McGill.CA / Science / Department of Physics

300 level courses

Classroom locations have changed recently. Please consult your MINERVA course schedule for up-to-date information.

Not all courses are offered every year. Please see the current academic schedule on Minerva.

PHYS 319 Introduction to Biophysics
  • Winter term
  • 3 credits
  • Winter. Students with training in physics and biology will be well-suited to the course.
  • Prerequisites: BIOL 200 or BIOL 219; MATH 222; PHYS 230 and (PHYS 232 or PHYS 253), or permission of the instructor.
  • Restriction: Not open to students who have taken or are taking BIOL 319
Emerging physical approaches and quantitative measurement techniques are providing new insights into longstanding biological questions. This course will present underlying physical theory, quantitative measurement techniques, and significant findings in molecular and cellular biophysics. Principles covered include Brownian motion, low Reynolds-number environments, forces relevant to cells and molecules, chemical potentials, and free energies. These principles are applied to enzymes as molecular machines, membranes, DNA, and RNA.
Instructor for 2024/25: W. Reisner (Winter)
PHYS 320 Introductory Astrophysics
  • This course replaces PHYS 214
  • Fall term
  • 3 credits
  • Prerequisites: MATH 222; PHYS 230 or PHYS 260 or permission of the instructor.
  • Not open to students who have taken PHYS 214.
A survey of astrophysics ranging from stars and planets, to compact objects, galaxies, and the large-scale evolution of the Universe. A calculusbased course, with a focus on simple mathematical derivations that capture the essential physics.
Instructor for 2024/25: K. Schutz (Fall)
PHYS 321 Data Science and Observational Astrophysics
  • Winter term
  • 3 credits
  • Corequisite(s): PHYS 241; PHYS 258
  • Prerequisite(s): COMP 208; PHYS 257
  • Students with sufficient knowledge of computer programming do not need to have taken COMP 208
Data analysis methods as applied in experimental physics, with an emphasis on applications in observational astrophysics. An introduction to Bayesianinference, model selection, Markov Chain Monte Carlo, common probability distributions, jackknives and null tests, as they are used in the analysis of observational data from across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Instructor for 2024/25: T. Webb (Winter)
PHYS 328 Electronics
  • Fall term
  • 3 credits
  • 2 hours lectures; 3 hours laboratory
  • Prerequisite: PHYS 241 or permission of instructor
Semiconductor devices, basic transistor circuits, operational amplifiers, combinatorial and sequential logic, integrated circuits, analogue to digital converters. The laboratory component covers design, construction and testing of basic electronic circuits.
Instructor for 2024/25: H. Chiang (Fall)
PHYS 329 Statistical Physics with Biophysical Applications
  • Not offered in 2024/25
  • 3 credits
  • Prerequisite(s): [BIOL 219 and (PHYS 253 or PHYS 232 or CHEM 345)] or permission of the instructor
  • Restriction(s): Not opened to students having taken PHYS 333, PHYS 362, or CHEM 365
This interdisciplinary course introduces Statistical Physics illustrated with modern biophysical applications. Principles covered include partition functions, Boltzmann distribution, bosons, fermions, Bose Einstein condensates, Ferni gases, chemical potential, thermodynamical forces, biochemical kinetics, and an introduction to noise and phase transitions in biology.
PHYS 331 Topics in Classical Mechanics
  • Winter term
  • 3 credits
  • 3 hours lectures
  • Prerequisite: PHYS 230
  • Corequisite: MATH 315
  • Restriction: Not open to students having passed PHYS 451 or PHYS 351
Forced and damped oscillators, Newtonian mechanics in three dimensions, rotational motion, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics, small vibrations, normal modes. Nonlinear dynamics and chaos.
Instructor for 2024/25: G. Gervais (Winter)
PHYS 332 Physics of Fluids
  • This course is no longer offered
The physical properties of fluids. The kinematics and dynamics of flow. The effects of viscosity and turbulence. Applications of fluid mechanics in biophysics, geophysics and engineering.
PHYS 333 Thermal and Statistical Physics
  • Winter term
  • 3 credits
  • 3 hours lectures
  • Prerequisite: PHYS 232
  • Restriction: Not open to students taking or having passed PHYS 362
Introductory equilibrium statistical mechanics. Quantum states, probabilities, ensemble averages. Entropy, temperature, Boltzmann factor, chemical potential. Photons and phonons. Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein distributions; applications.
Instructor for 2024/25: R. Rutledge (Winter)
PHYS 339 Measurements Laboratory in General Physics
  • Winter term
  • 3 credits
  • 6 hours
  • Prerequisite: PHYS 241 or permission of instructor
Introduction to modern techniques of measurement. The use of computers in performing and analysing experiments. Data reduction, statistical methods, report writing. Extensive use of computers is made in this laboratory; therefore some familiarity with computers and computing is an advantage.
Instructor for 2024/25: D. Ryan (Winter)
PHYS 340 Majors Electricity and Magnetism
  • Fall term
  • 3 credits
  • 3 hours lectures
  • Prerequisites: CEGEP physics or PHYS 142, MATH 222
