PHY312 Mathematical Methods of Physics I
General Information
| Lecturer: | Prof. Peter Stoffer (Y15 H82D and PSI) |
| Assistants: |
Eirini Lymperiadou (Y15 H82 and PSI) Yizhou Fang (PSI) Giovanbattista Favorito (Y36 K36) Giovanni Ferro (Y36 K44) |
| Lectures: |
Tuesday, 13:00 - 14:45 (Y03 G91) |
| Exercises: |
Friday, 08:00 - 09:45 (Y35 F32 and Y36 K08) |
Announcements
The course will start with the first lecture on Tue, 15.09.2026, at 13:00.
The lectures will be held in German while the script, exercise sheets, and exercise classes are in English.
The 3-hour written exam will take place in week 2 of 2027 (11-15 January).
You are required to obtain 50% of all points of the four in-person exercises to pass the module. However, the exercises are not considered for the determination of your grade.
Lecture notes
We rely on the lectures notes from previous years by Prof. Signer (with minor adaptations). The lecture notes will be updated weekly on this page.
Lecture details
| Dates | Topics covered | Lecture notes |
|---|---|---|
| 15.09. / 17.09. | Complex numbers/functions, analyticity | Sects. 1.1 / 1.2 |
| 22.09. / 24.09. | Contour integrals, Cauchy's theorem | Sects. 1.3 / 1.4 |
| 29.09. / 01.10. | Taylor/Laurent series, residue theorem | Sects. 1.5 / 1.6 |
| 06.10. / 08.10. | Analytic continuation, dispersion relations | Sect. 1.7 |
| 13.10. / 15.10. | Distributions | |
| 20.10. / 22.10. | Distributions / Fourier series | |
| 27.10. / 29.10. | Fourier series and Fourier transforms | |
| 03.11. / 05.11. | Fourier series and Fourier transforms | |
| 10.11. / 12.11. | ODEs | |
| 17.11. / 19.11. | ODEs | |
| 24.11. / 26.11. | ODEs | |
| 01.12. / 03.12. | PDEs | |
| 08.12. / 10.12. | PDEs | |
| 15.12. / 17.12. | PDEs |
Exercises
Exercise classes start in the first week on Fri, 18.09.2026.
Exercises will be published on the webpage by Wednesday. The series 3 (02.10.), 6 (23.10.), 9 (13.11.), and 12 (04.12.) will have to be solved during the exercise class and handed in at the end of the class. You are welcome to discuss with your peers and ask the assistants for help also during these exercise classes.
You need to obtain (on average) 50% of the points of these in-person exercises over the full course.
| Exercise sheet | Discussed first on | Completed on |
|---|---|---|
| Sheet 1 | 18.09.2026 | 25.09.2026 |
| Sheet 2 | 25.09.2026 | 02.10.2026 |
| Sheet 3 | 02.10.2026 | in-person exercise |
| Sheet 4 | 09.10.2026 | 16.10.2026 |
| Sheet 5 | 16.10.2026 | 23.10.2026 |
| Sheet 6 | 23.10.2026 | in-person exercise |
| Sheet 7 | 30.10.2026 | 06.11.2026 |
| Sheet 8 | 06.11.2026 | 13.11.2026 |
| Sheet 9 | 13.11.2026 | in-person exercise |
| Sheet 10 | 20.11.2026 | 27.11.2026 |
| Sheet 11 | 27.11.2026 | 04.12.2026 |
| Sheet 12 | 04.12.2026 | in-person exercise |
| Sheet 13 | 11.12.2026 | 18.12.2026 |
| Sheet 14 | 18.12.2026 | --- |
Bibliography
- K.F. Riley, M.P. Hobson, S.J. Bence, Mathematical Methods for Physics and Engeneering, Cambridge University Press
- G.B. Arfken and H.J. Weber, Mathematical Methods for Physicists, Academic Press, Inc. 1995
- S. Hassani, Mathematical Physics, A Modern Introduction to its Foundations, Springer
- H. Cartan, Elementare Theorien der Analytischen Funktionen einer oder mehreren Komplexen Veränderlichen, BI Hochschultaschenbücher Band 112, 1966
- S. Lang, Complex Analysis, Springer Verlag 1993
- L. V. Ahlfors, Complex Analysis 2nd ed. 1966
Exam
The MMP1 exam will take place in week 2 of 2027 (11-15 January).