PHYS 295 - Intermediate Special Topics in Physics

Credits: 3 Prerequisite: Vary with topic. Intermediate work in nuclear physics, optics, photonics, condensed matter, complex systems, nanotechnology, astrophysics, computational physics, or other topics according to faculty expertise and student interest. May be repeated for degree credit for a maximum of six credits with permission and if the topics are different.

Fall 2020, PHYS 295A-01: Intermediate Special Topics: Unresolved Questions and the Frontiers of Physics (3). Prerequisite: PHYS 112. An exploration of some of the biggest unresolved questions in physics, especially those pertaining to the largest and smallest phenomena in the universe. Students focus in particular on the reasons why some fundamental questions remain unresolved and the ongoing debates over how to choose between the many different hypotheses seeking to explain them. Topics include the origins of the expansion of the universe, the nature of dark matter, the ontology of quantum theory, and the problem of quantum gravity.