For a more comprehensive list of all courses offered at Princeton University, go to the Office of the Registrar and check out Course Offerings for classes offered.
Please note that the following list includes all Astrophysics graduate courses. The designated Plasma Physics courses are course numbers AST 551 and above.
Fall Courses
This class covers topics of asymptotic methods and their applications. These include dominant balance, approximate solutions of differential equations, Frobenius expansions and divergent asymptotic expansions depending on type of singularities, complex integral representations & asymptotic integral evaluations through steepest descent path, saddle points, Stokes phenomena in analytic continuation, using the examples of special functions such as Airy, Gamma, Bessel, Parabolic Cylinder, Riemann-Zeta functions. This leads us to discuss WKB theory and applications to physics problems such as bound eigenstates and wave transmissions.
An introductory course to plasma physics, with sample applications in fusion, space and astrophysics, semiconductor etching, microwave generation, plasma propulsion, high power laser propagation in plasma; characterization of the plasma state, Debye shielding, plasma and cyclotron frequencies, collision rates and mean-free paths, atomic processes, adiabatic invariance, orbit theory, magnetic confinement of single-charged particles, two-fluid description, magnetohydrodynamic waves and instabilities, heat flow, diffusion, kinetic description, and Landau damping. The course may be taken by undergraduates with permission of the instructor.
Hydrodynamic and kinetic models of nonmagnetized and magnetized plasma dispersion; basic plasma waves and their applications; basic instabilities; mechanisms of collisionless dissipation; geometrical-optics approximation; conservation laws and transport equations for the wave action, energy, and momentum; mode conversion; quasilinear theory.
Advances in experimental and theoretical studies or laboratory and naturally-occurring high-termperature plasmas, including stability and transport, nonlinear dynamics and turbulence, magnetic reconnection, selfheating of "burning" plasmas, and innovative concepts for advanced fusion systems. Advances in plasma applications, including laser-plasma interactions, nonneutral plasmas, high-intensity accelerators, plasma propulsion, plasma processing, and coherent electromagnetic wave generation.
A comprehensive introduction to the theory of nonlinear phenomena in fluids and plasmas, with emphasis on turbulence and transport. Experimental phenomenology; fundamental equations, including Navier-Stokes, Vlasov, and gyrokinetic; numerical simulation techniques, including pseudo-spectral and particle-in-cell methods; coherent structures; transition to turbulence; statistical closures, including the wave kinetic equation and direct-interaction approximation; PDF methods and intermittency; variational techniques. Applications from neutral fluids, fusion plasmas, and astrophysics.