Materials covered include: special relativity, electrodynamics of moving media, waves in dispersive media, microstrip integrated circuits, quantum optics, remote sensing, radiative transfer theory, scattering by rough surfaces, effective permittivities, and random media.

Introduction to modern cosmology. First half deals with the development of the big-bang theory from 1915 to 1980, and latter half with recent impact of particle theory. Topics: special relativity and the Doppler effect, Newtonian cosmological models, introduction to non-Euclidean spaces, thermal radiation and early history of the universe, big-bang nucleosynthesis, introduction to grand unified theories and other recent developments in particle theory, baryogenesis, the inflationary universe model, and the evolution of galactic structure.

This course focuses on three particularly interesting areas of astronomy that are advancing very rapidly: Extra-Solar Planets, Black Holes, and Dark Energy. Particular attention is paid to current projects that promise to improve our understanding significantly over the next few years. The course explores not just what is known, but what is currently not known, and how astronomers are going about trying to find out.

The basic principles of Einstein's general theory of relativity. Differential geometry. Experimental tests of general relativity. Black holes. Cosmology.

This Website provides resources for secondary and post-secondary teachers of physical science. These resources include data reduction projects and particle physics datafiles. The data reduction projects guide student investigation of a dataset to a particular end result. The datafiles are written in a format that allows for rapid Web file transfer and ease of import into commonly available applications such as Microsoft Excel. Students download and reduce these data in an open-ended environment in which they investigate their own questions. The first of these resources is a data reduction project that guides students to an understanding of special relativity.

This video from the American Museum of Natural History illustrates how motion is described relative to a frame of reference, and how Einstein's special theory of relativity is needed to describe the motion of objects traveling near the speed of light.

This work presents the NSTP (Non – Spatial Thinking Process) theoretical (philosophy of mind) idealistic solution to the problem of Yang-Mills existence and mass gap, the millennium problem announced by the Clay Mathematics Institute. As stated by the institute, ‘Quantum Yang-Mills theory is now the foundation of most of elementary particle theory, and its predictions have been tested at many experimental laboratories, but its mathematical foundation is still unclear. The successful use of Yang-Mills theory to describe the strong interactions of elementary particles depends on a subtle quantum mechanical property called the "mass gap:" the quantum particles have positive masses, even though the classical waves travel at the speed of light. This property has been discovered by physicists from experiment and confirmed by computer simulations, but it still has not been understood from a theoretical point of view. Progress in establishing the existence of the Yang-Mills theory and a mass gap will require the introduction of fundamental new ideas both in physics and in mathematics.’ If the property of mass gap contradicts the special relativistic law that no massive entity can travel at the speed of light, the point of this work is to understand that special relativity is not fundamental to nature. The new physics required to solve the problem has essentially “an idealistic framework” and the new mathematics contains terms such as “non-spatial consciousness”. Though the problem is officially expressed in a conventional symbolic mathematical language, the appropriate solution necessarily has an unconventional superconceptual mathematical language, just as its radical non-spatial computational physics does.

Parallel to 8.02, but more advanced mathematically. Some knowledge of vector calculus assumed. Maxwell's equations, in both differential and integral form. Electrostatic and magnetic vector potential. Properties of dielectrics and magnetic materials. In addition to the theoretical subject matter, several experiments in electricity and magnetism are performed by the students in the laboratory. Credit cannot also be received for 8.02X. Course 8.022 is one of several second-term freshman physics courses offered at MIT. It is geared towards students who are looking for a thorough and challenging introduction to electricity and magnetism. Topics covered include: Electric and magnetic field and potential; introduction to special relativity; Maxwell's equations, in both differential and integral form; and properties of dielectrics and magnetic materials. In addition to the theoretical subject matter, several experiments in electricity and magnetism are performed by the students in the laboratory.

Parallel to 8.02, but more advanced mathematically. Some knowledge of vector calculus assumed. Maxwell's equations, in both differential and integral form. Electrostatic and magnetic vector potential. Properties of dielectrics and magnetic materials. In addition to the theoretical subject matter, several experiments in electricity and magnetism are performed by the students in the laboratory. Credit cannot also be received for 8.02X.

Normally taken by physics majors in their sophomore year. Einstein's postulates; consequences for simultaneity, time dilation, length contraction, clock synchronization; Lorentz transformation; relativistic effects and paradoxes; Minkowski diagrams; invariants and four-vectors; momentum, energy and mass; particle collisions. Relativity and electricity; Coulomb's law; magnetic fields. Brief introduction to Newtonian cosmology. Introduction to some concepts of General Relativity; principle of equivalence. The Schwarzchild metric; gravitational red shift, particle and light trajectories, geodesics, Shapiro delay. This course, which concentrates on special relativity, is normally taken by physics majors in their sophomore year. Topics include Einstein's postulates, the Lorentz transformation, relativistic effects and paradoxes, and applications involving electromagnetism and particle physics. This course also provides a brief introduction to some concepts of general relativity, including the principle of equivalence, the Schwartzschild metric and black holes, and the FRW metric and cosmology.

Introduction to the main concepts of string theory to undergraduates. Since string theory is quantum mechanics of a relativistic string, the foundations of the subject can be explained to students exposed to both special relativity (8.033) and basic quantum mechanics (8.05). Subject develops the aspects of string theory and makes it accessible to students familiar with basic electromagnetism (8.02) and statistical mechanics (8.044). This includes the study of D-branes and string thermodynamics. This course introduces string theory to undergraduate and is based upon Prof. Zwiebach's textbook entitled A First Course in String Theory. Since string theory is quantum mechanics of a relativistic string, the foundations of the subject can be explained to students exposed to both special relativity and basic quantum mechanics. This course develops the aspects of string theory and makes it accessible to students familiar with basic electromagnetism and statistical mechanics.

COURSE OUTLINE: General Physics1, Mathematical Tools2, Linear Algebra and Tensors, Relativity1, General Relativity2, Mathematics3, Tensors4, Special Relativity. The image used above is Special Relativity by Wonderlane and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license

This online article is from the Museum's Seminars on Science, a series of distance-learning courses designed to help educators meet the new national science standards. The article, which offers a simple demonstration of Einstein's Time Dilation Equation, is part of the Frontiers in Physical Science seminar. It uses the example of a light beam bouncing between two mirrors in a rocket to illustrate the theory, and includes a step-by-step look at the math involved in calculating the quantitative solution.

This online video gallery is from the Museum's Seminars on Science, a series of distance-learning courses designed to help educators meet the new national science standards. Part of the Frontiers in Physical Science seminar, the gallery features three videos, available in broadband and modem formats and with a printable PDF transcript. Brookhaven: RHIC shows the pipes where the actual collisions occur in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Brookhaven: RHIC, part 2 shows a cut-away view of the end of one of the RHIC super-conducting dipoles. Brookhaven: STAR AND PHENIX shows the Solonoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR) and explains the PHENIX experiment.