" This course introduces the students to dynamics of large-scale circulations in oceans and atmospheres. Basic concepts include mass and momentum conservation, hydrostatic and geostrophic balance, and pressure and other vertical coordinates. It covers the topics of fundamental conservation and balance principles for large-scale flow, generation and dissipation of quasi-balanced eddies, as well as equilibrated quasi-balanced systems. Examples of oceanic and atmospheric quasi-balanced flows, computational models, and rotating tank experiments can be found in the accompaniment laboratory course 12.804, Large-scale Flow Dynamics Lab."

Laboratory or field work in earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences. To be arranged with department faculty. Consult with department Education Office. This course introduces fundamentals of radon physics, geology, radiation biology; provides hands on experience of measurement of radon in MIT environments, and discusses current radon research in the fields of geology, environment, building and construction, medicine and health physics.

Discrete and continuum modeling of diffusion processes in physics, chemistry, and economics. Topics include central limit theorems, continuous-time random walks, Levy flights, correlations, extreme events, mixing, renormalization, and percolation.

"2010 marks the 400th anniversary of Galileo's astonishing sightings of features on the moon, stars, and moons around Jupiter that no one had seen before. Recreate these new ways of seeing and exploring from the materials and techniques Galileo had on hand, while you reflect on the times and works of Galileo. What was it like to improvise new ways of seeing and exploring from the materials and techniques on hand? What do we notice? What surprises us? How can we relate to past experience and ideas? What are we curious to research? How does our experimenting grow into our learning? Let your own curiosity drive your explorations."

A three-semester subject sequence on quantum field theory stressing the relativistic quantum field theories relevant to the physics of the Standard Model. 8.323 is a one-semester self-contained subject in quantum field theory. Concepts and basic techniques are developed through applications in elementary particle physics and condensed matter physics. Includes the basic tools of field theory required for phenomenological studies. Topics: Functional integral formulation of quantum mechanics and many-particle systems. Classical field theory, symmetries, and Noether's theorem. Quantization of scalar fields. Feynman graphs, analytic properties of amplitudes and unitarity of the S-matrix. Renormalization and renormalization group. Spinors and the Dirac equation. Quantization of Dirac fields. Supersymmetry. Quantization of abelian gauge fields. Calculations in quantum electrodynamics. Classical Yang-Mills fields. The Higgs phenomenon and a description of the Standard Model. 8.324 is the second term of the quantum field theory sequence. Develops in depth some of the topics discussed in 8.323 and introduces some advanced material. Topics: Quantization of nonabelian gauge theories. BRST symmetry. Perturbation theory anomalies. Renormalization and symmetry breaking. The renormalization group. Critical exponents and scalar field theory. Conformal field theory. 8.325 is the third and last term of the quantum field theory sequence. Its aim is the proper theoretical discussion of the physic

" 8.323, Relativistic Quantum Field Theory I, is a one-term self-contained subject in quantum field theory. Concepts and basic techniques are developed through applications in elementary particle physics, and condensed matter physics. "

Normally taken by physics majors in their sophomore year. Einstein's postulates; consequences for simultaneity, time dilation, length contraction, clock synchronization; Lorentz transformation; relativistic effects and paradoxes; Minkowski diagrams; invariants and four-vectors; momentum, energy and mass; particle collisions. Relativity and electricity; Coulomb's law; magnetic fields. Brief introduction to Newtonian cosmology. Introduction to some concepts of General Relativity; principle of equivalence. The Schwarzchild metric; gravitational red shift, particle and light trajectories, geodesics, Shapiro delay. This course, which concentrates on special relativity, is normally taken by physics majors in their sophomore year. Topics include Einstein's postulates, the Lorentz transformation, relativistic effects and paradoxes, and applications involving electromagnetism and particle physics. This course also provides a brief introduction to some concepts of general relativity, including the principle of equivalence, the Schwartzschild metric and black holes, and the FRW metric and cosmology.

This is a set of lecture notes for my course Relativity for Poets at Fullerton College. It's a nonmathematical presentation of Einstein's theories of special and general relativity, including a brief treatment of cosmology.

Examines the intellectual foundations of the new discipline of deep sea archaeology, a convergence of oceanography, archaeology, and engineering. How best are robots and submarines employed for archaeological work? How do new technologies change operations plans, research designs, and archaeological questions? Covers oceanography, history and technology of underwater vehicles, search strategies, technology development, archaeological technique, sociology of scientific knowledge. Case studies of deep-sea projects include the wrecks of the Titanic and Monitor, Roman trading vessels in the Mediterranean, and deep research in the Black Sea.

This course will thoroughly educate the successful student with the knowledge and skills necessary to be a certified beginning SCUBA diver. The prerequisite for the course is passing the MIT SCUBA swim test and demonstrating a "comfort level" in the water. At the end of the class, students will attempt to pass the certification exam to become certified divers. The class is taught in two parts each week: a classroom session and a pool session. The classroom sessions along with the reading material will provide the student with the knowledge necessary to pass the written exam. At the pool, the water skills are taught in progressions that build on the previous skills, making the difficult skills seem easy.

