). You should ensure that your candidate
number appears on the first page of your project, together with the title of the project and
your supervisors name.
The blue cover sheet contains the following declaration, which you should sign: Except where specific refer-
ence is made to the work of others, this work is original and has not been already submitted either wholly
or in part to satisfy any degree requirement at this or any other university.

Pr oj ect Assessment

As soon as possible after submission, the project will be assessed by two people, normally the supervisor and
another staff member (the assessor), who will conduct an informal oral examination of the student on the
work. The assessor, who will be appointed by the Teaching Committee, will not usually be a specialist in the
field. The student will be asked to present a short verbal summary, normally uninterrupted, of the project
during the interview. A projector will be made available if requested in advance. Students should expect to be
contacted by their supervisor shortly after handing their project in, to arrange the oral examination.

The supervisor and assessor will write separate reports plus a joint report to the Part III Examiners and will
recommend a mark. These marks are not necessarily final and may be amended by the examiners, who also
look at the projects.
4.00 pm on the third Monday of Easter Full Term (12
th
May 2014).
The following guidelines for allocation of marks to Part III Projects will be given to assessors. Each heading
carries equal weight.
- Scientific content: How much appropriate understanding of science (particularly physics)
was shown?
- Quality of work: How carefully/accurately/successfully was the work planned and per-
formed (the laboratory note book will be used to help assess this). Was an appropriate
amount of relevant material included?
- Communication skills: Report: was the report well written and clearly organised, with
clear and well-balanced arguments, appropriate use of figures and tables, etc? Viva: was the
student able to summarise the work and to respond coherently to questions?

After the oral examination, the assessors will return their report and recommended marks, along with both
(signed) copies of the projects and the Laboratory note books, to the Teaching Office (Room
212B, Bragg Building). After publication of the Part III Class List, students may, if they wish, retrieve one
copy of their project from the Teaching Office.

If there are any questions about these arrangements come and see Professor Smith, in the Mott Building,
Room 358, telephone 37483, e-mail cgs4@cam.ac.uk.

Further i nformati on:

Allocation of Projects

In response to concerns about the transparency of the project allocation process, the following text has been
approved by the Teaching Committee and the Staff Student Consultative Committee. Project supervisors are
enjoined to act within the spirit of the following code.

Code of Practice for allocation of Part III Projects
Part III Projects cover the full range of research in Physics, involving analytical, experimental and
computational work in various proportions. They may involve working in research groups either in
the Department of Physics or elsewhere in the University. Part III projects are often closely linked to
the supervisors own research, and may result in single or joint publication. Unlike Part II Research
Reviews, the successful conclusion of a project requires a reasonable match between the skills and
interests of the student and those required by the project. It is reasonable that the project supervisor
should be the judge of these: it is not therefore appropriate to assign projects by a general lottery, for
example.

Supervisors are, however, asked to ensure fair play in the allocation process. This requires that the
requisite skills be fully advertised in the project abstract, and that the supervisor should be prepared
to discuss the project with all students who make serious inquiries. He or she should also keep
an open mind until the end of the consultation period, and should then make and an-
nounce a decision as quickly as possible, to avoid keeping students on a string. If
more than one student indicates serious interest, the supervisor should make clear how he or she in-
tends to make the allocation in some cases this might be as simple as drawing names from a hat,
while for an analytical project closely tied to the supervisors research project, it might be on the ba-
sis of performance in TP1 and/or TP2 in the previous year. The essential point is that whatever
method is used should be seen to be appropriate and fair, should be clear to the students, and should
be settled expeditiously once the system opens to allocations. Students can then make a reasonable
guess at their chances, and can pursue such other projects as they wish.

Supervisors may create projects expressly for a particular student, and are encouraged to do so (ei-
ther in response to the students initiative in proposing the project, or in response to strong de-
mand). However, such projects should not be advertised to the class via the web, but should be
flagged as hidden or inactive until allocated. As well as not raising false hopes, this will also avoid
having to answer unwanted inquiries.

Out of fairness to supervisors, students are not normally allowed to change projects once they have
been allocated one and have accepted it. This places an additional responsibility on supervisors to
ensure a fair, transparent and efficient allocation.

Further Health and Safety considerations

Supervisors should always discuss safety aspects of their projects with the students concerned, mentioning
potential hazards and procedures with which students may not be familiar. Supervisors should ensure that
the student has read and understood the relevant risk assessments for the activities to be carried out. For
new activities, risk assessments should be carried out by the supervisor in consultation with the student. For
safety reasons, students must at all times remain within shouting distance of help, and, if performing an ex-
periment, sign in a book provided by the supervisor, on each occasion when they start and when they finish
work. They are only allowed to work on experiments in the Department outside normal lab hours in excep-
tional circumstances, by prior arrangement with the supervisor, and with the approval of the Departmental
Safety Officer and the Head of Department. Supervisors must ensure that students are aware of general and
experiment-related emergency procedures. By accepting the project, students are indicating their agree-
ment to abide by these and other safety rules.

