PHY301:  MATHEMATICAL METHODS OF PHYSICS I   (3-0-0)  3 Units – Harmattan Semester

Curvilinear coordinates systems, Vector algebra and vector analysis, Vector and function spaces, Hilbert spaces, expansion of state vector, operators in infinite vector space.

Integral Calculus of functions of several variables: Multiple integrals; change of variables; improper integrals; integrals depending on a parameter; the Leibnitz rule.

Vector Integral Calculus: Two – and Three – Dimensional Theory; Theorems of Green, Gauss’ and Stokes.  Simply and multiply connected domains.

Theory of Functions of a Complex Variable and complex analysis: Review of theory.  The Cauchy-Riemann equation. Analytic Functions; Conformal Transformations; Integration in the complex plane. Cauchy’s Theorem and Integral formula. Liouville theorem. Theorm of Morera. Taylor and Laurent series. Calculus of residues and applications to real integrals.  Conformal transformation and applications.

Tensor Analysis: Cartesian tensors; transformation properties. General tensor analysis; covariant differentiation; physical applications. Elementary group theory.

Prerequisites: MTH 201,   MTH 202.

PHY302:  MATHEMATICAL METHODS OF PHYSICS II (3-0-0) 3 Units – Rain Semester

Fourier series; Fourier transforms; Laplace transforms.  Applications of integral transforms.

Solution of boundary-value problems of partial differential equations by various methods including separation of variables, method of integral transforms.  Eigen function expansion method.  Inhomogeneous equations; Green’s functions. Gamma functions; beta functions, Legendre functions; Bessel functions; Hermits functions; Laguerre functions; hypergeometric and confluent hypergeometric functions.  Dirac delta functions and distributions. Classification; Kernels; Neumann and Fredholm equations.  Methods of solution and applications.

Prerequisites: MTH 201, MTH 202.

PHY303:  ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY I (3-0-0)  3 Units – Rain Semester

Boundary-value problems.  Review of vector and tensor calculus, transformation properties of vectors and tensors, electrostatics, Magnetostatics;  Static fields and matter.  Electric and Magnetic energy.  

Time-varying fields; Faraday’s law.  Electrodynamics (Maxwell’s Equations), gauge transformations of scalar and vector potentials, retarded potentials, Lienard-Wiechert potentials, radiation.

Fields of uniformly moving charges. Special theory of relativity, relativistic mechanics and relativistic electrodynamics

Prerequisites: PHY 102

PHY304:  ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY II (3-0-0) 3 Units  –  Harmattan Semester

Maxwell’s equations and applications to propagation in bounded and unbounded media: electric fields in matter; magnetic fields in matter; electromotive force; electromagnetic induction; electromagnetic waves in vacuum, waves in dielectric and conductive materials; Waves in dispersive media; polarization phenomena; Fresnel diffraction Fresnel equations; reflection and refraction from an interface; Brewster angle, total internal reflection; interference, coherence effects.Radiation of electromagnetic waves; dipoles and antenna arrays.  Elements of quantum theory of electromagnetic radiation:  optical fibres; Guided waves. Elementary Plasma Physics.  

Prerequisites: PHY 102

PHY305: THERMODYNAMICS AND KINETIC THEORY (3-0-0) 3 Units–Harmattan Semester.

The laws of thernodynamics; thermodynamic temperature, heat and internal energy, reversibility, entropy, free energies.  Applications of thermodynamics to simple systems-chemical potential, phase equilibrium and the phase rule, electrical potential, magnetisation, surface energy.  Absolute zero and low temperature phenomena, the third law of thermodynamics.

Mathematical formulations of thermodynamics – exact differentials and state functions, transformation relationships for systems of two independent variables, Maxwell’s relations and Legendry transformations.

Kinetic theory molecular flux, equation of state of an ideal gas, the principle of equipartition of energy, classical theory of specific heat capacity.

Prerequisites:  PHY 101

PHY306:  OPTICS (3-0-0)  3 Units  Rain Semester

Geometrical Optics: Fermat’s Principles and applications.  Geometric theory of optical systems.  Thick lens and lens systems.  Aberrations,  Fiber optics.  The wave theory of light.  Principle of superposition.  Coherent and incoherent disturbances.  Group velocity.  Huygen’s principle.

