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Nov 04, 2024
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2024-2025 Graduate Catalog
Physics, Ph.D.
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Degree Requirements
Candidates for the Ph.D. degree must satisfactorily complete one physics foundations course, five core courses, seven elective graduate courses in physics or astrophysics, and at least 48 credit hours of graduate courses in total. Of the electives, students take at least three courses in their chosen area of concentration: particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology, or particle astrophysics. Students typically take the core sequence of courses during their first two years, and may take electives during their second and later years, according to their interests and in consultation with their research adviser.
Core Courses (16 Credit Hours)
Candidates take one physics foundation course and five core courses:
Elective Courses (21 Credit Hours)
Candidates choose seven elective graduate courses in consultation with the Ph.D. adviser. These can be core courses not used to satisfy the core requirements, courses selected from the following list of additional departmental courses (depending on availability in a given academic year), and even some courses outside the department. (A list of courses outside the department which have proven useful as physics electives can found in the Physics Department Graduate Student Handbook.)
Additional courses in the department that can be utilized as electives are:
Particle Physics Concentration
Students seeking the particle physics concentration take at least three from the following:
Astrophysics and Cosmology Concentration
Students seeking the astrophysics and cosmology concentration take three from the following:
Particle Astrophysics Concentration
Students seeking the particle astrophysics concentration take three from the following:
Research Courses (12 Credit Hours)
After completing core courses and electives, students typically sign up for 8000-level research courses under their adviser until reaching the required 48 credit hours. No more than 12 credit hours can be in dissertation courses. Courses that are available to meet the needs of the student, in consultation with their adviser, are as follows:
Candidacy Qualification Requirements
In order to advance to Ph.D. candidacy, students must pass PHYS 6160 and achieve a GPA of 3.0 or greater in four core courses from each of the topics of Mechanics (PHYS 6321 ), Quantum Mechanics (PHYS 6335 or PHYS 6336 ), Electrodynamics (PHYS 7311 or PHYS 7312 ), and Statistical Mechanics (PHYS 6351 ).
Successful students will be eligible to present proposed research for their Ph.D. program to the department in their fifth semester, to be followed by an oral qualifying exam in the area of their concentration.
Students are allowed two attempts to pass and must do so before the end of their sixth semester.
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