Short-Course on Symmetry and Crystallography, June 2011

Organisation

Time: Monday 2:00-3:30pm and Wednesday 2:00-3:30pm
Dates: June 6, 8, 13, 15, 20, 22, 27, 29
Room: 2233 GG Brown

If you have an example from your work (cluster/crystal/pattern/arrangement/etc.) that has an interesting structure/symmetry/order and that you want to be analyzed in the discussion sections (we can do so together), then please let me know.

Lecture notes

Lecture 1: Introduction (June 6)
Lecture 1-2: Point symmetry (June 8)
Lecture 3-4: Lattices, tilings (June 19)
Lecture 5-6: Wallpaper groups and space groups (June 22)
Lecture 7-8: Fourier transform and diffraction patterns (June 29)

Readings/Books

The understanding of symmetry is not possible without at least some mathematics, in particular group theory. I do not assume that you have deep prior mathematical knowledge, but due to a (partial) focus on examples and applications, the time on theory will be limited. As a preparation of each session it will therefore be required that you make yourself comfortable with background information.

Week 1: Sands, Chapter 2
Week 2: Sands, Chapter 1&3
Week 3: Sands, Chapter 4&7
Week 4: Sands, Chapter 5

Here is the literature used for preparing the short-course. The books are available at my desk in GGB 3440.

Sands: Introduction to crystallography (Dover Classics)
Massa: Crystal structure determination (Springer)
Weyl: Symmetry (Princeton, a classic and bedtime read)
Alperin&Bell: Groups and representations (Springer, a mathematics textbook)

Links/Online Resources

Dr. Michael Engel
Email: engelmm@umich.edu