Preface
This book has been thoroughly revised and updated as per the requirement of
the students. The book provides a perspective of the important concepts and
applications in contemporary physics.
While modern physics developing so rapidly, there is a constant need to
revise and update the presentation. The present book tries to do this. Starting
with a discussion of special theory of relativity and quantum theory, it
describes their applications to atoms, molecules, solids and nuclei. There are
two special chapters on the modern description of elementary particles and
on general theory of relativity and cosmology. The emphasis is on a logical
development of ideas, and historical aspects are referred to mainly as an aid
to this. An effort has been made to maintain rigour analytical discussions and
precision in descriptions. It is hoped that the book will be useful to an advanced
undergraduate student, and as a review to a graduate student.
I am grateful to my colleagues, Dr. S.M. Bharati. Dr. S.M. Chitre,
Dr. P.P. Divakaran, Dr. Y.K. Gambhir, Dr. G.V. Dass, Dr. Dipan K. Ghosh, Dr.
K.S. Kulkarni, Dr. R.C. Mehrotra, Dr. C.H. Mehta, Dr. G. Mukhopadhyay, Dr.
R.S. Patil, Dr. G. Thyagarajan and Prof. Atul Mody, Dept. of Physics, VES,
College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai who ungrudgingly gave
me their valuable time in reading parts of the manuscript and made valuable
suggestions. I also thank Mr. Sunil Somalwar for going through a part of the
manuscript.
Mr. S.B Modak not only provided accurate typing but also executed
the entire organization of the book with the help of Mr. D.S. Nakhawa,
Mr. Kashipathy and Mr. C.A. Sarmalkar. I owe them gratitude. I acknowledge
financial support from the curriculum development programme of IIT, Bombay.
S H Patil
vii
This book has been thoroughly revised and updated as per the requirement of
the students. The book provides a perspective of the important concepts and
applications in contemporary physics.
While modern physics developing so rapidly, there is a constant need to
revise and update the presentation. The present book tries to do this. Starting
with a discussion of special theory of relativity and quantum theory, it
describes their applications to atoms, molecules, solids and nuclei. There are
two special chapters on the modern description of elementary particles and
on general theory of relativity and cosmology. The emphasis is on a logical
development of ideas, and historical aspects are referred to mainly as an aid
to this. An effort has been made to maintain rigour analytical discussions and
precision in descriptions. It is hoped that the book will be useful to an advanced
undergraduate student, and as a review to a graduate student.
I am grateful to my colleagues, Dr. S.M. Bharati. Dr. S.M. Chitre,
Dr. P.P. Divakaran, Dr. Y.K. Gambhir, Dr. G.V. Dass, Dr. Dipan K. Ghosh, Dr.
K.S. Kulkarni, Dr. R.C. Mehrotra, Dr. C.H. Mehta, Dr. G. Mukhopadhyay, Dr.
R.S. Patil, Dr. G. Thyagarajan and Prof. Atul Mody, Dept. of Physics, VES,
College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai who ungrudgingly gave
me their valuable time in reading parts of the manuscript and made valuable
suggestions. I also thank Mr. Sunil Somalwar for going through a part of the
manuscript.
Mr. S.B Modak not only provided accurate typing but also executed
the entire organization of the book with the help of Mr. D.S. Nakhawa,
Mr. Kashipathy and Mr. C.A. Sarmalkar. I owe them gratitude. I acknowledge
financial support from the curriculum development programme of IIT, Bombay.
S H Patil
vii