Meeting Pearls 1/Meeting Pearls Vol 1 (1994).iso/installed_progs/text/faqs/physics-faq.part1

Internet Message Format | 1994-05-01 | 46.2 KB

Subject: Sci.physics Frequently Asked Questions - May 1994  - Part 1/4
Newsgroups: sci.physics,sci.physics.particle,alt.sci.physics.new-theories,news.answers,sci.answers,alt.answers
From: [e-mail] (SCOTT I CHASE)
Date: 30 Apr 1994 17:01 PST

Archive-name: physics-faq/part1
Last-modified: 30-APR-1994

Editor's notes:

I have finally gotten around to some overdue upgrades to the FAQ, some
of which deserve a word or two of comment:

(1) The FAQ is now cross-posted to sci.physics.particle.  If anyone has
further suggestions to improve distribution, let me know.

(2) The FAQ has bifurcated into four sections.  The first is administrative.
The others contain answers to physics questions, and will be reorganized
into coherent groups by subject at some later time.  This change may cause
some confusion over at rtfm or with the *.answers newsgroups.  Please
be patient - the bugs will work themselves out.

(3) There has been a storm of controversy on the faq-maintainer's mailing
list due to several unauthorized attempts by CDROM manufacturers and
other for-profit groups to steal all or part of many FAQ lists (including
this one) for such purposes as publication in book form, publication in
other languages, etc., without the consent or even notification of the
authors of those FAQs.  The upshot is that I have adopted widely used
copyright and warranty disclaimer notices in order to protect myself and
the other authors of articles in the FAQ from some possible future problems.

(4) There are two new articles.  Thanks to Vijay Fafat, we finally  have
the beginnings of an on-line bibliography of standard physics texts.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON SCI.PHYSICS - Part 1/4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This Frequently Asked Questions List is posted monthly, on or near
the first of the month, to the USENET newsgroups sci.physics.research,
sci.physics and alt.sci.physics.new-theories in an attempt to provide good
answers to frequently asked questions and other reference material which is
worth preserving. If you have corrections or answers to other frequently
asked questions that you would like included in this posting, send E-mail
to [e-mail] (Scott I. Chase).

    This document, as a collection, is Copyright (c) 1994 by Scott I.
Chase ([e-mail]).  The individual articles are Copyright (c) 1994 by
the individual authors listed.  All rights are reserved.  Permission to use,
copy and distribute this unmodified document by any means and for any
purpose EXCEPT PROFIT PURPOSES is hereby granted, provided that both the
above Copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies of
the FAQ itself.  Reproducing this FAQ by any means, included, but not
limited to, printing, copying existing prints, publishing by electronic or
other means, implies full agreement to the above non-profit-use clause,
unless upon explicit prior written permission of the authors.

    This FAQ is provided by the authors "as is," with all its faults.
Any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, any
implied warranties of merchantability, accuracy, or fitness for any
particular purpose are disclaimed.  If you use the information in this
document, in any way, you do so at your own risk.

    This document is probably out of date if you are reading it more
than 30 days after the date which appears in the header.  You can find an
updated version by all the methods described in the periodic posting
entitled "How to Find the Sci.Physics FAQ."  The easiest way to for most
people to get a copy of any FAQ is by anonymous FTP or via email server
from rtfm.mit.edu.  By FTP, look for the files

   /pub/usenet/news.answers/physics-faq/part1
   /pub/usenet/news.answers/physics-faq/part2
   /pub/usenet/news.answers/physics-faq/part3
   /pub/usenet/news.answers/physics-faq/part4

To use the E-mail server, send mail to rtfm.mit.edu with a blank subject
line and the words

    send usenet/news.answers/physics-faq/part1
    send usenet/news.answers/physics-faq/part2
    send usenet/news.answers/physics-faq/part3
    send usenet/news.answers/physics-faq/part4

as the body of the message.  For more details, see the periodic informational
postings in sci.physics or news.announce.newusers.

    The FAQ is distributed to all interested parties whenever sufficient
changes have accumulated to  warrant such a mailing.  To request that your
address be added to the list, send mail to my address, above, and include
the words "FAQ Mailing List" in  the subject header of your message.  Please
send your request from the exact address you would like to use for receipt
of the FAQ.  To faciliate mailing, the FAQ is now being distributed as a
multi-part posting.

    If you are a new reader of the Physics newsgroups, please read
item #1, below.   If you do not wish to read the FAQ at all, add
"Frequently Asked Questions" to your .KILL file.

    A listing of new items can be found above the subject index, so
that you can quickly identify new subjects of interest.  To locate old
items which have been updated since the last posting, look for the stars (*)
in the subject index, which indicate new material.

    Items which have been submitted by a single individual are
attributed to the original author.  All other contributors have been thanked
privately.

New Items:  4. A Physics Booklist - Recommendations from the Net
       21. Does Antimatter Fall Up or Down?

