Course Requirements for Degree
Each student is required to demonstrate proficiency in a broad range of fields of physics by obtaining honor grades (B- or better) in at least eight half-courses: a minimum of four core courses and an additional four elective courses. (Note that courses cannot double-count.)
- Advanced Quantum Mechanics I [PHYS 251A] or an equivalent course:
- Quantum Field Theory I [PHYS 253A]
- Quantum Field Theory II [PHYS 253B]
- Modern Atomic and Optical Physics I [PHYS 285A]
- Modern Atomic and Optical Physics II [PHYS 285B]
- Introduction to Quantum Theory of Solids [PHYS 295A/AP 295A]
- Quantum Theory of Solids [PHYS 295B/AP 295B]
- Quantum Theory I [MIT 8.321]
- Relativistic Quantum Field Theory I [MIT 8.323]
- Relativistic Quantum Field Theory II [MIT 8.324]
- Advanced Quantum Mechanics II [PHYS 251B] or an equivalent course:
- Topics in the Physics of Quantum Information [PHYS 271; formerly PHYS 287]
- Introduction to Quantum Information Science I [PHYS 260A/QSE 210A]
- Introduction to Quantum Information Science II [PHYS 260B/QSE 210B]
- Quantum Theory II [MIT 8.322]
- Advanced Electromagnetism [PHYS 232] or an equivalent course:
- Foundations of Modern Optics [PHYS 217/AP 217]
- Modern Optics and Quantum Electronics [AP 216]
- Optics and Photonics [AP 273/ENG SCI 273]
- Radiative Processes in Astrophysics [ASTRO 200]
- Electromagnetic Theory I [MIT 8.311]
- Statistical Physics [PHYS 262] or an equivalent course:
- Statistical Thermodynamics [AP 284]
- Statistical Mechanics I [MIT 8.333]
- Laboratory Course Requirement (theoretical students only)
Adequate laboratory experience is a required part of the PhD program for all students who do not submit a thesis that demonstrates experimental proficiency. Students may satisfy this requirement in any one of the following ways:
- Laboratory Course in Contemporary Physics [PHYS 247R]
- Astrophysics Laboratory [ASTRO 191]
- Experimental Physics I [MIT 8.13]
- Experimental Physics II [MIT 8.14]
Four additional half-courses drawn from the following list, with at most two half-courses in any one field. Note: not all courses listed are given every year, and course offerings, numbers, and contents sometimes change. Students therefore should occasionally confer with their advisors or with the chair of the Committee on Higher Degrees about their programs of study. This list was last updated in January 2026.
Particle Physics, Field Theory, and String Theory:
- Mathematics of Modern Physics [PHYS 216]
- Particle Physics [PHYS 245]
- Phenomena of Elementary Particle Physics [PHYS 248]
- Quantum Field Theory I [PHYS 253A]
- Quantum Field Theory II [PHYS 253B]
- The Standard Model [PHYS 254/PHYS 283R]
- Lie Algebras in Particle Physics [PHYS 264]
- Topics in Experimental Particle Physics [PHYS 248R]
- Quantum Field Theory III [PHYS 253C/PHYS 253CR]
- Conformal Field Theory and the AdS/CFT Correspondence [PHYS 253CR]
- Axion Physics [PHYS 253DR]
- Spacetime and Quantum Mechanics [PHYS 283A]
- Beyond the Standard Model [PHYS 283B]
- Quantum Gravity [PHYS 283C]
- Introduction to String Theory [PHYS 287A]
- Topics in String Theory [PHYS 287BR]
- Conformal Field Theory [PHYS 287C]
- Topics in Mathematical Physics [PHYS 289R]
- Relativistic Quantum Field Theory I [MIT 8.323]
- Relativistic Quantum Field Theory II [MIT 8.324]
Condensed Matter Physics:
- Statistical Mechanics [PHYS 262/AP 284] – if Stat Mech core requirement is met
- Statistical Mechanics of Spin Glasses and Neural Networks [PHYS 265]
- Topics in Bose-Einstein Condensation and Superfluidity [PHYS 266]
- Special Topics in Quantum Matter [PHYS 268AR]
- Quantum Phases of Matter [PHYS 268R]
- Topics in Statistical Physics and Physical Biology [PHYS 269R]
- Mesoscopic Physics and Quantum Information Processing [PHYS 270]
- Strongly Correlated Systems [PHYS 284]
- Superconductivity and Superconducting Devices [PHYS 294]
- Introduction to Quantum Theory of Solics [PHYS 295A/AP 295A]
- Quantum Theory of Solics [PHYS 295B/AP 295B]
