UBC-ASTR 101: Introduction to the Solar System

General principles of the celestial sphere, laws of motion and light, optics, and telescopes; current knowledge of the Sun and Solar System.

UBC-ASTR 102: Introduction to Stars and Galaxies

Modern stellar and extragalactic astronomy. Stars and stellar evolution from protostars to black holes; galaxies and quasars; cosmology.

UBC-ASTR 200: Frontiers of Astrophysics

Stellar masses and evolution. White dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. Extrasolar planet formation and detection. Dark matter in the Milky Way and other galaxies. Cosmological observations and principles.

UBC-ASTR 205: Stars and Stellar Populations

Measurement of positions, motions, and distances in astronomy. Temperature, masses, and spectra of stars. Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Quantitative stellar structure and evolution. Chemical composition of stars in different Galactic populations. Globular and open star clusters.

UBC-ASTR 300: Galaxies

Structure and kinematics of our galaxy. Spiral arms and dynamics of stars in spiral and elliptical galaxies. Galactic formation, evolution, dynamics, and groups. Active galaxies and quasars.

UBC-ASTR 310: Exploring the Universe: The Solar System

A survey of recent discoveries about the planets and other objects in the solar system, without the use of advanced mathematics. The Sun, the existence of planetary systems around other stars, and the search for life.

UBC-ASTR 311: Exploring the Universe: Stars and Galaxies

A survey of recent discoveries in modern astronomy without the use of advanced mathematics. Stars, pulsars, black holes, galaxies, quasars and the origin and evolution of the Universe.

UBC-ASTR 333: Exoplanets and Astrobiology

Observations and basic characteristics of extrasolar planets, including their formation, evolution, and potential for supporting life.

UBC-ASTR 403: Cosmology

Introduction to the study of the Universe as a whole. Foundations of the Hot Big Bang model, the early Universe, nucleosynthesis, the cosmic microwave background, large-scale structure, galaxy formation and quasars.

UBC-ASTR 404: Astronomical and Astrophysical Measurements

Astronomical instrumentation and techniques for ground and space-based observations. Theory of measurement, imaging, interferometry and spectroscopy of electromagnetic radiation at optical, radio, infrared, and X-ray wavelengths. Astronomical data analysis.

UBC-ASTR 405: Astronomical Laboratory

Experiments in the use of astronomical instrumentation and data analysis. Use of the 40-cm reflector, spectrograph and electronic detectors. Photometric and spectroscopic analysis of digital data.

UBC-ASTR 406: High-Energy Astrophysics

Radiative processes. White dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. Accreting systems. Gamma-ray bursts.

UBC-ASTR 407: Planetary Science

Structure of planetary systems, planetary interiors, planet formation, planetary atmospheres, meteoritics, impact cratering.

UBC-ENPH 253: Introduction to Instrument Design

Practice in engineering design and instrument development including mechanical and electrical design, and communications with sensors, actuators. Micro-controller implementation and system integration. Engineering design review process and presentations. Engineering communication in design and product release.

UBC-ENPH 257: Heat and Thermodynamics

Thermometry, thermal properties of matter; heat transfer by conduction; convection and radiation; kinetic theory of gases and gas laws; heat engines; refrigeration; change of state; first and second laws of thermodynamics.

UBC-ENPH 259: Experimental Techniques

Basic experimental techniques in acquisition, analysis, and presentation and communication of data and technical results.

UBC-ENPH 270: Mechanics II

Dynamics: systems of particles, kinematics and kinetics of rigid bodies (plane motion), energy and momentum, rotating coordinates.

UBC-ENPH 352: Laboratory Techniques in Physics

UBC-ENPH 459: Engineering Physics Project I

Project planning, management and reporting. This course involves writing a project proposal, carrying out an open-ended Engineering project, and reporting the results both orally and in writing.

UBC-ENPH 479: Engineering Physics Project II

Projects designed to give students research development and design experience. Projects are provided by research faculty in Science and Engineering and from local industry.

