Book Description
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)
Customer Reviews:
Sloppy.......2006-06-16
The idea behind this book is good, and the selection of problems is okay. However, there are flaws that undermine the usefulness of many of the problems. All too often there is not enough information given in a problem to solve it, and the solution will assume values for mass, temperature, etc. (i.e. pull numbers out of nowhere).
Some solutions are wrong. The first problem in the book, for example - "Sure, it's fine to sit in a sealed chamber when an atomic bomb explodes. There's no change in temperature because no molecules are escaping. What is this 'potential energy' of which you speak?"
Also, a number of the problems are not as self-contained a qual questions tend to be, and rely on you having solved other problems first (which makes it difficult to pick and choose the problems you do from this book).
And the pictures... are cute, but they are worse than useless. For example, look at P.4.3 and tell me that you expected them to assume the balloon was less than 2km from the Earth. It looks like it's farther away than the Moon. Combine this picture with the lack of information given in the problem and you have no idea what density to pick. (I used the density of the interstellar medium because of the picture. They assume the density of air at the surface of the Earth!)
It's worth looking at nonetheless, but don't buy it. It's put together in far too sloppy a fashion.
A Good Text, Not Perfect.......2005-08-03
Finding a collected set of problems in thermodynamics and quantum mechanics with their solutions is a challenge. A Guide to Physics Problems Part 2 answers that challenge well, though imperfectly. Here are the book's strengths:
- The problems are varied and cover lots of ground.
- There are not hundreds of problems just for the sake of having hundreds of problems. Problems are selected carefully to make sure that they don't overlap concepts. This means you'll do a few problems on each topic, with each problem requiring different skills and techniques. Repitition is thankfully minimized.
- Problems are written clearly and succintly.
- All problems seem "fair". These are concepts I would expect to see tested on graduate level exams.
But there are also weaknesses:
- The solutions are not always crystal clear. At times, I found myself wondering where particular equations came from.
- I found certain concepts not covered well. For example, in the quantum mechanics section, I don't recall any problems regarding free particle states.
Overall, this is a solid and useful purchase. While not perfect, it's still one of the better resources out there for learning thermo and QM.
physics qualifying exams.......2004-10-22
I simply did the problems in this book and then passed the Caltech physics phd qualifying exam for quantum and statistical mechanics. The difference between this book and the standard Yung-kuo book for practice problems is brevity. Yung-kuo simply has too many problems, many of which are very similar, teaching no new concepts. Cahn, on the other hand, has picked a smaller but more meaningful subset of problems. There are few enough problems that you can do them all in a reasonable amount of time, but enough that you hit all the major concepts. I highly recommend it for anyone studying for physics quals, or for an undergraduate with a couple weeks of time who is about to do the GRE. I realize that the GRE doesn't have in-depth problems, but by doing in-depth problems you master the concepts that the GRE does test on.
Elegant Physics Problems and Solutions.......2000-01-10
This book provides elegant physics problems (and solutions) from the preliminary doctoral exams of some prestigious universities. Very good for preparing these exams and also gaining problem solving skills in physics (not only for exams).
With these problems, I also understood some concepts which were not clear before. This book can, therefore, be used as a source for applications of the corresponding subjects. I strongly recommend it.
Book Description
The material for these volumes has been selected from the past twenty years' examination questions for graduate students at University of California at Berkeley, Columbia University, the University of Chicago, MIT, State University of New York at Buffalo, Princeton University and University of Wisconsin.
Customer Reviews:
good one ..helps.......2006-11-10
it is a good book..
though most of the problems solved are on the same pattern...
Useful beyond measure.......2002-10-07
All of these books titled "Problems and Solutions on (subject): Major American Universities Ph.D. Qualifying Questions and Solutions" are invaluable tools for a physics graduate student, in my experience.
One criticism: The index for this particular book is nonexistent. I am writing my own in my copy of the book.
If you are a student in physics, I suggest that you get your hands on these books.