Use of bibliographic databases

The Web of Science database (http://wok.mimas.ac.uk) may be used to find relevant papers. Students must
first sign a form (available from the Rayleigh Library) unless they signed one last year

122
Guide for Students 123

Guide for Students

Academic Staff
Staff member Telephone
(secy)
Room Group E-mail
Alexander, Prof. P 37477(37294) G24 AP pa@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Allison, Dr W 37416(37336) 413B SMF wa14@cam.ac.uk
Ansorge, Dr R E 66103 240 BSS rea1@phy.cam.ac.uk
Atatre, Dr M 66465(66298) 982 AMOP ma424@cam.ac.uk
Barnes, Dr C H W 37487 361 TFM chwb101@cus.cam.ac.uk
Batley, Dr J R 37434(37227) 953 HEP batley@hep.phy.cam.ac.uk
Baumberg, Prof. J J 37313 24 IRC OE jjb12@cam.ac.uk
Bohndiek, Dr S T.B.A. T.B.A. BSS seb53@cam.ac.uk
Buscher Dr D F 37302 G26 AP dfb@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Castelnovo, Dr C 37433 528 TCM cc726@cam.ac.uk
Cicuta, Dr P 37462 237 BSS pc245@cam.ac.uk
Cole, Dr J 37470 (37336) 429 SMF jmc61@cam.ac.uk
Cooper, Prof. N R 65127 528 TCM nrc25@phy.cam.ac.uk
Donald, Prof. Dame Athene M 37382(37423) 243 BSS amd3@phy.cam.ac.uk
Eiser, Dr E 37267 238 BSS ee247@cam.ac.uk
Ellis, Dr J 37410 427C SMF je102@cus.cam.ac.uk
Ford, Prof. C J B 37486(37482) 330 SP cjbf@cam.ac.uk
Friend, Prof. Sir Richard H 37218(37313) 32 IRC OE rhf10@cus.cam.ac.uk
Gibson, Prof. V 37373(37227) 958 HEP gibson@hep.phy.cam.ac.uk
Green, Dr D A 37305(37294) F30 AP dag@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Greenham, Prof. N C 66301(37313) 33 IRC OE ncg11@cam.ac.uk
Gripaios, Dr B M 61014 961 HEP gripaios@hep.phy.cam.ac.uk
Grosche, Dr F M 37352 409 QM fmg12@cam.ac.uk
Gull, Prof. S F 37367(37294) F22 AP steve@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Hadzibabic, Dr Z 37004 835 AMOP zh10001@cam.ac.uk
Haniff, Prof. C A 37307 F29 AP cah@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Hobson, Prof. M P 39992 F08 AP mph@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Hughes, Dr H P 37327(37313) M210 OE hph10@phy.cam.ac.uk
Irvine, Dr A C 37555 M232 ME aci20@cam.ac.uk
Jardine-Wright Dr L 33318 212A Outreach ljw21@cam.ac.uk
Jones, Dr G A C 37484(37482) 359B SP gaj1@cam.ac.uk
Keyser, Dr U 37272 239 BSS ufk20@cam.ac.uk
Khmelnitskii, Prof. D C 37289(37254) 521 TCM dek12@cam.ac.uk
Lamacraft, Dr A 37378 529 TCM al200@cam.ac.uk
Lasenby, Prof .A N 37293(37294) K28 AP a.n.lasenby@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Lester, Dr C G 37232 952 HEP lester@hep.phy.cam.ac.uk
Longair, Prof. M S 65953 G25 AP msl@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Maiolino, Prof. R 61661 K35 AP rm665@cam.ac.uk
Needs, Prof. R J 37384(37254) 535 TCM rn11@phy.cam.ac.uk
Padman, Dr R 37310(37294) F21 AP rp11@cam.ac.uk
Parker, Prof. M A 37429 210 Head of
Depart-
ment
parker@hep.phy.cam.ac.uk
hod@phy.cam.ac.uk

Payne, Prof. M C 37381(37254) 541 TCM mcp1@phy.cam.ac.uk
Phillips, Prof. R T 37342(37313) 874 AMOP rtp1@phy.cam.ac.uk
Queloz, Prof. D P 37083 F24 dq212@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Richer, Dr J S 37246 F28 AP jsr@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Riley, Dr J M 37308 F23 AP julia@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Ritchie, Prof. D A 37331/37255 361 SP dar11@cam.ac.uk
Saunders, Dr R D E 37301(37294) F08 AP rdes@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Simons, Prof. B D 37253(37254) 539 TCM bds10@phy.cam.ac.uk
Scott, Prof. J F 37391 502 QM jfs32@cam.ac.uk
Sirringhaus, Prof. H 37557 M208 ME hs220@phy.cam.ac.uk
Smith, Prof. C G 37483(37482) 358 SP cgs4@cam.ac.uk
Steiner, Prof. U 37390 35 IRC BSS u.steiner@phy.cam.ac.uk
Terentjev, Prof. E M 37003 245 BSS emt1000@cus.cam.ac.uk
Thomson, Prof. M A 65122/(37227) 951 HEP thomson@hep.phy.cam.ac.uk
Ward, Prof. D R 37242(37227) 939 HEP drw1@hep.phy.cam.ac.uk
Warner, Prof. M 37380(37254) 505 TCM mw141@cam.ac.uk
Withington, Prof. S 37393(37294) 816B AP stafford@mrao.cam.ac.uk

M indicates Microelectronics Building - IRC indicates Interdisciplinary Research Centre
B indicates Battcock Centre