- Topics in Condensed Matter Physics [PHYS 298R]
- Electrical, Optical, and Magnetic Properties of Materials [AP 218]
- Introduction to Soft Matter [AP 225]
- Computational Design of Materials [AP 275]
- Solids: Structure and Defects [AP 282]
- Statistical Thermodynamics [AP 284]
- Kinetics of Condensed Phase Processes [AP 292]
- Superconductivity [AP 296R]
- Materials Chemistry and Physics: Seminar [AP 298R]
- Quantum Technology [ENG SCI 274]
- Introduction to Stochastic Dynamics [MIT 8.308}
- Mathematical Methods in Nanophotonics [MIT 8.315J]
- Statistical Mechanics II [MIT 8.334]
- Quantum Theory of Fields [MIT 8.361]
- Theory of Solids I [MIT 8.511]
- Theory of Solids II [MIT 8.512]
- Many-Body Theory (Condensed Matter) [MIT 8.513]
- Strongly Correlated Systems [MIT 8.514]
- Quantum Chemical Simulation [MIT CHEM 5.698]
Atomic, Molecular, and Optical (AMO) Physics:
- Foundations of Modern Optics [PHYS 217/AP 217]
- Quantum Molecular Physics and Chemistry [PHYS 243/CHEM 243/QSE 243]
- Advanced Quantum Mechanics I [PHYS 251A] – if QM I requirement is satisfied
- Advanced Quantum Mechanics II [PHYS 251B] – if QM II requirement is satisfied
- Introduction to Quantum Information I [PHYS 260A/QSE 210A]
- Introduction to Quantum Information II [PHYS 260B/QSE 210B]
- Topics in Experimental Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics [PHYS 265R]
- Physics of Quantum Information [PHYS 271; formerly PHYS 287]
- Modern Atomic and Optical Physics I [PHYS 285A/QSE 285A]
- Modern Atomic and Optical Physics II [PHYS 285B/QSE 285B]
- Modern Optics and Quantum Electronics [AP 216]
- Optics and Photonics [AP 273/ ENG SCI 273]
- Platforms for Quantum Science [AP 276]
- Quantum Theory I [MIT 8.321]
- Quantum Theory II [MIT 8.322]
- Atomic and Optical Physics I [MIT 8.421]
- Atomic and Optical Physics II [MIT 8.422]
- Advanced Atomic/Optical Physics [MIT 8.431J]
Relativity and Astrophysics:
- General Theory of Relativity [PHYS 210]
- General Relativity, Cosmology, and Other Topics [PHYS 211]
- Topics in Quantum Gravity [PHYS 211BR]
- Cosmology and Other Topics [PHYS 211CR]
- Black Holes [PHYS 211R]
- Cosmology [PHYS 212]
- Any course at the 200-level in Astronomy
- Astrophysics I [MIT 8.901]
- Astrophysics II [MIT 8.902]
- Cosmology [MIT 8.942]
- Particle Physics of Early Universe [MIT 8.952]
- General Relativity [MIT 8.962]
Mechanics, Electromagnetism, and Applied Mathematics:
- Data Analysis for the Physical Sciences [PHYS 201]
- Quantum Chaos and Localization [PHYS 218]
- Fluid Dynamics Across Scales [PHYS 220/ENG SCI 220]
- Active Matter [PHYS 230/APMTH 230]
- Advanced Electromagnetism [PHYS 232] – if EM core requirement is satisfied
- Special Topics in Electricity and Magnetism [PHYS 233]
- Information Theory for Physicists [PHYS 268AR]
- Quantum Learning Theory [PHYS 272/COMP SCI 2233]
- Inference, Information Theory, Learning and Statistical Mechanics [PHYS 286/AP 286]
- Deformation of Solids [AP 293]
- Data Science [AP COMP 209]
- Data Science 1: Introduction to Data Science [AP COMP 209A]
- Data Science 2: Advanced Topics in Data Science [AP COMP 209B]
- Extreme Computing [AP COMP 290]
- Physical Mathematics I [APMTH 201]
- Physical Mathematics II [APMTH 202]
- Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos [APMTH 203]
- Introduction to Disordered Systems and Stochastic Processes [APMTH 203]
- Practical Scientific Computing [APMTH 205]
- Advanced Scientific Computing: Stochastic Optimization Methods [APMTH 207]
- Elementary Functional Analysis [APMTH 210]
- Numerical Solution of Differential Equations [APMTH 212]
- Fundamentals of Biological Signal Processing [APMTH 215]
- Inverse Problems in Science and Engineering [APMTH 216]
- Stochastic Modeling [APMTH 222]
- Neural Computation [APMTH 226]
- Computing Foundations for Computational Science [COMP SCI 205]
- Introduction to Distributed Computing [COMP SCI 262]
- Advanced Machine Learning [COMP SCI 281]
- Computer Vision [COMPSCI 283]
- Advanced Computer Architecture [CS 246]
