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                                Ph 129a – Fall 2010

                  Mathematical Methods for Physicists

 

 

 

Instructor:  

            Gil Refael
            117 Sloan Annex, x4705

            refael{at}caltech.edu
            Office Hours : Friday 5-6pm.          

 

Grader:

            Shu-Ping Lee
            Office hours: Tuesday 2-3pm, Laruitsen 421

            Hee-Joong Chung
            Office hours: Tuesday 4-5pm, Downs 413
 


To do the midterm first download the instructions.
Instructions

When you are ready to take the test, download the midterm:

 Mid-term


Midterm Solution


 

Lecture Notes

       Sept 27th -  Complex analysis review.
      Sept 29thScaling solutions.

      Oct 4thDiffusion Green function+some review of FT.
      Oct 6th -  FT applied to the diffusion and wave equations.
      Oct 11thWave equation solution with initial conditions, and the method of characteristics.
      Oct 13th -  Initial condition requirements and the linear operator approach to Green functions.
      Oct 18th -  Laplace equation and conformal mapping.
      Oct 20th -  Nonlinear equations: shock waves and solitons. Traveling wave solution of the KdV equation.
     Oct 25th -  Lax pairs: Shroedinger vs. KdV. For the commutator calculation:
          
                   Mathematica notebook (.nb - run it yourself)
                              Mathematica notebook (.pdf)
     Oct 27th -  Inverse scattering quick and dirty: Evolution far from the scatterers. (Also see the chapters from Drazin's book added below)
   Nov 1st -  Inverse scattering conclusion: Marchenko equation. (Also see the chapters from Drazin's book added below)

Review for the first two weeks can be found in the PDE chapter of  Stone and Goldbart's book ("Mathematics for Physics").


Homework

    PS 1 HW1 Solution - Complex integration and scaling solutions.

    PS 2 HW2 Solution - Green Functions.
    PS 3 HW3 Solution - Characteristics and scattering.

    PS 4 HW4 Solution - Conformal Mappings and the Laplace Equation
    PS 5 HW5 Solution - Solitons etc.

 



   

 Supplements


       The discussion of scaling solutions can be found in Nigel Goldenfelds book: 
           "Lectures On Phase Transitions And The Renormalization Group" chapter 10.2

      The inverse scattering method and its application to the KdV equation is described in this chapter of Drazin's book. For the  Lax commutator method, here is the following chapter.