Administration
The Departments central administration is located in the Bragg Building. Enquiries are usually dealt with
via Room 206, between 9:00 and 12:30, and 14:00 and 17:00.
Aims and Objectives
The Quality Assurance Agency, through its institutional audit of the University, is concerned with the assur-
ance of the quality of teaching and learning within the University. The University in turn requires every De-
partment to have clear aims and objectives and to monitor their teaching and learning activities and consider
changes where necessary, and meet various criteria concerning management of the quality of its teaching
provision. Students play a vital role in assisting with this quality assurance, and the Department welcomes
constructive comment via the Staff-student Consultative Committee.
Appeals
Information about the procedure for examination warnings, allowances and appeals is available at
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/students/studentregistry/exams/undergraduate/exams.html.
Astronomical Society (CUAS)
Astronomy is a popular branch of physics and the Astronomical Society provides an interesting series of lec-
tures on Wednesday evenings during the Michaelmas and Lent Terms, details of which can be found on the
societys web page - http://www.cam.ac.uk/societies/cuas/. Members of the research groups of the Caven-
dish Laboratory concerned with astronomy are often lecturers in this series.
Bicycles
The Cavendish Laboratory provides several cycle sheds and racks in which you may leave your bike, but it
should be locked with a sturdy security device when not in use. Several serious accidents occur every year in-
volving students cycling in Cambridge: please cycle with care, use proper lights when required and wear a
safety helmet.
Books
The Physics Course Handbook lists the most important books to be used in conjunction with the lecture and
practical courses. Reading and working through parts of these books are indispensable exercises which are
usually considered part of the course. Many of the books are expensive, but they may be obtained at substan-
tial reductions by attending book sales and looking out for bargains listed on College noticeboards and those
in the Cavendish. All books recommended for Part I should be available in College libraries or the Rayleigh
Library. If you notice any omissions, please fill in a request slip to ensure that the book is ordered.
Bookshops
The main bookshops from which you should be able to obtain the recommended books are Heffers, CUP and
Waterstones. And then there is always Amazon Note: a 20% discount is available at the CUP bookshop
with a University Card.
Buildings
The present Cavendish Laboratory comprises the extensive buildings south of Madingley Road, the first of
which opened in 1973. A map of the Cavendish Laboratory site is shown on the inside back cover. The origi-
nal buildings on this site were the Rutherford, Bragg and Mott Buildings, named after former Cavendish Pro-
fessors, and the workshop building between the Rutherford and Bragg buildings. These have in the past few
years been supplemented by a building for the Interdisciplinary Research Centre (IRC) in Superconductivity
(now the Kapitza Building), and a further building for the Microelectronics Research Group and Hitachi
Cambridge Laboratory. Further recent additions to the site are the Magnetic Resonance Research Centre of
the Chemical Engineering Department, the first phase of the Physics of Medicine (POM) building, which
houses the laboratories for the Biological and Soft Systems sector (BSS), the Nanoscience Centre and the
Terrapin Building. The most recent addition is the Battcock Centre for Astrophysics, which houses the Astro-
physics Group and is located on the Institute of Astronomy site off Madingley Road.
Calculators
When considering which calculator to buy, you may wish to bear in mind that only certain types are permit-
ted for use in Tripos examinations. Among these are the Casio models available from the Cavendish Stores.
Calculators will also need the official Board of Examination yellow sticker which can be obtained from the
Board of Examination offices in Mill Lane.
CamCORS
The supervision reporting system. See Databases (below)
CamSIS
The student information system. See Databases (below)
CamTools
CARETs Virtual Learning Environment. See Databases (below)
Canteen
See Common Room (below).
Careers
The University Careers Service is located in Stuart House, Mill Lane (telephone number 338288), and is fi-
nanced by the University to provide students with information about careers and assistance with application
processes. The Service maintains an information room which can be used during normal office hours, and
additionally provides expert staff to advise students about career-related issues. Ask at the reception desk.
Cavendish Laboratory
The Cavendish Laboratory is the name of the building which houses (most of) the Universitys Department of
Physics; the name has become synonymous with the department itself. The laboratory was established
through the generosity of William Cavendish, Seventh Duke of Devonshire, who endowed the laboratory in
the nineteenth century, together with the Cavendish Chair of Experimental Physics. The original Cavendish
Laboratory was located in Free School Lane, and opened in 1874; the Department moved to the present site
in 1973-74. The history of the Cavendish is well illustrated in the Cavendish Museum, located in the Bragg
Building.
Cavendish Stores
Next to the Common Room in the Bragg Building is the central stores of the whole laboratory, the opening
hours of which are 8:00 -16:45.
The stores sell past examination papers, the booklet of mathematical formulae, and calculators for examina-
tions.
Cheating
The Department considers the act of cheating as a serious matter and any incident will be reported to the
Head of Department, who will normally refer the case to the University Proctors.