- Machine Learning for Natural Language [CS 287]
- Robust Machine Learning [CS 282R]
- Introductory and Intermediate Statistics for Educational Research: Applied Linear Regression [EDU S040]
- Topics in Biological Fluid Dynamics [ENG SCI 225]
- Solid Mechanics [ENG SCI 240]
- Advanced Elasticity [ENG SCI 241]
- Plasticity [ENG SCI 246]
- Fracture Mechanics [ENG SCI 247]
- Information Theory [ENG SCI 250]
- Biological and Artificial Intelligence [NEUROBIO 240]
- Statistical Inference I [STAT 211]
- Time Series [STAT 242]
- Linear and Generalized Linear Models [STAT 244]
- Classical Mechanics III [MIT 8.309]
- Electromagnetic Theory I [MIT 8.311]
- Data Science in Physics [MIT 8.316]
- Classical Mechanics: Computational [MIT 8.351J]
- Quantum Computation [MIT 8.370]
- Quantum Information Science [MIT 8.371]
- Quantum Computation [MIT 8.411]
- Plasma Physics I [MIT 8.613J]
- Plasma Physics II [MIT 8.614J]
- Principles of Plasma Diagnostics [MIT 8.670J]
- Advanced Topics in Artificial Intelligence [MIT EECS 6.882]
- Machine Learning [MIT EECS 6.867]
- Advanced Complexity Theory [MIT EECS 6.841]
- Quantum Computation [MIT MECENG 2.111]
- Parallel Computing and Scientific Machine Learning [MIT 18.337]
Laboratory Electronics, Fabrication, and Device Physics
- Laboratory Electronics [PHYS 123]
- Electronics for Scientists [PHYS 223]
- Laboratory Electronics - Analog Circuits [PHYS 223A]
- Laboratory Electronics - Digital Circuits [PHYS 223B]
- Mesoscale and Low Dimensional Devices [PHYS 296/AP 296/QSE 296]
- Electron Microscopy Laboratory [AP 291]
- Topics in Mixed-Signal Integrated Circuits [ENG SCI 271R]
- RF and High-Speed Integrated Circuits [ENG SCI 272]
- Introduction to Microelectromechnical Systems [ENG SCI 276]
- Microfabrication Laboratory [ENG SCI 277]
Biological and Medical Physics:
- Biological Dynamics [PHYS 215]
- Computational Neuroscience [PHYS 231]
- Quantitative Cell Biology [ENG SCI 212]
- Advanced Neural Signal Processing [ENG SCI 218]
- Introduction to Connection [MCB 206]
- Interesting Questions in Engineering and Physical Biology [MCB 294]
- Mechanical Basis of Protein Function [BIOPHYS 331]
- Physics-related courses at the 200-level in Biophysics or Biology
- Computational Neuroscience [MIT 8.261]
- Current Research in Biophysics [MIT 8.59]
- Biophysics [MIT 8.590J]
- Statistical Physics in Biology [MIT 8.592J]
- Systems Biology [MIT 8.591J]
Earth and Planetary Physics:
- Physics-related courses at the 200-level in Earth and Planetary Sciences
As a result of an exchange agreement between the universities, graduate students in physics at Harvard may also enroll in lecture courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate level courses taken at MIT not listed above must be submitted to the CHD for consideration by the end of the semester following completion of the course.
Additional information regarding the cross-registration process can be found at the FAS Registrar’s website, “Cross-Registration for Harvard College and Harvard Griffin GSAS Students”.
A student may use 200-level courses or fields not on this list with the approval of the Committee on Higher Degrees. In place of demonstrating proficiency by satisfactory course performance, a student may demonstrate proficiency by an oral examination, by submitting evidence of satisfactory work in appropriate courses taken at other institutions, or by other means deemed satisfactory by the Committee on Higher Degrees.
Courses taken prior to matriculation must be submitted for review by the CHD before the conclusion of a student’s G2 year. Courses taken while enrolled in the program must be submitted by the end of the semester following completion of the course.
Course petitions are subject to the academic policies and procedures outlined in the The Harvard Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Handbook as well as Physics Department internal policies and procedures.
For questions regarding course waivers, please contact Hannah Belcher (hbelcher@fas.harvard.edu).