Index of Subjects
-----------------
 1.*An Introduction to the Physics Newsgroups on USENET
 2. The Care and Feeding of Kill Files
 3. Accessing and Using Online Physics Resources
 4.*A Physics Booklist - Recommendations from the Net
 5. Gravitational Radiation
 6. Energy Conservation in Cosmology and Red Shift
 7. Effects Due to the Finite Speed of Light
 8.*The Top Quark
 9. Tachyons
10. Special Relativistic Paradoxes and Puzzles
    (a) The Barn and the Pole
    (b) The Twin Paradox
    (c) The Superluminal Scissors
11. The Particle Zoo
12. Olbers' Paradox
13. What is Dark Matter?
14. Hot Water Freezes Faster than Cold!
15. Why are Golf Balls Dimpled?
16. How to Change Nuclear Decay Rates
17. What is a Dippy Bird, and how is it used?
18. Some Frequently Asked Questions About Black Holes
19. Below Absolute Zero - What Does Negative Temperature Mean?
20. Which Way Will my Bathtub Drain?
21.*Does Antimatter Fall Up or Down?
22. Why do Mirrors Reverse Left and Right?
23. What is the Mass of a Photon?
24. Why Do Stars Twinkle While Planets Do Not?
25. Baryogenesis - Why Are There More Protons Than Antiprotons?
26. Time Travel - Fact or Fiction?
27. The EPR Paradox and Bell's Inequality Principle
28. The Nobel Prize for Physics
29. Open Questions

********************************************************************************
Item 1.                                         updated 10-APR-1994 by SIC
                        original by Scott I. Chase

An Introduction to the Physics Newsgroups on USENET
---------------------------------------------------

    The USENET hierarchy contains a number of newsgroups dedicated to
the discussion of physics and physics-related topics.  These include
sci.physics, sci.physics.research, sci.physics.particle and
alt.sci.physics.new-theories, to all of which this general physics FAQ
is cross-posted.  Some of the more narrowly focussed physics newsgroups
have their own FAQs, which can, of course, be found in the appropriate
newsgroups.

    Sci.Physics is an unmoderated newsgroup dedicated to the discussion
of physics, news from the physics community, and physics-related social
issues.  Sci.Physics.Research is a moderated newgroup designed to offer an
environment with less traffic and more opportunity for discussion of
serious topics in physics among experts and beginners alike.  The current
moderators of sci.physics.research are John Baez ([e-mail]),
William Johnson([e-mail]), Cameron Randale (Dale) Bass
([e-mail]), and Lee Sawyer ([e-mail]).
Sci.physics.particle is an unmoderated newsgroup dedicated to the discussion
of all aspects of particle physics by people with all levels of expertise.
Alt.sci.physics.new-theories is an open forum for discussion of any topics
related to conventional or unconventional physics.  In this context,
"unconventional physics" includes any ideas on physical science, whether
or not they are widely accepted by the mainstream physics community.

    People from a wide variety of non-physics backgrounds, as well
as students and experts in all areas of physics participate in the ongoing
discussions on these newsgroups.  Professors, industrial scientists,
graduate students, etc., are all on hand to bring physics expertise to
bear on almost any question.   But the only requirement for participation
is interest in physics, so feel free to post -- but before you do, please
do the following:

(1) Read this posting, a.k.a., the FAQ.  It contains good answers,
contributed by the readership,  to some of the most frequently asked
questions.

(2) Understand "netiquette."  If you are not sure what this means,
subscribe to news.announce.newusers and read the excellent discussion of
proper net behavior that is posted there periodically.

(3) Be aware that there is another newsgroup dedicated to the discussion of
"alternative" physics.  It is alt.sci.physics.new-theories, and is the
appropriate forum for discussion of physics ideas which are not widely
accepted by the physics community.  Sci.Physics is not the group for such
discussions.  A quick look at items posted to both groups will make the
distinction apparent.

(4) Read the responses already posted in the thread to which you want to
contribute.  If a good answer is already posted, or the point you wanted
to make has already been made, let it be.  Old questions have probably been
thoroughly discussed by the time you get there - save bandwidth by posting
only new information.  Post to as narrow a geographic region as is
appropriate.  If your comments are directed at only one person, try E-mail.

(5) Get the facts right!  Opinions may differ, but facts should not.  It is
very tempting for new participants to jump in with quick answers to physics
questions posed to the group.  But it is very easy to end up feeling silly
when people barrage you with corrections.  So before you give us all a
physics lesson you'll regret - look it up.

(6) Don't post textbook problems in the hope that someone will do your
homework for you.  Do you own homework; it's good for you.   On the other
hand, questions, even about elementary physics, are always welcome.  So
if you want to discuss the physics which is relevent to your homework,
feel free to do so.  Be warned that you may still have plenty of
work to do, trying to figure out which of the many answers you get are
correct.

(7) Be prepared for heated discussion.  People have strong opinions about
the issues, and discussions can get a little "loud" at times. Don't take it
personally if someone seems to always jump all over everything you say.
Everyone was jumping all over everybody long before you got there!  You
can keep the discussion at a low boil by trying to stick to the facts.
Clearly separate facts from opinion - don't let people think you are
confusing your opinions with scientific truth.  And keep the focus of
discussion on the ideas, not the people who post them.

(8) Tolerate everyone.  People of many different points of view, and widely
varying educational backgrounds from around the world participate in this
newsgroup.  Respect for others will be returned in kind.  Personal
criticism is usually not welcome.

********************************************************************************
Item 2.

The Care and Feeding of Kill Files              updated 28-SEP-1993 by SIC
----------------------------------              original by Scott I. Chase

    With most newsreaders, it is possible for you to selectively ignore
articles with certain title words, or by a certain author.  This feature is
implemented as a "kill file," which contains instructions to your
newsreader about how to filter out unwanted articles.  The exact details on
how to specify articles you want to ignore varies from program to program,
so you should check the documentation for your particular newsreader. Some
examples are given below for a few common newsreaders.  If your newsreader
does not support kill files, you may want to consider upgrading to one that
does.  Some of the more popular newsreaders that support kill files are rn,
trn, nn, xrn, gnews, and gnus.