It is unacceptable to:
- cheat during oral or written tests
- copy the work of others and submit as your own
- falsify and/or invent experimental data
In the practical classes, some experiments are designed to be carried out individually and some in collabora-
tion with other students. Discussion among students and with demonstrators and Heads of Class is encour-
aged and you may use any help or insights gained in these discussions to improve your experiment, your
understanding of the physics and your written report. However, your report should be written by you, follow-
ing the guidelines on writing reports, and only data collected in your experiment should be presented as your
own.
The Department has access to the latest anti-plagiarism software tools and will use them from time to time to
monitor coursework submissions for plagiarism, and so ensure fairness for all students.
Classing Criteria
The Department of Physics has agreed that examiners will mark to agreed criteria for written examinations.
Due to the way in which marks from different subjects are combined to create the final list in Parts IA and IB,
the criteria used in Physics are not reflected directly in the class list. For Parts II and III, the examinations
are under the direct control of the Department, in conjunction with scrutiny by External Examiners. The cri-
teria for classing in Physics are available at http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/classing.php.
College
Your College ordinarily admits you to the University, provides you with accommodation and arranges for
your supervisions in Parts IA and IB. Usually, but not always, your Director of Studies in Physics will be a
member of staff of the Cavendish, and will be directly in touch with the Department. Most Colleges aim to
provide supervision at a rate of about one hour per week for each of Part IA Physics, Part IB Physics A and
Part IB Physics B. Part II and Part III supervision is provided on behalf of the Colleges through a scheme
administered in the Department.
Common Room
The Cavendish contains a large Common Room which is open to all students of Physics. It is open for light
refreshments from 10:30-16:30, and for lunch from 12:30-13:45, on Mondays to Fridays. In addition there is
an area for relaxation outside the lecture theatres, where there are vending machines for food and drink.
Room 700 on the bridge between the Rutherford and Bragg buildings, above the metal stores is available for
private study for Pt II and III students.
Complaints
If you have a complaint about the teaching or administration in the Department, take it up first, if possible,
with the person directly concerned in a constructive manner. If this is not effective, or if the matter seems to
be of general interest, you may wish to discuss it with your course representative on the Staff-Student Con-
sultative Committee. It may also be useful to discuss the matter with your Director of Studies or Tutor. If
your complaint is substantial, by all means take it to the Director of Undergraduate teaching or the Head of
Department. There is also a formal University Complaints Procedure, of which you should have received de-
tails. If you need advice on whether or how to proceed with a formal complaint, you could ask your College
Tutor or Director of Studies, or your CUSU representative, or any physics member of staff. (See also Harass-
ment, below.)
Computing
The Department relies on the University Computing Service for the provision of computing facilities for un-
dergraduates. The Managed Cluster Service (MCS formally PWF) is located close to the Practical laborato-
ries, where you can use networked PCs with a range of software for word-processing, spreadsheet calculation
and dataplotting. Most colleges also provide some facilities.
The Department makes increasing use of computers in practical work, and aims to develop specific skills in
the use of computers for solving problems in physics.
Counselling
The University Counselling Service is at 14 Trumpington Street (telephone 332865), and is open 9:00 - 17:30,
Monday to Friday. It exists to help members of the University who have problems of a personal or emotional
nature which they wish to discuss in confidence. The Service is widely used, so it can be very busy, and it is
best to make an appointment either by telephone or in person. In times of particular stress a special effort
will be made to see you quickly.
Advice on personal matters is always available in your college through your Tutor.
Special assistance is provided by Linkline (internal telephone 44444, external line 367575) and the Samari-
tans (telephone 364455).
Courses
The Department of Physics offers a wide range of courses in Physics, at undergraduate and postgraduate
level, many of which are detailed in the Lecture List which is available online
http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/lecture.php from mid-September. Some specialised courses for post-
graduate students are not advertised in this way. The detailed synopses of the courses for Tripos are given in
this Handbook, which is distributed at the beginning of the academic year to all students taking physics
courses.
Databases
Students taking courses in Physics will come across a number of different on-line databases. Because these
all use the same login method (Raven authentication: see below), it is not always obvious that these are dif-
ferent systems, which for the most part do not (yet) talk to each other. The four main databases are:
- CamCORS the Cambridge Colleges Online Reporting System. Supervisors use this to report
to Directors of Studies and Tutors on the progress of their supervisees, and to claim from the col-
leges for the supervisions provided. If colleges choose to release the information, students can
view their supervision reports here directly. See http://www.camcors.cam.ac.uk/
- CamSIS the student information system. Students use this to enter for exams, and (when the
results are uploaded) to check their Tripos results. Part IB NST students also indicate their Part
II subject choice through this system. See http://www.camsis.cam.ac.uk/
- CamTools a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) run by CARET, the Centre for Applied Re-
search in Educational Technologies. Most Part IA NST courses have their own pages on Cam-
Tools. The Department of Physics uses instead the Teaching information System (TiS; see below)
which permits better integration with other Departmental systems. See
http://camtools.cam.ac.uk/
- The Teaching Information System a web database system run by the Department of
Physics. All course resources are provided here. It is important that all students register directly
with the TiS each year, in addition to entering for examinations on CamSIS. (see Registration:
below). See http://www-teach.phy.cam.ac.uk
Department of Physics
The Department of Physics is the administrative unit in the Faculty of Physics and Chemistry which provides
teaching in physics leading to the Part II and Part III examinations in Physics. The Head of Department is
Professor Andy Parker. Your direct contact with the Department can be through your College (your Director
of Studies in the first instance) or through the staff you encounter in lectures and practicals. The needs of
students in Part I are usually met fully through College contacts; in later years direct contact with the De-
partment increases. Notices are posted near the lecture theatres and practical classes which all students
should read, since this is where details of examination procedures are advertised. The Department provides
various facilities specifically to help you in your study of physics, many of which are described in this docu-
ment.
Director of Studies
You will have been assigned a Director of Studies in your College - possibly one for Physics and another for
Natural Sciences overall. This person will assign you to supervisors during your first two years, will monitor