Interference: Interference of two beams by division of wave front and division of amplitude.  Young’s experiment, Fresnel’s biprism, Refractometers utilising interference phenomena.  Interferometers – Michelson, Fabry-Perot.

Diffraction: Fraunhoffer diffraction by single-slit, double slit, multiple slit gratings.  Resolving power of various optical systems, Fresnel diffraction; Fresnel integrals and Cornu’s spiral; diffraction by apertures and obstacles; zone plates.

Polarization: Analytical description of polarization of electromagnetic waves; production and detection of polarized light.  Double refraction in crystals, Nicol prism, retardation plates.  Babinet compensator.  Optical activity and other optical properties of matter.  Non-linear phenomena.  

Prerequisites: PHY 101,  PHY 102

PHY307:  EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS IIIA  (0-0-3)   2  Units  –  Harmattan Semester

Laboratory experiments essential to the development of contemporary physics and illustrating modern experimental techniques including spectroscopy, nuclear radiation techniques, advanced electronic circuits and vacuum techniques.

Prerequisites: PHY 207,   PHY  208.

PHY308:  EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS IIIB  (0-0-3)  2 Units – Rain Semester

This is a continuation of PHY 307 and includes a selection of open-ended experiments.

Prerequisites: PHY 307.

PHY309: INTRODUCTION TO ACCEERATOR PHYSICS. (2-0-0) 2 Units. Harmattan Semester

Introduction, History of Particle accelerator. General concepts; Introduction to the Physics of particle sources; Physics of plasmas, electron sources, ion sources. Motion of charged particles in electric and magnetic fields; Transverse beam motion; Hill’s equation, Representation of different ion optical elements by matrix formalism; Linear Accelerators: Alvarez and Wideroe structures, the radio frequency quadrupole.

Rf Cavity Design: Important parameters, field distribution in different cavity types, mode characterisation, visualisation of fields.

Ring Accelerators: Introduction to the Betatron, Microtron, Cyclotron, and Synchrotron.

Medical Accelerators: General concept, benefits, different accelerator concepts.

Overview of accelerator facilities worldwide.

Prerequisites: PHY 205, MTH 201, MTH 202.

Co-Prerequisites: PHY 301; PHY 303.

PHY310:  CLASSICAL MECHANICS II  (3-0-0)  3 Units – Harmattan Semester.

Coupled motion.  Motion of continuous media including fluids.  The two-body central force problem, collisions and scattering by central force, rigid bodies dynamics; small oscillations.  Motion in non-inertial frame of reference, system of particles, de-Alembert principle, generalized coordinates and Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics for continuous systems and fields; Hamilton-Jacobi theory; Lagrangian equations, variational and Principle of least action and Hamilton principles.  The kinematics of rigid body motion and non-inertial frames, rigid body equation of motion; Liouvile’s theorem, general wave motion, phase and group velocities, dispersion; Transformation theory, Canonical transformations and Poisson brackets; Transition to quantum mechanics; Special theory of Relativity: Relativistic kinematics and dynamics.

Prerequisites: PHY 201

PHY311:  INTRODUCTION TO ASTROPHYSICS (2-0-0) 2 Units – Harmattan Semester

An introduction to the physics of the stars, galaxies and the universe based on observational data on stellar electromagnetic radiations.

Stellar parameters: mass, radius luminosity.  Stellar systems and classification.  Stellar interior and models.  Energy generation and transport.  Stellar pulsations; inter-stellar space.  Stellar evolution. Galaxies; intergalactic space.  Cosmology.

Prerequisites:  Consent of the Instructor.

PHY312: INTRODUCTION TO SPACE PHYSICS. (2-0-0), 2 Units. Rain Semester.

Cosmic rays, solar energetic particles and the Earth’s radiation belts, geomagnetic shielding, solar UV and x-rays. Single particle motion in magnetic ad electric fields, magneto-hydrodynamics theory application to space. Structure and dynamics of the upper atmosphere, ionospheric formation and structure. Wavepropagation in plasma, plasmasphere, aurora and radiation belts.

