Tentative 2026-2027 Offerings
Click here to access the 2025-26 Offerings.
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Click the course number to see the descriptions and prerequisites. Click here for upcoming potential changes to course prerequisites (aka Pilot Prereqs).
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Service courses are most commonly courses applied to other majors and/or to GEs (check your degree audit to see if the course applies).
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STAFF = course will be offered; instructor not yet assigned. Please check the Online Schedule for updates, which may occur up to the first day of class.
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Typical Course Frequency and Term(s) (for long-term planning).
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See Special Studies Enrollment Instructions: Undergraduate / Graduate
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Summer Offerings: usually PHYS 1ABC with Labs, PHYS 2ABC, 2BL, 2CL, 2D. No upper-division or graduate physics in summer.
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All courses are offered in person unless noted.
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Upcoming schedules are usually published in March or April.
| Course | Title | Types / Areas | Units | FA26 | W27 | SP27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1A | Mechanics | Service | 3 | Groisman (001), Bal (002 | Oh | Arlett |
| 1AL | Mechanics Laboratory | Service | 2 | Bal (Primary), Yang (Secondary) | Arlett (Primary), Tsai (Secondary) | Shotwell (Primary), Ni (Secondary) |
| 1B | Electricity and Magnetism | Service | 3 | STAFF | Smith (001, 002, 003) | Tsai |
| 1BL | Electricity & Magnetism Lab | Service | 2 | Bal (Primary), Yang (Secondary) | Arlett (Primary), Tsai (Secondary) | Shotwell (Primary), Ni (Secondary) |
| 1C | Waves, Optics, and Modern Physics | Service | 3 | Popmintchev | Popmintchev | Popmintchev (001), Bal (002), You (003) |
| 1CL | Waves,Optics&Modrn Phys Lab | Service | 2 | Bal (Primary), Yang (Secondary) | Arlett (Primary), Tsai (Secondary) | Shotwell (Primary), Ni (Secondary) |
| 2A | Physics—Mechanics | Service | 4 | Dudko | Meyertholen (001, 002, 003) | Bal |
| 2B | Physics—Electricity and Magnetism | Service | 4 | Barreiro | Arlett | Meyertholen (001), Barreiro (002, 003) |
| 2BL | Physics Laboratory—Mechanics | Service | 2 | Not offered | Not offered | Butov |
| 2C | Physics—Fluids, Waves, Thermodynamics, and Optics | Service | 4 | Tan (001), STAFF (002) | You | Jun |
| 2CL | Physics Laboratory—Electricity and Magnetism | Core, Service | 2 | Arlett | Ni | Yang |
| 2D | Physics—Relativity and Quantum Physics | Service | 4 | Di Ventra | Hirsch | Sharma |
| 2DL | Physics Laboratory—Modern Physics | Core, Service | 2 | Butov | Not offered | Not offered |
| 4A | Physics for Physics Majors–Mechanics | Core | 4 | Not offered | Dudko | Not offered |
| 4B | Physics for Physics Majors—Fluids, Waves, Statistical and Thermal Physics | Core | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Hirsch |
| 4C | Physics for Physics Majors—Electricity and Magnetism | Core | 4 | Shotwell | Not offered | Not offered |
| 4D | Physics for Physics Majors—Electromagnetic Waves, Special Relativity and Optics | Core | 4 | Not offered | Frano | Not offered |
| 4E | Physics for Physics Majors—Quantum Physics | Core | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Meyertholen |
| 8 | Physics of Everyday Life | Service | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 10 | Concepts in Physics | Service | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 11 | Survey of Physics | Service | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Duarte |
| 12 | Energy and the Environment | Climate, Service | 4 | Sharma | Not offered | Not offered |
| 30 | Poetry for Physicists | Service | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 39 | Physics Introductory Special Topics (see details) | Varies | 1-5 | Arlett | Not offered | Not offered |
| 39L | Physics Introductory Special Topics Lab (see details) | Varies | 1-5 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 41 | Scientific Computing with Python | Core | 4 | Not offered | Li | Not offered |
| 87 | First-year Seminar (see details) | Service | 1 | Not offered | Grinstein | Not offered |
| 98 | Directed Group Study | Special Studies | 2 | Varies | Varies | Varies |
| 99 | Independent Study | Special Studies | 2 | Varies | Varies | Varies |
| 100A | Electromagnetism I | Core | 4 | Shotwell | Not offered | Not offered |
| 100B | Electromagnetism II | Core | 4 | Not offered | Lin | Not offered |
| 100C | Electromagnetism III | Core | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Shotwell |
| 105A | Mathematical and Computational Physics I | Core | 4 | Not offered | Duarte | Not offered |
| 105B | Mathematical and Computational Physics II | Core | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Tan |
| 110A | Mechanics I | Core | 4 | Keres | Not offered | Not offered |
| 110B | Mechanics II | Core | 4 | Not offered | Shotwell | Not offered |
| 113 | Quantum Information is Physical | Other | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | McGreevy |
| 116 | Fluid Dynamics for Physicists | Other | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 120 | Circuits and Electronics | Core | 5 | Not offered | Not offered | Yang |
| 122 | Experimental Techniques | Lab | 4 | Ni | Not offered | Not offered |