your progress and try to assist you if you have problems. If you get into difficulties with the course you should
discuss this with your Director of Studies, or with your Tutor. If for any reason you feel unable to do this any
member of staff of the Department will willingly try to assist you.
Disability
The Department is happy to cater for the needs of students with disabilities. Students with disabilities which
require special arrangements to be made should contact the Teaching Office in good time.
Electronic Mail
Electronic mail is widely used as a good way to communicate with your supervisors, and also provides the
mechanism for offering comments on the courses offered by the Physics Department (see Year Groups). It is
also used by the department to contact students.
Examinations
The marks upon which your degree classification is based are derived from a combination of continuously-
assessed work, set pieces (such as projects) and examination papers. There is one three-hour paper in Phys-
ics for Part IA, two for Part IB Physics A, two for Part IB Physics B, and seven or eight two hour papers for
Part II. In Part III most examinations are taken at the beginning of the term following that in which the
course is taken; there is a 3-hour paper in General Physics at the end of Easter term.
See Natural Sciences Tripos http://www.cam.ac.uk/about/natscitripos/exams/
and Classing Criteria http://ww.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/classing.php for details of the grades that may be
obtained.
Preparation for examinations is important, and the best method to use varies widely between individuals.
The Physics Department has produced some guidance which you might find helpful and is available on the
teaching pages on the web at http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/exam_skills.php. If you have problems it
is worth discussing them with your supervisor, Director of Studies or your Tutor, who may be able to assist
by suggesting alternative approaches. Information on the various styles of questions is available at
http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/exam_questions.php, and you will find a brief description of how ex-
aminers work at http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/exam_workings.php.
Internal examiners are appointed each year for each Tripos examination; two external examiners are also
appointed for Parts II and III. The Reporter publishes the names of the examiners. For each subject listed be-
low there is a Senior Examiner drawn from the staff of the Department, and they take the responsibility for
the setting and marking of the examination papers, assisted by the other examiners. For the academic year
2013-14 the Senior Examiners are:
Part IA Physics: Dr G A C Jones
Part IB Physics A: Prof. J J Baumberg
Part IB Physics B: Dr B M Gripaios
Part II Physics: Dr R Padman
Part II Half Subject Physics: Dr R Padman
Part III Physics: Prof. D R Ward
MASt: Prof. D R Ward
You should note that, by tradition - in order to ensure that the examination process is beyond reproach - di-
rect contact with the examiners is not encouraged. If you have a problem that you believe should be brought
before a particular body of examiners, the proper channel is through your Tutor or Director of Studies.
Selective Preparation for Examinations
There has been some discussion with past students about the advisability of ditching a course in preparation
for the examinations. The Department gave the following advice:
(1) Departmental policy is that the examinations should test the whole course taken by students. The exami-
nations are designed to test the wide range of skills and knowledge that has been acquired.
(2) In any section of an examination paper, there is likely to be a range of questions which you will find to
have differing degrees of difficulty and also testing different aspects of each course.
(3) It is very dangerous indeed to ditch courses. It results in a very limited range of questions which can be
answered - how do you know they are not all going to be very demanding? It requires enormous effort to be
sure that you can answer well any question which can be set on any given course. It is much safer, and educa-
tionally much sounder, to prepare for all the courses for which you are entered in the Tripos examinations.
You are much more likely to find two questions out of four in which you can perform well.
Examples Classes
From the third year onwards Examples Classes are provided as an important aid to your learning. They ex-
plore in greater depth some particular issues related to parts of the lecture course, and with a number of
demonstrators on hand they should be used to strengthen your grasp of the course material.
Examples Sheets
Examples sheets are provided to accompany every lecture course, and are usually distributed outside the lec-
ture theatre. It is the policy of the Department to provide examples which cover a wide range of difficulty, so
dont expect to be able to do all of them without some assistance from your supervisor. You should try to
produce satisfactory solutions to all of the designated core examples for your subsequent use in revision, af-
ter discussion of the material in a supervision. Many of the questions are taken from past Tripos papers, so
they provide good practice in handling material in the lecture courses, chosen to reflect the present content
of the course.
Faculty of Physics and Chemistry
The Department of Physics is part of the Faculty of Physics and Chemistry.
Feedback
The Department makes a great effort to provide excellent courses and facilities, and obviously wishes to en-
sure that the results are as good as possible from the students perspective. We rely on you to help us iron out
any problems. Your input to the constant refinement of our teaching provision is therefore a welcome and es-
sential ingredient, and is most helpfully directed through your representative on the Staff-Student Consulta-
tive Committee (see below). Feedback is now obtained using the SWIFT survey tool on Caret. Please fill
these in with constructive comments these responses are important input to the Consultative Committee,
and the information is then passed on to the lecturers, Heads of Class and supervisors. There are also e-mail
addresses for comments on each year of the Tripos (see the top of the relevant sections in this Handbook).
Fire Alarms
All buildings are equipped with fire alarms, and you should take note of the instructions, which are posted
around the buildings, for the procedure to follow in case of fire. There is a fire drill at some time each year. If
you hear a fire alarm leave the building quickly and quietly by the nearest fire exit. Do not stop to collect your
possessions. Do not use lifts. Fire doors in corridors close automatically when the alarm system is activated;
they must never be obstructed. The system is tested between 7.30am and 8.30am each Monday.
If you discover a fire, raise the alarm by breaking the glass at the nearest Fire Alarm Point, and evacuate the
building by the nearest safe route. If it is possible to do so without taking personal risks call the Fire Brigade
(telephone 1999 from a University network telephone).
Formulae
A booklet of standard mathematical formulae, identical to the one that is made available in certain examina-
tions, is available for purchase from Cavendish Stores and Classes Technicians or for downloading from the
web at http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/students.php. You are urged to use and become familiar with
the contents of this booklet, because it has become clear in recent Tripos examinations that many students
are not aware of the time it can save them in an examination.
Handbook
The Physics Course Handbook is updated each year, and distributed to students of all years. It aims to be the
definitive source of information about the courses, but students may be informed of corrections, and up-
