Graduate studies requirements

* this list is taken from Purdue University requirements for Graduate Studies in Physics

Classical Mechanics
1. Fowles and Cassiday, Analytical Mechanics
2. Marion and Thornton, Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems
3. (my list) Barger and Olsson, Classical Mechanics: A Modern Perspective
4. (my list) Symon, Mechanics

Electromagnetic Theory
1. Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics
2. Reitz, Milford, and Christy, Foundations of Electromagnetic Theory
3. Marion and Heald, Classical Electromagnetic Radiation

Quantum Physics
1. French and Taylor, An Introduction to Quantum Physics
2. Eisberg and Resnick, Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei, and Particles

Thermal Physics
1. Kittel and Kroemer, Thermal Physics
2. (my list) Reif, Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics

General Modern Physics
1. Weidner and Sells, Elementary Modern Physics
2. Krane, Modern Physics
3. Sandin, Essentials of Modern Physics
4. Serway and Moses, Modern Physics
5. Tipler and Llewellyn, Modern Physics
6. (my list) Beiser, Concepts of Modern Physics

Important Equations in Classical Mechanics

1. Newton's second law of motion
2. Lagrange's equations
3. Hamilton's equations
4. Force and potential energy
5. Conservation of energy
6. Hooke's law
7. Equation of simple harmonic motion
8.

Topics

* Based on Marion and Thornton's Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems, 4th edition

Part 1
1. Matrices, Vectors, and Vector Calculus
2. Newtonian Mechanics—Single Particle
3. Oscillations
4. Nonlinear Oscillations and Chaos (optional)
5. Gravitation

Part 2
1. Review of Part 1*
2. Some Methods in the Calculus of Variations
3. Hamilton’s Principle—Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Dynamics
4. Central-Force Motion
5. Dynamics of a System of Particles
6. Motion in a Noninertial Reference Frame
7. Dynamics of Rigid Bodies
8. Coupled Oscillations**
9. Continuous Systems; Waves**

For PUP students, click here.

Wikipedia article on Classical Mechanics

In physics, classical mechanics or Newtonian mechanics is one of the two major sub-fields of study in the science of mechanics, which is concerned with the set of physical laws governing and mathematically describing the motions of bodies and aggregates of bodies. The other sub-field is quantum mechanics. Roughly speaking, classical mechanics was developed in the 400 years since the groundbreaking works of Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo, while quantum mechanics developed within the last 100 years, starting with similarly decisive discoveries by Planck, Einstein, and Bohr.

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