What we’re about
This is a group for anyone who has ever rigorously studied physics – or has wanted to. Here's why you'd want to join us:
- If you feel like physics is the most interesting and most difficult subject that there is;
- If you're burning with a desire to deeply understand the universe at its smallest and largest scales;
- And if you thrive in an environment of learning through collaboration with people like yourself...
... then you've found the right place!
Join us to participate in lively discussions and learn core material in serious study groups. We offer multiple tracks of study, regularly host special events and talks, and are constantly tweaking the meetup to make it more useful. We also stay in touch between meetings to motivate and help each other continue learning.
Everyone is welcome from every level of experience! Many of us are (re)discovering physics after college (sometimes long after) and it can be easy to feel rusty or underqualified. Don't fall into that false narrative! If you think some of the material in this meetup is too advanced, we want you to join us so that we can help you learn!
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- (Re-)Learn Quantum MechanicsLink visible for attendees
(Returning students: Please see below for April 21st homework.)
Attention Schrödinger & Heisenberg fans! Have you misplaced your wavefunctions and eigenvalues or never learned how to find them in the first place? Then join us for a weekly study group to learn (or re-learn) quantum mechanics!
We’re following the structure of the MIT OpenCourseWare Quantum Physics I class, which includes comprehensive video lectures, lecture notes, and assignments. These will be supplemented by the various textbooks and resources that you and your fellow students bring to the group.
What to expect – Here is our current format:
- Before each meeting, we will assign ourselves a lecture to watch and a set of exercises that everyone is invited to try for next time. (All of this is optional and there is never anything expected or required – this is a self-study group!)
- During the meeting, one or more volunteers will teach the lesson(s) in their own words, and others will present their solutions to (or attempts at!) the exercises.
- Every 4th meeting will be a dedicated problem-solving session with no lecture.
- Between meetings, we will collaborate through our chat server and/or small study sessions during "office hours". New members should especially take advantage of these to get up to speed. Ask us for details and links to these fantastic resources!
Prerequisites: So long as you have taken at least some amount of college calculus and physics at some point in your life, you should be fine.
We maintain a live chat server for staying in touch between meetups. Ask us for a link.
This event joins our other existing collaborative study tracks. Please note that this particular meetup series is a highly mathematical meetup for everyone who is serious about learning the material. It is not a general discussion group for popular physics topics or sci-fi tangents. For casual physics chat, please attend our regular Discuss Physics and Make Friends event, held every third Wednesday of the month.
Having technical trouble joining the meeting? You need to use the Zoom app and log in with a (free to create) personal Zoom account before you can join our meeting. You might not be able to join directly from a web browser if you can’t log in.
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*** Suggested assignment for April 21 ***
- Watch Lecture 12 (Dirac well & scattering)
- Solve problems 2 and 3 in Problem Set 6.
- If you’re joining us for the first time, simply watch Lecture 1 and come join us!
- Weekly Open Self-Study & Office Hours for Previous AttendeesLink visible for attendees
This is a weekly Zoom meeting (see below for link) for anyone who's already attended our previous meetups to have (mostly-)quiet self-study time on any topic in physics or math. The goal is to recreate the feeling of being in the same study room together, just like in college. So leave your camera on! You may come and go at any time during study hours.
Unlike our other events, this is not a facilitated or structured event and there is no specific topic of study. Sometimes people may decide to work on the same topic together, and other times everyone will be reading or solving problems on their own.
Although this is primarily a quiet study session, talking is allowed as long as it's on the topic(s) of study and with the purpose of asking a question or helping someone. Otherwise, please be courteous and respectful of other people by leaving your microphone off.
This event complements our other meetups, which are subject-specific, structured learning environments.
If you are new to Physics With Friends, before coming to this quiet self-study event we ask that you please come to one of our other meetups first so that we can get to know one another.
*** ZOOM LINK ***
The Zoom meeting URL is a pinned message in the #study-buddies channel. If you don't know what this means, it's because we haven't met you yet. Please come to one of our meetups and we'll help you get set up. - Course on General Relativity and Differential GeometryLink visible for attendees
{ April 22nd suggested assignment is found at the bottom. }
Join us for a structured study of general relativity, including important concepts from differential geometry. We’re following the MIT OpenCourseWare General Relavitity class, which includes comprehensive video lectures, lecture notes, and assignments. These will be supplemented by the various textbooks and resources that you and your fellow students bring to the group.