    Let's say that you wish to `kill' all posts made by a certain user.
Using the `rn' or `trn' newsreader, you would type a [CTRL]-K while in read
mode to begin editing the kill file, and then type the following:

     /From: [e-mail]/h:j

This will look for articles that come with "From: [e-mail]" in
the header, junk them, and then display the subject lines of titles that
just got zapped.

For names of Subject titles, you would type something like this:

     /: *The Big Bang Never Happened/:j
     /: *Space Potatoes Have Inertia/:j

When finished, save the kill file in the normal manner for the editor
you're using.

In trn 3.0 and higher you can use the faster command

     /username@sitename\.com/f:j

to kill all of username's postings. In trn change the 'j' to ',' to kill
all the replies as well.  Note the '\' to escape the '.'. This is needed in
any search string in a kill file (although they usually work if you
forget). Also in [t]rn you can simply hit K to automatically killfile the
current subject without directly editing the file.

    For the `nn' newsreader, type a capital K when viewing the contents
of a newsgroup.  nn will then ask you a few questions on whether it is a
Subject or a Name, duration of time that the posts are to be killed, etc.
Simply answer the questions accordingly.

    There's a lot more to it, of course, when you become proficient.
You can kill all articles cross-posted to specific groups, for example, or
kill any article with a particular name or phrase appearing anywhere in the
header.  A good primer is in the "rn KILL file FAQ" which appears
periodically in news.answers.  You should also check the man pages for your
particular newsreader.

********************************************************************************
Item 3.                                         updated 30-JAN-1994 by SIC
                                            original by Scott I. Chase
Accessing and Using Online Physics Resources
--------------------------------------------

(I) Particle Physics Databases

    The Full Listings of the Review of Particle Properties (RPP), as
well as other particle physics databases, are accessible on-line.  Here is
a summary of the major ones, as described in the RPP:

(A) SLAC Databases

PARTICLES   - Full listings of the RPP
HEP         - Guide to particle physics preprints, journal articles, reports,
              theses, conference papers, etc.
CONF        - Listing of past and future conferences in particle physics
HEPNAMES    - E-mail addresses of many HEP people
INST        - Addresses of HEP institutions
DATAGUIDE   - Adjunct to HEP, indexes papers
REACTIONS   - Numerical data on reactions (cross-sections, polarizations, etc)
EXPERIMENTS - Guide to current and past experiments

Anyone with a SLAC account can access these databases.  Alternately, most
of us can access them via QSPIRES.  You can access QSPIRES via BITNET with
the 'send' command ('tell','bsend', or other system-specific command) or by
using E-mail.  For example, send QSPIRES@SLACVM FIND TITLE Z0 will get you
a search of HEP for all papers which reference the Z0 in the title.  By
E-mail, you would send the one line message "FIND TITLE Z0" with a blank
subject line to [e-mail] or [e-mail].
QSPIRES is free.  Help can be obtained by mailing "HELP" to QSPIRES.

For more detailed information, see the RPP, p.I.12, or contact: Louise
Addis ([e-mail]) or Harvey Galic ([e-mail]).

(B) CERN Databases on ALICE

LIB         - Library catalogue of books, preprints, reports, etc.
PREP        - Subset of LIB containing preprints, CERN publications, and
              conference papers.
CONF        - Subset of LIB containing upcoming and past conferences since 1986
DIR         - Directory of Research Institutes in HEP, with addresses, fax,
              telex, e-mail addresses, and info on research programs

ALICE can be accessed via DECNET or INTERNET.  It runs on the CERN library's
VXLIB, alias ALICE.CERN.CH (IP# 128.141.201.44).  Use Username ALICE (no
password required.)  Remote users with no access to the CERN Ethernet can
use QALICE, similar to QSPIRES.  Send E-mail to [e-mail], put
the query in the subject field and leave the message field black.  For
more information, send the subject "HELP" to QALICE or contact CERN
Scientific Information Service, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland,
or E-mail [e-mail].

Regular weekly or monthly searches of the CERN databases can be arranged
according to a personal search profile.  Contact David Dallman, CERN SIS
(address above) or E-mail [e-mail].

DIR is available in Filemaker PRO format for Macintosh.  Contact Wolfgang
Simon ([e-mail]).

(C) Particle Data Group Online Service

    The Particle Data Group is maintaining a new user-friendly computer
database of the Full Listings from the Review of Particle Properties. Users
may query by paper, particle, mass range, quantum numbers, or detector and
can select specific properties or classes of properties like masses or
decay parameters. All other relevant information (e.g. footnotes and
references) is included. Complete instructions are available online.

    The last complete update of the RPP database was a copy of the Full
Listings from the Review of Particle Properties which was published as
Physical Review D45, Part 2 (1 June 1992). A subsequent update made on 27
April 1993 was complete for unstable mesons, less complete for the W, Z, D
mesons, and stable baryons, and otherwise was unchanged from the 1992
version.

DECNET access: SET HOST MUSE or SET HOST 42062
TCP/IP access: TELNET MUSE.LBL.GOV or TELNET 131.243.48.11
Login to: PDG_PUBLIC with password HEPDATA.

