Wiley: CUPS

CUPS
(Consortium for Upper Level Physics Software)

MARIA DWORZECKA, George Mason University
ROBERT EHRLICH, George Mason University
WILLIAM MACDONALD, University of Maryland

Description:

The Consortium for Upper-Level Physics Software (CUPS) has developed a comprehensive series of nine Book/Software packages that Wiley will publish between September, 1994 and June, 1995. CUPS is an international group of 27 physicists, all with extensive backgrounds in the research, teaching, and development of instructional software, that have been carefully developing this series over the last 3 years.
Each package is comprised of a paperback text and 1, 2, or 3 3.5" diskettes. All of the computer simulations have been provided in executable form and, although they can be run without reading the text, the text is necessary to achieve an understanding of the underlying physics and for exploring alternative ways to use the programs. The individual chapters and computer programs cover "mainstream" topics that are found in the standard textbooks for each course.

Features:

The simulations are extremely flexible, they can be used by everyone from the undergraduate physics major to a Ph.D physicist. They can provide an understanding of basic principles, yet are sophisticated enough for explorations of new ideas. They can also be used as a source for lecture demonstrations, or to create computer models for the testing of physics theories.
Each chapter of the text provides a large number of exercises which can be assigned as homework or serve as the basis for student projects.
The Pascal source code has been provided for all programs and a number of exercises suggest specific ways the programs can be modified; ranging in difficulty from the alteration of a single procedure to extensive additions for ambitious projects. The intent is to develop physical intuition and a deeper understanding of the physics, not computational skills.
The simulations are programs that include complex, often realistic, calculations of models of various physical systems, and the output is usually presented in the form of graphical (often animated) displays.
Many of the simulations can produce numerical output---sometimes in the form of output files that could be analyzed by other programs. The user generally may vary many parameters of the system, and interact with it in other ways to study its behavior in real time.
The simulations will complement the analytical work in each course in a manner that is mutually reinforcing. Considerable analytical work is necessary to modify the programs or to really understand the results of a simulation---an important use of the simulations is to suggest conjectures that may then be verified, modified, or falsified analytically.
All of the programs are written in Borland/Turbo Pascal for MS-DOS. Minimum hardware requirement is an IBM-compatible 386-level machine with mouse and VGA color monitor.

Astrophysics Simulations

(0-471-54879-0) Available October, 1994
Authors:
J.M. Anthony Danby, North Carolina State University
Richard Kouzes, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory
Charles Whitney, Harvard University
Astrophysics Simulations cover: Stellar Evolution, The Interior Model of a Star, Binary Stars, The Motion of n Bodies, Galactic Kinematics, Stellar Pulsations, and Stellar Atmospheres.

Classical Mechanics Simulations

(0-471-54881-2) Available December, 1994
Authors:
Bruce Hawkins, Smith College
Randall Jones, Loyola College
Classical Mechanics Simulations cover: The Motion Generator , Gravitational Orbits, Oscillators, Collisions (Coulomb, Nuclear, Hard Sphere, Soft Sphere), Coupled Oscillators (One and Two Dimensional), and Dynamics of Rigid Bodies.

Electricity and Magnetism Simulations

(0-471-54880-4) Available September, 1994
Authors:
Robert Ehrlich, George Mason University
Lyle Roelofs, Haverford College
Ronald Stoner, Bowling Green University
Jaroslaw Tuszynski, George Mason University
Electricity and Magnetism Simulations cover: Analysis of Vector and Scalar Fields, Gauss' Law, Poisson's Equation Solved on a Grid, Image Charges and the Multiple Expansion (Laplace's Equation), Atomic Polarization, Dielectric Materials, Fields From an Accelerated Charge (including a version with interactive animation!), Animated Electromagnetic Waves, and Magnetostatics.

Modern Physics Simulations

(0-4711-54882-0) Available June, 1995
Authors:
Douglas Brandt, Eastern Illinois University
John Hiller, University of Minnesota @Duluth
Michael Moloney, Rose Hulman Institute
Modern Physics Simulations cover: Historic Experiments in Electron Diffraction, Laser Cavities and Dynamics, Classical Scattering, Nuclear Properties and Decays, Special Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, and Hydrogen Atom and the h2⁺ Molecule.

Nuclear and Particle Physics Simulations

(0-471-54883-9) Available February, 1995.
Authors:
Roberta Bigelow, Willamette University
John Philpott, Florida State University
Joseph Rothberg, University of Washington
Nuclear and Particle Physics Simulations cover: Nuclear Energetics and Counting, Nuclear Shell Model, Interaction of Radiation with Matter, Electron-Nucleus Scattering, The Two-Nucleon Problem, Relativistic Kinematics, and Particle Detector Simulation.

Quantum Mechanics Simulations

(0-471-54884-7) Available November, 1994
Authors:
John Hiller, University of Minnesota @ Duluth
Ian Johnston, University of Sydney (Australia)
Daniel Styer, Oberlin College
Quantum Mechanics Simulations cover: Bound State Wave Functions in One and Three Dimensions, Stationary Scattering States in One and Three Dimensions, Electron States on a Lattice, Quantum Mechanical Time Development, Identical Particles, and Bound States in Cylindrically Symmetric Potentials.

Solid State Physics Simulations

(0-471-54885-5) Available June, 1995
Authors:
Graham Keeler, University of Salford (United Kingdom)
Roger Rollins, Ohio University
Steven Spicklemire, University of Indianapolis
Solid State Physics Simulations cover: Phonon Dispersion Curves, Density of States, and Specific Heat for 3-D Crystals; Wave functions on a Finite 1-D Lattice; Energy Bands, Gaps and Eigenstates in an Infinite 1-D Lattice; Motion of an Electron Wave Packet on a 1-D Lattice; Wavefunctions in the LCAO Approximation; and Building Your Own Solid State Devices.

Thermal and Statistical Physics Simulations

(0-471-54886-3) Available April, 1995
Authors:
Harvey Gould, Clark University
Lynna Spornick, Johns Hopkins University
Jan Tobochnik, Kalamazoo College
Thermal and Statistical Physics Simulations cover: Thermodynamic Engines, Concepts of Probability and Statistics, Thermodynamics of Fluids, The Ising Model, Quantum Ideal Gases, and Molecular Dynamics.

Waves and Optics Simulations

(0-471-54887-1) Available February, 1995
Authors:
G. Andrew Antonelli, Davidson College
Wolfgang Christian, Davidson College
Susan Fischer, Davidson College
Robin Giles, Brandon University (Canada)
Brian James, Salford University (United Kingdom)
Waves and Optics Simulations cover: Interference and Diffraction, Applications of Interference and Diffraction, Ray Tracing in Geometrical Optics, Fourier Analysis and Fourier Transforms, Waves on a One Dimensional Chain, Wave Equation and Other PDE's, and Electromagnetic Waves.

CUPS (Consortium for Upper Level Physics Software)