Code: 12PF1 Computational Physics 1
Lecturer: doc. Ing. Ondøej Klimo Ph.D. Weekly load: 2+0 Completion: EX
Department: 14112 Credits: 2 Semester: W
Description:
The course is giving an overview of some of the well-known computational physics methods in various fields of physics. The first part concentrates on particle simulation methods - molecular dynamics, Monte Carlo method and other methodsof solving the particle transport in self-consistent fields (e.g. Particle in Cell method in plasma physics). The second part concentrates on methods of solving Maxwell equations and in particular on the finite difference, finite elements methods and the method of moments. An introduction to application of computational physics methods in quantum physics (Hartree-Fock method, density functional theory) is also given.
Contents:
1. Introduction to Molecular dynamics, interaction potentials and solving the equations of motion
2. Measurements in molecular dynamics, equilibrium and dynamical properties of simple fluids, i nitial and boundary conditions, long-range potentials
4. Introduction to Monte Carlo method, Metropolis algorithm
5. Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations for particle transport problems - Monte Carlo solution of transport equation, types of interactions, techniques to reduce the simulation time and the variance of the results
7. Charged particle transport in plasmas using Particle in Cell method
8. Particle in Cell method - equations of motion, interpolation of quantities on the grid, particle shapes, stability and applicability of the method
9. Methods for solving Maxwell equations, overview of the methods and their properties
10. Finite Difference Time Domain method and boundary conditions, Finite Element method, Method of Moments
11. Hartree-Fock method, density functional theory
Recommended literature:
Key references:
[1] A. Bondeson, T. Rylander, P. Ingelstrom, Computational Electromagnetics (Texts in Applied Mathematics), Second Edition, Springer, 2013
[2] J. Thijssen, Computational Physics, Second Edition, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2007
[3] D.C. Rapaport, The Art of Molecular Dynamics Simulation 2nd Edition, Cambridge University Press; 2 edition, New York, 2004

Recommended references:
[4] A. Haghighat, Monte Carlo Methods for Particle Transport, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2016
[5] C.K. Birdsall, A.B Langdon, Plasma Physics via Computer Simulation, Taylor & Francis Gropu, New York, 2005

Media and tools:
none
Keywords:
Computational physics, Particle simulations, Molecular dynamics, Monte Carlo method, Particle in Cell method, Finite Difference Time Domain method, Finite Element method, Hartree-Fock method.

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