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CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD: 22131 Downloads so far )Physics Syllabus IFoS Main Exam, 2021, 2022, 2023
Paper I : Physics for IFoS Mains Exam
Max. Marks: 200
Duration: 3 hours
Section-A
1. Classical Mechanics
(a) Particle dynamics
Centre of mass and laboratory coordinates, conservation of linear and angular momentum. The rocket equation.
Rutherford scattering, Galilean transformation, intertial and non-inertial frames,
rotating frames, centrifugal and Coriolis forces, Foucault pendulum.
(b) System of particles
Constraints, degrees of freedom, generalised coordinates and
momenta. Lagrange's equation and applications to linear harmonic oscillator, simple
pendulum and central force problems. Cyclic coordinates, Hamilitonian Lagrange's
equation from Hamilton's principle.
(c) Rigid body dynamics
Eulerian angles, inertia tensor, principal moments of inertia. Euler's equation of motion
of a rigid body, force-free motion of a rigid body. Gyroscope.
2. Special Relativity, Waves & Geometrical Optics
(a) Special Relativity
Michelson-Morley experiment and its implications. Lorentz
transformations-length contraction, time dilation, addition of velocities, aberration and
Doppler effect, mass-energy relation, simple applications to a decay process.
Minkowski diagram, four dimensional momentum vector. Covariance of equations of
physics.
(b) Waves
Simple harmonic motion, damped oscillation, forced
oscillation and resonance. Beats. Stationary waves in a string. Pulses and wave packets.
Phase and group velocities. Reflection and Refraction from Huygens' principle.
(c) Geometrical Optics
Laws of relfection and refraction from Fermat's principle.
Matrix method in paraxial optic-thin lens formula, nodal planes, system of two thin
lenses, chromatic and spherical aberrations.
3. Physical Optics
(a) Interference
Interference of light-Young's experiment, Newton's rings, interference by thin films, Michelson interferometer. Multiple beam
interference and Fabry-Perot interferometer. Holography and simple applications.
(b) Diffraction
Fraunhofer diffraction-single slit, double slit, diffraction grating, resolving power.
Fresnel diffraction: - half-period zones and zones plates. Fresnel integrals. Application
of Cornu's spiral to the analysis of diffraction at a straight edge and by a long narrow
slit. Diffraction by a circular aperture and the Airy pattern.
(c) Polarisation and Modern Optics
Production and detection of linearly and circularly polarised light. Double refraction,
quarter wave plate. Optical activity. Principles of fibre optics attenuation; pulse
dispersion in step index and parabolic index fibres; material dispersion, single mode
fibres. Lasers-Einstein A and B coefficients. Ruby and He-Ne lasers. Characteristics of
laser light-spatial and temporal coherence. Focussing of laser beams. Three-level
scheme for laser operation.
Section-B
4. Electricity and Magnetism
(a) Electrostatics and Magnetostatics
Laplace and Poisson equations in electrostatics and their applications. Energy of a
system of charges, multipole expansion of scalar potential. Method of images and its
applications. Potential and field due to a dipole, force and torque on a dipole in an
external field. Dielectrics, polarisation. Solutions to boundary-value problemsconducting
and dielectric spheres in a uniForm electric field. Magentic shell, uniformly
magnetised sphere. Ferromagnetic materials, hysteresis, energy loss.
(b) Current Electricity
Kirchhoff's laws and their applications. Biot-Savart law, Ampere's law, Faraday's law,
Lenz' law. Self-and mutual-inductances. Mean and rms values in AC circuits. LR CR
and LCR circuits- series and parallel resonance. Quality factor. Principal of
transformer.
5. Electromagnetic Theory & Black Body Radiation
(a) Electromagnetic Theory
Displacement current and Maxwell's equations. Wave equations in vacuum, Pointing
theorem. Vector and scalar potentials. Gauge invariance, Lorentz and Coulomb gauges.
Electromagnetic field tensor, covariance of Maxwell's equations. Wave equations in
isotropic dielectrics, reflection and refraction at the boundary of two dielectrics.
Fresnel's relations. Normal and anomalous dispersion. Rayleigh scattering.
(b) Blackbody radiation
Balckbody radiation ad Planck radiation law- Stefan-Boltzmann law, Wien
displacement law and Rayleigh-Jeans law. Planck mass, Planck length, Planck time,.
Planck temperature and Planck energy.