Completely wonderful.......1999-10-29
The entire series is my savior. Each volume covers the material needed in the junior/senior level of physics. It truly has an emense selection of problems. I found that nearly all of my homework/exams were either exactly the same or merely a slight variation from one contained. I also have yet to find a single error, not even a sign error. One important thing is that it does need to be a supplement, as formulas are sometimes used without explicit reference to why. In general the reasons need to be found in an assigned text. My only gripe (and it is minor) is with the index...the index does not, in general, lead one to a relevent problem. For example, uses of Biot/Savart to solve this problem or that... The reason this is not a serious problem is that each topic has so many variations on the method/technique that it is simple enough to find at least a couple that are completely relevent. (given you know which section to look in)
This book was excellent preparation for the qualifying exam.......1999-03-17
Although I do not attend one of the schools from which these questions were taken, I found it an excellent review tool nonetheless. It has a great variety of problems, and the solutions include all major steps for the most part. Sometimes steps are skipped, but if this book is used to supplement any standard text on the subject it can be a very powerful and useful tool.
Book Description
This book discusses the computational approach in modern statistical physics in a clear yet accessible way, and works out its intimate relations with other approaches in theoretical physics. Individual chapters focus on subjects as diverse as the hard sphere liquid, classical spin models, single quantum particles and Bose-Einstein condensation. They contain in-depth discussions of algorithms ranging from basic enumeration methods to modern Monte Carlo techniques. The emphasis is on orientation. Discussions of implementation details are kept to a minimum. The book heavily relies on illustrations, tables and concise printed algorithms to convey key information: all the material remains easily accessible. The book is fully self-contained: graphs and tables can be readily reproduced by programming at most a few dozen lines of computer code. Most sections lead from an elementary discussion to the rich and difficult problems of contemporary computational and statistical physics, and will be of interest to a wide range of students, teachers and researchers in physics and the neighboring sciences. An accompanying CD allows to incorporate the layout material (illustrations, tables, schematic programs) into the reader's own presentations.
Book Description
Professor Chandler and a colleague, David Wu, have prepared a solutions manual to Introduction to Modern Statistical Mechanics (Oxford 1987), to be used as an ancillary to the text. The instructive numerical work in the manual is an important supplement, because the material can only be learned by tackling the exercises. Methods of solution are provided for a majority of the problems.
Customer Reviews:
There are more answers online!!.......2006-09-14
This manual provides solutions to select problems only. I recommend the internet over buying this manual; you'll find more solutions there. Even Chandler recommends using other sources at the beginning of the text book.
One of the best.......2002-11-16
This book is really one of the better book on statistical physics. It is short and concise but it is impressive the amount of physics discussed in this book!
And the presentation is really modern.
soso.......1998-06-22
Don't get your hopes up too much. Not all of the problems are solved. The problems that are solved are solved OK but not always in the best way. Still, I'd buy this book all over again, since "Intro to stat mech" by Chandler is pretty cheap to begin with. Just think of it as paying for 1 book.
Book Description
Corresponding to the standard topics covered in established undergraduate courses in Quantum Mechanics, this collection of solved problems is completely up-to-date. The book also includes problems on topics of current interest absent in the existing literature. Solutions are presented in considerable detail, to enable students to follow each step. The emphasis is on stressing the principles and methods used, allowing students to master new ways of thinking and problem-solving techniques. The book can be used as a supplementary text or as an independent self-study tool.
Customer Reviews:
Shade Tree Quantum Mechanic .......2007-02-15
This is a superb difficult book, not for the faint-hearted. It contains solutions involving Green's Functions and Propagators, not usully found in such books. Don't look for detailed solutions to the "usual suspects" - if they're there, they are there to support the more challening problems. The solutions do not always include as many steps as I like to include. Filling them in adds to one's understanding of the method of solution. I didn't always like the path the book tread and followed a different one - at least I had something to compare to 5 pages later. (The book's solution was nearly always (if not, always) superior to mine. But you know "My solution, right or wrong, but my solution!"
The problems are at a level (and some correspond to) the text by Mertzbacher. I showed the book to my QM professor and his response was to write down the ISBN. Not every type of problem at this level is solved and I would get Zetelli's "Quantum Physics" to fill in gaps, say in WKB and Angular Momentum. There are a number of other useful books, for example, "Problems and Solutions in Quantum Mechanics" written in China based on US university qualifying exam problems, and a short, but very good, book from Cambridge U. Press: Squires - "Problems in Quantum Mechanics - with Solutions" which covers problems through time-dependent perturbation theory.
