Re: Problem / Exercise Books Recommendations

On 2005-04-23, lost.and.lonely.physicist@xxxxxxxxx
<lost.and.lonely.physicist@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I'm (almost) done with my graduate courses but I still feel very
> inadequate. I'd like to take time on the side to work out problems (in
> order of decreasing importance) in QFT, GR, non-relativistic QM,
> classical electrodynamics, and statistical mechanics. In particular QFT
> and GR are by far the most important two subjects I wish to master.
>
> Does anyone have recommendations on where I could get books or possibly
> other resources that provide both useful problems and good solutions?
> Most advanced textbooks like Wald and Peskin have (few) problems but no
> solutions. Also I'd like to work out problems that give insight into
> physics or into problem solving techniques, and not artificial problems
> that were cooked up to fill up space in the book.

I have some recommendations for statistical mechanics. The classic

Thermal Physics, by Kittle & Kroemer (now Nobel prize winner)

is known for a good selection of problems and applications at the
undergraduate level. Again, at the undergraduate level, I would
recommend supplementing it with the lesser known, but excellent in my
opinion,

Principles of Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics,
by Stauffer & Chowdhury.

Beware of the many typos in this book, though. At the graduate level,

Statistical Mechanics, by Pathria

has many good problems as well.

As for problems in non-rel. QM, there are many texts that fall into that
category. One of the classics is

Practical Quantum Mechanics, vols. 1 and 2, by Flugge.

A library search should reveal several books in the same vein. As for
understanding this subject in more depth, try

Principles of Quantum Mechanics, by Dirac.

It also has an excellent discussion of the relation between
many-particle quantum mechanics and quantum field theory
(although somewhat diguised).

Hope this helps.

Igor

.

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