learning physics

#project

One of my biggest request in college, next to having no social life, was not taking any physics classes. In high school, physics had always been my favorite subject; everything just felt right. Like everything was the way it should be; the only way it could be.

Why

• The initial spark was just from seeing physics intersect with TCS in so many interesting ways recently:
  • statistical physics of inference and algorithms:
    • how techniques from statistical mechanics and spin glass have given us algorithms for statistical problems, as well as a new understanding of average case complexity and satisfiability thresholds
  • quantum information is also a source of rich interactions between say TCS people studying quantum error correction and quantum complexity theory with physicist studying condensed matter physics or even quantum gravity

So now, I'm trying to fill this hole, in a very haphazard manner.

Some things I'd like to understand

• condensed matter physics
  • topological order
  • spontaneous symmetry breaking
  • quantum error correction (codes) and quantum matter (topological order)
• general relativity
• quantum
  • AdS-CFT correspondence

Questions

• [?] in what sense is topological field theory a generalization of classical path independence

Update Logs

• 2024-08-02 Update

Project Kanban

learning physics kanban

Resources

• Resources for resources:
  • Physics — Susan Rigetti
    • A whole curriculum on how to learn physics
• Course of Theoretical Physics - Wikipedia
• https://theoreticalminimum.com/courses
  • This is great for just getting the minimum I need to start understanding higher level things. I do run the risk of adopting a too simplified view; so make sure to take things with a grain of salt, question everything.

graph TD
    A1[Basic Algebra & Geometry] --> B1[Intro to Classical Mechanics]
    B1 --> A2[Single Variable Calculus]
    A2 --> B2[Advanced Classical Mechanics]
    A2 --> C1[Intro to Electromagnetism]
    B2 --> A3[Multivariable Calculus]
    C1 --> A3
    A3 --> C2[Advanced Electromagnetism]
    A3 --> D[Thermodynamics & Statistical Mechanics]
    B2 --> E1[Intro to Special Relativity]
    C2 --> E1
    E1 --> A4[Linear Algebra]
    A4 --> F1[Intro to Quantum Mechanics]
    D --> F1
    A4 --> E2[Advanced Special Relativity]
    E2 --> A5[Differential Equations]
    F1 --> A5
    A5 --> F2[Advanced Quantum Mechanics]
    A5 --> H[General Relativity]
    F2 --> A6[Complex Analysis]
    A6 --> G[Quantum Field Theory]
    A6 --> I[Particle Physics]
    A6 --> J[Solid State Physics]
    G --> K[Relativistic Quantum Field Theory]
    J --> L[Quantum Condensed Matter]
    
    classDef math fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px;
    classDef physics fill:#bbf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px;
    classDef advanced fill:#bfb,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px;
    
    class A1,A2,A3,A4,A5,A6 math;
    class B1,B2,C1,C2,D,E1,E2,F1,F2 physics;
    class G,H,I,J,K,L advanced;