According to your current situation, the strategies for starting learning can be divided into three points.
First, learn and master the basic knowledge.
The second is to choose the future direction.
The third is to contact the school and teachers in advance.
As for reading, the final list of books takes too long and the English requirements are not suitable. But you can look at it from another angle.
The theoretical part of the postgraduate entrance examination is the least water in various majors, and it must be completely won. In addition to mathematics and political English, physics can be divided into
General physics+mathematical methods+four major mechanics need to break through from general physics.
The textbook General Physics compiled by Zhang Sanhui of Tsinghua is relatively simple and comprehensive, so that you can understand the basic characteristics of physics. Each book is not thick, and it is a two-semester course of Tsinghua Engineering. There are exercises and thinking questions in it. If you think and do it yourself, you can meet the requirements of general physics.
The requirements for mathematical and physical methods are higher. Mainly complex variable functions and partial differential equations. If there is not enough time, you can give up the complex variable function, but the mathematical equation is necessary. Wang Yuanming's Mathematical and Physical Equations and Special Functions is the thinnest book and the one with the lowest requirements in this field.
The other is the four major mechanics.
Electrodynamics can be written in A Concise Course of Electrodynamics, while statistical mechanics can be written in Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics. Analytical mechanics can be skipped, and quantum mechanics can be combined with the books of Zeng Jinyan and Zhou Shixun.
We must solve the problem. Solving problems is a necessary process, see if you really understand it. You can do the previous postgraduate questions.
With these foundations, we can consider the direction and choose a school. If there are too many directions, the hot competition will be more intense and the mathematics requirements will be higher. Ask more questions. Optics, condensed matter and quantum computing are all very popular, but there is still a big gap in China. With regard to schools, the better ones in China are Peking University, Institute of Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua and Nanjing University.
Contacting the teacher is a necessary link, and from a certain point of view, it is also a necessary courtesy. After all, there is no reason for teachers to know nothing but students with high grades. So do many excellent students in written test.
If possible, you can take all courses in the Department of Physics, or you can sit in. If there is an opportunity, you can consider studying physics abroad. The GRE sub-physics exam registration is about 1 1 month every year, and it is necessary to register long in advance. The topics are not difficult, they are all multiple-choice questions, which are a little higher than ordinary physics. This is a necessary exam for physics departments in American universities.
If you are interested in becoming a physicist, not just a doctoral student in physics, the following list of books is most suitable for undergraduates. Although the above textbooks are short, there is a big gap between domestic and foreign textbooks.
Classic Physics Textbooks Recommended for Undergraduates
When searching for "classic physics textbooks" on the Internet, I found several problems. First, looking at classics alone, such as Diarc's Principles of Quantum Mechanics, is not suitable for teaching materials; Then the recommender gave a few incomprehensible comments without reading the textbook carefully. In order to make up for this deficiency and facilitate future generations, I made a list of books according to the following principles.
1. I have studied all the books on the list (some of them have been read more than once), at least I have read through most of them.
2. The characteristics of each book are different. The biggest reason I recommend is that the physical images are clear, concise and insightful.
I don't recommend books published too early, although they are classics, because some of them are far from modern concepts. For example, Ashcroft's Solid State Physics talks about many models that have long been abandoned.
4. It is not recommended to have too much space. For example, Reif's Statistical Physics and the later book Kardar's Statistical Physics can realize more value. Or the quantum mechanics of the Frenchman Messia.
Good textbooks can be kept in front of your desk all your life, not sold by weight at the end of the semester. Limited reading for one person, one opinion, for reference only. If it is beneficial, it will be a great relief.
The first part is general physics.
General physics is divided into force, heat, electricity, light and modern physics.
1. 1 zero starting point: Fei Enman physics lecture notes (Volume I)
From high school to college physics major, we should study at the starting line. Pay attention to habits, which is obviously different from domestic structured textbooks. A long discussion may just clarify a point. When reading, don't just look at the text, but understand the content and physical process behind it.
It is generally believed that the shortcoming of this book is that there are no exercises. It doesn't matter, this book is only used to cultivate the basic concepts of entering the physical world.
1.2 Modern Physics: Concept of Modern Physics Author: Arthur Besser Concept of Modern Physics/(America) Besser
General physics (quantum physics) Modern physics is the transition of physics before the establishment of quantum mechanics in the early 20th century. The concept and physical image of this book are very clear, and the essence of the problem is clarified with simple formulas, which is worth studying again and again.
In addition, Modern Physics written by Jeremy Bernstein and others is a good textbook with copies.
1.3 thermodynamics: an introduction to statistical physics, by Huang Kesun. The author Huang is a tenured professor at MIT. His wife used 60Co experiments to verify the theory of parity non-conservation under weak interaction, and directly won the Nobel Prize for peace. Huang Kesun's book, which is usually mentioned, is a more advanced statistical mechanics. But the advantage of this book lies in its simplicity. He greatly simplified the seemingly complicated maxell relationship with arrows and block diagrams, introduced a lot of frontier contents such as symmetry breaking into the book, and gave a semi-quantitative explanation of new physics with uncomplicated formulas.
