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This book is an introduction to the methods of theoretical physics for students who have had intermediate college courses in physical mechanics and electricity as well as advanced calculus and elementary partial differential equations. It emphasizes clear definition and development of physical concepts and analysis of methods, rather than detailed factual content of theoretical physics.

After a brief introduction on the logical structure of theoretical physics, the book is divided into two main starts: particle physics and field physics. In the first part the logical development proceeds from the single particle to collections of particles and then to the statistical methods, with thermodynamics treated as a deduction from physical statistics. This part closes with a brief survey of the principles of quantum mechanics. Part II discusses the application of the field concept to both material media (deformable solids and fluids) and nonmaterial media (electromagnetic fields), with more stress on wave propagation than is usual in theoretical physics texts. The book closes with a treatment of classical electron theory and special relativity. ... Read more

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Copyright 1929, by Joseph Sweetman Ames and Francis D. Murnaghan. Copyright 1957 by Francis D. MurrnaghanThis new Dover edition first published in 1958 is an unabridged and unaltered republication of the first edition. It is published through special arrangement with Ginnn and Company.This copy is in excellent condition, no pen, or pencil markings. Minor discoloration of pages, binding in tac ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Good book
Though not introductory, a great book for learning the essential mathematics. It forms an excellent supplement to any mathematical physics course at the sophomore level (Physics/Engineering). The discussions in the book are very deep and sufficiently elaborate to help strengthen the student's understanding of the subject. The best part about the book is that with very few exceptions, one can just pick up the book and start reading it from the topic that he/she is most interested in without worrying about the other sections in the book/pre-requisites.

new material
For physics students, Appel's book should be a pleasure to read. It instructs you in the essential maths tools. At a level of rigour suitable to physicists, without going unnecessarily into the full epsilon-delta approach of pure maths.

Some sections are advanced. Like differential geometry. However, for those of you going into General Relativity or dynamical systems, a knowledge of this can be vital. While the section on Legesgue integration can be used when applying the use of fractals. As in calculating the approximate fractal dimension of some iterated system. Indeed, some 30 years ago, before fractals were discovered by Mandelbrot, Lebesgue integration would have been unlikely to be included in a book of this nature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A clearly written text on QED
Jauch & Rohrlich's classic QED text is still useful as a reference for looking up results related to various scattering processes and to use as a supplement towards understanding ideas presented less clearly in modern texts.

Another Exciting and Excellent Snapshot in the History of The Pedagogy of Quantum Field Theory
Another dramatic example of where we were in Quantum Field Theory back in the 1950's and 1960's. It's a book that speaks volumes about what theoreticians were thinking about and how they were thinking about the fundamental processes between an electron and a photon. That was Quantum Electrodynamics. But at that time nobody really could use that theory for much else except electrons and photons.
It was also the generation of "Big Machine Physics" which provided no doubt a certain atmosphere of to put it euphemistically "keen competition" between the theoreticians and the experimentalists of that time period. Especially the leadingones of each field ( pardon the pun ). A good example is what was going on at SLAC in the 1960's. They were doing lots of QED there. Right, doing it with a machine firing high speed electrons at targets to create all kinds of Feynman diagrams ( I could coin the phrase "Feynman Processes" maybe I'll get a "prize") and getting all kinds of results striking fear into the hearts oftheoreticians who had to madly keep up with the pace at which the data was coming in. ( Then you get the screaming and shouting like I used to hear when I tried out theoretical physics for one summer)

In that era they were always complaining about the divergences they'd get if they tried the same thing Quantum Electrodynamics Q.E.D. (and its renormalization tricks) with Weak and Nuclear Forces. They were stuck. They couldn't as they put it "Renormalize" the calculated perturbations done usually with what was called the now famous "S-Matrix" theory (see the book by McComb for an idea on renormalization)
that is until guys like t'Hooft came along using what was then an unorthodox approach. See Veltman's quote: "...the student solved the problem!" end of quote. Right, using a Path Integral which back in the 1960's nobody but Feynman knew or even wanted to talk about it. ( well perhaps that's an exaggeration, but...that's how people do the calculations now)
Anyway the book is chalk full of S-matrix theory and the renormalization of divergences done the good old fashion way without the Path Integral so it should delight, frustrate or drive crazy any and all physics students depending of course on their "familiarity"?, "skill"?,
is that what they call it?
And there are discussions about the validity of the theory and in what direction it might proceed.For example on page 496 second edition Rohrlich cites his paper of 1950 and states that "the Q.E.D. of spinless charged particles ( like pi mesons) is renormalizable if you include a coupling term of the now famous "Lambda to the 4th power"..." see F.Rohrlich,Phys.
Rev.80,666(1950). That is nothing other than "spontaneous symmetry breaking" which has been all the rage for the last thirty years.
Not bad for all the way back in 1950! Alright Rohrlich!
Myself, I'd recommend good coffee, strong, black, and alot of it.
All in all the book is a real treasure and I'm so happy to get my copy back again.
My other copy along with 20,000USD of priceless physics books were thrown out to the paper recyclers by my second step-mother...but hey that's my problem, not yours.

