- #1
SecretNile
- 6
- 0
Long story short, I am currently a junior mathematics major, and I plan on going to graduate school for physics. My college offers but two, non-calculus based physics courses covering classical mechanics, electricity and magnetism.
Correct me if I'm wrong (please!), but I believe that if I do well on the GRE and GRE Physics subject test, I will be able to get into a fairly decent graduate program (top tier would be nice) without having majored in physics.
I believe that if I studied independently, a few hours every day, that I will have a fairly decent grasp on the material before I take the exam(s).
In essence, my question is this: What books/sources do you recommend I use?
Below is a direct quote from ETS about the subjects covered in the GRE physics test. I would like, at the very least, to know these materials thoroughly, but am very open to any additional materials you should recommend.
Thank you!
Alex
Correct me if I'm wrong (please!), but I believe that if I do well on the GRE and GRE Physics subject test, I will be able to get into a fairly decent graduate program (top tier would be nice) without having majored in physics.
I believe that if I studied independently, a few hours every day, that I will have a fairly decent grasp on the material before I take the exam(s).
In essence, my question is this: What books/sources do you recommend I use?
Below is a direct quote from ETS about the subjects covered in the GRE physics test. I would like, at the very least, to know these materials thoroughly, but am very open to any additional materials you should recommend.
Thank you!
Alex
CLASSICAL MECHANICS — 20%
(such as kinematics, Newton's laws, work and energy, oscillatory motion, rotational motion about a fixed axis, dynamics of systems of particles, central forces and celestial mechanics, three-dimensional particle dynamics, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalism, noninertial reference frames, elementary topics in fluid dynamics)
ELECTROMAGNETISM — 18%
(such as electrostatics, currents and DC circuits, magnetic fields in free space, Lorentz force, induction, Maxwell's equations and their applications, electromagnetic waves, AC circuits, magnetic and electric fields in matter)
OPTICS AND WAVE PHENOMENA — 9%
(such as wave properties, superposition, interference, diffraction, geometrical optics, polarization, Doppler effect)
THERMODYNAMICS AND STATISTICAL MECHANICS — 10%
(such as the laws of thermodynamics, thermodynamic processes, equations of state, ideal gases, kinetic theory, ensembles, statistical concepts and calculation of thermodynamic quantities, thermal expansion and heat transfer)
QUANTUM MECHANICS — 12%
(such as fundamental concepts, solutions of the Schrödinger equation (including square wells, harmonic oscillators, and hydrogenic atoms), spin, angular momentum, wave function symmetry, elementary perturbation theory)
ATOMIC PHYSICS — 10%
(such as properties of electrons, Bohr model, energy quantization, atomic structure, atomic spectra, selection rules, black-body radiation, x-rays, atoms in electric and magnetic fields)
SPECIAL RELATIVITY — 6%
(such as introductory concepts, time dilation, length contraction, simultaneity, energy and momentum, four-vectors and Lorentz transformation, velocity addition)
LABORATORY METHODS — 6%
(such as data and error analysis, electronics, instrumentation, radiation detection, counting statistics, interaction of charged particles with matter, lasers and optical interferometers, dimensional analysis, fundamental applications of probability and statistics)
SPECIALIZED TOPICS — 9%
Nuclear and Particle physics (e.g., nuclear properties, radioactive decay, fission and fusion, reactions, fundamental properties of elementary particles), Condensed Matter (e.g., crystal structure, x-ray diffraction, thermal properties, electron theory of metals, semiconductors, superconductors), Miscellaneous (e.g., astrophysics, mathematical methods, computer applications)