1.4 electromagnetics: Maxwell's equations were not given until the last chapter. In fact, electromagnetism is a once-and-for-all course-as long as you master this set of equations, any electromagnetic phenomena can describe it. On the general physical level, the core content is to give the electric field generated by charge and calculate the magnetic field with current. However, for the propagation of electromagnetic waves, the radiation of moving charges is limited due to the lack of mathematical tools for vector analysis. So my suggestion is to understand some basic concepts and enter the study of electrodynamics as soon as possible.
1.5 optics: optics is a very special subject. Because even in the classical optics category, which does not need advanced theory, because there are too many interesting optical phenomena, the teaching materials can become heavy. If you just master the basic principles, it will be tasteless. My university teacher used Optics written by Eugene Heck as a textbook, which is a very good book and explains many phenomena. If you have enough time, it is worth reading. The defect of photocopies is that the index has been deleted and it is inconvenient to query.
1.6 new concept physics course
English is the common language of physicists. Therefore, we should read English books as soon as possible. Don't lose heart, even if you are full of new words at first, you still don't understand the meaning of the whole sentence after you look it up. This is the only way to become a physicist. If you think it's too early to read English books, this set of books is a classic in Chinese books. The author, Mr. Zhao Kaihua, is a Ph.D. student at Moscow University. He has a very deep foundation in mathematics and physics. One of the great shortcomings of this book is that relatively strict deduction and argumentation will make some students lose interest, but the thinking problems at the back of each chapter are very valuable, which is the crystallization of Mr. Wang's lifelong skill and deserves independent thinking.
The second part of the four major mechanics
2. 1 theoretical mechanics
Landau & Livesey. This is the first of ten volumes of Theoretical Physics by the famous physicist Landau. When you start studying, you should get rid of the fear of difficulties. After all, the mathematical tools used in the book are calculus that we are familiar with. It's a good idea to watch and follow. It is easier to see with your eyes than with a pen.
2.2. Electrodynamics
2.2. 1 Fei Enman Handout Volume II. Fei Enman himself thinks that the teaching reform of the first volume is relatively successful, but he can't think of a good way to improve the teaching of electrodynamics. Look carefully and find that he is a kind of modesty. His clear physical intuition will bring people very solid and correct physical concepts, such as the "static" field source that makes electromagnetic phenomena look independent.
In contrast, some domestic textbooks are more suitable for reference books; However, from the perspective of reference books, it is not comprehensive, in-depth and practical, but more like showing off the author's deductive ability.
2.2.2 Introduction to Electrodynamics written by Griffith is very suitable for two semesters. Personally, I think Feynman is more insightful about physics itself. The exercises in this book are very good. If you are confused by reading Fei Enman's book, you can use it to make up for it.
2.2.3 Landau & Livesey. Modern physics is expressed by field theory, and learning electrodynamics is a good transition to field theory. This book has always been Landau's style. Based on the first principle, the theoretical structure and expression of classical field theory are given.
2.3 quantum mechanics
There are countless masterpieces of quantum mechanics, and the characteristics of each book are very different. A wise man corrects his own mistakes through the mistakes of others. If time is limited, we can start with Griffith's introduction to quantum mechanics. At the beginning of the book, classical mechanics and old quantum theory are reviewed, and some examples are discussed with Schrodinger equation as the core. However, many topics of quantum mechanics are not involved, such as angular momentum is only discussed in one section, and spin is not thorough enough. After mastering wave mechanics and some basic applications through this book, you can read Modern Quantum Mechanics by Sakurai. Although this book belongs to the category of advanced quantum mechanics, it is completely suitable for undergraduates to study by themselves. Its value is irreplaceable.
Some people think that it lacks a part about relativistic quantum mechanics. In fact, relativistic quantum mechanics is only a transitional theory, which leads to unclear concepts before the quantum field theory is explained. When studying quantum field theory, relativistic quantum mechanics will be expressed as the spinor field of QED.
Quantum mechanics is the cornerstone of modern physics. The above textbooks of quantum mechanics only give some simplified examples and strict or elegant solutions, which are far from the applicable quantum mechanics. Practical Quantum Mechanics has two volumes, the content of which is relatively old. I strongly recommend Intermediate Quantum Mechanics written by hans bethe, a Nobel Prize winner, and Roman Jackway, a professor and theoretical physicist at MIT. This book is ugly, because there is no longer such a beautiful harmonic oscillator, but various approximations. This is the best for many branches of physics that need quantum mechanics, but do not need the concept of quantum field theory.