UBC-ENPH 480: Engineering Physics Project III

An optional course for those students wishing to continue their project work beyond the development in ENPH 479.

UBC-ENPH 481: Entrepreneurial Projects I

A project course for students pursuing entrepreneurial training within Engineering Physics, and wishing to further develop projects resulting from ENPH 459.

UBC-PHYS 100: Introductory Physics

An introduction to fundamental concepts such as force, energy, momentum, and the use of graphs and vectors in physics; geometrical optics; electricity; laboratory exercises to familiarize the student with both the phenomena and the basic laboratory instruments commonly used to measure them.

UBC-PHYS 102: Electricity, Light and Radiation

Introduction to optics, electricity and magnetism, electric circuits, radioactivity, including biological applications.

UBC-PHYS 107: Enriched Physics 1

Classical mechanics including conservation laws, angular momentum of rigid bodies and simple harmonic motion, wave phenomena, with an introduction to special relativity, quantum mechanics, nuclear physics, statistical mechanics and solid state physics.

UBC-PHYS 108: Enriched Physics II

Electricity and magnetism, electrical circuits, induction, electromagnetic waves, Maxwell's equations and applications.

UBC-PHYS 109: Enriched Experimental Physics

A laboratory course accompanying PHYS 108 with emphasis on data collection and analysis and experimental techniques.

UBC-PHYS 117: Dynamics and Waves

Kinematics including curvilinear motion. Forces and Newton's laws of motion. Work-energy theorem, conservation of energy. Conservation of momentum, collisions. Torque, rotational dynamics, angular momentum. Oscillations and waves.

UBC-PHYS 118: Electricity, Light and Radiation

Optics, electricity and magnetism, electric circuits, radioactivity, including biological applications.

UBC-PHYS 119: Experimental Physics Lab

Introductory laboratory course, with emphasis on data collection, data analysis techniques, and scientific reasoning.

UBC-PHYS 153: Elements of Physics

Thermometry, thermal properties of matter, heat, oscillations, waves, sound, wave optics; geometrical optics, elementary electricity and magnetism, simple DC and AC circuits.

UBC-PHYS 157: Introductory Physics for Engineers I

Heat, thermodynamics, oscillations, waves, and sound.

UBC-PHYS 158: Introductory Physics for Engineers II

Electricity and magnetism, DC and AC circuits, optics.

UBC-PHYS 159: Introductory Physics Laboratory for Engineers

A laboratory course with emphasis on experimental design, measurement and analysis techniques.

UBC-PHYS 170: Mechanics I

Statics of particles, equilibrium or rigid bodies, rigid body statics and internal forces, trusses; kinematics: rectilinear motion; dynamics: Newton's second law, friction, impulse, momentum, work and energy.

UBC-PHYS 200: Relativity and Quanta

Special relativity: Lorentz transformation, dynamics and conservation laws. Quantum physics: the experimental evidence for quantization; a qualitative discussion of the concepts of quantum mechanics and their application to simple systems of atoms and nuclei.

UBC-PHYS 203: Thermal Physics I

Fundamentals of thermodynamics and statistical physics; entropy, laws of thermodynamics, heat engines, free energy, phase transitions, Boltzmann statistics, quantum statistics.

UBC-PHYS 209: Intermediate Experimental Physics

Use of analog electronics and amplifiers, digital electronics and analog-to-digital conversion and the use of computers in data analysis and simulations in thermodynamic, electronic and modern physics experiments.

UBC-PHYS 210: Introduction to Computational Physics

Introduction to UNIX/Linux; software tools for processing, fitting and displaying data; numerical methods and application in the physical sciences.

UBC-PHYS 216: Intermediate Mechanics

Review of kinematics, Newton's laws, angular momentum and fixed axis rotation. Rigid body motion, central forces, non-inertial frames of reference. Introduction to Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics.

