Physics

The six-week summer lab research program at National Taiwan University places students in various science, engineering and social science research labs and/or projects under the supervision of faculty. Students spend approximately 30 hours per week in lab activities.

This course introduces the basic concepts and tools of Statistical Mechanics at equilibrium. Lectures provide an overview of the powerful methods used to describe systems with a large number of degrees of freedom, with many different examples. Students learn how to build an intuitive and physical understanding of technical and mathematical aspects developed in this course.

This course discusses statistical mechanics and thermodynamics in the advanced undergraduate level with vigorous mathematical treatment. It serves as a core course for physics major students as well as an elective core for those who are interested to gain a deep understanding of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics and to apply related techniques in their own majors. This is also an essential course for those who plan to pursue postgraduate studies in physics or related disciplines. Both conceptual ideas and mathematical treatment are emphasized. Topics include: Elements of Ensemble Theory, Boltzmann, Fermi and Bose-Einstein statistics. Partition function and the laws of Thermodynamics. Disorder and entropy; concept of temperature; the free energy. Density of states. Classical gas, electrons in metals, and black body radiation. Heat capacities. Thermal properties of magnetic systems. Assessment: assignments, final exam, test, lab reports.

This is a calculus-based physics course with a laboratory component for students who are pursuing science and engineering degrees. This is the second of a two-course sequence. This intensive course introduces fundamental concepts of physics as a foundation for more advanced studies in physics and applications in other areas of science and engineering. This course covers fluids, waves, electrostatics, and circuits including fluid mechanics, damped and driven oscillators, mechanical & acoustic waves, electrostatics, electric field and potential, currents and DC circuits, capacitors and dielectrics. Competence in calculus as well as algebra, geometry, and trigonometry is essential. This course provides a solid understanding of main physics topics and introduces methods of experimental physics. 

This course offers a study of thermodynamics. Topics include: zeroth law; concept of temperature; first law-- internal energy and heat; second law-- entropy; thermodynamic potentials, stability, and equilibrium; open systems, phase changes, and critical points; third law.

This course examines modern astrophysics. It covers how stars shine, and follow their evolution from birth to violent death; the physics of our planetary system and strange new worlds around other stars; our own Galaxy across the electromagnetic spectrum revealing the evidence for dark matter and supermassive black holes; and other galaxy systems, and the origin and fate of the whole Universe.