Computational Physics

Rubin H. Landau, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Physics at Oregon State University in Corvallis. He teaches courses in computational physics, helps direct the Northwest Alliance for Computational Science and Engineering, and has been using computers in theoretical physics research for the past 30 years. The author of more than 70 refereed publications, he has also authored the books Quantum Mechanics II, A Scientist's and Engineer's Guide to Workstations and Supercomputers, and the first edition of Computational Physics, all of them available from Wiley. Manuel J. Páez, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia. He teaches courses in computational physics, programming, and nuclear physics. He and Professor Landau have conducted pioneering computational investigations in the interactions of mesons and nucleons with nuclei. Cristian C. Bordeianu received his physics degree from Bucharest University, Romania, and his M.Sc. degree in Computer Science from "A.I.Cuza" University in Jassy, Romania. He is currently completing work towards a Ph.D. degree in Nuclear Physics at Bucharest University. He has over ten years of experience in developing Computational Physics educational software for high schools and University curricula. His current research interests include chaotic dynamics in nuclear multifragmentation and plasma of quarks and gluons.

- Computational Software Basics
- Errors and Uncertainties in Computations
- Object-Oriented Programming: Kinematics
- Integration
- Differentiation
- Trial & Error Searching
- Matrix Computing and N-D Newton Raphson
- Data Fitting
- Deterministic Randomness
- Monte Carlo Applications
- Thermodynamic Simulations: Ising Model
- Computer Hardware Basics: Memory and CPU
- High Performance Computing: Profiling and Tuning
- Differential Equation Applications
- Quantum Eigenvalues via ODE Matching
- Fourier Analysis of Linear and Nonlinear Signals
- Unusual Dynamics of Nonlinear Systems
- Differential Chaos in Phase Space
- Fractals
- Parallel Computing
- Parallel Computing with MPI
- Electrostatics Potentials via Finite Differences (PDEs)
- Heat Flow
- PDE Waves on Strings and Membranes
- Solitons; KdeV and Sine-Gordon
- Quantum Wave Packets
- Quantum Paths for Functional Integration
- Quantum Bound States via Integral Equations
- Quantum Scattering via Integral Equations

Appendices:
PtPlot: 2D Graphs within Java
Glossary
Fortran 95 Codes
Fortran 77 Codes
C Language Codes

"Landau and Paez s book would be an excellent choice for a course on computational physics which emphasizes computational methods and programming."
(American Journal of Physics)