Prerequisites: PHY202, PHY205.

PHY313: STELLAR ASTROPHYSICS (2-0-0) 2 Units Harmattan Semester.

Astronomy and physics, photometry, observational instruments, stellar spectra, stellar evolution, classification of stars, star clusters and binary stars, nucleo-synthesis and formation of elements, galaxies and observed universe. Evolution of galaxies and their origin, quasars and active galaxies; Theories of the universe: from Newtonian cosmology to modern cosmology: Big-Bang theory and early universe, the universe and the arrow of time, confrontation between theories and observations.

Prerequisites: Consent of the Instructor

PHY314:  QUANTUM PHYSICS I  (3-0-0) 3 Units – Rain Semester

Background: This course is an introduction to quantum mechanics for undergraduate and first-year graduate students who have not taken such a course. Based on experimental phenomena, the course will introduce the formal apparatus for treating quantum problems.

Historical perspective and origin of quantum theory, wave mechanics, group waves and wave packets, uncertainty principle, motion and spread of wave packets. Schrodinger equation, application to one-dimensional problems, central potentials-hydrogen atom; Hilbert space formalism, state space and Dirac’s notation, mathematical formulation. Schroedinger equation, and its solution, in one and three dimensions; Postulates of quantum mechanics.  Quantum theory of measurement; uncertainty principle; commutation relations. Operators, eigenvalues, eigenfunctions and the physical interpretations of these quantities. The harmonic oscillator and the hydrogen atom.  Central force problems.  Applications including one-electron atoms and rigid rotator.

Many –particle systems:  Distinguishable and identical particles; symmetrization.  Pauli exclusion principle.  Spin and statistics.  Applications.

Approximation Methods:  Time-independent perturbation theory; applications including Zeeman and Stark effects.  Variational methods.  WKB method.  Methods for time-dependent problems; magnetic resonance; absorption and emission of radiation.

Prerequisites: PHY 205, MTH 202

PHY315: INTRODUCTION TO PETROPHYSICS (2-0-0) 2 Units- Rain Semester

Introduction. The Essential of well log analysis. Fundamentals of petrophysics and interrelations between petrophysical parameters. Borehole environmental. Invasion profiles and invasion characteristics. Hydrocarbon mobility. Acquisition of petrophysical data. Data quality assurance. Presentation of petrophysical data. Measurement of natural gamma rays. Formation waters . Importance of formation waters characteristics. The SP curve.Wellsite log evaluation. Formation resistivities. Shallow and deep resistivity measuring devices. Porosity related measurements with well logs in clean and shaly sands. Sonic(acoustic), Formation density and Neutron logs. Practical work with well log, core analysis and well pressure data.

Prerequisites: PHY202

PHY401:  QUANTUM PHYSICS II (3-0-0) 3 Units – Harmattan Semester

Scattering Theory:  Scattering in one dimension and in three dimensions.  Coulomb scattering.  Scattering of identical particles.  Approximations: Born approximation.  Partial wave analysis.  Analytic properties and dispersion relations. Commutation relations and commutating observables. Creation and annihilation operators. Schrodinger, Heisenberg and interaction pictures, symmetries in quantum mechanics; General treatment of angular momentum, various commutations relations of angular mementum. Spin-Stern – Garlach experiment. Application of general theory to orbital and spin angular momentum. Identical particles, Pauli exclusion principle. Symmetry principles in quantum mechanics; conservation laws.  Angular momentum and rotation; Clebsch–Gordon coefficients.

Semi classical radiation theory and applications:  Relativistic wave equations.  Solution of the Dirac equation for a free particle and in a central field.  The electron spin.

General application of quantum mechanics to selected nuclear, atomic, molecular and condensed matter systems.

Prerequisites: PHY 312.

PHY403:  STATISTICAL PHYSICS (3-0-0) 3 Units – Harmattan Semester

Review of Laws of thermodynamics.

Fundamental principles of classical and quantum statistical mechanics with applications to thermal, electrical and magnetic properties of matter. Chemical potential, phase equilibria; Equilibrium statistical mechanics- phase space, micro-states, macrostates, micro-canonical, canonical and grand-canonical ensembles and partition functions; Maxwell-Boltzmann, Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein distributions, applications of statistical mechanics to ideal quantum gas, interacting systems, theories of phase transitions, etc; Elementary concepts of non-equlibrium statistical mechanics. Elementary treatment of fluctuations and transport phenemena.

