Modern Classical Physics: Optics, Fluids, Plasmas, Elasticity, Relativity, and Statistical Physics by Kip S. Thorne (PDF)

Description

A groundbreaking text and reference book on twenty-first-century classical physics and its applicationsThis first-year graduate-level text and reference book covers the fundamental concepts and twenty-first-century applications of six major areas of classical physics that every masters- or PhD-level physicist should be exposed to, but often isn’t: statistical physics, optics (waves of all sorts), elastodynamics, fluid mechanics, plasma physics, and special and general relativity and cosmology. Growing out of a full-year course that the eminent researchers Kip Thorne and Roger Blandford taught at Caltech for almost three decades, this book is designed to broaden the training of physicists. Its six main topical sections are also designed so they can be used in separate courses, and the book provides an invaluable reference for researchers.Presents all the major fields of classical physics except three prerequisites: classical mechanics, electromagnetism, and elementary thermodynamicsElucidates the interconnections between diverse fields and explains their shared concepts and toolsFocuses on fundamental concepts and modern, real-world applicationsTakes applications from fundamental, experimental, and applied physics; astrophysics and cosmology; geophysics, oceanography, and meteorology; biophysics and chemical physics; engineering and optical science and technology; and information science and technologyEmphasizes the quantum roots of classical physics and how to use quantum techniques to elucidate classical concepts or simplify classical calculationsFeatures hundreds of color figures, some five hundred exercises, extensive cross-references, and a detailed indexAn online illustration package is available

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Modern Classical Physics will undoubtedly become a classic learning material and reference text for many years to come.The overall presentation of the text exceeds the standard– free of clutter and aided with timely and accurate visual representations of diagrams and/or images of real phenomena. The mathematical operations used in the book are pretty much standard as far as undergraduate mathematical physics with the exception of some new (at least new for me) notations which are introduced in hopes of supplementing the book’s “geometric approach” to physics.An important note to make is that the physics isn’t changed in this process, but rather just the viewpoint in which it is observed. Thorne and Blandford clearly show that this is the case early on,in spite of some differences in the mathematical language as compared with many other modern texts. These differences are quite minor once you get a grip on them, and I myself have been able to substitute their notation with my own with little effort (though there is no difference computationally).Most of the topics covered (if not all) will be supplemented with real life applications demonstrated in examples and exercise. Do note that many of these are quite sophisticated and that the authors encourage the readers to use external references if needed.If you are familiar with Special Relativity, I recommend skipping the first chapter on it until GR is introduced, and then returning to it for some guidance on notation. Otherwise, the entire chapter is pretty standard in terms of key concepts and computations. It isn’t used much by itself throughout the book and when it is, a pretty simple translation from nonrelativistic–> relativistic laws is normally offered.The book is dense and powerful, but does not lack mathematical sophistication. Be prepared for the maths! Thank you Thorne and Blandford and everyone else who worked on this masterpiece… I know I will probably use this as a reference for decades to come.

⭐This is a great coverage of classical mechanics beyond the basics. The strong geometric approach throughout offers concise and powerful insight into a huge number of examples with a very consistent perspective. This book is exemplary in coverage of material and pedagogical style.

⭐Having recently acquired this text, I can add little to the extant reviews, except to say: Study the book !For more, read the Princeton University Press Blog, including an interview with 2017 Nobel Prize winner Kip Thorne and Roger Blandford. Regarding this book, read: “LIGO’s gravitational wave detectors rely on an amazingly wide range of classical physics concepts and tools, so time and again we draw on LIGO for illustrations. The theory of random processes, spectral densities, the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, the Fokker-Planck equation; shot noise, thermal noise, thermoelastic noise, optimal filters for extracting weak signals from noise; paraxial optics, Gaussian beams, the theory of coherence, squeezed light, interferometry, laser physics; the interaction of gravitational waves with light and with matter; the subtle issue of the conservation or non conservation of energy in general relativity— all these and more are illustrated by LIGO in our book.” (10/12/2017, Kip Thorne, Princeton University Press Interview).Addendum (August 2019):An engineering student lamented about his academic performance in a recent course of fluid dynamics. Happily, Thorne and Blandford can be recommended as an excellent guide on this topic. Having read Feynman (volume two, chapters 38 through 41) and having viewed videos relevant to the topic (referenced here pages 731 and 790; films from the Committee for Fluid Mechanics, now available Youtube), you are prepared to tackle Thorne and Blandford, their chapter 12, 13 and 14. These chapters are replete with insight. I enjoyed, and highlight: “analysis of fluid flow based on some general ideas that ought to be familiar from other areas of physics.” (pages 750-752). The analysis is a crash-course in “how to think like a physicist.”

⭐I would like to emphasize an aspect of this book that none of the other reviewers have mentioned. The very first paragraph on page 1 offers what I consider the central vision of this ambitious text:”In this book, a central theme will be a Geometric Principle: The laws of physics must all be expressible as geometric (coordinate-independent and reference-frame independent) relationships between geometric objects (scalars, vectors, tensors,…) that represent physical entities.”Kip Thorne, Charles Misner, and John Archibald Wheeler attempted to fulfill this same geometric vision for General Relativity in the early 1970s with the publication of the 1279-page landmark work, Gravitation. One can therefore see this recent book by Blandford and Thorne as the extension of the geometric program to many areas of classical physics. For those of us who are “true believers” in the geometric program, this book is a welcome addition to the literature.One remark on the physical quality of the book under review. Despite having 1511 pages, the book is hardbound and sturdy enough to hold up under years of study. The paper quality is first-rate, and there are even color graphics scattered throughout. Princeton University Press is to be commended for producing a first-class textbook at a reasonable price. Their recent hardbound republication of the classic book Gravitation is also extremely well done, and for an amazingly low price.