Contact: Gary S. Wagman, [phone].  Email: ([e-mail]).

(D) Other Databases

Durham-RAL and Serpukhov both maintain large databases containing Particle
Properties, reaction data, experiments, E-mail ID's, cross-section
compilations (CS), etc.  Except for the Serpukhov CS, these databases
overlap SPIRES at SLAC considerably, though they are not the same and may
be more up-to-date.  For details, see the RPP, p.I.14, or contact:
For Durham-RAL, Mike Whalley ([e-mail],[e-mail]) or
Dick Roberts ([e-mail]).  For Serpukhov, contact Sergey Alekhin
([e-mail]) or Vladimir Exhela ([e-mail]).

(II) Online Preprint Sources

There are a number of online sources of preprints:

[e-mail] (algebraic geometry)
[e-mail]           (astrophysics)
[e-mail]           (condensed matter)
[e-mail]           (functional analysis)
[e-mail]            (computational and lattice physics)
[e-mail]                 (high energy physics phenomenological)
[e-mail]                 (high energy physics theoretical)
[e-mail]              (liquid crystals, optical materials)
[e-mail]                  (general relativity, quantum cosmology)
[e-mail],               (nuclear physics theory)
[e-mail]               (nonlinear science)

    To get things if you know the preprint number, send a message to
the appropriate address with subject header "get (preprint number)" and
no message body. If you *don't* know the preprint number, or want to get
preprints regularly, or want other information, send a message with
subject header "help" and no message body.

(III) The World Wide Web

    There is a wealth of information, on all sorts of topics, available
on the World Wide Web [WWW], a distributed HyperText system (a network of
documents connected by links which can be activated electronically).
Subject matter includes some physics areas such as High Energy Physics,
Astrophysics abstracts, and Space Science, but also includes such diverse
subjects as bioscience, musics, and the law.

* How to get to the Web

       If you have no clue what WWW is, you can go over the Internet with
telnet to info.cern.ch (no login required) which brings you to the WWW
Home Page at CERN. You are now using the simple line mode browser. To move
around the Web, enter the number given after an item.

* Browsing the Web

    If you have a WWW browser up and running, you can move around
more easily. The by far nicest way of "browsing" through WWW uses the
X-Terminal based tool "XMosaic". Binaries for many platforms (ready for use)
and sources are available via anonymous FTP from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in directory
Web/xmosaic.  The general FTP repository for browser software is info.cern.ch
(including a hypertext browser/editor for NeXTStep 3.0)

* For Further Information

    For questions related to WWW, try consulting the WWW-FAQ: Its most
recent version is available via anonymous FTP on rtfm.mit.edu in
/pub/usenet/news.answers/www-faq , or on WWW at
http://www.vuw.ac.nz:80/non-local/gnat/www-faq.html

    The official contact (in fact the midwife of the World Wide Web)
is Tim Berners-Lee, [e-mail]. For general matters on WWW, try
[e-mail] or Robert Cailliau (responsible for the "physics"
content of the Web, [e-mail]).

(IV) Other Archive Sites

(A)    FreeHEP

    The FreeHEP collection of software, useful to high energy physicists
is available on the Web as

  http://heplibw3.slac.stanford.edu:80/FIND/FHMAIN.HTML

or anonymous ftp to freehep.scri.fsu.edu.  This is high-energy oriented but
has much which is useful to other fields also.  Contact Saul Youssef
([e-mail]) for more information.

(B)
    There is an FTP archive site of preprints and programs
for nonlinear dynamics, signal processing, and related subjects on node
lyapunov.ucsd.edu (132.239.86.10) at the Institute for Nonlinear Science,
UCSD.  Just login anonymously, using your host id as your password. Contact
Matt Kennel ([e-mail]) for more information.

********************************************************************************
Item 4.                        original Vijay D. Fafat
                                                updated 30-APR-1994 by SIC

A Physics Booklist - Recommendations from the Net
-------------------------------------------------

This article is a complilation of books recommended by sci.physics
participants as the 'standard' or 'classic' texts on a wide variety of
topics of general interest to physicists and physics students.  As a
guide to finding the right book for you, many of the comments from the
contributors have been retained.

This document is still under construction.  Many entries are incomplete,
and many good books are not yet listed.  Please feel free to contribute
to this project. Contact [e-mail], who will compile the
information for future updates.

The formatting and organization of this article will also be reviewed
and improved in future updates.  This is the first try, and it shows.
Please bear with us.

Subject Index
-------------

You can find books in the area of your choice by searching forward for
the following keywords:

General Physics
Classical Mechanics
Classical Electromagnetism
Quantum Mechanics
Statistical Mechanics
Condensed Matter
Special Relativity
Particle Physics
General Relativity
Mathematical Methods
Nuclear Physics
Cosmology
Astronomy
Plasma Physics
Numerical Methods/Simulations
Fluid Dynamics
Nonlinear Dynamics, Complexity and Chaos
Optics (Classical and Quantum), Lasers
Mathematical Phyiscs
Atomic Phyiscs
Low Temperature Physics, Superconductivity

------------------------------
Subject: General Physics (so even mathematicians can understand it!)

1] M. S. Longair, Theoretical concepts in physics, 1986.
An alternative view of theoretical reasoning in Physics for
final year undergrads.

2] Sommerfeld, Arnold - Lectures on Theoretical Physics
Sommerfeld is God for mathematical physics.