Prerequisites: PHY 305.

PHY404:  NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE PHYSICS I  (3-0-0) 3 Units Harmattan Semester.

Nuclear structure:  Nuclear size, shapes and masses.  Nuclear forces; Characteristic features; binding and separation energies; charge symmetry and independence of nuclear forces.

Nuclear models:  Liquid-drop model; shell model.  Radioactive decay:  Alpha, beta, gamma decays.  Interaction of radiation with matter;

Nuclear reactions; radiation detection techniques; nuclear instrumentation.  Neutron physics:  Production and detection of neutrons; neutron activation.  Fission; fission reactors.  Fusion; fusion reactors.

Elementary particles:  Conservation laws and symmetry; particle classification; particle interactions.  Resonance.

Prerequisites: PHY 205

PHY 405: SOLID STATE PHYSICS (3-0-0) 3 Units – Harmattan Semester

Crystal Structure: Symmetry operations and the basis, Fundamental types of lattices; Index systems in unit cells; Simple crystal structures of sodium chloride and caesium chloride, Hexagonal closed-packed structure (hcp), Diamond structure, Cubic zinc sulphide structure and so on; Direct imaging of atomic structure; crystal and non crystal structures data.

Wave diffraction and reciprocal lattice – The incident beam (x-rays, neutrons and electrons); Experimental diffraction methods; Scattered wave amplitude: Laue equations. Brillouin zones – Reciprocity of SC, BCC and FCC lattices, Fourier analysis and structure factor of the lattices; atomic form factor. Crystal of inert gases including Van der Waals-London interaction, Repulsive interaction, Equilibrium lattice constant, cohesive energy, compressibility and bulk modulus. Ionic crystals – electrostatic or Madelung energy. Covalent crystals: metals; hydrogen bonded-crystals. Elastic waves in cubic crystals: Analysis of strains; compliance and stiffness constants. Phonons, crystal vibrations and thermal properties: Quantization of lattice vibrations; Inelastic scattering of photons, neutrons by phonons. Optical properties in the infrared; Phonons: Planck’s distribution, density of states in one and three dimensions, Debye model, Debye T³ law, Einstein model for density of states, general result for D(ω);

Anharmonic crystal interactions and thermal conductivity. Free electron gas, Fermi-Dirac distribution function. Thermal properties of electron gas and ohm’s law. Electrical conductivity at high frequencies; plasmons; motion in magnetic fields

Prerequisite: PHY 306, PHY 314;

PHY416: Methods of Computational Physics and Materials Science. (3-0-0) Rain Semester

Introduction to mathematical techniques useful in the study of physics and materials science.  

Approximation, interpolation and Error Estimation techniques in computations; Numerical Solution of System of Linear and non-linear algebraic equations;

Methods of integrating a spectrum – trapezoid rule, Simpson’s rule, Gaussian quadratures. Different Methods including Gaussian, square root, Siedel, Newton etc. Monte Carlo simulation of physical systems and numerical differentiation and integration of equations of motion, discrete element methods in electromagnetism, neural networks, statistical and graphical representation of data. Deterministic randomness, random number generators. Random walk problem, random number generators, magnetization at a finite temperature, diffusion and percolation problems

Data fitting: Lagrange interpolation, cubic splines, linear and non-linear least square fitting. Numerical methods of differentiation – forward difference, central difference, extrapolated difference, second derivatives, Euler’s algorithm, Runge-Kutta second and fourth order methods.

Applications: Physical properties of crystals using tensors and matrices; mathematical methods associated with crystal physics, diffusion, variational calculus and quantum mechanics.

Prerequisites: CSC 201 (Knowledge of FORTRAN or C Programming)

PHY420:  NON-LINEAR DYNAMICS, CHAOS and RECENT APPLICATIONS

(2-0-0) 2 Units.

