In order to equip hopeful graduate students with the knowledge necessary to pass the qualifying examination, the authors have assembled and solved standard and original problems from major American universities – Boston University, University of Chicago, University of Colorado at Boulder, Columbia, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech, MIT, Princeton, Rutgers, Stanford, Stony Brook, University of Wisconsin at Madison – and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. A wide range of material is covered and comparisons are made between similar problems of different schools to provide the student with enough information to feel comfortable and confident at the exam. Guide to Physics Problems is published in two volumes: this book, Part 1, covers Mechanics, Relativity and Electrodynamics; Part 2 covers Thermodynamics, Statistical Mechanics and Quantum Mechanics. Praise for A Guide to Physics Problems: Part 1: Mechanics, Relativity, and Electrodynamics: "Sidney Cahn and Boris Nadgorny have energetically collected and presented solutions to about 140 problems from the exams at many universities in the United States and one university in Russia, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Some of the problems are quite easy, others are quite tough; some are routine, others ingenious." (From the Foreword by C. N. Yang, Nobelist in Physics, 1957) "Generations of graduate students will be grateful for its existence as they prepare for this major hurdle in their careers." (R. Shankar, Yale University) "The publication of the volume should be of great help to future candidates who must pass this type of exam." (J. Robert Schrieffer, Nobelist in Physics, 1972) "I was positively impressed ... The book will be useful to students who are studying for their examinations and to faculty who are searching for appropriate problems." (M. L. Cohen, University of California at Berkeley) "If a student understands how to solve these problems, they have gone a long way toward mastering the subject matter." (Martin Olsson, University of Wisconsin at Madison) "This book will become a necessary study guide for graduate students while they prepare for their Ph.D. examination. It will become equally useful for the faculty who write the questions." (G. D. Mahan, University of Tennessee at Knoxville)

In order to equip hopeful graduate students with the knowledge necessary to pass the qualifying examination, the authors have assembled and solved standard and original problems from major American universities – Boston University, University of Chicago, University of Colorado at Boulder, Columbia, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech, MIT, Princeton, Rutgers, Stanford, Stony Brook, University of Wisconsin at Madison – and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. A wide range of material is covered and comparisons are made between similar problems of different schools to provide the student with enough information to feel comfortable and confident at the exam. Guide to Physics Problems is published in two volumes: this book, Part 1, covers Mechanics, Relativity and Electrodynamics; Part 2 covers Thermodynamics, Statistical Mechanics and Quantum Mechanics. Praise for A Guide to Physics Problems: Part 1: Mechanics, Relativity, and Electrodynamics: "Sidney Cahn and Boris Nadgorny have energetically collected and presented solutions to about 140 problems from the exams at many universities in the United States and one university in Russia, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Some of the problems are quite easy, others are quite tough; some are routine, others ingenious." (From the Foreword by C. N. Yang, Nobelist in Physics, 1957) "Generations of graduate students will be grateful for its existence as they prepare for this major hurdle in their careers." (R. Shankar, Yale University) "The publication of the volume should be of great help to future candidates who must pass this type of exam." (J. Robert Schrieffer, Nobelist in Physics, 1972) "I was positively impressed ... The book will be useful to students who are studying for their examinations and to faculty who are searching for appropriate problems." (M. L. Cohen, University of California at Berkeley) "If a student understands how to solve these problems, they have gone a long way toward mastering the subject matter." (Martin Olsson, University of Wisconsin at Madison) "This book will become a necessary study guide for graduate students while they prepare for their Ph.D. examination. It will become equally useful for the faculty who write the questions." (G. D. Mahan, University of Tennessee at Knoxville)

