Susskind Theoretical Minimum

   

Educational level: this is a tertiary (university) resource.

Subject classification: this is a physics resource.

A restoration of a good index into the lectures of Leonard Susskind (Stanford).

Select from:    All Courses         Core Courses A (2007-2009)         Core Courses B (2011-2013)         Supplemental Courses        

   

   

All Courses

Core Courses A (2007-2009)

Classical Mechanics A

• Lecture 1 - State diagrams and the nature of physical laws
• Lecture 2 - Newton's laws, principle of least action
• Lecture 3 - Euler-Lagrange equations, symmetry and conservation laws
• Lecture 4 - Symmetry and conservation Laws
• Lecture 5 - Lagrangians and Hamiltonians
• Lecture 6 - Hamilton's equations
• Lecture 7 - Liouville’s theorem
• Lecture 8 - Motion in an electromagnetic field
• Lecture 9 - Poisson brackets formulation

Quantum Mechanics A

• Lecture 1
• Lecture 2
• Lecture 3
• Lecture 4
• Lecture 5
• Lecture 6
• Lecture 7
• Lecture 8
• Lecture 9
• Lecture 10

Special Relativity A

• Lecture 1 - Inertial reference frames
• Lecture 2 - Principle of least action
• Lecture 3 - Invariance of the laws of nature
• Lecture 4 - Lagrangian mechanics
• Lecture 5 - Conservation of charge and momentum
• Lecture 6 - Relativistic wave equation and conservation laws
• Lecture 7 - Invariance under gauge transformations
• Lecture 8 - Gauge theory

General Relativity A

• Lecture 1 - Newtonian Gravity and the equivalence principle
• Lecture 2 - Tidal forces and curvature
• Lecture 3 - Essential tools: tensors and the metric
• Lecture 4 - Tensor mechanics
• Lecture 5 - Covariant differentiation and geodesics
• Lecture 6 - The flat space of special relativity
• Lecture 7 - The Riemannian curvature tensor
• Lecture 8 - Equations of motion in curved space
• Lecture 9 - Gravitation in the Newtonian approximation
• Lecture 10 - Energy-momentum tensor and Einstein's equations
• Lecture 11 - Accelerated coordinates
• Lecture 12 - World lines and Schwarzschild solution

Cosmology A

• Lecture 1 - Geometry of the expanding universe
• Lecture 2 - Newtonian and Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmology
• Lecture 3 - Structure of the universe
• Lecture 4 - Background microwave radiation
• Lecture 5 - Cosmological curvature
• Lecture 6 - Surface of last scattering
• Lecture 7 - Cosmological inflation
• Lecture 8 - Big omega

Statistical Mechanics A

• Lecture 1 - Conservation of information, energy, entropy, and temperature
• Lecture 2 - The mathematics of statistical mechanics
• Lecture 3 - The Boltzman distribution and fluctuations
• Lecture 4 - Helmholtz free energy and the partition function
• Lecture 5 - Diatomic molecules and black hole thermodynamics
• Lecture 6 - Second law of thermodynamics
• Lecture 7 - Harmonic oscillators and quantum states
• Lecture 8 - Magnets
• Lecture 9 - Phase transitions and chemical potential
• Lecture 10 - Thermal radiation and inflation

Core Courses B (2011-2013)

Classical Mechanics B

• Lecture 1 - State diagrams and the nature of physical laws
• Lecture 2 - Newton's law, phase space, momentum and energy
• Lecture 3 - Lagrangian, least action, Euler-Lagrange equations
• Lecture 4 - Symmetry and conservation laws
• Lecture 5 - The Hamiltonian
• Lecture 6 - Hamilton's equations
• Lecture 7 - Liouville s theorem
• Lecture 8 - Poisson brackets
• Lecture 9 - Electric and magnetic fields 1
• Lecture 10 - Electric and magnetic fields 2

Quantum Mechanics B

• Lecture 1 - Introduction to quantum mechanics
• Lecture 2 - The basic logic of quantum mechanics
• Lecture 3 - Vector spaces and operators
• Lecture 4 - Time evolution of a quantum system
• Lecture 5 - Uncertainty, unitary evolution, and the Schrödinger equation
• Lecture 6 - Entanglement
• Lecture 7 - Entanglement and the nature of reality
• Lecture 8 - Particles moving in one dimension and their operators
• Lecture 9 - Fourier analysis applied to quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle
• Lecture 10 - The uncertainty principle and classical analogs

Special Relativity B

• Lecture 1 - The Lorentz transformation
• Lecture 2 - Adding velocities
• Lecture 3 - Relativistic laws of motion and E = mc²
• Lecture 4 - Classical field theory
• Lecture 5 - Particles and fields
• Lecture 6 - The Lorentz force law
• Lecture 7 - The fundamental principles of physical laws
• Lecture 8 - Maxwell's equations
• Lecture 9 - Lagrangian for Maxwell's equations
• Lecture 10 - Connection between classical mechanics and field theory

General Relativity B

• Lecture 1 - The equivalence principle and tensor analysis
• Lecture 2 - Tensor mathematics
• Lecture 3 - Flatness and curvature
• Lecture 4 - Geodesics and gravity
• Lecture 5 - Metric for a gravitational field
• Lecture 6 - Black holes
• Lecture 7 - Falling in to a black hole
• Lecture 8 - Formation of a black hole
• Lecture 9 - Einstein field equations
• Lecture 10 - Gravity waves