Introduction to non-linear dynamics, Chaos and Fractals. One Dimensional Flow: Fixed points and Stability, Bifurcations, flow on the circle. Two Dimensional Flow: Linear systems, Phase plane, Limit cycles, bifurcation in two dimensional systems.

Chaos: Chaos on a strange attractor, Lorenz map, Periodic windows, Liapunov exponents, universality, Renormalization.

Strange attractors: Henon map, Rossler system. Spatio-Temporal Chaos in extended system; Synchronization in nonlinear and chaotic systems. Fractals. (With examples from Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Fluid Dynamics and Electronic Circuits.)  Dynamical systems with nonlinearity, phase portraits and flow in one, two and three dimensions, fixed point, limit cycle motions, bifurcation. Stability of fixed point, limit cycles;

Deterministic chaos and strange attractors: Population growth, logistic maps etc., routes to chaos-period doubling, intermittancy, quasi periodicity. Concept of universality and renormalization, measure of Chaos-Poincare section, Lyapunov exponent;

Idea of Fractal geometry and dimension: Euclidean and topological dimensions, Cantor set and Koch curves, Fractal boundaries, determination of fractal geometry, Hausdor exponent, Self affinity, Hurst exponent. Examples from Physics, Engineering, biology and chemistry.

Prerequisite: Good knowledge of Partial differential equations and algebra

PHY421:  RELATIVITY (3-0-0) 3 Units – Harmattan Semester

Review of historical and experimental background.  Relativistic mechanics:  Postulates of special relativity.  Lorentz transformation and kinematics consequences.  Successive Lorentz transformation.  Graphical representation.

Four dimensional formulation:  Four vectors; energy-momentum four vector; Minkowski force.  Collision of particles.  Invariants.  Applications.  Relativistic electrodynamics:  Covariant formulation of the Maxwell-Lorentz equations.  Gauge invariance.  Transformation laws for electromagnetic fields.  The stress-energy tensor; conservation laws.

General Relativity:  Matrix tensor; convariant differentiation; Christoffel symbols.  Curvature tensor.

Gravitational fields:  Principles of covariance and equivalence; constant or stationary fields.  Particle motion in a gravitational field.  Equations of Electrodynamics in a gravitational field.

Gravitational field equations:  Einstein’s equations.  Cosmological problems.

Prerequisites: PHY 301, PHY 302.

PHY422: SELECTED TOPICS IN CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS (3-0-0) 3 Units – Rain Semester.

Treatment of a selection of topical areas of condensed matter physics.  The following areas are included:

Crystalline state:  Theories and methods of crystal growth.  Cohesive energy of crystals.  Rigorous treatment of lattice vibrations.  Many-electron problems in crystals.  Electronlattice interactions.

Superconductivity:  Theory; recent developments especially high temperature superconductors.  Electronic phenomena in nearly perfect crystals.  Transport phenomena in solids.

Magnetism:  Paramagnetism of incomplete shells; paramagnetic dispersion, absorption and resonance; nuclear magnetism.  Topics in ferromagnetism.  Topics in crystal lattice defects.  The liquid state.

Prerequisites: PHY 405.

PHY424:  NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE PHYSICS II    (2-0-0) 3 Units – Rain Semester

Elementary Particles:  Fundamental particle interactions; classification and structure.  Models.  Weak and electromagnetic interactions.  Strong interactions and resonance. Accelerators and iron sources; neutron sources; particle detection techniques and energy measurement. Nuclear reactions; nuclear spectroscopy.

Prerequisites: PHY 205, 206, 404

PHY425: Atomic and Molecular Physics    (2-0-0)  2 Units

Review of atomic structure of H, two electron systems, alkali system, Hartree-Fock method, density functional theory based Khon Sham equation, models for exchange co-relation functional, L-S coupling, JJ-coupling, fine structure and hyperfine structure. Zeeman, Stark and Paschen-Back effects. Auger and X-rays transitions; Molecular binding, LCAO, LCMO, molecular spectra (electronic, vibrational, rotational etc.); Principles of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), ESR, Raman spectra, LASERS.