With Best Regards

Southern Jameson West

A very elegant text in quantum electrodynamics
The main text of this book appeared in 1955, still under the spell of the great feat of Schwinger, Tomonaga and Feynman. It was then considered that, in order to retrieve sensible results from the theory, the formalism should be, insofar as possible, explicitly relavistically invariant. This involved talking about space-like surfaces, instead of time (the authors make a concession by talking only of space-like planes !). Explicit representations of Dirac matrices are also avoided. The theory is presented along the lines proposed by Schwinger in his series of papers "The theory of quantized fields", the utmost in elegance and compactness. Tha action principle gives not only the field equations, but also the conserved charges and, even, the quantization relations. The book is, in consequence, directed to advanced students (very advanced, I would say). Subsequent texts were written in a more relaxed style, choosing a reference system, what provided an explicit ti! me and, most conveniently, a hamiltonian. Jauch-Rohrlich stands as a monument to economy and elegance. It is, in this context, a very well-written book, and a very useful onetoo, once you get used to its peculiarities. It is said that Pauli loved this book. Should one say more ? ... Read more

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This popular, often cited text returns in a softcover edition to provide a thorough introduction to statistical physics and thermodynamics, and to exhibit the universal chain of ideas leading from the laws of microphysics to the macroscopic behaviour of matter. A wide range of applications illustrates the concepts, and many exercises reinforce understanding. Volume II applies statistical methods to systems governed by quantum effects, in particular to solid state physics, explaining properties due to the crystal structure or to the lattice excitations or to the electrons. The last chapters are devoted to non-equilibrium processes and to kinetic equations, with many applications included.

Customer Reviews (1)

Interesting treatment from an information point of view
This is one of the earliest comprehensive treatment of Statistical Mechanics (SM) from the perspective of information. The presentation of the foundation of SM here is much clearer and unified compared to the standard understanding, due to the adoption of the maximum entropy principle (and the subjecive interpretation of probability).The issue of entropy and irreversibility also received interesting discussion here.
An earlier book that treats SM in the similar form is Amnon Katz' book "Principles of statistical mechanics ; the information theory approach".
... Read more

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This book is dedicated to the memory of the Nobel laureate and the great theoretical physicist Lev Davidovich Landau (1908-1968) on the occasion of his centenary. This book brings together fifteen papers contributed by authors from different countries: China, India, Italy, Germany, Mexico, Russia, and USA, covering several core aspects of modern development of Landau legacy and achievements, ranging from Landau's bibliography and life to recent rigorous research on theoretical physics. In his paper entitled "Lev Landau, the Genius that Challenged Stalin", Toscano discusses Landau's life, his influence on theoretical physics in the Soviet Union, and his challenge to Stalin. Kholodenko discusses extensively the impact of the Landau's last paper on physics and mathematics in the new millennium based on Golubeva's famous paper. In his esteemed paper, Sachs presents the philosophical problems of cosmology and time. In their seminal papers, Brandt, Esposito, Salesi, Ma, Wang, and Kleinert review different aspects of Ginzburg-Landau theory, phase transitions, and superconductors.In their remarkable paper on Landau-Lifshits equation, Parga and Gallardo address the importance of this equation and its applications to classical charge particles. Azam, Basu, Dhar, and Li discuss extensively the Landau singularity in QED, Landau quantisation, and non-commutative Landau problem, and other related topics. Rasetti and Raffa report on the multiboson Logical operators, Laughlin states, and Virasoro algebra. Chakraborty in his paper shows the influence of Landau approach to the theory of fluid dynamics. ... Read more

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Groundbreaking, challenging, and simply Amazing
My mind is still reeling over the concepts in this groundbreaking book. Stein's lifetime work has culminated in nothing short of a radical paradigm shift in physics, philosophy, quantum mechanics, and the very foundation of the universe and life itself. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in these subjects. I've come across very few geniuses in my life...and I firmly believe Stein is one of them. ... Read more

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This volume is based on the lectures given at the FirstInter-University Graduate School on Gravitation and Cosmologyorganized by IUCAA, Pune, India. The material offers a firmmathematical foundation for a number of subjects including geometricalmethods for physics, quantum field theory methods and relativisticcosmology. It brings together the most basic and widely usedtechniques of theoretical physics today. A number of speciallyselected problems with hints and solutions have been added to assistthe reader in achieving mastery of the topics. Audience: The style of the book is pedagogical and should appealto graduate students and research workers who are beginners in thestudy of gravitation and cosmology or related subjects such asdifferential geometry, quantum field theory and the mathematics ofphysics. This volume is also recommended as a textbook for courses orfor self-study. ... Read more

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This book gives an introduction to modern geometry. Starting from an elementary level, the author develops deep geometrical concepts that play an important role in contemporary theoretical physics, presenting various techniques and viewpoints along the way. This second edition contains two additional, more advanced geometric techniques: the modern language and modern view of Algebraic Geometry and Mirror Symmetry.