3] Feynman, R: The Feynman lectures on Physics - 3 vols.

4] Walker, Jearle: The Flying Circus of Physics

Note: There is the entire Landau and Lifshitz series. They have volumes
on classical mechanics, classical field theory, E&M, QM, QFT, Statistical
Physics, and more. Very good series that spans entire graduate level
curriculum.

------------------------------
Subject: Classical Mechanics

1] Goldstein, Herbert "Classical Mechanics", 2nd ed, 1980.
intermediate to advanced; excellent bibliography

2] Introductory: The Feyman Lectures, vol 1.

3] Symon, Keith - Mechanics, 3rd ed., 1971
undergrad level.

4] Corbin, H and Stehle, P - Classical Mechanics, 2nd ed., 1960

5] V.I. Arnold, Mathematical methods of classical mechanics, translated
by K. Vogtmann and A. Weinstein, 2nd ed., 1989.
The appendices are somewhat more advanced and cover all sorts of
nifty topics. Deals with Geometrical aspects of classical mechanics

6] Resnick, R and Halliday, D - Physics, vol 1, 4th Ed., 1993
Excellent introduction without much calculus. Lots of problems and
review questions.

7] Marion, J & Thornton, "Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems",
2nd ed., 1970.
Undergrad level. A useful intro to classical dynamics.  Not as advanced
as Goldstein, but with real worked-out examples.

8] Fetter, A and Walecka, J: Theoretical mechanics of particles and continua.
graduate level text, a little less impressive than Goldstein (and sometimes
a little less obtuse)

------------------------------
Subject: Classical Electromagnetism

1] Jackson, J. D. "Classical Electrodynamics", 2nd ed., 1975
intermediate to advanced.

2] a] Edward Purcell, Berkely Physics Series Vol 2.
You can't beat this for the intelligent, reasonably sophisticated
beginning physics student. He tells you on the very first page
about the experimental proof of how charge does not vary with
speed.

   b] Chen, Min, Berkeley Physics problems with solutions.


3] Reitz, J, Milford, F and Christy, R: Foundations of Electromagnetic Theory
3rd ed., 1979
Undergraduate level. Pretty difficult to learn from at first, but good
reference, for     some calculations involving stacks of thin films and their
reflectance and transmission properties, for eg.  It's a good, rigorous text
as far as it goes, which is pretty far, but not all the way.  For example,
they have a great section on optical properties of a single thin film
between two dielectric semi-infinate media, but no generalization to stacks
of films.

4] Feynman, R: Feynman Lectures, vol 2

5] Lorrain, P & Corson D: Electromagnetism, Principles and Applications, 1979

6] Resnick, R and Halliday, D: Physics, vol 2, 4th ed., 1993

7] Igor Irodov, Problems in Physics.
Excellent and extensive collection of EM problems for undergrads.

8] Smythe, William: Static and Dynamic Electricity, 3rd ed., 1968
For the extreme masochists. Some of the most hair-raising EM
problems you'll ever see. Definitely not for the weak-of-heart.

9] Landau, Lifschitz, and Pitaevskii, "Electrodynamics of Continuous Media,"
2nd ed., 1984
same level as Jackson and with lots of material not in Jackson.

10] Marion, J and Heald, M: "Classical Electromagnetic Radiation," 2nd ed.,
1980  undergraduate or low-level graduate level

------------------------------
Subject: Quantum Mechanics

1] Cohen-Tannoudji, "Quantum Mechanics I & II", 1977.
introductory to intermediate.

2] Liboff - Introductory Quantum Mechanics, 2nd ed., 1992
elementary level. Makes a few mistakes.

3] Sakurai, J - Modern Quantum Mechanics, 1985

4] Sakurai, J - Advanced Quantum Mechanics, 1967
Good as an introduction to the very basic beginnings of quantum field
theory, except that it has the unfortunate feature of using 'imaginary time'
to make Minkowski space look Euclidean.

5] Wheeler, J and Zurek, W (eds.)  Quantum Theory and Measurement, 1983
On the philosophical end. People who want to know about interpretations
of quantum mechanics should definitely look at this collection of
relevant articles.

6] DeWitt, C and Neill Graham: The Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum
Mechanics
Philosophical. Collection of articles.

7] Everett, H: "Theory of the Universal Wavefunction"
An exposition which has some gems on thermodynamics and probability.
Worth reading for this alone.

8] Bjorken, J and Drell, S - Relativistic Quantum Mechanics/ Relativistic
Quantum Fields
(for comments, see under Particle Physics)

9] Ryder, Lewis - Quantum Field Theory, 1984

10] Guidry, M - Gauge Field Theories :  an introduction with applications,
1991

11] Messiah, A: Quantum Mechanics, 1961

12] Dirac, Paul:
    a] Principles of QM, 4th ed., 1958
    b] Lectures in QM, 1964
    c] Lectures on Quantum Field Theory, 1966

13] Itzykson, C and Zuber, J: Quantum Field Theory, 1980
Very advanced level.

14] Slater, J: "Quantum theory: Address, essays, lectures.
Good follow on to Schiff.

      note: Schiff, Bjorken and Drell, Fetter and Walecka, and Slater
      are all volumes in "International Series in pure and Applied Physics"
      published by McGraw Hill.

&&&&&&& 15] Pierre Ramond, Something like "Introduction to Field Theory". In the
    Addison Wesley Frontiers in Physics Series.