Prerequisite: Quantum Mechanics courses

PHY426: FURTHER QUANTUM PHYSICS   (2-0-0)   2 Units

Integral formulation of Quantum mechanics, Path Integral, Relativistic wave equations, field quantization and particle processes, second quantization, interaction picture, S-matrix, many particle Green’s functions and diagrametric methods, Feynman diagrams, many body physics, relativistic quantum mechanics of spin-1/2 particles, quantum theory of radiation, co-variant of perturbation theory, elements of quantum electrodynamics. Applications in condensed matter physics.

Prerequisite: Quantum mechanics courses.

PHY428:   PHOTONICS AND QUANTUM OPTICS (2-0-0)  2 Units   –  Rain Semester

Modern photonics methods, including optical system design, waveguides and fibre optics, electro-optics and acoustic-optics, nonlinear optics and ultrafast laser systems. Spontaneous and stimulated emission; Einstein coefficients; absorption.  Theory, design, operation and applications.

Prerequisites: PHY 312

PHY430:  ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY (2-0-0) 2 Units – Rain Semester.

One-electron atoms; independent particle approximation.  Many-electron atoms.  Coupling schemes.  Zeeman effect.  Hyperfine structure. The diatomic molecules; designation and description in terms of orbitals and valence bond theories.  Spectra of diatomic; intensities in spectral bands.  The Frank – Condon principle.  X-ray spectra and advances in technique.  Microwave methods.  Resonance phenomena:  (ESR, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), optical pumping and Mossbauer effect.

Prerequisites:  PHY 314

PHY431:  ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS I  (3-0-0)  3 Units  –  Harmattan Semester.

Physical Meteorology:  Atmospheric variables and their measurements; meteorological instrumentation and observations – in-situ and remote systems; Quality control of meteorological dta – data types, accuracy and precision, validation, internal consistency checks; Cloud Physics and Atmospheric thermodynamics. ;

Prerequisites: PHY 202, PHY 301

PHY432:  ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS II  (3-0-0)  3 Units – Rain Semester.

Dynamic Meteorology: Weather systems; The momentum equation; Circulation and vorticity; Scales of option in the atmosphere; The general circulation; The Atmospheric Boundary Layer, mesoscale meteorological modelling; Atmospheric radiation, Upper Atmosphere and Radiowave propagation, Atmospheric electricity Introduction to Satellite and Communication.

Prerequisites: PHY 202, PHY 301

PHY433:  SOLID EARTH PHYSICS I  3-0-0 3 Units – Harmattan Semester

Introduction to potential field theory. Gravimetry, reduction and interpretation of gravity data. Seismology including elastic waves in unbounded media, analysis of seismic records and interpretation. These include: Elementary potential theory and potential field manipulation, Gravimetry, Basic theory, Measurement and units of gravity, Gravity reduction, drift -, latitude,  elevation, tidal, eotvos, correction free-air and bouguer anomalies; interpretation of gravity anomalies, the inverse problem, regional fields and residual anomalies; direct interpretation, indirect interpretation and applications of gravity surveying, seismic theory: geometry of seismic wave paths, characteristics of seismic events, reflection field methods and equipment; refraction field methods and equipment, data processing, refraction interpretation and reflection interpretation.

Prerequistes: MTH 201, PHY 202.

PHY434:  SOLID EARTH PHYSICS II  3-0-0     3 Units – Rain Semester

Electrical conduction and electromagnetic induction methods. Geomagnetism and geo-thermometry. Radiometric surveys and application of remote sensing in geophysics. These include Electrical Surveying: Resistivity method; resistivity’s or rocks and minerals; current flow in the ground; electrode spreads; resistivity surveying equipment; interpretation of resistivity data; vertical electrical sounding interpretation; constant separation traversing interpretation and application of resistivity surveying. Induced Polarisation method: mechanisms of induced polarisation, measurement, field operations and interpretation surveying. Electromagnetic Surveying: depth of penetration of electromagnetic fields; detection of electromagnetic fields; tilt-angle methods; the VLF method; phase measuring systems; time-domain electromagnetics surveying; non-contacting conductivity measurement; interpretation of electromagnetic data; ground penetrating radar and applications of electromagnetic surveying. Radiometric Surveying: Radioactive decay; radioactive minerals; instrument for measuring radioactivity and field surveys.

Prerequisites: PHY 202, PHY 304.