dates, during the year, e.g. in course handouts, or by notices on notice boards, or by e-mail. It is also available
on the web at http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/students.php. Please send any comments, on errors or
omissions, by e-mail to handbook@phy.cam.ac.uk.
Harassment
The University is committed to creating and maintaining an environment for work and learning which is free
from all forms of discrimination. The central authorities of the University regard racial, sexual and disability
harassment and bullying as wholly unacceptable behaviour. The information about harassment is available at
www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/personnel/policy/dignity/.
Any student who feels they are being harassed or bullied racially, sexually or because of a disability is en-
couraged to seek advice. The Department of Physics has appointed two advisors who are available to students
for guidance and support:
Dr Bill Allison, Room 413B & Tel: 37416, E-mail: mailto:wa14@cam.ac.uk
Dr Julia Riley, Room 916 & Tel: 37308, E-mail: julia@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Advice may also be obtained from College Tutors.
Contact with the advisors will be treated as confidential. No information about a complaint will be released
or taken any further without the students consent.
Institute of Physics
The Institute of Physics is a national body that exists to promote physics. The Student Liaison Officer for the
Institute of Physics is Esther Bennett (Esther.Bennett@iop.org). Prof. Mike Payne (mcp1@phy.cam.ac.uk) is
the Cambridge Representative, from whom application forms can also be obtained. Following graduation you
may obtain (according to experience) various grades of professional membership, Chartered Physicist status,
and several other benefits which may have some bearing on obtaining a job.
Laboratory Closure
The Cavendish Laboratory opens at 8:00 and closes at 18:00 Monday to Friday. Over Christmas and New
Year the Laboratory is completely closed.
Late Submission of Work
In accordance with the Universitys regulations, work submitted after the advertised deadline will not count
towards your final examination mark, unless an extension of time is granted on the grounds that there are
mitigating circumstances. For any item of work amounting to more than 10% of the total for the year (for ex-
ample a Part III Project), any application for such an extension should be made by your college Tutor to the
Universitys Applications Committee. For items of work amounting to less than 10% of the total years mark,
any application for an extension should be made by your college Tutor or Director of Studies to the Director
of Undergraduate Teaching, c/o Teaching Office, Cavendish Laboratory, (teaching-office@phy.cam.ac.uk).
In either case, you should submit the work as soon as possible after the deadline.
Lecture handouts
Handouts, containing material to supplement lectures, are usually distributed at the time of the relevant lec-
ture outside the lecture theatre. The amount of material prepared is at the discretion of the lecturer. Diverse
opinions have been (vociferously) expressed by students each year about handouts - some want very little
material, others wish to have copies of lecture overheads, others want a substitute for a book. When lecture
overheads are supplied there are often criticisms that the lecturer is reading from the handout! It is impossi-
ble for the Department to provide courses and handouts which satisfy every different preference. Lecture
handouts should be regarded as assistance beyond the lecture material, optionally provided by the lecturer,
but they cannot substitute for your own reading through the wide range of textbooks available throughout
the University, and you cannot reasonably expect them to. Lecture handouts are available on the web at
http://www-teach.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/handouts.php.
Lectures
Details of lectures will be found in the Lecture List published at the start of each academic year on the web at
http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/lectures.php.
Part IA lectures are usually held in the Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre, The Chemical Laboratory.
Part IB Physics A and Physics B lectures are usually held in the Cockcroft Lecture Theatre on the New Muse-
ums Site.
Part II and Part III lectures are usually held in the lecture theatres at the Cavendish Laboratory or in the
Sackler Lecture Theatre at the Institute of Astronomy.
Libraries
Library provision in Cambridge is outstanding. Your College will probably provide a core of physics books to
supplement those you buy. Usually the College Librarian will welcome suggestions for additional purchases if
you find omissions of important books from the College Library.
The Department provides the Rayleigh Library, located in the Bragg building, and a special section has been
set aside for use by Part II and Part III students (see Part II and Part III Library, below).
The University Library has an extensive physics collection.
Physics journals are held in the Rayleigh Library and in the Moore Library in Wilberforce Road (see below).
Online access to many physics journals is available within the cam domain.
MASt
This is a taught postgraduate course, which consists of the same content as Part III Physics. The course is
designed for students who hold a 3-year undergraduate degree who wish to pursue a research degree. The
entry requirement for the MASt is a qualification comparable to an upper second class or better UK Bache-
lors degree in Physics.
Managed Cluster Service (MCS formally PWF)
The MCS is a network of PCs supported by the Computing Service and located close to the Practical classes. It
is used to assist with data analysis, document preparation and specific computing exercises. You will need to
register as a user. See also Computing (above). Printing facilities are available.
Moore Library
The Universitys main collection of physical sciences, technology and mathematics journals is kept in the
Moore Library in the Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Wilberforce Road (close to the Cavendish, just turn
left at the end of the footpath leading from the Cavendish into town, instead of continuing down Adams
Road; the large building on the right near the far end of the road is the CMS). To use the collection you need
to have a University Card. It is unlikely to be useful to you until the Third and Fourth years.
Natural Sciences Tripos
The Natural Sciences Tripos (NST) is the official title of the degree examinations covering the Natural Sci-
ences, including Physics. The participating Departments of the University work together to provide a wide
choice of subjects which can be combined in a great variety of ways to cater for the interests of each student.
Many students seem unclear about how the Part II and Part III examinations are Classed. The following is an
extract from notes prepared in order to clarify the Departments position on this:
Part III of the Tripos is classed in the usual way - 1st, 2.1, 2.2, 3rd. Parts II and III of the Tripos are inde-
pendent and marks are not carried forward from one to the other.
Degrees as such are not classed. Students graduate from the University as a B.A. with Honours and, if they
are classed in Part III, as an M.Sci. The classes are attached to a particular Tripos. Thus if, for example, a
student obtains a First in Part II, they will be entitled to say that they obtained First Class Honours in Part II
of the NST whatever their results in Part III. If they also obtain a good result in Part III then they can add
that to their curriculum vitae. If future employers, postgraduate grant funding agencies, etc. require more de-
tailed information than just the degree certificate, they will normally receive from a College or the University
the full profile of the students achievements during their years here, not just their result in the final year.