UBC-PHYS 219: Intermediate Experimental Physics I

Analog electronics and amplifiers, digital electronics, analog-to-digital converters and an introduction to use of computers in data analysis and simulations.

UBC-PHYS 229: Intermediate Experimental Physics II

Thermodynamics experiments, modern physics experiments and use of computers in data analysis.

UBC-PHYS 301: Electricity and Magnetism

Maxwell's equations and their applications, electrical fields and potentials of static charge distributions, current, fields of moving charges, magnetic fields, electromagnetic induction.

UBC-PHYS 304: Introduction to Quantum Mechanics

Principles and applications of quantum mechanics, wave mechanics, the Schr�dinger equation, expectation values, Hermitian operators, commuting observables, one-dimensional systems, harmonic oscillators, angular momentum, three dimensional systems.

UBC-PHYS 305: Introduction to Biophysics

Physical principles involved in biological systems at the microscopic and molecular scales. Diffusion, low Reynolds number dynamics, the physicist's view of biomolecular structure, models of molecular motors and membranes.

UBC-PHYS 306: Advanced Mechanics

Variational calculus, Lagrangian dynamics, rigid body motion including free and forced precession, Hamiltonian mechanics, Poisson brackets, canonical coordinates, Hamilton-Jacobi theory, action angle variables. Introduction to dynamical chaos: determinism, Lyapunov exponents.

UBC-PHYS 309: Electrical Laboratory

Selected experiments in electromagnetism and electronics; computer data acquisition; advanced data analysis and simulation.

UBC-PHYS 312: Introduction to Mathematical Physics

The application of ordinary and partial differential equations to physical problems; boundary and initial value problems associated with heat, wave and Laplace equations. Fourier analysis; expansions in Bessel and Legendre functions.

UBC-PHYS 314: Fluids

Kinetic theory: Diffusion, viscosity and sound waves. Introduction to hydrodynamics: Laminar flow, capillary and gravity waves, convection and turbulence. Dimensional analysis.

UBC-PHYS 318: Experimental Acoustics

Experimental techniques of acoustics: data acquisition hardware and software, microphones, loudspeakers, noise, vibration and modal analysis.

UBC-PHYS 319: Electronics Laboratory

A project-oriented lab introducing the design and construction of microprocessor-controlled devices.

UBC-PHYS 330: Modern Physics

Quantum physics, nuclear energy and particle physics at a level suitable for third- and fourth-year Science students not proceeding to a physics degree.

UBC-PHYS 333: Energy and Climate

The fundamental physics behind global issues of energy use and climate change.

UBC-PHYS 340: From Atoms to the Universe

Ancient Greek ideas of substance and forms and modern concepts of forces and fields. The twentieth-century quantum revolution. The modern universe, from quarks and atoms to the big bang. Quantum paradoxes.

UBC-PHYS 341: Physics of Music

An introduction to the physical principles important to the production, transmission and perception of musical sounds. The treatment will be non-mathematical; with emphasis on demonstrations. Topics may include the description of sound waves, resonances, scales, physics of hearing, examination of specific musical instruments, etc.

UBC-PHYS 343: Physical Science by Inquiry

A guided sequence of hands-on science modules intended primarily for prospective elementary schoolteachers, to help them to work constructively in a science teaching role.

UBC-PHYS 348: Frontiers in Physics and Astronomy

Current research topics in physics and astronomy are investigated and explored. Technical communication and research skills are studied and developed via oral presentations and written scientific reports on these current research topics.

UBC-PHYS 350: Applications of Classical Mechanics

Review of principles. Particle mechanics: Euler's equations, tops and gyroscopes, motion of the Earth, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian methods. Variational principles in optics and mechanics, Liouville's theorem and statistical mechanics. The relationship between classical and quantum mechanics.

UBC-PHYS 354: Electric and Magnetic Fields

Applications of electricity and magnetism. Maxwell's equations.