16] Feynman, R: Lectures - vol III :
A non-traditional approach. A good place to get an intuitive feel
for QM, if one already knows the traditional approach.

&&&&&&& 17] Heitler & London, "Quantum theory of molecules"??

18] Bell: Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics, 1987
An excellent collection of essays on the philosophical aspects of QM.

19] Milonni: The quantum vacuum: an introduction to quantum electrodynamics
        1994.

&&&&&&& 20] Holland: The Quantum Theory of Motion
A good bet for strong foundation in QM.

21] John Von Neumann: Mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics, 1955.
For the more mathematical side of quantum theory, especially for
those who are going to be arguing about measurement theory.

22] Schiff, Leonard, L: Quantum Mechanics, 3rd ed., 1968
A little old. Not much emphasis on airy-fairy things like many worlds
or excessive angst over Heisenberg UP. Straight up QM for people
who want to do calculations. Introductory gradauate level. Mostly
Schrod. eqn. Spin included, but only in an adjunct to Schrod. Not
much emphasis on things like Dirac eqn., etc.

23] "Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei, and Particles" by
Eisberg and Resnick, 2nd ed., 1985.
This is a basic intro. to QM, and it is excellent for
undergrads. It is not thorough with math, but fills in a lot
of the  intuitive stuff that most textbooks do not present.

------------------------------
Subject: Statistical Mechanics

1] David Chandler, "Introduction to Modern Statistical Mechanics", 1987

&&&&&&& 2] Kittel & Kroemer: Statistical Thermodynamics.
Best of a bad lot.

3] Rief, F : Principles of statistical and thermal physics.
the big and little Reif stat mech books. Big Reif is much better than
Kittel & Kroemer. He uses clear language but avoids the handwaving that
thermodynamics often gives rise to. More classical than QM oriented.

4] Bloch, Felix: Fundamentals of Statistical Mechanics.

5] Radu Balescu "Statistical Physics"
Graduate Level. Good description of non-equilibrium stat. mech.
but difficult to read. It is all there, but often you don't
realize it until after you have learned it somewhere else.
Nice development in early chapters about parallels between
classical and quantum Stat. Mech.

&&&&&&&6] Huang (grad)

------------------------------
Subject: Condensed Matter

1] Charles Kittel, "Introduction to Solid State Physics", intro

2] Ashcroft and Mermin, "Solid State Physics", interm to advanced

------------------------------
Subject: Special Relativity

1] Taylor and Wheeler, _Spacetime Physics_
Still the best introduction out there.

2] "Relativity" :  Einstein's popular exposition.

3] Wolfgang Rindler, Essential Relativity. Springer 1977
With a heavy bias towards astrophysics and therefore on a more
moderate level formally. Quite strong on intuition.

4] A P French: Special Relativity
A through introductory text.  Good discussion of the twin
paradox, pole and the barn etc.  Plenty of diagrams
illustrating lorentz transformed co-ordinates, giving both an
algebraic and geometrical insight to SR.

------------------------------
Subject: Particle Physics

1] Kerson Huang, Quarks, leptons & gauge fields, World Scientific, 1982.
Good on mathematical aspects of gauge theory and topology.

2] L. B. Okun, Leptons and quarks, translated from Russian by V. I. Kisin,
North-Holland, 1982.

3] T. D. Lee, Particle physics and introduction to field theory.

4] Fetter & Walecka: Theoretical Mechanics of Particles and Continua.

5] Itzykson: Particle Physics

6] Bjorken & Drell: "Relativistic Quantum Mechanics"
One of the more terse books.  The first volume on
Relativistic quantum mechanics covers the subject in a blinding 300
pages.  Very good if you *really* want to know the subject.

7] Halzen & Martin, "Quarks & Leptons", beginner to intermediate
A very good introduction to the concepts of particle physics.  Good
examples, but not a lot of Feynman diagram calculation.  For this,
see Bjorken & Drell.


8] Donald H. Perkins: Introduction to high energy physics
Regarded by many people in the field as the best introductory text at
the undergraduate level. Covers basically everything with almost no
mathematics.

9] Francis Halzen and Alan D. Martin: Quarks and leptons, an
     introductory course in modern particle physics
Standard textbook for graduate level courses. Good knowledge of
quantum mechanics and special relativity is assumed.

10]  Christine Sutton: Spaceship Neutrino
    A good, historical, largely intuitive introduction to
particle physics, seen from the neutrino viewpoint.

------------------------------
Subject: General Relativity

1] The telephone book, er, that is, MTW, Meisner, Thorne and Wheeler.
The "bible". W. H. Freeman & Co., San Francisco 1973

2] Robert M. Wald, Space, Time, and Gravity : the Theory of the Big Bang
   and Black Holes.
A good nontechnical introduction, with a nice mix of mathematical
rigor and comprehensible physics.

3] Schutz: First Course in General Relativity.

4] Weinberg: Gravitation and Cosmology
Good reference book, but not a very good read.

5] Hans Ohanian: Gravitation & Spacetime (recently back in print)
For someone who actually wants to learn to work problems, ideal
for self-teaching, and math is introduced as needed, rather than
in a colossal blast.

------------------------------
Subject: Mathematical Methods (so that even physicists can understand it!)

1] Morse and Feshbach - Methods of Theoretical Physics (can be hard to
   find)

2] Mathews and Walker, Mathematical Methods for Physicists.
An absolute joy for those who love math, and very informative even
for those who don't.