This should enable them to give proper weight to the Part II results.
It is worth noting that many of the key decisions about job offers and places in research groups will be made
before the Part III results are known, so the Part II classes are likely to be an important factor in those
choices. The Research Councils normally require a specific standard to be met if students are to be eligible
for postgraduate support. At present a student is eligible for a Research Council grant if at least an Upper
Second has been attained in either Part II or Part III. It is unlikely that a poor result in Part III would lead to
an offer of a place from any university, even if the formal requirement had been attained at Part II.
See also Classing Criteria, above.
Part II and Part III Library
An area is set aside in the Rayleigh Library for use by Part II and Part III students, and there is an extensive
collection of textbooks on all aspects of physics. These, and books from the main section of the Library, may
be borrowed overnight after completing the borrowing procedure at the desk next to the main door to the Li-
brary. A quiet area for study is also available in the Part II/III study area accessible from the link bridge be-
tween the Bragg and Rutherford buildings.
Past Tripos papers
Recent papers are also available on the web at www-teach.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/examPapers.php. Re-
member that the course content changes, so past papers may contain questions on material with which you
are not now expected to be familiar!
Personal Computers
Many Colleges provide PCs, and you may also use those provided in the Cavendish by the Managed Cluster
Service (MCS formally PWF). See Computing (above).
Philosophical Society
The Philosophical Society is a long-established society in the University which, among its various functions,
puts on evening lectures in the Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre, Department of Chemistry. Some of
these are by eminent physicists and all are intended for a broad audience - you are therefore most welcome to
attend. More details are available at http://www.cam.ac.uk/societies/cps/.
Physics Course Handbook
See Handbook (above).
Photocopying
Photocopying may be carried out in the copy room of the Rayleigh Library, at a cost of 4p per A4 copy. Pho-
tocopying can only be carried out with the purchase of a card, the lowest denomination being 1, with other
amounts of 2, 5, 10, 25. Photocopy cards may be purchased in the Library.
Physics Society (CUPS)
The Physics Society organises a range of functions, including evening lectures. Joining is easy at the first eve-
ning lecture or at the Societies Fair. More details are available at
www.srcf.ucam.org/physics/wiki/index.php?title=Cambridge_University_Physics_Society.
Plagiarism
See Cheating (above).
Practical Classes
The Practical Classes are an important and examinable part of your course, and are conducted in the Caven-
dish Laboratory. Registration procedures are outlined in the relevant section of this Handbook.
Rayleigh Library
The Rayleigh Library is primarily a resource for research, but it includes a great many useful reference works
as well as original research journals. Here you can also find New Scientist, Scientific American, Physics
World (for those who dont have their own copy!) and Physics Today. All of these are excellent sources of in-
formation about the fast-advancing frontiers of physics. Next to the section with these and other current
journals is the Part II & III Library. There is limited space for private working.
Raven
Raven is the University of Cambridge web authentication server. You will need your Raven password to log in
to the Teaching Information System (q.v.), and to access "cam-only" material (such as past examination pa-
pers) on the teaching website from outside the cam.ac.uk domain. If you use the Hermes mail-store, then
you can get your Raven password at https://jackdaw.cam.ac.uk/get-raven-password. If you don't use Her-
mes, then you can request a Raven password from http://ww.cam.ac.uk/cs/request/raven.html. If you have
a Raven password and your login is rejected by the teaching system, please let the Teaching Office know your
CRSID so that we can enable your account. If you have lost your Raven password, or it doesn't work, then see
http://www.cam.ac.uk/cs/docs/faq/n3.html.
Recording of Lectures
Audio or video recording of lectures is not generally allowed. If there is a specific reason for needing to re-
cord a lecture then a request should be made to the Teaching Office, who will consult the relevant lecturer.
The Department may require that the recording is made by the lecture theatre technician.
Refreshments
See Common Room.
Registration
The Department runs an extensive set of teaching databases, and uses these, for example, to contact all stu-
dents in any particular category. In order for us to reach you, we first need to know that you are here. You
should receive, from the Department and/or your DoS, an invitation to register shortly before the start of the
academic year. This does NOT enter you for examinations, or have any official function outside the Physics
Department, but it does get you into the system so that we know you are here, and what you are doing. We
are then able to allocate departmental supervisions where appropriate, and to give you access to all relevant
information.
Reporter
The University Reporter is the official publication of the University in which announcements are made. From
this year the paper version of the Reporter will no longer be produced. All notices including the lecture list
and official notices concerning examination procedures see http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/
Research
The Cavendish is a large and thriving research laboratory, with a wide range of present-day interests in phys-
ics, and a fascinating and illustrious history. More information about the research can be found distributed
around the laboratory in the form of poster displays, but an increasing amount of information will be found
via our Home Page on the World Wide Web: http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk
Research is organised into the following groups:
Abbreviation Name of Research Group Contact Phone
AMOP Atomic, Mesoscopic & Optical Physics 66298
AP Astrophysics 37294
BSS Biological and Soft Systems 37423/37007
HEP High Energy Physics 37227
IG Inference 37254
ME Microelectronics 37556
OE Optoelectronics 37313
NP NanoPhotonics 60945
QM Quantum Matter 37351
SMF Surfaces, Microstructure & Fracture 37336
SP Semiconductor Physics 37482
TCM Theory of Condensed Matter 37254
TFMM Thin Films, Magnetism & Materials 37336
Safety
Safe conduct is legally the individual responsibility of everyone in the workplace, whether they be student or
staff member. Additionally the Department has specific legal obligations regarding health and safety, which
are monitored by the Department Safety and Environment Committee. You will be given information about
health and safety in the Practical Classes in particular; please take in this information, and accord it the im-
portance it deserves. Particular rules apply to Part III Project work; they are detailed in the section describing
the arrangements for projects. The Departmental Safety Officer is Dr. Jane Blunt (Room 220, Ext. 37397,
fjb27@phy.cam.ac.uk).
Scientific Periodicals Library
The Universitys main collection of scientific journals has been split into two. Journals related to the physical
sciences, technology and mathematics are kept in the new Moore Library in the Centre for Mathematical Sci-
ences in Wilberforce Road (close to the Cavendish, just turn left at the end of the footpath leading from the
Cavendish into town, instead of continuing down Adams Road; the large building on the right near the far
end of the road is the CMS). The other journals are kept in the SPL in Benet Street, which was originally the