PHY435: SEISMOLOGY (2-0-0)  2 Units-  Harmattan Semester

Fundamentals of seismic wave propagation: elastic deformation and stress tensors and their relationship; equation of motion in an elastic medium;  types of elastic waves;  seismic velocities in rocks. Velocities and motions associated with body waves.

Reflection and refraction of elastic waves at solid-solid and liquid-liquid interfaces. Head waves. Seismographs and seismograms; Travel time curves. Internal layering of the earth. Free oscillations. Density and other parameters in the earth.

Seismotectonics: Global seismicity; earthquake mechanisms, faulting dynamics: elastic Reid’s elastic rebound theory; single and double couple mechanisms. Specifications of shallow and deep earthquakes. Determination of earthquake magnitude and distance from seismograms. Divergent, transcurrent and convergent boundaries. Intraplate earthquakes. The earthquake cycle.  Earthquake prediction 

Prerequisites:  PHY 304, PHY 306

PHY436:   REMOTE SENSING (3-0-0)  3 Units  –   Rain Semester

Definition of remote sensing. Physical basis of remote sensing: Generation of EM radiation; EM spectrum, black-bodies; Stefan-Boltzmann’s law; Wien’s law; Kirchhoff’s law, Planck’s law.

Propagation of EM energy through the atmosphere: scattering, absorption. Interaction of EM radiation with earth surface features: reflection, spectral reflectance curves. Sensor classifications and types. Data collection platforms. Acquisitions of multi spectral images from space-borne platforms. Nigeria-Sat1, Landsat and SPOT satellite systems.

Processing of data: rectification and classification, edge extraction, spatial and wave number domain filtering, Enhancement: estimation of band ratio, principal component analysis. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, histogram equalization, density slicing, linear feature extraction.

Thematic applications:  ground water exploration, identification of earth surface features, drainage pattern and catchment delineation, identification of structura patterns in geology, urban and regional planning, atmospheric studies and weather forecasting and thermal spots from IR bands,

Monitoring of natural disasters. GIS.

Prerequisites:  PHY 304, PHY 306

PHY437 GRAVIMETRY AND MAGNETOMETRY (2-0-0) 2 Units Harmattan Semnester

Gravimetry: Introduction to potential fields. Principles of the gravity method, gravity field of the earth, spherical harmonic representation of the gravity field, gravity field and the shape of the earth, the geoid, principle of isostacy, absolute and relative gravity measurements and necessary corrections.

Magnetometry: Principles of the magnetic method. Magnetic dipoles, potential and field. The earth’s magnetic field: elements and origin of the main field; the non-dipole field; the external field: diurnal and secular variations. Magnetic properties of rocks and types of remanence. The external field. Magnetometers, ground and airborne magnetic measurements with necessary corrections

Processing and Interpretation of Potential field data: Gridding of random potential field data. Filtering, transformation and anomaly enhancement techniques. Interpretation using characteristic curves and polygon methods, limiting depth rules, forward and inverse modelling. Field examples.

Prerequisites: PHY 202, PHY 303

PHY438: ELECTRICAL AND ELECTROMAGNETIC METHODS  (2-0-0) – 2 Units Rain Semester

Theory of the resistivity method. Resistivity of rocks and minerals; true and apparent resistivity. Electrode configurations and field procedures. Vertical electrical sounding, electrical profiling and mapping. Applications and interpretation of resistivity data. Self Potential method; Induced Polarisation method.

Electromagnetic methods; fundamental quantities and field equations; attenuation of field and depth penetration. Frequency and time domain Electromagnetic methods: AFMAG, VLF and Airborne Electromagnetic methods. Interpretation of EM data. Magneto-telluric method of depth sounding and applications to crystal and mantle studies.

      Prerequisites: PHY 202, PHY 304

PHY499: INDEPENDENT STUDY AND PROJECT (PHYSICS) (0-0-9) 4 Units – Harmattan and Rain Semesters.

An opportunity for undergraduates to work closely with members of staff in supervised reading, library work and experimental or theoretical project.  A student shall write at least an essay on a chosen topic, present an original report on an assigned project and give at least a seminar to the rest of the Department on the project or essay topic.