6. Thermal and Statistical Physics
(a) Thremodynamics
Laws of thermodynamics, reversible and irreversible processes, entropy. Isothermal,
adiabatic, isobaric, isochoric processes and entropy change. Otto and Diesel engines,
Gibbs' phase rule and chemical potential. van der Waals equation of state of a real gas,
critical constants. Maxwell-Boltzman distribution of molecular velocities, transport
phenomena, equipartition and virial theorems. Dulong-Petit, Einstein, and Debye's
theories of specific heat of solids. Maxwell lllrelations and applications. Clausius-
Clapeyron equation. Adiabatic demagnetisation, Joule-Kelvin effect and liquefaction of
gases.
(b) Statistical Physics
Saha ionization formula. Bose-Einstein condenssation. Thermodynamic behaviour of
an ideal Fermi gas, Chandrasekhar limit, elementary ideas about neutron stars and
pulsars. Brownian motion as a random walk, diffusion process. Concept of negative
temperatures.
Paper II : Physics for IFoS Mains Exam
Max. Marks: 200
Duration: 3 hours
Section-A
1. Quantum Mechanics I
Wave-particle dualitiy. Schroedinger equation and expectation values. Uncertainty
principle. Solutions of the one-dimensional Schroedinger equation free particle
(Gaussian wave-packet), particle in a box, particle in a finite well, linear harmonic
oscillator. Reflection and transmission by a potential step and by a rectangular barrier.
Use of WKB formula for the life-time calcuation in the alpha-decay problem.
2. Quantum Mechanics II & Atomic Physics
(a) Quantum Mechanics II
Particle in a three dimensional box, density of states, free electron theory of metals.
The angular meomentum problem. The hydrogen atom. The spin half problem and
properties of Pauli spin matrices.
(b) Atomic Physics
Stern-Gerlack experiment, electron spin, fine structure of hydrogen atom. L-S
coupling, J-J coupling. Spectroscopic notation of atomic states. Zeeman effect. Frank-
Condon principle and applications.
3. Molecular Physics
Elementary theory of rotational, vibratonal and electronic spectra of diatomic
molecules. Raman effect and molecular structure. Laser Raman spectroscopy
Importance of neutral hydrogen atom, molecular hydrogen and molecular hydrogen ion
in astronomy Fluorescence and Phosphorescence. Elementary theory and applications
of NMR. Elementary ideas about Lamb shift and its significance.
Section-B
4. Nuclear Physics
Basic nuclear properties-size, binding energy, angular momentum, parity, magnetic
moment. Semi-empirical mass formula and applications. Mass parabolas. Ground state
of a deuteron magnetic moment and non-central forces. Meson theory of nuclear
forces. Salient features of nuclear forces. Shell model of the nucleus-success and
limitations. Violation of parity in beta decay. Gamma decay and internal conversion.
Elementary ideas about Mossbauer spectroscopy. Q-value of nuclear reactions. Nuclear
fission and fusion, energy production in stars. Nuclear reactors.
5. Particle Physics & Solid State Physics
(a) Particle Physics
Classification of elementary particles and their interactions. Conservation laws. Quark
structure of hadrons. Field quanta of electroweak and strong interactions. Elementary
ideas about Unification of Forces. Physics of neutrinos.
(b) Solid State Physics
Cubic crystal structure. Band theory of solids- conductors, insulators and
semiconductors. Elements of superconductivity, Meissner effect, Josephson junctions
and applications. Elementary ideas about high temperature superconductivity.
6. Electronics
Intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors-p-n-p and n-p-n transistors.Amplifiers and
oscillators. Op-amps. FET, JFET and MOSFET. Digital electronics-Boolean identities,
De; Morgan's laws, Logic gates and truth tables., Simple logic circuits. Thermistors,
solar cells. Fundamentals of microprocessors and digital computers.
Recommended Textbooks:
Mechanics - D.S. Mathur, B.S. Agarwal
Waves and Oscillations - Brijlal & Subramanyam
Optics - Brijlal & Subramanyam
Thermal Physics - Singal, Aggarwal & Prakash
Electricity & Magnetism - D.C. Tayal, B.S. Aggarwal, Griffith
Modern Physics - A Beiser
Electronics - Milman & Halkias
Properties of Matter - B. Aggarwal
Atomic Physics - J. B. Rajan
Fundamental of Magnetism electricity - B.N. Basudeva
Nuclear Physics - D.C. Tayal
Introduction of Electrodynamics - Griffith
Advanced Level Physics - Nelkon & Parkar
Numerical Problems - Lal & Subrahmanyam
Quantum Mechanics - A Ghatak
A Dictionary of Physics - Goldstein
Electrodyanamics - David Griffiths
Thermal Physics - P.K Chakraborty
Quantum Physics - Resnick & Eisberg
Atomic & Molecular Spectra - Rajkumar
Nuclear Physics - S.B Patel
Solid State Physics -Kittel
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