UBC-PHYS 400: Introduction to Elementary Particles

Standard model, classification of elementary particles and forces of nature, symmetries, conservation laws, quark model, quantum electrodynamics, quantum chromodynamics, and the theory of weak interactions.

UBC-PHYS 401: Electromagnetic Theory

Applications of Maxwell's theory. Wave propagation in dielectrics, conductors and plasmas, wave guides, radiation, antennae, and special relativity.

UBC-PHYS 402: Applications of Quantum Mechanics

Spin and angular momentum addition, perturbation methods, and applications in the fields of Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, and Solid State Physics.

UBC-PHYS 403: Statistical Mechanics

Principles and applications of statistical mechanics. Ideal gases, degenerate Fermi gases, Bose-Einstein condensation, black body radiation, fluctuations and phase transitions.

UBC-PHYS 404: Introduction to Medical Physics

Radiotherapy, X-ray imaging, nuclear medicine, magnetic resonance imaging and biomedical optics.

UBC-PHYS 405: Radiation Biophysics

Physical and chemical interactions of ionizing radiations and their biological effects at the cellular, tissue and whole-animal levels.

UBC-PHYS 407: Introduction to General Relativity

Physical consequences of Einstein's equations, including the principle of equivalence, curved space-time, geodesics, the Schwarzschild solution, deflection of light, black holes, and gravitational radiation.

UBC-PHYS 409: Experimental Physics

A laboratory course with a wide choice of experiments for fourth year Honours and Major students. Topics include solid state, nuclear, classical, quantum, electromagnetic and low temperature physics.

UBC-PHYS 410: Computational Physics

Scientific programming applied to problems in physics. Fundamentals of numerical analysis for continuum problems. Solution of linear and non-linear algebraic systems, ordinary differential equations and stochastic problems.

UBC-PHYS 412: Quantum Physics

Fundamentals of atomic, nuclear, particle, and condensed matter physics.

UBC-PHYS 420: Physics Demonstrations

The students will prepare, under the supervision of a faculty member, a demonstration or series of demonstrations intended to illustrate physical principles to diverse audiences. Intended for third- or fourth-year Physics Majors and Math/Science Education students.

UBC-PHYS 437: Physics of Biocellular Structure and Machinery

Molecular structure and architecture of biological cells, interactions of molecules in aqueous solution and at interfaces, physical properties of polymers and surfactants, mechanisms of cell membranes and cytoplasmic structures, thermodynamics of molecular machines and mechanical enzymes.

UBC-PHYS 438: Zoological Physics

Animal systems viewed from a physicist's perspective. Topics include sensory systems, energy budgets, locomotion, internal flows, physical advantages of grouping. Equivalency: UBC BIOL 438

UBC-PHYS 450: Quantum Mechanics

Postulates of quantum mechanics, expectation values, hermitian operators, commuting observables, applications to one-dimensional systems, harmonic oscillators, angular momentum, applications in three dimensions, hydrogen atom, time dependent perturbations.

UBC-PHYS 454: Applied Electromagnetic Theory

Wave propagation and related phenomena in dielectrics, conductors and plasmas. Wave guides, radiation, antennae, special relativity.

UBC-PHYS 455: Statistical Mechanics

Introduction to quantum statistical mechanics and its application to systems of varying complexity from the simple ideal gas to the degenerate gas. Quantum fluids, phase transitions and simulation methods will also be introduced.

UBC-PHYS 458: Applied Optics

Basic applications of lasers, geometrical optics, fibre optics, diffraction, and Fourier optics.

UBC-PHYS 473: Applied Nuclear Physics

Radioactive decay and radiations, nuclear properties, interactions of neutrons, physical principles of power reactors, nuclear fusion, radiation monitoring, and safety.

UBC-PHYS 474: Applied Solid State Physics

Symmetry of crystal structures, reciprocal lattice, band theory, conduction in metals and semiconductors, phonons and superconductivity.