DAMP Physics, IITB

Instructor Name: Raghunath Chelakkot Course Type: Theory Pre-requisites: Formal- none Informal - Linear Algebra Course Content: Lorentz Transformations, Relativistic Dynamics, Tensors, Covariant description of Electromagnetism  Other topics covered: Books: Introduction to Special Relativity- Robert Resnick Lectures: No attendance is taken during this course except for the first lecture. Sir uses blackboard to teach. There were discussions about paradoxes in classes but were often left incomplete. To get a complete grasp of the subject, it is important that you read the reference book alongside. Just following the lectures can get confusing after a while. Sir rushes through the concept of tensors very quickly so that is covered very poorly.  Assignments: There were 4 ungraded tutorials with decent difficulty and each having one/two challenging questions.  Exams and Grading: A quiz(15 marks) and Endsem(30 marks) was taken for the course....

Instructor Name:  Prof. Raghunath Chelakkot Course Type:  Core Pre-requisites:  Formal: None; Informal: PH 108 (Maxwell's equations) Course Content:  Principle of relativity, Lorenz transformation, relativistic kinematics and mechanics, energy-momentum 4-vector, electromagnetic theory, tensors Other Topics Covered:  Concept of invariant interval, Minkowski spacetime, addition of relativistic velocities, conservation of energy and momentum, mass-energy equivalence, basics of tensor analysis, electromagnetic theory in terms of the field tensor Books:  Spacetime physics (Wheeler and Taylor), Introduction to STR (Resnick), Mathematical Methods for Physicists (Arfken) [for theory of tensors], Schaum's Outline of Vector Analysis [for problems from tensors] Lectures:  No formal attendance policy, mostly blackboard teaching method was followed, exams were based largely on content covered in the lectures Assignments:  Ungraded tutorial...

Instructor name:  S. Shankaranarayanan Course Type:  Honours / Elective Pre-requisites:  Special relativity (informal) Course Content:  Introduction to manifolds and metric, Gaussian curvature, Geodesic equation, Christoffel symbols, Tensor analysis, Riemann curvature, Covariant derivative and parallel transport, STR, Equivalence principle, Einstein's equation, Energy-momentum tensor, Schwarzschild solution, Applications of GR in cosmology. Books:  Sean Carroll - spacetime physics Weinberg - gravitation and cosmology Lectures:  Blackboard lectures, no attendance, lectures were tough to follow because sir insisted on doing the math first and then telling us why we are doing what we are doing which wasn't right in my opinion. The lectures got slightly better in the end. Assignments:  7-8 Assignments, meant to be submitted but he wasn't strict about the date of submission and then stopped collecting them altogether. Said he would add q...

Instructor name : Prof. P Ramadevi Course Type:  Honours / Elective Pre-requisites: Special Theory Of Relativity Course Content : Tensor Analysis, Riemannian geometry, Curvature, Christoffel Symbol, Riemann, Ricci, and Einstein Tensor. Energy-Momentum Tensor, Lagrange formulation to arrive at the geodesic equations. Peep into field theory for arriving at the energy-momentum tensor and deriving the Lorentz force from it. Other Topics that have been covered: Precession of Mercury, Bending of light, Radar Signalling, and Gravitational Red/ Blue shift Books: Authors: 1)  Weinberg, 2) Schutz  3) Hartle Lectures: Notes written on the blackboard during class hours Some brief slides with an overview of the lecture 80% attendance Assignments: 6 Assignments of moderate difficulty (10% weightage). 2 tutorials of moderate difficulty. Erratic checking by the TA Exams and Grading: 2 quizzes (10% each), midsem (30%) and endsem (40%) Pro-Tips: Certain...

Instructor Name Raghunath Chelakkot Course Type Core for EP students (Half-sem) Course overview Principle of relativity, Lorentz transformation, concept of invariant interval, Minkowski spacetime, addition of relativistic velocities, energy-momentum 4-vector, conservation of energy and momentum, mass-energy equivalence, basics of tensor analysis, electromagnetic theory in terms of the field tensor. Prerequisites Formal: None; Informal: PH 108 (Maxwell's  equations) Credit distribution 1 quiz (15 marks) and 1 Midsem (35 marks); Total - 50 marks Feedback on Lectures No formal attendance policy, classes exclusively on blackboard. Feedback on tutorials, assignments and exams Exam problems were based largely on content covered in the lectures. Ungraded tutorials, mixed bag of easy and hard problems. Relevant References Spacetime physics by Wheeler and Taylor Introduction to STR by R. Resnick Mathematical Methods for Physicists by Arfken...