In order to equip hopeful graduate students with the knowledge necessary to pass the qualifying examination, the authors have assembled and solved standard and original problems from major American universities – Boston University, University of Chicago, University of Colorado at Boulder, Columbia, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech, MIT, Princeton, Rutgers, Stanford, Stony Brook, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison – and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. A wide range of material is covered and comparisons are made between similar problems of different schools to provide the student with enough information to feel comfortable and confident at the exam. Guide to Physics Problems is published in two volumes: this book, Part 2, covers Thermodynamics, Statistical Mechanics and Quantum Mechanics; Part 1, covers Mechanics, Relativity and Electrodynamics. Praise for A Guide to Physics Problems: Part 2: Thermodynamics, Statistical Physics, and Quantum Mechanics: "... A Guide to Physics Problems, Part 2 not only serves an important function, but is a pleasure to read. By selecting problems from different universities and even different scientific cultures, the authors have effectively avoided a one-sided approach to physics. All the problems are good, some are very interesting, some positively intriguing, a few are crazy; but all of them stimulate the reader to think about physics, not merely to train you to pass an exam. I personally received considerable pleasure in working the problems, and I would guess that anyone who wants to be a professional physicist would experience similar enjoyment. ... This book will be a great help to students and professors, as well as a source of pleasure and enjoyment." (From Foreword by Max Dresden) "An excellent resource for graduate students in physics and, one expects, also for their teachers." (Daniel Kleppner, Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics Emeritus, MIT) "A nice selection of problems ... Thought-provoking, entertaining, and just plain fun to solve." (Giovanni Vignale, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri at Columbia) "Interesting indeed and enjoyable. The problems are ingenious and their solutions very informative. I would certainly recommend it to all graduate students and physicists in general ... Particularly useful for teachers who would like to think about problems to present in their course." (Joel Lebowitz, Rutgers University) "A very thoroughly assembled, interesting set of problems that covers the key areas of physics addressed by Ph.D. qualifying exams. ... Will prove most useful to both faculty and students. Indeed, I plan to use this material as a source of examples and illustrations that will be worked into my lectures." (Douglas Mills, University of California at Irvine)

University of Chicago Graduate Problems in Physics covers a broad range of topics, from simple mechanics to nuclear physics. The problems presented are intriguing ones, unlike many examination questions, and physical concepts are emphasized in the solutions. Many distinguished members of the Department of Physics and the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago have served on the candidacy examination committees and have, therefore, contributed to the preparation of problems which have been selected for inclusion in this volume. Among these are Morrell H. Cohen, Enrico Fermi, Murray Gell-Mann, Roger Hildebrand, Robert S. Mulliken, John Simpson, and Edward Teller.

Aimed at helping the physics student to develop a solid grasp of basic graduate-level material, this book presents worked solutions to a wide range of informative problems. These problems have been culled from the preliminary and general examinations created by the physics department at Princeton University for its graduate program. The authors, all students who have successfully completed the examinations, selected these problems on the basis of usefulness, interest, and originality, and have provided highly detailed solutions to each one. Their book will be a valuable resource not only to other students but to college physics teachers as well. The first four chapters pose problems in the areas of mechanics, electricity and magnetism, quantum mechanics, and thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, thereby serving as a review of material typically covered in undergraduate courses. Later chapters deal with material new to most first-year graduate students, challenging them on such topics as condensed matter, relativity and astrophysics, nuclear physics, elementary particles, and atomic and general physics.

This monograph presents fundamental aspects of modern spectral and other computational methods, which are not generally taught in traditional courses. It emphasizes concepts as errors, convergence, stability, order and efficiency applied to the solution of physical problems. The spectral methods consist in expanding the function to be calculated into a set of appropriate basis functions (generally orthogonal polynomials) and the respective expansion coefficients are obtained via collocation equations. The main advantage of these methods is that they simultaneously take into account all available information, rather only the information available at a limited number of mesh points. They require more complicated matrix equations than those obtained in finite difference methods. However, the elegance, speed, and accuracy of the spectral methods more than compensates for any such drawbacks. During the course of the monograph, the authors examine the usually rapid convergence of the spectral expansions and the improved accuracy that results when nonequispaced support points are used, in contrast to the equispaced points used in finite difference methods. In particular, they demonstrate the enhanced accuracy obtained in the solutionof integral equations. The monograph includes an informative introduction to old and new computational methods with numerous practical examples, while at the same time pointing out the errors that each of the available algorithms introduces into the specific solution. It is a valuable resource for undergraduate students as an introduction to the field and for graduate students wishing to compare the available computational methods. In addition, the work develops the criteria required for students to select the most suitable method to solve the particular scientific problem that they are confronting.

How can a graphic novel teach you to solve physics problems? By making the process more fun and more engaging for readers, this practical guide really works to help students tackle real problems in algebra-based college physics. Along the way, readers will also be equipped with useful problem-solving techniques and physical concepts. This problem-solving guide, developed by physicist/author Dr. Scott Calvin and engineer/artist Dr. Kirin Furst, is aimed at students in college-level general physics courses. Instead of just providing brief answers to sample questions or discussions of physics concepts without showing how to apply them to difficult problems, Cartoon Physics stresses how to approach problems, what to do if you get stuck, and techniques that can be applied broadly. Features: Detailed, step-by-step solutions for more than one hundred college-level exam problems Graphic novel (cartoon) format Formula sheet, units sheet, and technique-choice flowchart Task Tags indexing problems by technique (momentum, energy) no matter what chapter they appear in A t-rex on a trampoline!