3] Arfken "Mathermatical Methods for Physicists" Academic Press
Good introduction at graduate level. Not comprehensive in any
area, but covers many areas widely. Arfken is to math methods
what numerical recipes is to numerical methods -- good intro, but
not the last word.

4] Zwillinger "Handbook of Differential Equations." Academic Press
Kind of like CRC tables but for ODE's and PDE's. Good
reference book when you've got a Diff. Eq. and wnat to find a
solution.

5] Gradshteyn and Ryzhik "Table of Integrals, Series, and Products" Academic
THE book of integrals. Huge, but useful when you need an integral.


------------------------------
Subject: Nuclear Physics

1] Preston and Bhaduri, "Structure of the Nucleus"

2] Blatt and Weisskopf - Theoretical Nuclear Physics

3] DeShalit and Feshbach - Theoretical Nuclear Physics
This is serious stuff.  Also quite expensive even in paper.  I think
the hard cover is out of print.  This is volume I (structure).
Volume II (scattering) is also available.

4] Satchler: "Direct Nuclear Reactions".


------------------------------
Subject: Cosmology

1] J. V. Narlikar, Introduction to Cosmology.1983 Jones & Bartlett Publ.
For people with a solid background in physics and higher math, THE
introductory text, IMHO, because it hits the balance between
mathematical accuracy (tensor calculus and stuff) and intuitive
clarity/geometrical models very well for grad student level. Of course,
it has flaws but only noticeable by the Real Experts (TM) ...

2] Hawking: Brief History of Time
Popular Science

3] Weinberg: First Three Minutes
A very good book.  It's pretty old, but most of the information in it
is still correct.

4] Timothy Ferris: Coming of Age in the Milky Way.
Popular Science.

5] Kolb and Turner: The Early Universe.
At a more advanced level, a standard reference.  As the title implies,
K&T cover mostly the strange physics of very early times: it's heavy
on the particle physics, and skimps on the astrophysics.  There's a
primer on large-scale structure, which is the most active area of
cosmological research, but it's really not all that good.

6] Peebles: Principles of Physical Cosmology.
Comprehensive, and on the whole it's quite a good book, but it's
rather poorly organized.  I find myself jumping back and forth through
the book whenever I want to find anything.

7] "Black Holes and Warped Spacetime", by William J. Kaufmann, III.
This is a great, fairly thorough, though non-mathematical
description  of black holes and spacetime as it relates to
cosmology. I was impressed by how few mistakes Kaufmann makes in
simplifying, while most such books tend to sacrifice accuracy for
simplicity.

8] "Principles of Cosmology and Gravitation", Berry, M. V.
This is very well-written, and useful as an undergrad text.

9] Dennis Overbye: Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos
The unfinished history of converge on Hubble's constant is
presented, from the perspective of competing astrophysics
rival teams and institute, along with a lot of background on cosmology
(a lot on inflation, for instance).  A good insight into the scientific
process.

------------------------------
Subject: Astronomy

1] Hannu Karttunen et al. (eds.): Fundamental Astronomy.
The best book covering all of astronomy (also for absolute beginners)
AND still going into a lot of detail for special work for people more
involved AND presenting excellent graphics and pictures.

2] Pasachoff: Contemporary Astronomy
Good introductory textbook for the nontechnical reader.  It gives a
pretty good overview of the important topics, and it has good pictures.

3] Shu, Frank: The physical universe : an introduction to astronomy,

------------------------------
Subject: Plasma Physics

(See Robert Heeter's sci.phys.fusion FAQ for details)



------------------------------
Subject: Numerical Methods/Simulations

1] Johnson and Rees "Numerical Analysis" Addison Wesley
Undergrad. level broad intro.

2] Numerical Recipes in X (X=c,fortran,pascal,etc) Tueklosky and Press

3] Young and Gregory "A survey of Numerical Mathmematics" Dover 2 volumes.
Excellent overview at grad. level. Emphasis toward solution
of elliptic PDE's, but good description of methods to get there
including linear algebra, Matrix techniques, ODE solving methods,
and interpolation theory. Biggest strength is it provides a coherent
framework and structure to attach most commonly used num. methods.
This helps understanding about why to use one method or another.
2 volumes.

4]Hockney and Eastwood "Computer Simulation Using Particles" Adam Hilger
Good exposition of particle-in-cell (PIC) method and extensions.
Applications to plasmas, astronmy, and solid state are discussed.
Emphasis is on description of algortihms. Some results shown.

5] Birdsall and Langdon "Plasma Physics via Computer Simulations"
PIC simulation applied to plasmas. Source codes shown. First part
is almost a tutorial on how to do PIC. Second part is like a
series of review articles on different PIC methods.

6] Tajima "Computational Plasma Physics: With Applications to Fusion and
Astrophysics" Addison Wesley Frontiers in physics Series.
Algorthims described. Emphasis on physics that can be simulated.
Applications limited to plasmas, but subjest areas very broad,
fusion, cosmology, solar astrophysics, magnetospheric physics,
plasma turbulence, general astrophysics.

------------------------------
Subject: Fluid Dynamics

1] Triton "Physical Fluid Dynamics"

2] Batchelor

3] Chandreshekar

------------------------------
Subject: Nonlinear Dynamics, Complexity, and Chaos


1] Prigogine, "Exploring Complexity"
Or any other prigogine book. If you've read one, you read most of
all of them (A poincare recurrance maybe?)

