8.511  Theory of Solids I

As announced earlier the mid-term exam is on Monday Nov 9 in class. It will include everything that was covered till the week ending Oct 30. Please feel free to bring your class notes to the exam. However textbooks or other material is not allowed. To give you time to prepare for the exam I am not posting a homework this week.

This is the first semester of a two semester graduate course on the physics of solids. Some prior exposure to solid state physics at the undergraduate level is assumed. The student is also expected to be comfortable with statistical mechanics. For a syllabus and a list of useful books, see   http://stellar.mit.edu/S/course/8/fa09/8.511/materials/syllabus.html?toolset=hidden. This website will contain information on course organization, schedule, etc, and will be updated regularly.

The grades for the course will be based on the assigned problem sets and one quiz that will be held in the middle of the term. There is no final exam. One problem set will be posted each week at this website and will be due the following week. The graded problem sets will be returned a week later. In general late problem sets will not be accepted. The TA for the course is Maissam Barkeshli. His contact information is available at this website.

The first class meeting is on Wednesday Sept 9 at 1 pm, and the first problem set will be posted the week of Sept 14.   

The homework will count for 75% of the final grade and the mid-term quiz for the remaining 25%. The quiz will be held on Monday Nov 9.