| 124 | Laboratory Projects | Lab | 4 | Not offered | Allen | Not offered |
| 130A | Quantum Physics I | Core | 4 | Not offered | Parker | Lin |
| 130B | Quantum Physics II | Core | 4 | Green | Not offered | Keating |
| 130C | Quantum Physics III | Core | 4 | Not offered | Grinstein | Not offered |
| 133 | Condensed Matter/Materials Science Laboratory | Materials Lab / CM | 4 | Allen | Not offered | Not offered |
| 136 | Nuclear Physics | Other | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Grinstein |
| 137 | String Theory | Other | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 139 | Physics Special Topics (see details) | Varies | 4 | Hirsch | Di Ventra & Schuller (001) | Not offered |
| 140A | Statistical and Thermal Physics I | Core | 4 | Serra | Not offered | Koslover |
| 140B | Statistical and Thermal Physics II | Core | 4 | Not offered | Green | Not offered |
| 141 | Computational Physics I: Probabilistic Models and Simulations | Computational | 4 | Not offered | Zhao | Not offered |
| 142 | Computational Physics II: PDE and Matrix Models | Computational | 4 | Duarte | Not offered | Not offered |
| 151 | Elementary Plasma Physics | Other | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 152A | Condensed Matter Physics | Materials | 4 | Not offered | Butov | Not offered |
| 152B | Electronic Materials | Materials | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Frano |
| 154 | Elementary Particle Physics | Other | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 160 | Stars and Compact Objects | Astrophysics | 4 | Not offered | Fuller | Not offered |
| 161 | Black Holes | Astrophysics | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Fuller |
| 162 | Modern Cosmology | Astrophysics | 4 | Keating | Not offered | Not offered |
| 170 | Medical Instruments: Principles and Practice | Biophysics | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 173 | Modern Physics Laboratory: Biological and Quantum Physics | Biophysics Lab | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 175 | Biological Physics | Biophysics | 4 | Koslover | Not offered | Not offered |
| 176 | Quantitative Microbiology | Biophysics | 4 | Not offered | Jun | Not offered |
| 177 | Physics of the Cell | Biophysics | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Dudko |
| 178 | Biophysics of Neurons and Networks | Biophysics | 4 | Not offered | Kleinfeld | Not offered |
| 191 | Undergraduate Seminar on Physics | Other | 1 | You | Not offered | Not offered |
| 192 | Senior Seminar in Physics (see details) | Other | 1 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 198 | Directed Group Study | Special Studies | 2 or 4 | Varies | Varies | Varies |
| 199 | Research for Undergraduates | Special Studies | 2 or 4 | Varies | Varies | Varies |
| 199H | Honors Thesis Rsrch/Undergrads | Special Studies | 2-4 | Varies | Varies | Varies |
| 200A | Theoretical Mechanics I | Core | 4 | Diamond | Not offered | Not offered |
| 200B | Dynamics: Deterministic, Stochastic, Statistical | General, Group 7 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 201 | Mathematical Methods for Physics | Core | 5 | Vergassola | Not offered | Not offered |
| 202 | Estimation and Scaling in Physics | General, Group 7 | 4 | Vergassola | Not offered | Not offered |
| 203A | Advanced Classical Electrodynamics I | Core | 5 | Not offered | Fogler | Not offered |
| 203B | Advanced Classical Electrodynamics II | Core | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Fogler |
| 210A | Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics | Core | 5 | Not offered | Not offered | Goldenfeld |
| 210B | Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics | Mathematics, Group 4 | 4 | Arovas | Not offered | Not offered |
| 211A | Solid-State Physics I | CM, Group 2 | 5 | Parker | Not offered | Not offered |
| 211B | Solid-State Physics II | CM, Group 2 | 4 | Not offered | Grover | Not offered |
| 212A | Quantum Mechanics I | Core | 4 | Fogler | Not offered | Not offered |
| 212B | Quantum Mechanics II | Core | 4 | Not offered | Fuller | Not offered |
| 212C | Quantum Mechanics III | General, Group 7 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Grover |
| 213 | Quantum Information is Physical | General, Group 7 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | McGreevy |
| 214 | Physics of Elementary Particles | HE, Group 3 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 215A | Quantum Fields I | HE, Group 3 | 4 | McGreevy | Not offered | Not offered |
| 215B | Quantum Fields II | HE, Group 3 | 4 | Not offered | McGreevy | Not offered |
| 215C | Quantum Fields III | HE, Group 3 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Intriligator |
| 215D | Selected Topics in Quantum Fields | HE, Group 3 | 4 | Intriligator | Not offered | Not offered |
| 216 | Fluid Dynamics for Physicists | General, Group 7 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 217 | Field Theory and the Renormalization Group | General, Group 7 | 4 | Grover | Not offered | Not offered |