Philosophical Societys Library and still houses the offices of the Society. To use the collection you need to
have a University Library card. It is unlikely to be useful to you until the third and fourth years.
Smoking
The entire Department of Physics has been designated a NO SMOKING AREA.
Staff-Student Consultative Committee
The SSCC is the official channel for the communication of students concerns to the Department. There are
one or two student representatives for each of the courses provided by the Department. Elections to the SSCC
take place early in the Michaelmas term during lectures. The Consultative Committee is chaired by Dr Julia
Riley, and the other members are the Head of Department, the Director of Undergraduate teaching and the
Secretary of the Teaching Committee. The Committee meets at the end of each term, just after lectures fin-
ish, and a major part of its business is to discuss in detail the feedback on each course, particularly as re-
flected by questionnaires. The Committee also provides feedback to the Teaching Committee on general
teaching issues.
The Committees minutes are considered in detail by the Teaching Committee and by the Head of Depart-
ment, and are made available on the web for access within Cambridge (see
www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/committees.php, where the current membership may also be found).
Supervisions
Supervisions are organised through your college for Parts IA and IB, and by the Department for Part II. Su-
pervision in larger groups is organised by the Department for Part III. You are normally expected to attend
every supervision which you have arranged, as a courtesy to your supervisor as well as in order to benefit
your own studies. You should expect to be asked to hand in work for each supervision, in sufficient time for
your supervisor to look through the work and identify any potential problems.
If for some reason you have problems, please contact your Director of Studies in the first instance, even for
supervisions arranged by the Department.
Synopses
Moderately detailed synopses are published for every course offered by the Department; the synopses have
been arrived at after long deliberation, consultation, and debate within the Department. The relationship be-
tween courses is handled by the Teaching Committee, and every effort is made to refine the sequence in
which material is presented. Some problems remain; these should just be the ones for which no clear-cut so-
lution was available, but in case there are difficulties for you which have not been identified in advance, the
Staff-Student Consultative Committee always welcomes direct feedback via your representative.
Teaching Committee
The Teaching Committee concerns itself with all aspects of teaching in the Department of Physics. It oversees
the structure of lecture courses and practicals, and weighs up information about the success of the courses
regularly during the academic year. The best route for communicating information to the committee is
through your representative on the Staff-Student Consultative Committee, which itself reports to the Teach-
ing Committee. The Chair of the Committee is Dr John Richer (Director of Undergraduate teaching) and the
Secretary Dr Dave Green.
Teaching Information System
The TiS is a web interface to the various teaching databases maintained by the Department. Part IA students
can view their practical marks on the web; Part II and III students can select Research Reviews and Projects
here, and can view their further work marks in the same way if they have been released. All supervisions ar-
ranged by the department are listed, and you can use the system as an easy way to email your supervisors
and supervision partners (for Parts II and III).
All handouts, for all years, are now available via the TiS, http://www-teach.phy.cam.ac.uk
Note that you must first be registered (see "Registration") for the current year in order to gain access to these
facilities, and that many of them require you first to log in, using your Raven password (see under "Raven").
Teaching Office
The Physics Department has a Teaching Office which is situated in the Bragg building, Room 212B, tel.
65798. The Teaching Office is run by Helen Marshall and is open for general enquiries and submission of
written reports at regular times during full term. Enquiries can also be made to its e-mail address: teaching-
office@phy.cam.ac.uk.
Telephones
The internal telephone network of the university provides free calls between extensions, most of which have
a five-digit number.
To reach an extension from another exchange line outside the network, the number is prefixed with a 3.
(Some recent lines have 5-digit number beginning with a 6, for which the prefix when dialling from outside is
a 7).
For details, see the internal telephone directory.
Transferable Skills
We have identified a set of transferable skills that physics undergraduates can expect to acquire in Cam-
bridge. As well as being needed for academic performance, these skills are sought after by employers, and
students are encouraged to develop them. The details can be found on the web at
http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/students.php
University Library
The University Library is an amazing resource for the University (and in many disciplines, for the interna-
tional academic community). You may be surprised at how useful it can be for you. However, since it is so
large it can be a little complicated.
Your University Card is required to gain access to the University Library.
You cannot take bags etc. into the library for security reasons, but you can leave them in the metal lockers to
be found down a few steps on the right hand side of the entrance hallway. The keys are released by the inser-
tion of a 1 coin, which is returned to you when you open the locker.
Most of the relevant physics books are to be found on the shelves in South Front, Floor 4 - easily located on
the maps displayed throughout the building. You need to know that in order to maximise storage, books are
shelved in catalogue sequence, but split into different size categories. This means that you might find four
different sets of books on, say, atomic physics - the size is indicated by a letter a,b,c in the catalogue number.
They are easy to find once you know this! Periodicals (serials) have numbers prefixed with P.
An increasing proportion of the 7,500,000 items in the inventory of the library are appearing on the com-
puter catalogue, which can be accessed from any computer terminal which can connect to the network. The
catalogue will tell you where the book should be found (eg SF4 i.e. South Front Floor 4) and whether or not it
is out on loan (and if so, when it is due back). The same catalogue system allows you to check your College li-
brary catalogue (for most of the colleges) and that of the Rayleigh Library. The UL catalogue is available at
http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/.
World-Wide Web
The Cavendish Laboratorys home page http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk has notices about events in the Caven-
dish, lists of staff and details of the activities of the various research groups, as well as teaching material and
information. This Physics Course Handbook and teaching material for various courses can be found at
http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/teaching/. The Teaching web pages also provide links to the Teaching Informa-
tion system (q.v.), and to certain material that is not generally available to addresses outside the cam.ac.uk
domain.

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Table of Contents

Undergraduate Courses in Physics ................................................. 1

boson). Parity vio-

annihilation in QED; the role of spin and helic-

spin liquids; weakly interacting Bose gas.

Gauge theory and

Resonance superfluidity in ultracold atomic gases and the BEC

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