What to expect – Here is our current format:
- Before each meeting, we will assign ourselves a lecture to watch and a set of exercises that everyone is invited to try for next time. (All of this is optional and there is never anything expected or required – this is a self-study group!)
- During the meeting, one or more volunteers will teach the lesson(s) in their own words, and others will present their solutions to (or attempts at!) the exercises.
- Between meetings, we will collaborate through our chat server and/or small study sessions during "office hours". New members should especially take advantage of these to get up to speed. Ask us for details and links to these fantastic resources!
Additional resources that many of us are using:
- Modern General Relativity by Guidry
- Visual Differential Geometry and Forms by Needham
- Gravitation by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler
If you have just found this event and are worried that you're too far behind, don't worry! Our meetups are expressly structured to encourage and invite people to join us at any point and at any level of prior knowledge, as long as you've had at least some exposure to calculus and basic physics in the past. You are definitely welcome here!
We also maintain a live chat server for staying in touch between meetups. Ask us for a link.
This event is one of the many other collaborative study tracks in our Physics With Friends community. Check out all of our other events to find additional physics topics that you might want to study together!
Please note that the Relativity & Differential Geometry meetup series is a highly mathematical meetup for everyone who is serious about learning the advanced branches of math and physics that one needs to master in order to deeply understand the equations and applications of relativity. It is not a general discussion group for popular physics topics or sci-fi tangents. For casual physics chat, please attend our regular "Discuss Physics and Make Friends" event, held every third Wednesday of the month.
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Suggested homework for April 22nd:- Finish all of problem sets 1 and 2 if you haven't already
- Be prepared to present a problem in problem set 2
- No lecture today - problem solving only
- IF YOU ARE NEW HERE: Just come! Don't worry about any of this.
- Plasma Physics Study GroupLink visible for attendees
{ – Been here before? April 24th agenda is found below. – }
Plasma is matter in an ionized state, where electrons separate from atoms to create a dynamic mixture of charged particles that comprises 99% of the visible universe. We’ve started a new group to study the physics of plasma, a fascinating subject that examines how this unique state of matter interacts with electromagnetic fields to exhibit complex collective behaviors that govern phenomena from stellar fusion to space flight.
Our goal is to explore theoretical frameworks, including magnetohydrodynamics, kinetic theory, and wave-particle interactions, along with modern issues in applied physics, such as plasma confinement, heating methods, and stability control.
We're working through Richard Fitzpatrick’s Plasma Physics: An Introduction (2nd edition), with additional books and resources found online. A freely available web version of the book can be found on the author’s website.
What to expect – Here is our current format:
- Before each meeting, we will assign ourselves a reading and a set of exercises that everyone is invited to try for next time. (All of this is optional and there is never anything expected or required – this is a self-study group!)
- During the meeting, one or more volunteers will teach the material in their own words, and others will present their solutions to (or attempts at!) the exercises.
- Between meetings, we will collaborate through our chat server and/or small study sessions during "office hours". New members should especially take advantage of these to get up to speed. Ask us for details and links to these fantastic resources!
We maintain a live chat server for staying in touch between meetups. Ask us for a link.
This event joins our other existing collaborative study tracks. Please note that this particular meetup series is a highly mathematical meetup for everyone who is serious about learning the material. It is not a general discussion group for popular physics topics or sci-fi tangents. For casual physics chat, please attend our regular Discuss Physics and Make Friends event, held every third Wednesday of the month.
Prerequisites: An undergraduate level of knowledge of electrodynamics and thermodynamics is essential. If you’re missing these, please come to our other study sessions instead!
Having technical trouble joining the meeting? You need to use the Zoom app and log in with a (free to create) personal Zoom account before you can join our meeting. You might not be able to join directly from a web browser if you can’t log in.
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Plasma physics agenda for April 24th:- Review Fitzpatrick chapter 2 (refer to Hutchinson lectures notes #2 for more details)
- Solve Fitzpatrick chapter 2 problems
- If you're joining us for the first time, simply start reading Chapter 2 of the book and come to the meeting – we'll get you caught up!