  • Corequisite: MATH 314
  • Restriction: Not open to students who have passed PHYS 242 or PHYS 350
The electrostatic field and scalar potential. Dielectric properties of matter. Energy in the electrostatic field. Methods for solving problems in electrostatics. The magnetic field. Induction and inductance. Energy in the magnetic field. Magnetic properties of matter. Maxwell's equations. The dipole approximation.
Instructor for 2024/25: A. Liu (Fall)
PHYS 342 Majors Electromagnetic Waves
  • Winter term
  • 3 credits
  • 3 hours lectures
  • Prerequisites: PHYS 340 or PHYS 242, Mathematics MATH 314, MATH 315
Maxwell's equations. The wave equation. The electromagnetic wave, reflection, refraction, polarization. Guided waves. Transmission lines and wave guides. Vector potential. Radiation. The elemental dipole; the half-wave dipole; vertical dipole; folded dipoles; Yagi antennas. Accelerating charged particles.
Instructor for 2024/25: G. Gervais (Winter)
PHYS 346 Majors Quantum Physics
De Broglie waves, Bohr atom. Schroedinger equation, wave functions, observables. One dimensional potentials. Schroedinger equation in three dimensions. Angular momentum, hydrogen atom. Spin, experimental consequences.
Instructor for 2024/25: B. Vachon (Fall)
PHYS 350 Honours Electricity and Magnetism
  • Fall term
  • 3 credits
  • 3 hours lectures
  • Prerequisites: MATH 248, MATH 325.
  • Restriction: Honours students or permission of the instructor
  • Restriction: Not open to students having taken PHYS 340
Fundamental laws of electric and magnetic fields in both integral and differential form.
Instructor for 2024/25: A. Liu (Fall)
PHYS 351 Honours Classical Mechanics 2
  • Winter term
  • 3 credits
  • 3 hours lectures
  • Prerequisite: PHYS 251.
  • Restriction: Not open to students who have taken PHYS 451.
Rigid bodies, angular momentum, gyroscope, moment of inertia, principal axes, Euler's equations. Coupled oscillations and normal modes. Lagrangian mechanics and applications. Hamiltonian mechanics. Topics in advanced analytical mechanics.
Instructor for 2024/25: K. Schutz (Winter)
PHYS 352 Honours Electromagnetic Waves
  • Fall term
  • 3 credits
  • 3 hours lectures
  • Prerequisite: PHYS 350.
  • Restriction: Honours students, or permission of the instructor
Vector and scalar potentials; plane waves in homogeneous media; refraction and reflection; guided waves; radiation from simple systems; dipole and quadrupole radiation; introduction to fields of moving charges; synchrotron radiation; Bremsstrahlung.
Instructor for 2024/25: S. Lovejoy (Fall)
PHYS 357 Honours Quantum Physics 1
  • Fall term
  • 3 credits
  • 3 hours lectures
  • Prerequisites: MATH 223 or equivalent, and one of PHYS 230, PHYS 251, or CIVE 281
  • Restriction: Honours students or permission of the instructor
  • Restriction: Not open to students taking or having passed PHYS 346
Experimental basis for quantum mechanics; wave-packets; uncertainty principle. Hilbert space formalism. Schrodinger equation: eigenvalues and eigenvectors: applications to 1-d problems including the infinite and finite potential wells and the harmonic oscillator. Tunneling. Time independent perturbation theory.
Instructor for 2024/25: J. Sievers (Fall)
PHYS 359 Advanced Physics Laboratory 1
  • Winter term
  • 3 credits
  • 6 hours
  • Corequisite: PHYS 457 or PHYS 447 or permission of the instructor.
  • Prerequisite: PHYS 258
  • Students who have taken PHYS 469 will conduct different experiments in this course.
  • Restriction: Open to both Majors and Honours students
Advanced level experiments in physics including quantum effects and some properties of condensed matter physics and modern physics.
Instructor for 2024/25: D. Ryan (Winter)
PHYS 362 Statistical Mechanics
  • Winter term
  • 3 credits
  • 3 hours lectures
  • Prerequisites: MATH 248 or equivalents, PHYS 253.
  • Restriction: Honours students, or permission of the instructor
  • Restriction: Not open to students taking or having passed PHYS 333
Quantum states and ensemble averages. Fermi-Dirac, Bose-Einstein and Boltzmann distribution functions and their applications.
Instructor for 2024/25: J. Sankey (Childress) (Winter)
PHYS 396 Undergraduate Research Project
  • Fall or winter terms
  • 3 credits
  • Restrictions: This course cannot be taken under the S/U option. Departmental permission required. Students cannot be supervised by the same instructor for two 396 Science courses. Open to students in programs offered by the Faculty of Science only.
  • Note: Enrolment may be limited. Students are advised to start the application process well before the start of the term and to plan for an alternative course in the case that no suitable project is available. Individual projects may be suggested each term which may have project-specific prerequisites. Students may also approach professors to devise their own projects. Some projects may be accessible to students in other disciplines. See ? https://www.mcgill.ca/science/research/undergraduate-research/science-re... for more information about available projects and application forms and procedures.
Independent research project with a final written report.
Instructors for 2024/25: T. Brunner (Fall), T. Brunner (Winter)
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