Andrew Steane Lecture Notes

Exeter College and Department of Physics, University of Oxford

as of: January 2026

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Tools

Calqit: scientific calculator and programming language

1st year undergraduate

Classical Mechanics, 1st year undergraduate

Notes in the two-body problem (reduced mass, orbits, etc.) These are not by me; they are "TBP.pdf" downloaded from http://web.physics.ucsb.edu/~fratus/phys103 which is listed under Keith Fratus at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Noether's theorem This note concerns Lagrangian mechanics and conservation laws. It goes beyond 1st-year level for the Oxford course but I put it here because it begins at 1st year level

2nd year undergraduate

Electromagnetism

Electromagnetic waves in plasmas and conductors
Energy in electromagnetism
Self-force and radiated energy. This is beyond 2nd year level but may be worth a read.

2nd or 3rd year undergraduate

Quantum mechanics and atomic physics

Thermodynamics

"Thermodynamics: a complete undergraduate course", Andrew M. Steane (Oxford University Press, 2016)

Statistical Thermal Physics

Introduction to statistical thermal physics; includes careful definition of entropy and derivation of basic results
Derivation of the Boltzmann factor, including an explanation of why a widely used argument is spurious or incomplete.
Reminder of basic results;
Simple applications of statistical mechanics;
Equipartition theorem: derivation and discussion;
lecture 1 (slides); lecture 2 (slides); lecture 3 (slides); lecture 4 (slides);
Modes in a box, thermal radiation and photons including an explanation of why the photon picture involves some hand-waving but the mode picture is clear and correct (that is, it invokes quantum electrodynamics correctly) and furnishes all the thermodynamic information.
Derivation of Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac distribution functions.
Bose Einstein condensation
The low-temperature Fermi gas

3rd or 4th year undergraduate

Atomic Physics

Lecture notes
Problems
Example finals questions in large format (for revision lecture): 1

Answers to Oxford physics finals questions: 1 (large format), 2 (small format),
Answers to Oxford physics finals questions, selected questions appropriate to new syllabus: 1 (large format), 2 (small format),

Classical field theory

Lagrangian methods for fields. Derive Euler-Lagrange equations for a classical field. Introduction to Noether's theorem (symmetry and conservation) for a field.
Self-force and radiated energy.Remarks on electromagnetic self-force (which includes the radiation reaction) and radiated power and energy.

Symmetry and Relativity

Lecture plan.This plan is only a rough guide; some reordering will take place.
Lecture notes. These notes cover some areas very fully, others not at all. The material omitted is either not needed for this course or is simple and well-covered elsewhere (e.g. in the lecture!).
The Section C notes are much more extensive than is needed for the course, but are included because this material is harder to find in textbooks. The lectures will clarify how much of this is needed for Oxford 3rd yr physics.
Section A, Section B, Section C: Spinors, Classical fields
Lecture summaries: Summary section A, Summary section B, Summary section C
Problems 2015 (and an older version of the problems is here)
List of example Oxford finals questions, and some answers.
Two spinor questions for exam revision

Books. The course assumes some basic knowledge of relativity. Introductory books such as
Taylor and Wheeler, French, W.S.C Williams, Steane (see below)
are all recommended. The course is closely matched to my own text book called `Relativity made relatively easy' (OUP) which covers the whole of this course except for spinors (see above) as well as giving some further material on related subjects. Other books suited to the course are those by Rindler, Jackson (for classical electrodynamics) and Muirhead (especially for particle physics).

	"The Wonderful World of Relativity", Steane (pub OUP). This is an introductory book intended to give a well-thought-through grasp of spacetime, and an introduction to energy and momentum, suitable to high school (i.e. pre-university) readers or as background to first year university physics.
	"Relativity made Relatively Easy", Steane (pub OUP). This is an undergraduate textbook, intended to strike a balance between being extensive and rigorous yet friendly and carefully explained.

4th year undergraduate or Graduate level

Rabi flopping and quantum logic gates

Quantum Error Correction

See QECtute

General Relativity and Cosmology

General Relativity and Cosmology (Relativity made relatively easy, volume 2)

here

Science, Poetry and Religion

This is a list of essays, and some poems, which fall broadly under the public understanding of science remit of the University of Oxford's Department of Physics.

Science, poetry and religion [1 page pdf]
On the limits of science [8 short page pdf]
A response to Hall and Hall [9 page pdf]
Snake oil and evolutionary biology [4 page pdf]
Omnipotence [3 page pdf]
A response to Flew [19 page pdf]
A review of Nancy Murphy's A Philosophy of the Christian Religion for the Twenty-First Century
(to find the review, go to the web page and search for the above title or author).
Red Shift
Shemayim
The recurrent laryngeal nerve
Superfluidity

Exeter College Summer Programme

Please note, the following materials are updated from time to time, but they may not be entirely up to date at any given moment. The course description and lecture sequence may change, but not substantially.

Other Software

amsfunctions.zip Matlab toolbox for common data analysis tasks, such as curve fitting.