UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS
B.Sc. DEGREE COURSE IN Physics
SEMESTER SYSTEM WITH CREDITS
(Effective from the Academic Year 2003-2004)

SYLLABUS

Semester VI - Paper X - Relativity and Quantum Mechanics

Duration of Examination: 3 hrs
Maximum Marks: 100
Credits: 4

Unit I

RELATIVITY

Frame of reference - Gallilean transfomation - Michelson - Morley experiment - Postulates of special theory of relativity - Lorentz transformation - Length Contraction - Time dilation - Relativity of simultaniety - Addition of velocities - Variation of mass with Velocity - Mass energy equation - Minkowski's four dimensional space - Space Time continuum - Four vectors - Elementary ideas of general theory of relativity.

Unit II

WAVE NATURE OF MATTER

Phase and group velocity - Wave packet - Expression for De Broglie wavelength - Davisson and Germer's experiment - G.P.Thomson's experiment - Electron microscope- Heisenberg's uncertainty principle - Its consequences.

Unit III

SCHRODINGER'S EQUATIONS

inadequacy of classical mechanics - basic postulates of wave mechanics- Schrodinger's equation - Properties of wave function - Operator formalism - Linear operators - Self - Adjoint operators - Expectation value - Eigenvalue - Eigenvalues and Eigenfunctions - Commutativity and compatibility.

Unit IV

APPLICATION OF SCHRODINGER'S EQUATIONS

Free particle solution of Schrodinger's equation - particle in a box - Qualitative treatment (outlining steps only) of the Barrier penetration problem, Linear harmonic oscillator, Rigid rotator and Hydrogen atom.

Unit V

RADIATION DETECTORS AND PARTICLE ACCELERATORS

Radiation detectors - lonisation chambers - Geiger - Muller counter - Scintillation counter - Wilson's cloud chamber - Bubble chamber - Photo emulsion technique - Particle accelerators - Linear accelerator - Cyclotron - synchro cyclotron - Betatron.

Unit VI

NUCLEAR REACTIONS

Rutherford's alpha particle scattering experiment - Artificial transmutation - Production and uses of radio isotopes - Nuclear fission - Chain reaction - Critical mass - Controlled chain reaction - Nuclear reactors -Thermo nuclear reaction - Source of stellar energy.

Unit VII

ELEMENTARY PARTICLES

Cosmic rays - Origin - Nature of cosmic rays - Latitude effect - East-West asymmetry - Altitude effect - Seasonal and diurnal changes - Cosmic ray showers and bursts - Primary and secondary cosmic rays - Van Allen radiation belt.

Books for Study:

1. Modern Physics by R. Murugeshan, S.Chand & Co.

2. Atomic and Nuclear Physics by Littlefeld and Thorley

BOOKS FOR REFERENCE:

1. Nuclear Physics by Irving Kaplan

2. Nuclear Physics by L.R.B. Elton

3. Nuclear Physics by J.B. Rajam, S,Chand & Co.,

4. Perspectives of Modern Physics by Beiser, McGraw Hill

5. Introduction to Nuclear Physics by Herald Enge, Addison Wesley

6. Introduction to Nuclear Physics by S.B. Patel, Tata McGraw Hill.

7. Fundamentals of Physics, 6^th Edition, by D.Halliday, R.Resnick and J.Walker, Wiley, NY, 2001.

8. Physics, 4^th Edition, Vols I, II & II Extended by D.Halliday, R.Resnick and K.S.Krane, Wiley, NY, 1994.

9. CRC Handbook of Physics & Chemistry, 80^th Ed., CRS Press, NY, 1999.

10. The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vols. I, II, and III, by R. P. Feynman, R.B Leighton and M Sands, Narosa, New Delhi, 1998.

11. Concepts of Modern Physics 5^th Edition by A. Beiser, Tata McGraw Hill, 1997.

12. Seven Wonders of Cosmos by J. Narlikar, Cambridge University Press.

13. After the First 3 minutes by T.Padmanabhan, Cambridge University Press.