| 218A | Plasma Physics I | Plasma, Group 1 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 218B | Plasma Physics II | Plasma, Group 1 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 218C | Plasma Physics III | Plasma, Group 1 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 219 | Condensed Matter/MATL Sci. Lab | CM, Group 2 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 220 | Group Theoretical Methods in Physics | General, Group 7 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 221A | Nonlinear and Nonequilibrium Dynamics of Physical Systems | Mathematics, Group 4 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 222A | Experimental Methods for Particle Physics | HE, Group 3 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 225A | General Relativity | General, Group 7 | 4 | Flauger | Not offered | Not offered |
| 225B | General Relativity | General, Group 7 | 4 | Not offered | Intriligator | Not offered |
| 225C | General Relativity | General, Group 7 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 227 | Cosmology | Astrophysics, Group 6 | 4 | Not offered | Flauger | Not offered |
| 228 | High-Energy Astrophysics and Compact Objects | Astrophysics, Group 6 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Flauger |
| 230 | Advanced Solid-State Physics | CM, Group 2 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 232 | Electronic Materials | CM, Group 2 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered | |
| 233 | Collider Physics | HE, Group 3 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 235 | Nonlinear Plasma Theory | Plasma, Group 1 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 237 | Introduction to the Standard Model and Beyond | HE, Group 3 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 239 | Physics Special Topics (see details) | Varies | 4 | Not offered | Di Ventra & Schuller (001), Goldenfeld (002) | Not offered |
| 241 | Computational Physics I: Probabilistic Models and Simulations | Computational, Group 8 | 4 | Not offered | Zhao | Not offered |
| 242 | Computational Physics II: PDE and Matrix Models | Computational, Group 8 | 4 | Duarte | Not offered | Not offered |
| 243 | Stochastic Methods | Mathematical, Group 4 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 244 | Parallel Computing in Science and Engineering | Computational, Group 8 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 250 | Condensed Matter Physics Seminar | CM | 0-1 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 251 | High-Energy Physics Seminar | HE | 0-1 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 252 | Plasma Physics Seminar | Plasma | 0-1 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 253 | Astrophysics and Space Physics Seminar | Astrophysics | 0-1 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 254 | Biophysics Seminar | Biophysics | 1 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 255 | Biophysics Research Talks | Biophysics | 1 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 257 | High-Energy Physics Special Topics Seminar | HE | 0-1 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 258 | Astrophysics and Space Physics Special Topics Seminar | Astrophysics | 0-1 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 259A | Methods in Quantitative Biology | Biophysics | 2 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 259B | Concepts and Methods in Quantitative Physiology | Biophysics | 2 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 260 | Physics Colloquium | General | 0-1 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 261 | Seminar on Physics Research at UC San Diego | General | 0-1 | Not offered | You | Not offered |
| 264 | Scientific Method Seminar | General | 1 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 270A | Experimental Techniques for Quantitative Biology | Biophysics, Group 5 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 270B | Quantitative Biology Laboratory | Biophysics, Group 5 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 273 | Information Theory and Pattern Formation in Biological Systems | Biophysics, Group 5 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 274 | Stochastic Processes in Population Genetics | Biophysics, Group 5 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 275 | Biological Physics | Biophysics, Group 5 | 4 | Koslover | Not offered | Not offered |
| 276 | Quantitative Microbiology | Biophysics, Group 5 | 4 | Not offered | Jun | Not offered |
| 277 | Physics of the Cell | Biophysics, Group 5 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Dudko |
| 278 | Biophysics of Neurons and Networks | Biophysics, Group 5 | 4 | Not offered | Kleinfeld | Not offered |
| 279 | Neurodynamics | Biophysics, Group 5 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 281 | Extensions in Physics | General | 1-3 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 282 | Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Biological Systems | Biophysics, Group 5 | 4 | Not offered | Not offered | Hwa |
| 295 | M.S. Thesis Research/Mats Phys | Special Studies | 1-12 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 297 | Special Studies in Physics | Special Studies (See here for enrollment instructions) |
1-4 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 298 | Directed Study in Physics | Special Studies (See here for enrollment instructions) |
1-12 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 299 | Thesis Research in Physics | Special Studies (See here for enrollment instructions) |
1-12 | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
| 500 | Instruction in Physics Teaching | Other | 1-4 | Meyertholen (Primary), Arlett (Secondary) | Not offered | Not offered |
| Course | Title | Type / Area(s) | Units | Fall 2026 | Winter 2027 | Spring 2027 |