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The Theoretical Minimum: OverviewShort and Sweet
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DoD Higher Education
• Tell them what you’re going to tell
them.
• Tell them what you told them you were
going to tell them.
• Tell them what you told them.
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The Original Theoretical Minimum
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Lev Davidovich Landau, 1908 - 1968
One of the great Russian physicists of the 20th century
Tested prospective students in theoreticalphysics.
43 students passed, the 2nd of whom washis famous collaborator, Ilya Lifshitz.
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Our Theoretical Minimum
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Leonard Susskind, 1940-
Prominent American physicist atStanford University: “brilliant imaginationand originality”
Received many awards and honors(but not yet The Big One)
Devotes substantial efforts to a series oflectures aimed at the physics-oriented public
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Susskind’s Target Audience
“The courses are specifically aimed at
people who know, or once knew, a bit
of algebra and calculus, but are more
or less beginners.”
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The Core Sequence of Courses
• Classical Mechanics
• Quantum Mechanics
• Special Relativity and Electrodynamics
• General Relativity
• Cosmology
• Statistical Mechanics6
Theo
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Mechanics
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Principal Elements (1)
State Model of Physics Laws
• Determinism
• Reversibility
• Allowed vs Disallowed Forms
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Mathematical Infrastructure (I)
• Spaces
• Trigonometry
• Vectors
Principal Elements (2)
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x
y
z
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Principal Elements (3)
Description of motion (kinematics)
Where particles move but not why:
• position
• velocity (and speed)
• acceleration10
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Principal Elements (3.5)
Mathematical Infrastructure (III)
Differential calculus
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_W = dW (t)dt
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Principal Elements (4)
Mathematical Infrastructure (IV)
Integral calculus
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Q =Ra
b q(x)dx
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Principal Elements (5)
Dynamics of motion
Forces and their effects
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d(m~v)dt = m~a = ~F
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Principal Elements (6)
Mathematical Infrastructure (V)
Partial differentiation (just more
differentiation)
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p(x;y) = @P (x;y)@y
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Principal Elements (7)
Extremum principles
• the whole rest of the course
• the Promised Land
• the heart of classical mechanics
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Principal Elements (7.1)
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L = T ¡ V
ddt
³ @L@_qi
´= @L
@qi
Example: Lagrangian Mechanics
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do.
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