The purpose of this class is to tell you something about our Tech Dinghy and how to sail it. This OCW site is arranged as a series of skills, explained both with lecture notes and videos. Please do not think of these skill checks as tests, but instead, as measures of your understanding of our sport. We don‰ŰŞt expect perfection from our beginners, but only that our members be able to safely handle the boats and themselves on the Charles. For those who wish it, there will be much more that can be learned about other boats and other waters, but what can be learned here will provide the basis to build on. For more detail, a text on sailing the Tech Dinghy is provided in the readings section.

Global Satellite Navigation Systems (GNSS), such as GPS, have revolutionized positioning and navigation. Currently, four such systems are operational or under development. They are the American GPS, the Russian Glonass, the European Galileo, and the Chinese Beidou-Compass. This course will address: (1) the technical principles of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), (2) the methods to improve the accuracy of standard positioning services down to the millimeter accuracy level and the integrity of the systems, and (3) the various applications for positioning, navigation, geomatics, earth sciences, atmospheric research and space missions. The course will first address the space segment, user and control segment, signal structure, satellite and receiver clocks, timing, computation of satellite positions, broadcast and precise ephemeris. It will also cover propagation error sources such as atmospheric effects and multipath. The second part of the course covers autonomous positioning for car navigation, aviation, and location based services (LBS). This part includes the integrity of GNSS systems provided for instance by Space Based Augmentation Systems (e.g. WAAS, EGNOS) and Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM). It will also cover parameter estimation in dynamic systems: recursive least-squares estimation, Kalman filter (time update, measurement update), innovation, linearization and Extended Kalman filter. The third part of the course covers precise relative GPS positioning with two or more receivers, static and kinematic, for high-precision applications. Permanent GPS networks and the International GNSS Service (IGS) will be discussed as well. In the last part of the course there will be two tracks (students only need to do one): (1) geomatics track: RTK services, LBS, surveying and mapping, civil engineering applications (2) space track: space based GNSS for navigation, control and guidance of space missions, formation flying, attitude determination The final lecture will be on (scientific) applications of GNSS.

This is a laboratory manual used to support a college-level general science course covering sound, audio and acoustics. Lab exercises include the speed of sound, harmonic motion, tensioned strings, resonant pipes, etc.

Survey of the important aspects of modern sediments and ancient sedimentary rocks. Emphasis is on fundamental materials, features, and processes. Textures of siliciclastic sediments and sedimentary rocks: particle size, particle shape, and particle packing. Mechanics of sediment transport. Survey of siliciclastic sedimentary rocks: sandstones, conglomerates, and shales. Carbonate sediments and sedimentary rocks; cherts; evaporites. Siliciclastic and carbonate diagenesis. Paleontology, with special reference to fossils in sedimentary rocks. Modern and ancient depositional environments. Stratigraphy. Sedimentary basins. Fossil fuels: coal, petroleum.

This course is an introduction to branes in string theory and their world volume dynamics. Instead of looking at the theory from the point of view of the world-sheet observer, we will approach the problem from the point of view of an observer which lives on a brane. Instead of writing down conformal field theory on the worldsheet and studying the properties of these theories, we will look at various branes in string theory and ask how the physics on their world-volume looks like.

Lectures and discussion introducing the range of topics relevant to plasma physics and fusion engineering. Introductory discussion of the economic and ecological motivation for the development of fusion power. Contemporary magnetic confinement schemes, theoretical questions, and engineering considerations are presented by expert guest lecturers. Tour of Plasma Science and Fusion Center experimental facilities.

Required for all Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences majors in the Environmental Science track, this course is an introduction to current research in the field. Stresses integration of central scientific concepts in environmental policy making and the chemistry, biology, and geology environmental science tracks. Revisits selected core themes for students who have already acquired a basic understanding of environmental science concepts. The topic for this term is geoengineering.

The main objective of this cross disciplinary course is to understand the historical development and the current status of ideas and models, to present and question the constraints from the different research fields, and to investigate if and how the different views on mantle flow can be reconciled with the currently available data.

"This course provides an introduction to important philosophical questions about the mind, specifically those that are intimately connected with contemporary psychology and neuroscience. Are our concepts innate, or are they acquired by experience? (And what does it even mean to call a concept 'innate'?) Are 'mental images' pictures in the head? Is color in the mind or in the world? Is the mind nothing more than the brain? Can there be a science of consciousness? The course will include guest lectures by Professors."

This course covers the fundamentals of signal and system analysis, focusing on representations of discrete-time and continuous-time signals (singularity functions, complex exponentials and geometrics, Fourier representations, Laplace and Z transforms, sampling) and representations of linear, time-invariant systems (difference and differential equations, block diagrams, system functions, poles and zeros, convolution, impulse and step responses, frequency responses). Applications are drawn broadly from engineering and physics, including feedback and control, communications, and signal processing.