Customer Reviews (1)

Worth reading, but vastly overpriced and under-edited
This book presents a worthwhile overview of many aspects of Riemann surfaces and (what is the same thing viewed from a specific point of view) algebraic curves.The author sometimes takes a conversational tone (The first sentence under the section entitled Sheaves is: "They are nothing mysterious.")

It presents definitions and theorems, often omitting details of proofs.This is in the obvious sense a disadvantage, but in another sense a great advantage, allowing the reader to acquire a broad overview of the subject relatively quickly. There are also extensive suggestions, at the end of each chapter, for supplementary reading.Often the author offers advice about a reference (such as that it uses an unnecessarily complicated proof of a basic theorem).

What strikes this native English speaker is that no one has bothered to translate this book into professional-grade English.97% of the English is fine, and the rest of it is easily comprehensible.Butlack of careful editing makes this reader feel that the $80.xx Amazon price (discounted from its $89.xx list price!!!) is vastly too high for this 220-page book. ... Read more

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This book is based on many years of teaching statistical and thermal physics. It assumes no previous knowledge of thermodynamics, kinetic theory, or probability--the only prerequisites are an elementary knowledge of classical and modern physics, and of multivariable calculus.

The first half of the book introduces the subject inductively but rigorously, proceeding from the concrete and specific to the abstract and general. In clear physical language the book explains the key concepts, such as temperature, heat, entropy, free energy, chemical potential, and distributions, both classical and quantum.

The second half of the book applies these concepts to a wide variety of phenomena, including perfect gases, heat engines, and transport processes. Each chapter contains fully worked examples and real-world problems drawn from physics, astronomy, biology, chemistry, electronics, and mechanical engineering. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The best introduction to the subject I've seen
I wish I had this textbook when I was an undergraduate, some thirty years ago.

Professor Sturge seamlessly combines results of both classical and statistical thermodynamics in a clear and enjoyable introduction to the subject. The greatest delight comes in the second half of this book, when those seemingly messy and arbitrary topics that used to be taught in introductory thermodynamics courses (heat engines, phase transitions) are presented as logical results and applications of the general theory.

Many of the problems presented at the end of each chapter are worth the effort because they often bring new insights.

I recommend this textbook to anyone who wants to understand rather than just pass their first course in thermodynamics,

Terrible
This book is terrible.We used it for my introductory statistical mechanics class, and no one I talked to in that class liked the book.Things are not explained clearly, equations are often not derived, but either left as exercises, or just stated.Many important results aren't stated clearly, are only implicitly stated, or are hidden in the text.Examples are often not done clearly, and pretty much just state the question and then the answer without showing you how it was arrived at.The index is also worthless, and does not actually list things found in the book.This is one of the worst physics books I've ever used.

A wonderful book
I was fortunate enough to be one of Prof. Sturge's Physics 43 students in 1999.My classmates and I found this to be a wonderful book written by a first-rate teacher.We firmly believe that we found all of the errors and typos ;)

The problem sets nicely complement the text and cover a wide-range of topics.I still have my copy (a soft-binding before AK Peters published it), it is that good.Buy it and consider your money very well spent. ... Read more

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This volume records the proceedings of a Forum attended by many leading researchers working in the field of Electron Density, Density Matrix and Density Functional Theory held at the Coseners' House, Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, UK in early summer 2002.
The meeting concluded with a Forum, ably chaired by B.T. Sutcliffe, in which the latest research and results were discussed. A record of this Forum is included in this volume.
This book will be of value to researchers and research students in theoretical chemistry and theoretical physics whose work involves the theoretical study of atoms, molecules and the solid state. It will be of interest to quantum chemists and solid state physicists, to materials scientists and applied mathematicians. ... Read more

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Relativity plays an important role in atomic nuclei, and, since the early 1970s, there has been increasing interest in, and literature on, the nucleus as a relativistic system. In fact, the relativistic treatment provides a powerful method to describe nuclear structure and reactions. It is thus an ideal time to collect and review the important landmarks in this book. Directed to advanced students and researchers, it explains both the underlying relativistic theory and compares predictions with actual experiments.

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From Newton to Mandelbrot takes the student on a tour of the most important landmarks of theoretical physics: classical, quantum, and statistical mechanics, relativity, electrodynamics, and, the most modern and exciting of all, the physics of fractals. The treatment is confined to the essentials of each area, and short computer programs, numerous problems, and beautiful color illustrations round off this unusual textbook. Ideally suited for a one-year course in theoretical physics it will also prove useful in preparing and revising for exams. This edition is corrected and includes a new appendix on elementary particle physics, answers to all short questions, and a diskette where a selection of executable programs exploring the fractal concept can be found. ... Read more