A Course in Theoretical Physics 1st Edition by P. John Shepherd (PDF)

Description

This book is a comprehensive account of five extended modules covering the key branches of twentieth-century theoretical physics, taught by the author over a period of three decades to students on bachelor and master university degree courses in both physics and theoretical physics.The modules cover nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, thermal and statistical physics, many-body theory, classical field theory (including special relativity and electromagnetism), and, finally, relativistic quantum mechanics and gauge theories of quark and lepton interactions, all presented in a single, self-contained volume.In a number of universities, much of the material covered (for example, on Einstein’s general theory of relativity, on the BCS theory of superconductivity, and on the Standard Model, including the theory underlying the prediction of the Higgs boson) is taught in postgraduate courses to beginning PhD students.A distinctive feature of the book is that full, step-by-step mathematical proofs of all essential results are given, enabling a student who has completed a high-school mathematics course and the first year of a university physics degree course to understand and appreciate the derivations of very many of the most important results of twentieth-century theoretical physics.

User’s Reviews

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

⭐This book purports to cover the main concepts of theoretical physics in just a few short pages. I was lucky (or unlucky ) depending on how you view it to be an undergraduate in the deprartment of theoretical physics (now gone) at Exeter University when Prof Shepherd was a lecturer there and some of the notes seem very familiar. His lectures, as opposed to some other lecturer’s I could mention, were always lucid and clear. However they were also highly abstract and very little connection with experimental results was ever made. It’s probably fair to say that this was part of the philosophy of the theoretical physics department at Exeter and as such can give a distorted view of physics.The book is divided into 5 modules and the best modules would appear to be the ones on thermal physics and many body theory because unlike the rest of the book Professor Shepherd does give an application to the BCS theory of superconductivity. Dr Shepherd claims that anyone with A level mathematics should be able to master this book and that all the derivations are fully spelt out. Well that is certainly not true of the first chapter where results for the solution of Schrodinger’s equation are just quoted for the hydrogen atom and there is little explanation of the special functions Spherical Harmonics and Laguerre polynomials. A module on basic mathermatical methods partial differential equations special functions and complex analysis would have been helpful.The chapter on Einstein’s General theory of relativity takes you so far ie up to the field equations but does not go on to show how for example Einstein’s theory of relativity predicts the Friedmann equations governing the expansion of the universe or solve the Schwarzschild metric.I guess the book can’t cover everything but I do remember Professor Shepherd giving a good pair of courses on symmetry in quantum mechanics leading up to the basics of the quark model. It’s a pity these aren’t included maybe in another edition. There is also unfortunately no problems in this book so the reader will not get a chance to practice his expertise.So all in all if you want a good survey of the underlying principles of modern theoretical physics this book will supply it. However some idea of the abstract ideas can be used to model phenomenon in the real world would have been welcome.

⭐Students & working scientists/engineers will find this a great repository and summary of the key ideas in each branch of theoretical physics. More than just a summary thought, with some good, clear derivations of key concepts/results. 5 stars without a doubt.

⭐Book is good. Has detailed explainations and derivations. Very recommended book to study if you are considering self study to educate yourself in Theoretical Physics. Everything is detailed and only requires a sense of logic, high school level knowledge of mathematics and reading it thoroughly.But the major issue is it’s very high price. I bought the paperback edition for 4188 INRs. It was written on the site that it was imported edition, and I thought that I should get it afterall it had to go through import duties and paper quality would be that of impoted books. In a country like India all major foreign booksellers sell specialized South Asian edition at cheap rates and printed in India. Alas, this book is printed in India with South Asian edition quality paper, yet Wiley kept the price very high.

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