The Theoretical Minimum: Overview Short and Sweet Theoretical Minimum: Overview 1 TexPoint fonts used in EMF. Read the TexPoint manual before you delete this box.: AA A AA A A A

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. Theoretical Minimum: Overview 2

The Original Theoretical Minimum Theoretical Minimum: Overview 3 Lev Davidovich Landau, One of the great Russian physicists of the 20 th century Tested prospective students in theoretical physics. 43 students passed, the 2 nd of whom was his famous collaborator, Ilya Lifshitz.

Our Theoretical Minimum Theoretical Minimum: Overview 4 Leonard Susskind, Prominent American physicist at Stanford University: “brilliant imagination and originality” Received many awards and honors (but not yet The Big One) Devotes substantial efforts to a series of lectures aimed at the physics-oriented public

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.” Theoretical Minimum: Overview 5

The Core Sequence of Courses Classical Mechanics Quantum Mechanics Special Relativity and Electrodynamics General Relativity Cosmology Statistical Mechanics Theoretical Minimum: Overview 6

On to Classical Mechanics Theoretical Minimum: Overview 7

Principal Elements (1) State Model of Physics Laws Determinism Reversibility Allowed vs Disallowed Forms Theoretical Minimum: Overview 8

Mathematical Infrastructure (I) Spaces Trigonometry Vectors Principal Elements (2) Theoretical Minimum: Overview 9 x y z

Principal Elements (3) Description of motion (kinematics) Where particles move but not why: position velocity (and speed) acceleration Theoretical Minimum: Overview 10

Principal Elements (3.5) Mathematical Infrastructure (III) Differential calculus Theoretical Minimum: Overview 11

Principal Elements (4) Mathematical Infrastructure (IV) Integral calculus Theoretical Minimum: Overview 12

Principal Elements (5) Dynamics of motion Forces and their effects Theoretical Minimum: Overview 13

Principal Elements (6) Mathematical Infrastructure (V) Partial differentiation (just more differentiation) Theoretical Minimum: Overview 14

Principal Elements (7) Extremum principles the whole rest of the course the Promised Land the heart of classical mechanics Theoretical Minimum: Overview 15

Principal Elements (7.1) Theoretical Minimum: Overview 16 Example: Lagrangian Mechanics

So that’s what we’re going to do. Theoretical Minimum: Overview 17