Average customer rating:
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Phase Transitions in Combinatorial Optimization Problems: Basics, Algorithms and Statistical Mechanics
Alexander K. Hartmann , and
Martin Weigt
Manufacturer: Wiley-VCH
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Statistical Mechanics: Algorithms and Computations (Oxford Master Series in Statistical, Computational, and Theoretical Physics)
ASIN: 3527404732 |
Book Description
A concise, comprehensive introduction to the topic of statistical physics of combinatorial optimization, bringing together theoretical concepts and algorithms from computer science with analytical methods from physics. The result bridges the gap between statistical physics and combinatorial optimization, investigating problems taken from theoretical computing, such as the vertex-cover problem, with the concepts and methods of theoretical physics.
The authors cover rapid developments and analytical methods that are both extremely complex and spread by word-of-mouth, providing all the necessary basics in required detail. Throughout, the algorithms are shown with examples and calculations, while the proofs are given in a way suitable for graduate students, post-docs, and researchers. Ideal for newcomers to this young, multidisciplinary field.
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Quantum Statistical Mechanics
Leo Kadanoff , and
Gordon Baym
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Quantum Theory of Many-Particle Systems
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Statistical Physics: Statics, Dynamics and Remormalization
ASIN: 020141046X |
Book Description
This book provides over 120 problems with model solutions, illustrating both basic principles and applications that range from solid-state physics to cosmology. An introductory chapter summarizes the basic concepts and results that are needed to tackle the problems, and establishes the notation that is used throughout the book. The problems in the remaining chapters progress from the simpler aspects of thermodynamics and equilibrium statistical ensembles to the more challenging ideas associated with strongly interacting systems and nonequilibrium processes. The book also includes comprehensive solutions to all of the problems. The appendix provides useful mathematical formulae.
Customer Reviews:
You will learn by solving exercises.......2004-01-10
It is usually said that you won't learn much from a book of solved exercises, but the explanations in this book use the problem as an excuse to teach you the general theory, actually making you able to solve other problems different from the ones there. And you must recall that in this subject there is not a "simple and condensed" theory, but a varied, big and complex collection of theories, approaches and recipes.
For example, enjoy: the specific heat of a gas of particles with internal degrees of freedom (3.18, 3.19 and others), working out the Fermi and Bose statistics from the beginning (4.2, 4.3), vibration of a chain and of a crystal/Debye model (4.8-4.11), Bose-Einstein Condensation (4.12, 4.15), Ising problems (5.14 and following; 5.22 is a useful 2-dimensional Ising).
Note for UBA students (Buenos Aires): this book is ideal for Fisica Teorica 3, specially for statistical ensembles (chap. 3), quantum statistics (chap. 4) and the topics that appear in chap. 5 (but for transport processes and Brownian motion you should also keep an eye on the theory's books - Huang and Reichl). Many of the exercises that appear in the practices are solved here, and this is your salvation if your teachers do not solve exercises in the blackboard (or if they are bad at it). You will not only pass the partial tests but actually learn things, specially subtle stuff that goes unnoticed in the theoretical classes, like realizing which are the quantum numbers involved and which are their values, or which is exactly the meaning of all the sum symbols that appear everywhere all the time.
Great Solution Book for Stat Mech! Help is here!.......2001-07-16
One of the biggest problems with Stat Mech, is that most folks I know (like me) don't have a good intuition for it. It's also one of those courses in which universities don't really hammer down, and have problems getting someone to teach it well, if at all. As painful as it might be, this book can help the graduate as well as the undergraduate student.
Other books have LOTS of solutions (Garrod's and Kubo's come into mind), but it's this book, by Dalvit et al, actually explains, in some detail, the justifications for the steps in the solutions. Many instructors may not want you to use this book (it's tempting not to 'learn' when you can copy), but this book can actually compliment your learning of the material.
A must for those having problems in Stat Mech, self-learners and beginners in this area.
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A Guide to Physics Problems, Part 1: Mechanics, Relativity, and Electrodynamics (The Language of Science)
University of Chicago Graduate Problems in Physics with Solutions
Princeton Problems in Physics with Solutions
Problems and Solutions on Mechanics: Major American Universities Ph.D. Qualifying Questions and Solutions (Major American Universities PhD Qualifying Questions & Solutions)
Problems and Solutions on Electromagnetism (Major American Universities Ph.D. Qualifying Questions and Solutions)
