COS 504: Simulations for Physical Systems
| Course Title | Simulations for Physical Systems | 
| Course Code | COS 504 | 
| Course Type | Elective | 
| Level | PhD | 
| Instructor’s Name | Assoc. Prof. Giannis Koutsou (Lead Instructor), Dr. Simone Bachhio Prof. Constantia Alexandrou | 
| ECTS | 5 | 
| Lectures / week | 2 (90 min. each) 4.5 weeks | 
| Laboratories / week | 2 (90 min. each) 2.5 weeks | 
| Course Purpose and Objectives | The course aims at teaching students to apply high-performance computing and data analysis approaches to solve complex physical systems. Students will learn to handle a range of applications from condensed matter and biophysics to particle and nuclear physics. | 
| Learning Outcomes | Students will: -  learn to describe and analyze non-linear systems and systems with many degrees of freedoms -  develop algorithms, optimize and implement them on large computers -  learn state-of-the-art simulations approaches such as Markov Chain Monte Carlo -  study phase transitions and critical behavior using simulations and deep learning approaches -  implement crowd simulation such as particle and agent based models for a range of self-organized dynamics of structures -  use a range of data analysis methods such as jackknife and bootstrap resampling, Bayesian statistical analysis, -  aquire a set of the High Performance Computing and data analysis skills and employ them for solving physical systems. These skills are applicable to a range of problems in chemistry, biology and engineering. | 
| Prerequisites | None | 
| Background Requirements | Knowledge of a low-level programming languages such as Fortran, C, C++ and parallel programing including MPI | 
| Course Content | Week 1-2 Numerical solution of partial differential equations, such as the wave, diffusion and Schrödinger’s equations Week 3 Introduction to minimization algorithms Week 4 Data analysis of correlated data sets, resampling and Bayesian approaches  Week 5-6 Phase transitions in physical systems, critical behaviour, identification using deep learning methods Week 7 Markov processes and Monte Carlo methods for many body systems | 
| Teaching Methodology | -  9 x 1.5 h lectures | 
| Bibliography | -  Course notes -  Monte Carlo Methods, Malvin H. Kalos and Paula A. Whitlock | 
| Assessment | The following assessment methods will be combined for the final grade: -  Coursework-  A final project | 
| Language | English | 











