Physics Lecture Notes

Author

Sandro Vitenti

This site contains lecture notes for undergraduate and graduate physics courses. The material combines conceptual discussion with detailed derivations and worked examples, with an emphasis on clarity and internal consistency.

The content is open source and contributions are welcome.

Courses (Undergraduate)

  • Introduction to Physics: Introductory topics in mechanics, electromagnetism, and thermodynamics, with focus on basic principles and problem solving.
  • Mathematical Physics: Mathematical structures used in physics, including distributions, Green’s functions, operator methods, and differential equations.
  • Special Relativity: Kinematics and dynamics in Minkowski spacetime, Lorentz symmetry, and applications to classical and field-theoretic systems.
  • Vector Calculus: Vector spaces, differential operators, integral theorems, and their role in physical theories.

Courses (Graduate)

  • Electrodynamics: Classical field theory of electromagnetism, including Maxwell’s equations, wave propagation, and relativistic formulations.

About

This project provides a set of evolving lecture notes. The source is available on GitHub, where errors can be reported and improvements proposed.

The material is released under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Contributing

Feedback is welcome and useful at different levels, from small corrections to structural suggestions.

Reporting Issues

Use the issue tracker to report:

  • Typos, unclear sentences, or formatting problems
  • Errors in derivations, equations, or definitions
  • Missing intermediate steps that make arguments hard to follow
  • Inconsistencies in notation or conventions across sections
  • Requests for clarification or additional examples

When possible, include:

  • A direct link to the relevant section
  • A short description of the issue
  • A suggested correction (if applicable)

Submitting Changes

For direct contributions:

  1. Fork the repository

  2. Clone your fork:

    git clone https://github.com/your-username/undergrad.git

  3. Edit the relevant .qmd files

  4. Commit your changes:

    git add .
git commit -m "Describe change"

  5. Push to your fork:

    git push origin main

  6. Open a pull request and describe the modification and its motivation

Small, focused changes are preferred over large, unrelated edits.