Cosmology B

• Lecture 1 - The expanding (Newtonian) universe
• Lecture 2 - Matter and radiation dominated universes
• Lecture 3 - Geometries of space: flat, spherical, hyperbolic
• Lecture 4 - Cosmological thermodynamics
• Lecture 5 - Vacuum energy
• Lecture 6 - Dark matter and allocation of energy density
• Lecture 7 - Temperature history of the universe
• Lecture 8 - Baryogenesis
• Lecture 9 - Inflation
• Lecture 10 - Inhomogeneities and quantum fluctuations

Statistical Mechanics B

• Lecture 1 - Entropy and conservation of information
• Lecture 2 - Temperature
• Lecture 3 - Maximizing entropy
• Lecture 4 - The Boltzmann distribution
• Lecture 5 - Pressure of an ideal gas and fluctuations
• Lecture 6 - Weakly interacting gases, heat, and work
• Lecture 7 - Entropy vs. reversibility
• Lecture 8 - Entropy, reversibility, and magnetism
• Lecture 9 - Tbe Ising model
• Lecture 10 - Liquid-gas phase transition

Supplemental Courses

Quantum Entanglement (2006)

• Lecture 1
• Lecture 2
• Lecture 3
• Lecture 4
• Lecture 5
• Lecture 6
• Lecture 7
• Lecture 8
• Lecture 9

Relativity (2007)

• Lecture 1
• Lectures 2 & 3
• Lecture 4
• Lecture 5
• Lecture 6
• Lecture 7
• Lecture 8
• Lecture 9

Particle Physics 1: Basic Concepts (2009)

• Lecture 1 - Particles and light
• Lecture 2 - Quantum field theory
• Lecture 3 - Quantum fields and particles
• Lecture 4 - More quantum field theory
• Lecture 5 - Energy conservation and waves
• Lecture 6 - Dirac equation and Higgs particles
• Lecture 7 - Angular momentum
• Lecture 8 - Spin
• Lecture 9 - Equations of motion of particles and fields
• Lecture 10 - Field Lagrangians and path integrals

Particle Physics 2: Standard Model (2010)

• Lecture 1 - Particles fields and forces
• Lecture 2 - Quantum chromodynamics
• Lecture 3 - Group theory – part 1
• Lecture 4 - Group theory – part 2
• Lecture 5 - Gauge fields and symmetry
• Lecture 6 - The weak interaction
• Lecture 7 - Spontaneous symmetry breaking and Goldstone bosons
• Lecture 8 - The Higgs field
• Lecture 9 - The Higgs field and fermions
• Lecture 10 - Renormalization and the running of coupling constants

Particle Physics 3: Supersymmetry and Grand Unification (2010)

• Lecture 1 - Renormalization concepts, and dimensional analysis
• Lecture 2 - Fermions and bosons
• Lecture 3 - Propagators and renormalization of mass
• Lecture 4 - Symmetry and Grassmann numbers
• Lecture 5 - A first supersymmetric model
• Lecture 6 - Supersymmetry building blocks
• Lecture 7 - Lagrangians that preserve supersymmetry
• Lecture 8 - Generalizing supersymmetry to 3+1 spacetime, and QFT
• Lecture 9 - Supersymmetry breaking and an introduction to grand unified theories
• Lecture 10 - GUTs, the SU(5) representation, proton decay

String Theory and M-Theory (2010)

• Lecture 1 - The historical origins of string theory
• Lecture 2 - Mathematics of string motion
• Lecture 3 - The energy spectrum of strings
• Lecture 4 - Closed strings and the level matching rule
• Lecture 5 - Bosonic strings
• Lecture 6 - Strings with spin
• Lecture 7 - Fermionic strings and path integrals
• Lecture 8 - Conformal mapping and string scattering
• Lecture 9 - Strings in compact dimensions
• Lecture 10 - T-duality, D-branes and modeling field theories
• Lecture 11 - String theory wrapup - see the Lecture 1 of the next course

Topics in String Theory / Cosmology and Black Holes (2011)

• Lecture 1 - String theory wrapup - this is the last 11'th lecture of the previous course
• Lecture 2 - Special relativity and string theory - the first lecture of this course
• Lecture 3 - Black holes
• Lecture 4 - Black hole horizons
• Lecture 5 - Black holes and light
• Lecture 6 - Black hole entropy
• Lecture 7 - Black hole entropy 2
• Lecture 8 - Horizons
• Lecture 9 - More black holes and horizons

Higgs Boson (2012)

• Lecture 1 - Demystifying the Higgs Boson

Advanced Quantum Mechanics (2013)

• Lecture 1 - Review of quantum mechanics and introduction to symmetry
• Lecture 2 - Symmetry groups and degeneracy
• Lecture 3 - Atomic orbits and harmonic oscillators
• Lecture 4 - Spin
• Lecture 5 - Fermions: a tale of two minus signs
• Lecture 6 - Quantum field theory
• Lecture 7 - Quantum field theory 2
• Lecture 8 - Second quantization
• Lecture 9 - Quantum field Hamiltonian
• Lecture 10 - Fermions and the Dirac equation

See also

• The Theoretical Minimum Site