⭐È un libro che vuole utilizzare una visione geometrica di tutta la fisica, utilizzando i tensori in modo consistente in tutte le discipline della fisica.Il libro porta chiaramente con sé l’esperienza di Kip Thorne, premio nobel della fisica nel 2017, e co-autore del celeberrimo “Gravitation”; è noto che per Gravitation Thorne ebbe un ruolo fondamentale non solo nei contenuti ma anche nella sua progettazione editoriale.Da quel libro deriva per esempio la suddivisione in track 1 e track 2 di questo libro (track 1 = libro standard, track 2 = parte avanzata) e l’uso estensivo di box per illustrare dettagli.Molto sintetico, nonostante la mole, considerando il fatto che sviluppa tutta la fisica, meccanica quantistica esclusa.Peccato che tralasci la meccanica quantistica, perché questa visione tensoriale sarebbe stata molto interessante.Bibliografia molto dettagliata e i capitoli del testo spesso rappresentano una visione originale della fisica trattata.Decisamente consigliato

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⭐Auf fast 1500 Seiten klar und kompetent geschriebenem Text werden wesentliche Themen der modernen klassischen Physik, also die Statistische Physik, Optik, Elastizität, Fluiddynamik, Plasmaphysik und Allgemeine Relativität hinreichend ausführlich behandelt, wobei des Öfteren, geradezu zwangsläufig bzgl. des entsprechenden Themas, auch quantentheoretische Phänomene erläutert werden. Das ist bei Themen wie z.B. der Statischen Physik unabdingbar. Es muss allerdings betont werden, dass die Auswahl und Darstellung sicher von dem Schwerpunkt des Interesses der Autoren, d.h. der Physik der Gravitation, der Astrophysik und Kosmologie mit bestimmt wird. Gleich zu Beginn wird in zwei Graphiken eine Übersicht der Zusammenhänge der Gravitation im Kontext großen Themen der Physik gegeben. Dass eine ausführliche Erörterung zu Gravitationswellen in dem Kapitel zur Allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie nicht fehlt, versteht sich bei dem auf dem Umschlag erstgenannten Autor. Das Buch verzichtet auch auf eine grundlegende Darstellung der Mechanik und Elektrodynamik. Der hierin interessierte Leser wird auf die Vielfalt von diesbezüglichen klassischen Werken verwiesen.Wer bei Berücksichtigung dieser Aspekte ein modernes Nachschlagewerk eines ähnlichen Themenumfangs der “Landau Lifschitz” – Bände sucht – eben mit Ausnahme der Bände zur Mechanik und Elektrodynamik und der explizit quantentheoretischen Werke – und das in einem Buch zusammengefasst, ist hier richtig. Das vorliegende Buch ist somit kein vollwertiger Ersatz dieses klassischen Kompendiums, will es auch nicht sein. Es ist bestens geeignet für den fachlich in Astrophysik, Astronomie und Kosmologie interessierten Leser, aber auch an anderen Themen der Physik Interessierte, das können auch Ingenieure, Meteorologen oder andere Anwender der Physik sein, finden hier ein umfangreiches Werk zum Nachschlagen.

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⭐Già dall’aggettivo “Modern” si intuisce che questo testo affronta argomenti di fisica “classica” (nel limite in cui h~0) in modo non convenzionale. Gli autori enfatizzano il fatto che la fisica classica è tutt’ora una disciplina indispensabile per la comprensione e le applicazioni tecnologiche attuali ma che necessita di un linguaggio matematico diverso da quello utilizzato nell’800 se si vuole affrontare la connessione tra i fenomeni macroscopici e quelli quantistici. Il testo si sofferma sui principi fondamentali della fisica classica in se stessa ed in relazione alla fisica quantistica. Il linguaggio matematico utilizzato sin dal primo capitolo è quello geometrico (ovvero che le leggi fisiche debbano esprimersi indipendentemente da coordinate e sistemi di riferimento). Il testo consta di circa 1500 pagine e tratta unicamente argomenti di ottica, fluidi, plasmi, elasticità, relatività (anche generale) e fisica statistica. Gli esercizi proposti sono molto numerosi ed illuminanti. Così come nella “bibbia” Gravitation, anche qui abbiamo argomenti suddivisi in due tracce, di cui la T2 contenente argomenti che si possono tralasciare in una prima lettura.

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⭐Excellent book, fast delivery. I’m a believer of the notion that all sciences are inter-related, and one can benefit hugely from learning what others in the scientific community have done, are doing and plan to do in the future, and what thinking paths they have taken to approach the core of the problems. A modern look of classical problems is as important as a historical perspective of modern problems. This fascinating book is written not only for physics students, but also for professionals in almost all fields of science and engineering who want to get a more fundamental understanding of the phenomena and problems in their own career. The first time when I looked at its table of contents I was sure this book will accompany me in the years to come.

⭐Soy profesor y me hablaron de este libro, que me ha parecido MUCHO MEJOR de lo que imagiba: lo mas importante, el contenido FANTASTICO, muy sencillo y didactico, a lo que hay que añadir muy buena calidad de encuadernado y papel. Muy buena edicion, merece la pena¡

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