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Sign up to join this community [ano] Anybody can ask a question [ano] Anybody can answer [an] The best answers are voted up and rise to the top Physics 1. Home 2. 1. Public 2. Questions 3. Tags 4. Users 5. Unanswered 3. Teams Stack Overflow for Teams - Start collaborating and sharing organizational knowledge. [teams-illo-free-si] Create a free Team Why Teams? 4. Teams 5. Create free Team Teams Q&A for work Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Learn more about Teams Lev Landau's "Theoretical Minimum" Ask Question Asked 11 years, 10 months ago Modified 6 years, 10 months ago Viewed 50k times 74 $\begingroup$ The great russian physicist Lev Landau developed a famous entry exam to test his students. This "Theoretical Minimum" contained everything he considered elementary for a young theoretical physicist. Despite its name, it was notoriously hard and comprehensive, and in Landau's time, only 43 students passed it. I wonder if anyone can provide the list of topics, or even a copy of the exam? (I'm sure I'd have no chance to pass, but I'd like to see it out of a sense of sportmanship ;-). Also, I think it would make quite a good curriculum of theoretical physics (at least pre 1960).) * education * history Share Cite Improve this question Follow edited Jul 16, 2013 at 16:19 jdm asked Aug 22, 2011 at 22:07 jdm's user avatar jdmjdm 4,03711 gold badge2424 silver badges4444 bronze badges $\endgroup$ 0 Add a comment | 2 Answers 2 Sorted by: Reset to default [Highest score (default) ] 56 $\begingroup$ The list of topics can be found here (in Russian, of course). Nowadays students are examined by collaborators of Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics. Each exam, as it was before, consists of problems solving. For every exam there is one or several examiners with whom you are supposed to contact with to inform that you're willing to pass this particular exam (they will make an appointment). Everyone can pass any exam in any order. Today Landau's theoretical minimum (not all 11 exams, but at least 6 of them) is included in the program for students of Department of General and Applied Physics ( Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology). The program for each exam, as you can see from the link above, corresponds to the contents of volumes in the Course of Theoretical Physics by L&L (usually you have to master almost all paragraphs in the volume to pass the exam). 1. Mathematics I. Integration, ordinary differential equations, vector algebra and tensor analysis. 2. Mechanics. Mechanics, Vol. 1, except SSSS 27, 29, 30, 37, 51 (1988 russian edition) 3. Field theory The Classical Theory of Fields, Vol. 2, except SSSS 50, 54-57, 59-61, 68, 70, 74, 77, 97, 98, 102, 106, 108, 109, 115-119 (1973 russian edition) 4. Mathematics II. The theory of functions of a complex variable, residues, solving equations by means of contour integrals (Laplace's method), the computation of the asymptotics of integrals, special functions (Legendre, Bessel, elliptic, hypergeometric, gamma function) 5. Quantum Mechanics. Quantum Mechanics: Non-Relativistic Theory, Vol. 3, except SSSS 29, 49, 51, 57, 77, 80, 84, 85, 87, 88, 90, 101, 104, 105, 106-110, 114, 138, 152 (1989 russian edition) 6. Quantum electrodynamics. Relativistic Quantum Theory, Vol. 4, except SSSS 9, 14-16, 31, 35, 38-41, 46-48, 51, 52, 55, 57, 66-70, 82, 84, 85, 87, 89 - 91, 95-97, 100, 101, 106-109, 112, 115-144 (1980 russian edition) 7. Statistical Physics I. Statistical Physics, Vol. 5, except SSSS 22, 30, 50, 60, 68, 70, 72, 79, 80, 84, 95, 99, 100, 125-127, 134-141, 150-153 , 155-160 (1976 russian edition) 8. Mechanics of continua. Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 6, except SSSS 11, 13, 14, 21, 23, 25-28, 30-32, 34-48, 53-59, 63, 67-78, 80, 83, 86-88, 90 , 91, 94-141 (1986 russian edition); Theory of Elasticity, Vol. 7, except SSSS 8, 9, 11-21, 25, 27-30, 32-47 (1987 russian edition) 9. Electrodynamics of Continuous Media. Electrodynamics of Continuous Media, Vol. 8, except SSSS 1-5, 9, 15, 16, 18, 25, 28, 34, 35, 42-44, 56, 57, 61-64, 69, 74, 79-81 , 84, 91-112, 123, 126 (1982 russian edition) 10. Statistical Physics II. Statistical Physics, Part 2. Vol. 9, only SSSS 1-5, 7-18, 22-27, 29, 36-40, 43-48, 50, 55-61, 63-65, 69 (1978 russian edition) 11. Physical Kinetics. Physical Kinetics. Vol. 10, only SSSS 1-8, 11, 12, 14, 21, 22, 24, 27-30, 32-34, 41-44, 66-69, 75, 78-82, 86, 101. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Some real problems (Quantum Mechanics exam): 1. The electron enters a straight pipe of circular cross section (radius $r$). The tube is bent at a radius $R \gg r$ by the angle $\alpha$ and then is aligned back again. Find the probability that the electron will jump out. 2. A hemisphere lies on an infinite two-dimensional plane. The electron falls on the hemisphere, determine the scattering cross section in the Born approximation. 3. The electron "sits" in the ground state in the cone-shaped "bag" under the influence of gravity. The lower end of the plastic bag is cut with scissors. Find the time for the electron to fall out (in the semi-classical approximation). Share Cite Improve this answer Follow edited Aug 20, 2016 at 0:44 answered Aug 24, 2011 at 10:00 Physicsworks's user avatar PhysicsworksPhysicsworks 1,2611111 silver badges99 bronze badges $\endgroup$ 1 * 2 $\begingroup$ I don't suppose you happen to know where we can find copies of past exams or where you got the problems above from? $\endgroup$ - Bentley Carr May 11, 2019 at 23:37 Add a comment | 35 $\begingroup$ In the following arXiv article Landau's Theoretical minimum, the author details personal experiences on being one of 42 students ever who passed it, as well as some details of the examination. He also mentions some questions in passing, from which I gather most of them were similar to the exercises and examples of his famous books. Quote: Landau gave me the programs of eight courses on theoretical physics. Besides, there was one more examination on mathematics -- complex variables, special functions, the Laplace transformation, etc. By that time only a few books of the famous Landau course were published: Mechanics, Classical Field Theory, The Theory of Continuous Media and the first (classical) part of Statistical Physics. One had to study all other courses by reading various books and original papers. For example, let me display the list of books/papers which we were supposed to study for the Quantum Mechanics course: Share Cite Improve this answer Follow edited Aug 22, 2011 at 22:47 David Z's user avatar David Z 75.2k2626 gold badges180180 silver badges285285 bronze badges answered Aug 22, 2011 at 22:23 yayu's user avatar yayuyayu 4,68266 gold badges3535 silver badges5151 bronze badges $\endgroup$ 0 Add a comment | Your Answer [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Thanks for contributing an answer to Physics Stack Exchange! * Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research! But avoid ... * Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. * Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience. Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference. To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. 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