Oscillations and Waves
Academic Year 2024/2025 - Teacher: Fabio SIRINGOExpected Learning Outcomes
Full knowledge and understanding of the main classical oscillatory phenomena.
Course Structure
Traditional lectures
Required Prerequisites
Fisica I, Analisi I
Detailed Course Content
Superposition principle, Fourier series and transform.
Physical examples of harmonic oscillators. Damped and forced oscillator. Resonance.
Elastic waves, electromagnetic waves.
Interference and diffraction. Limit of geometric optics.
Oscillation modes in an extended system. Normal modes of oscillation. Wave equation.
Stationary and progressive waves. wave packets and group velocity. Dispersive systems. Reflection and trasmission. Uncertainty relations.
Textbook Information
Lecture notes
Howard Georgi, The physics of waves, Benjamin Cummings, 1992.
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fourier series and transform | |
| 2 | Harmonic Oscillator | |
| 3 | Wave equation | |
| 4 | elastic and electromagnetic waves | |
| 5 | Interference and diffraction |
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
Colloquium.
Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises
Maxwell equations and electromagnetic waves
Reflection and refraction
Forced harmonic oscillator
normal modes and elastic waves