PHYS 486 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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Announcements:

12/3/2024 -- Bonus work submission

For everyone who wants to submit one of the code notebooks for bonus, please do that as follows to receive full credit.

Make sure you executed the entire notebook, and that all answer outputs show up correctly. Make sure you answered all prompts to a level that you think it's correct and consistent with the physics you've learned.
Interpret your results: to each answer, add a text field and write a brief note (at most one paragraph) why your answer is consistent with the physics you have learned (where applicable; but in particular where the output is a plot!)
Export the entire assignment as a PDF (using the print menu in Google Colab)
Submit it to the "Bonus: ..." assignment on Gradescope before midnight on Dec 11.

11/21/2024 -- Bonus point for computational homework

As announced already, we offer 5% bonus if you submit one of the Jupyter notebooks with your own solutions.
Submit one of these notebooks, fully solved: Finite well, Harmonic oscillator, or Hydrogen atom.
Some information on how to prepare submissions of these will be announced after the fall break.

11/14/2024 -- post-MT2 notes

MT2 is graded, and grades are in the gradebook. You'll get your exams back in today's discussion.
Please have a look at the posted solution sketches. Most problems were minor variations of homework problems from the weeks before the exam. If you had trouble with the exam problems, please also look back at the homework/discussion.
For questions on your grade: Problem 1 was graded by Junyi, Problem 2 by Samihr.

11/03/2024 -- pre-MT2 notes

MT2 is on 11/7, in-class. No discussion that day.
MT material: up to (including) lecture 13, and everything covered up to homework 9 and discussion 6/7; that is, everything up to and including everything concerning the harmonic oscillator, but not including angular momentum.
Allowed materials: a hand-written cheat-sheet (single sided, letter size), and a simple calculator (no integrals, etc).

10/14/2024

On Thursday, 10/17 we will do some numerical exercises on the harmonic oscillator in-class (like a code office hour, if you like). Please have a look at the harmonic oscillator notebook in advance. By that time, you should already know the physics we will cover in the exercise.
There will no office hours by W. Pfaff on 10/17 and 10/24 due to travel. Please reach out to make an appointment if you would like to talk to me in person in those weeks.
Grades for MT1 are in the gradebook. The problems were graded by:
- A1/B1: Hao and Luis
- A2/B2: Samihr and Junyi
- A3/B3: Wenhan and Zijun
Please contact the respective graders if you have questions about points.

09/23/2024 -- pre-MT1 notes

MT1 is on 10/3, in-class. No discussion that day.
MT material: up to (including) lecture 9, and everything covered in homeworks 1-4, and discussions 1-4 (but not the code exercises).
Allowed materials: a hand-written cheat-sheet (single sided, letter size), and a simple calculator (no integrals, etc).
No lecture (and no office hour by WP) on 9/26 -- there will be a reading assignment instead.

08/22/2024

See you Tuesday, Aug. 27 for the first class.
First Homework will be posted in week 2, and is due on Tue of week 3.
First Discussions and office hours are in week 2.

Homework and Discussions

The most important part to learn the materials and do well on the exams is practice. Practice means solving problems and being able to explain your work. You will solve practice problems in homework sets, and discuss them in the Discussion section.

Homework format:

Problem sets are posted by Wednesday.
Deadline for submitting solutions on Gradescope is the end of the following Tuesday (11:59:59pm).
No extensions. You can utilize your drops if you are too busy, or request an EX if you have a valid reason.
Working in groups is strongly encouraged, but you must submit your own work. Submitting copied work is plagiarism.
Homework grades and solutions are available one week after submission deadline.

Discussion format:

You will discuss the most recent homework with your peers.
Per problem, one person will present their solution and the rest of the group provides feedback and asks questions. The TAs moderate your discussions and answer questions.
You should be able to adequately explain correct homework solutions after the discussion.
In addition, there will be Discussion-only problem sets that you will solve in groups during the discussion. These will, in some weeks, include numerical and programming exercises.

Exams

Midterm 1: Thu, October 3 (in-class)
Midterm 2: Thu, November 7 (in-class)
Final: December 13, 1:30pm-4:30pm (2100 Sidney Lu; the usual lecture room)

Allowed materials

For each exam, you are allowed to bring your own handwritten cheat-sheet. It may be at most 1 single-sided, page (letter size). You can also use a simple calculator that is not able to solve equations or integrals.

Academic Integrity

All activities in this course are subject to the Academic Integrity rules as described in Article 1, Part 4, Academic Integrity, of the Student Code.

Anti-Racism and Inclusivity Statement

The Grainger College of Engineering is committed to the creation of an anti-racist, inclusive community that welcomes diversity along a number of dimensions, including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity and national origins, gender and gender identity, sexuality, disability status, class, age, or religious beliefs. The College recognizes that we are learning together in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, that Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous voices and contributions have largely either been excluded from, or not recognized in, science and engineering, and that both overt racism and micro-aggressions threaten the well-being of our students and our university community.

The effectiveness of this course is dependent upon each of us to create a safe and encouraging learning environment that allows for the open exchange of ideas while also ensuring equitable opportunities and respect for all of us. Everyone is expected to help establish and maintain an environment where students, staff, and faculty can contribute without fear of personal ridicule, or intolerant or offensive language. If you witness or experience racism, discrimination, micro-aggressions, or other offensive behavior, you are encouraged to bring this to the attention of the course director if you feel comfortable. You can also report these behaviors to the Bias Assessment and Response Team (BART) (https://bart.illinois.edu/). Based on your report, BART members will follow up and reach out to students to make sure they have the support they need to be healthy and safe. If the reported behavior also violates university policy, staff in the Office for Student Conflict Resolution may respond as well and will take appropriate action.