Physics

This page documents my deep-dive into the subject of physics. I've always had a strong curiosity for physics, but never took a dive into the deep end on my own. This page contains a rough outline of my plan for study.

Most of the material on this page has been incorporated from "So You Want To Learn Physics..." by Susan J. Fowler, with modifications over time.

Popular books

• Feynman Lectures on Physics (Boxed Set) by Feynman
• The Character of Physical Law by Feynman
• Deep Down Things: The Breathtaking Beauty of Particle Physics by Schumm
• The Particle Odyssey by Close
• The First Three Minutes by Weinberg

Undergraduate Physics

• Introductory Mechanics (the basics of motion in a straight line, motion in two dimensions, motion in three dimensions, Newton's Laws, work, kinetic energy, potential energy, the conservation of energy, momentum, collisions, rotation and rotational motion, gravitation, and periodic motion)
  • Physics for Scientists and Engineers by Serway
• Electrostatics (electric charges and electric fields, magnetism and magnetic fields, Gauss's Law, capacitance, resistance and conductance, inductance, current, and how circuits work)
  • Physics for Scientists and Engineers by Serway
• Waves and Vibrations (simple harmonic oscillators, damped harmonic oscillators, forced oscillations, coupled oscillators, waves, interference, diffraction, and dispersion)
  • Vibrations and Waves by French
  • Vibrations and Waves by King
  • Advanced Engineering Mathematics by Zill
• Modern Physics (thermodynamics, relativity, quantum mechanics, atomic physics, nuclear physics, particle physics, and cosmology)
  • Physics for Scientists and Engineers by Serway
• Classical Mechanics (different mathematical formalisms of classical mechanics: the Lagrangian formalism, Hamiltonian formalism)
  • Classical Mechanics by Taylor
  • Introduction to Classical Mechanics with Problems and Solutions by Morin
  • Problems and Solutions in Introductory Mechanics by Morin
  • Classical Mechanics by Kibble
  • A Student's Guide to Lagrangians and Hamiltonians by Hamill
• Electrodynamics (Laplace's equation, multipole expansions, polarization, dielectrics, the Lorentz Force Law, the Biot-Savart Law, magnetic vector potential, electromotive force, electromagnetic induction, Maxwell's equations, electromagnetic waves and radiation, and special relativity)
  • Introduction to Electrodynamics by Griffiths
  • Div, Grad, Curl and All That by Schey
  • A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equations by Fleisch
• Quantum Mechanics (wave function, the Schrödinger equation, perturbation theory, the variational principle, the WKB Approximation, the adiabatic approximation, scattering)
  • Introduction to Quantum Mechanics by Griffiths
• Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics (laws of thermodynamics, entropy, the canonical ensemble, Maxwell distributions, Planck's distribution, Fermi-Dirac statistics, Bose-Einstein statistics, and phase transitions)
  • Introductory Statistical Mechanics by Bowley and Sanchez
• Advanced Electives in Physics
  • Astronomy (galaxies, stars, planets)
    • The Cosmic Perspective by Bennet and Donahue
  • Astrophysics (the application of the principles of physics to astronomy)
    • An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics by Carroll and Ostile
  • Cosmology (the origin of the universe)
    • Introduction to Cosmology by Ryden
  • Electronics
    • Basic Electronics for Scientists and Engineers by Eggleston
  • Particle physics (the study of the fundamental particles of the Standard Model)
    • Introduction to Elementary Particles by Griffiths
  • String theory
    • String Theory in a Nutshell by Kirtsis

Graduate Physics

• Mathematical Methods in Physics (Fourier analysis, tensors, ODEs, PDEs, real analysis, complex analysis, algebra, group theory)
  • Mathematical Methods for Physicists by Arfken, Weber, and Harris
  • Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences by Boas
  • Visual Complex Analysis by Needham
  • Fourier Series by Tolstov
  • Complex Analysis by Fisher
  • Group Theory in a Nutshell for Physicists by Zee
  • Princeton Lectures on Analysis (but this might be overkill)
• Electrodynamics
  • Classical Electrodynamics by Jackson
• Quantum Mechanics (quantum dynamics (the Schrödinger equation, the Heisenberg picture, propagators, and Feynman path integrals), angular momentum, symmetries and conservation laws of the quantum world, perturbation theory, scattering theory, relativistic quantum mechanics, decoherence, interpretations of quantum mechanics (the Copenhagen vs. Many-Worlds interpretations))
  • Modern Quantum Mechanics by Sakurai
  • Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals by Feynman
  • Principles of Quantum Mechanics by Shankar
  • Decoherence and the Appearance of a Classical World in Quantum Theory by Joos
  • Principles of Quantum Mechanics by Dirac
  • The Everett Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: Collected Works 1955-1980
• Statistical Mechanics
  • Statistical Mechanics by Pathria and Beale
  • Statistical Mechanics by Huang
• General Relativity (special relativity and the intricacies of spacetime, basics of differential geometry, how to deal with curvature, the essentials of gravitation, how black holes work, the basics of cosmology)
  • Spacetime and Geometry by Carroll
  • General Relativity by Wald
  • Gravitation by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler
  • Gravitation and Cosmology by Weinberg
  • A Comprehensive Introduction to Differential Geometry by Spivak
• Quantum Field Theory (quantize fields, Feynman diagrams, quantum electrodynamics (QED), renormalization, non-Abelian gauge theories, quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the Higgs mechanism, the Glashow-Weinberg-Salam theory of electroweak interactions, the symmetries of particle physics, and spontaneous symmetry breaking)
  • Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell by Zee
  • An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory by Peskin and Schroeder
  • The Quantum Theory of Fields, Volume 1 by Weinberg
  • Lie Algebras in Particle Physics by Georgi