A Guide To Physics Problem Part 2

Part 2 of A Guide to Physics Problems includes problems from written graduate qualifying examinations at various universities in the United States, and for comparison, problems from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, a leading Russian Physics department. While Part 1 covered problems and solutions in Mechanics, Relativity, and Electrodynamics, Part 2 focuses on Thermodynamics, Statistical Physics, and Quantum Mechanics.

The primary aim of the book is to assist graduate students in preparing for this important and often stressful exam (refer to Figure P.1). Although the difficulty and scope of the qualifying exam may vary slightly from one school to another, our goal is to present a universal set of problems that will allow students to feel confident in these exams, no matter which graduate school they attended. Additionally, we hope that physics majors contemplating graduate school can assess their physics knowledge by solving some of these problems, which are mostly beyond the undergraduate level. In Part 1, we aimed to provide detailed solutions while avoiding the tendency to turn explanations into lengthy proofs, as often happens when someone, after struggling for hours with a derivation, writes, “As can be easily shown….”

Most of the feedback we’ve received regarding Part 1 has not come from students but from professors who administer the exams. A typical comment was, “Great, now I can use one of your problems for our next comprehensive exam.” However, we hope that this approach does more than simply counterproductively aid students. Instead, we believe it will guide students to transition from the difficult situation depicted in Figure P.1 to the more stable scenario shown in Figure P.2. This transformation can be attributed to the mindset of the authors, who sincerely hope that this book will not be merely another hurdle but a genuine aid in preparing for these exams.

As with Part 1, when qualifying the level of the problems, we have aimed to offer as many details as possible without overwhelming readers.