2] Guckenheimer and Holmes "Nonlinear Oscillations, Dynamical Systems, and
   Bifurcations of Vector Fields" Springer
Borderline phys/math. Advanced level. Nuts and bolts how to textbook.
No Saganesque visionary thing from the authors. They let the topic
provide all the razz-ma-tazz, which is plenty if you pay attention
and remember the physics that it applies to.

3] Lieberman and Lichenstein

4] "The Dreams Of Reason" by Heinz Pagels.
He is a very clear and interesting, captivating writer, and
presents the concepts in a very intuitive way. The level is
popular  science, but it is still useful for physicists who
know  little of complexity.

5] M.Mitchell Waldrop: Complexity.
A popular intro to the subject of spontaneous orders, complexity
and so on.  Covers implications for economics, biology etc and not
just physics.

------------------------------
Subject: Optics (Classical and Quantum), Lasers

1] Born and Wolf
standard reference.

2] Sommerfeld, A:
For the more classically minded

3] Allen and Eberly's Optical Resonance and Two-Level Atoms.
For quantum optics, the most readable but most limited.

4] Quantum Optics and Electronics (Les Houches summer school 1963-or-4,
but someone has claimed that Gordon and Breach, NY, are going to
republish it in 1995), edited by DeWitt, Blandin, and Cohen-
Tannoudji, is noteworthy primarily for Glauber's lectures, which
form the basis of quantum optics as it is known today.

5] Sargent, Scully, & Lamb: Laser Physics

6] Yariv: Quantum Electronics

7] Siegman: Lasers

8] Shen: The Principles of Nonlinear Optics

9] Meystre & Sargent: Elements of Quantum Optics

10] Cohen-Tannoudji, Dupont-Roc, & Grynberg: Photons, Atoms and Atom-Photon
    Interactions.

11] Hecht: Optics
A very good intro optics book (readable by a smart college freshman,
but useful as a reference to the graduate student)

12] "Practical Holography" by Graham Saxby, Prentice Hall: New York; 1988.

This is a very clear and detailed book that is an excellent
introduction to holography for interested undergraduate physics people, as
well as advanced readers, esp. those who are interested in the practical
details of making holograms and the theory behind them.


------------------------------

Subject: Mathematical Physics
(Lie Algebra, Topology, Knot Theory, Tensors, etc.)

These are books that are sort of talky and fun to read (but still
substantial - some harder than others). These include things
mathematicians can read about physics as well as vice versa.  These
books are different than the "bibles" one must have on hand at all
times to do mathematical physics.

1] Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat, Cecile DeWitt-Morette, and Margaret
Dillard-Bleick, Analysis, manifolds, and physics (2 volumes)

Something every mathematical physicist should have at her bedside
until she knows it inside and out - but some people say it's not
especially easy to read.


2] Jean Dieudonne, A panorama of pure mathematics, as seen by N. Bourbaki,
   translated by I.G. Macdonald.
Gives the big picture in math.


3] Robert Hermann, Lie groups for physicists, Benjamin-Cummings, 1966.

4] George Mackey, Quantum mechanics from the point of view of the theory
of group representations, Mathematical Sciences Research Institute,
1984.

5] George Mackey, Unitary group representations in physics, probability,
and number theory.

6] Charles Nash and S. Sen, Topology and geometry for physicists.

7] B. Booss and D.D. Bleecker, Topology and analysis: the Atiyah-Singer
index formula and  gauge-theoretic physics.

8] Bamberg and S. Sternberg, A Course of Mathematics for Students of
   Physics.

9] Bishop & Goldberg: Tensor Analysis on Manifolds.

10] Flanders : Differential Forms with applications to the Physical Sciences.

11] Dodson & Poston Tensor Geometry.

12] von Westenholz: Differential forms in Mathematical Physics.


13] Abraham, Marsden & Ratiu: Manifolds, Tensor Analysis and Applications.

14] M. Nakahara, Topology, Geometry and Physics.

15] Morandi:     The Role of Topology in Classical and Quantum Physics

16] Singer, Thorpe:  Lecture Notes on Elemetary Topology and Geometry

17] L. Kauffman: Knots and Physics, World Scientific, Singapore, 1991.

18] Yang, C and Ge, M: Braid group, Knot Theory & Statistical Mechanics.

19] Kastler, D: C-algebras and their applications to Statistical
    Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory.

20] Courant and Hilbert "Methods of Mathematical Physics" Wiley
Really a math book in disguise. Emphasis on ODE's and PDE's.
Proves existence, etc. Very comprehensive. 2 volumes.

21] Cecille Dewitt: is publishing a book on manifolds that
should be out soon (maybe already is). Very high level, but supposedly
of great importance for anyone needing to set the Feynman path integral
in a firm foundation.

22] Glashow "Lie Groups for Particle Phyiscs" Addison Wesley Frontiers in
    Physics Series.

23] Synge and Schild


------------------------------
Subject: Atomic Physics

1] Born and Wolf:
A classic, though a little old.

------------------------------
Subject: Low Temperature Physics, Superconductivity (high and low Tc), etc.
(No entries yet)

Thanks to the contributors who made this compilation possible, including,
but not limited to [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], p675cen@mpifr-bonn.
mpg.de, [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], exunikh
@exu.ericsson.se, [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail].

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END OF PART 1/4