2.4 Statistical mechanics
The classic textbook of statistical mechanics is usually considered as "Statistical Mechanics" written by Pathria and the fifth volume of Landau theoretical physics. Although I have the basic knowledge of statistical physics and these two books, I have never read them. I'm embarrassed to recommend it. It is worth mentioning that Karl Dahl, a professor at MIT, has two books, Statistical Theory of Particles and Statistical Theory of Fields. The concept is very new, the formulation is very clear, and the exercises are also worth thinking about.
2.5 Other Book Reviews
2.5. 1 classical mechanics, by Goldstein. The frontier research of physics is in the quantum world, and classical mechanics, as a complete discipline, is left to engineers and other semi-empirical mechanics disciplines. Therefore, for people engaged in physics, the transition from classical mechanics to quantum mechanics should be completed as soon as possible. In fact, if you master the expressions of principle of least action, Lagrange mechanics and Hamiltonian mechanics, harmonic oscillator, normal mode and poisson bracket, you can enter the quantum world safely. Many times, the understanding of classical mechanics lies in the study of quantum physics and field theory, and we can have a deeper understanding when we look back. Therefore, in view of the length of this book-too much on classical mechanics, it is the only reason not to recommend it.
2.5.2 Zeng Jinyan's quantum mechanics. This book enjoys a high reputation in China. However, all the works of China people inevitably attach importance to strict derivation and solution, while ignoring the physical process itself. Many deductions can actually be left to students as exercises, instead of "telling you how to push", but inspiring students to express a physical process with known physical laws. Among them, mathematics, in the process of derivation, depends on self-study or inquiry mathematics to complete. If you want beginners to understand it, you should assume that you are a beginner and then follow it step by step. The same thing happened in KaXinglin's Advanced Quantum Mechanics. This book lacks emphasis, the length is the same everywhere, and it doesn't leave enough bedding for field theory. In contrast, many conclusions can be left for students to think about as exercises, rather than having the final say by themselves.
2.5.3 Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics Wang Zhicheng I personally like this book, but I didn't list it as the main recommended bibliography. There are not many features in the book, but it can be used as a transition to reading more in-depth statistical physics textbooks.
2. 5. 4 Shankar's principle of quantum mechanics. In addition to the length, I suspect that it is not appropriate to use "principle" as the title. The main reason is that when reading this book, many ideas that could have been independent are displayed by the author in a modular way, and there is a feeling of benefiting from knowledge and being lazy.
2. 5. 5j. d. Jackson's classical electrodynamics I insist that, like classical mechanics, electrodynamics, a self-consistent and mature theory, should not take too much time. Unless you are in the direction of synchrotron radiation and plasma, when you really understand electrodynamics, you should enter the new physical world as soon as possible instead of continuing to immerse yourself in the classic world. For example, the author has made great efforts in scattering cross section, but the neutron and photon scattering theory of analyzing matter is based on quantum mechanics. As for the calculation of refractive index, it is only a phenomenological model without the formation of atomic theory. In fact, although all foreign countries use this kind of teaching material without exception, the teaching difficulty is generally lower than theirs, and the emphasis is different.
Part III Mathematical Physics
The first textbook is Mathematical Physics written by Hasani, with 4 photocopies. This is a valuable book with comprehensive and practical contents. It doesn't need strict proof like mathematicians, but it covers almost all the necessary tools from calculus to modern physics, from vector space to Green's function, to in-depth group representation and fiber bundle. This is an in-depth book, and he also wrote an equally wonderful introductory book on mathematical physics, Mathematical Methods for Students in Physics and Related Fields. These two books are enough to cover the mathematical content needed to standardize field theory, and the exercises are not complicated, but the understanding can be tested immediately.
The fourth part transcends the four major mechanics.
After the four major mechanics, the often important course is solid physics. Solid-state physics has no classical textbook like quantum mechanics, because the theory of quantum mechanics is a complete basic theory, and solid-state physics needs to involve various elements and substances and is related to chemistry. Therefore, some people think that kittel's masterpieces are chaotic, ashcroft's theory is perfect but old, and Chai Jin's condensed matter physics principle is too difficult.
In fact, according to my understanding, the nature of solids is actually introduced in all parts of other courses, and it is not necessary to take it as a course alone, at least not as a part of the basic physics theory module. Compared with solid state physics, it is more important to master field theory knowledge as soon as possible.
The fourth part is the missing masterpiece.
Are there any books that are poorly written and not recommended? No, on the one hand, out of respect for the author, on the other hand, even if the author draws on other people's opinions, the author still has better opinions than the readers in this course. It is not difficult to understand that Hilbert's mathematical and physical methods are not recommended simply because they are difficult to chew. The following books are all recognized classics. As for how many peaks you can climb, it depends on nature.
My wife is loyal to all my articles and is often the only reader. Only this one is different. I hope more people can see it. The author is not important, please reprint it if possible.