Syllabus : Physical Sciences

PAPER -I (SECTION A)

1. General information on science and its interface with society to test the candidate's awareness of science, aptitude of scientific and quantitative reasoning.

2. COMMON ELEMENTRY COMPUTER SCIENCE (Applicable to all candidates in all subject areas). (i) History of development of computers, Mainframe, mini, micro and Super Computer Systems.

(ii) General awareness of computer Hardware i.e. CPU and other peripheral devices (input/output and auxiliary Storage (devices).

(iii) Basic knowledge of computer systems software and programming language i.e. Machine language. Assembly language and higher level language.

(iv) General awareness of popular commercial software packages like LOTUS, DBASE, WordStar, other scientific application packages.

PAPER -I (SECTION B)

1. Basic Mathematical Methods: Calculus: Vector algebra and vector calculus. Linear algebra, matrices. Linear differential equations. Fourier series, Elementary complex analysis.

2. Classical Dynamics: Basic principles of classical dynamics. Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms. Symmetries and conservation laws. Motion in the central field of force. Collisions and scattering. Mechanics of a system of particles. Small oscillations and normal modes. Wave motion -wave equation, phase velocity, group velocity, dispersion. Special theory of relativity -Lorentz transformations, addition of velocities, mass-energy equivalence.

3. Electromagnetics: Electrostatics -Laplace and Poisson equations, boundary value problems. Magnetostatics - Ampere's theorem, Biot-Savart law, electromagnetic induction. Maxwell's equations in free space and in linear isotropic media. Boundary conditions on the fields at interfaces. Scalar and vector potentials. Gauge invariance. Electromagnetic waves -reflection and refraction, dispersion, interference, coherence, diffraction, polarization. Electrodynamics of a charged particle in electric and magnetic fields. Radiation from moving charges radiation from a dipole. Retarded potential.

4. Quantum Physics and Applications: Wave-particle duality. Heisenberg's uncertainty Principle. The Schrodinger equation Particle in a box, Harmonic Oscillator, Tunnelling through a barrier. Motion in a central potential, Orbital angular momentum. Angular momentum algebra, spin. Addition of angular momenta. Time-independent perturbation theory. Fermi's Golden Rule. Elementary theory of scattering in a central potential. Phase shifts, partial wave analysis, Born approximation, Identical particles, spin-statistics connection.

5. Thermodynamic and Statistical Physics: Laws of thermodynamics and their consequences, Thermodynamic potentials and Maxwell's relations. Chemical potential, phase equilibria. Phase space, microstates and macrostates. Partition function. Free Energy and connection with thermodynamic quantities. Classical and quantum statistics, Degenerate electron gas. Blackbody radiation and Planck's distribution law, Bose-Einstein condensation. Einstein and Debye models for lattice specific heat.

6. Experimental Design: Measurement of fundamental constants: e, h, c. Measurement of High & Low Resistances, L and C. Detection of X-rays, Gamma rays, charged particles, neutrons etc: Ionization chamber, proportional counter, GM counter, Scintillation detectors, Solid State detectors. Emission and Absorption Spectroscopy. Measurement of Magnetic field, Hall effect, magnetoresistance. X-ray and neutron Diffraction. Vacuum Techniques: basic idea of conductance, pumping speed etc. Pumps: Mechanical Pump, Diffusion pump; Gauges: Thermocouple, Penning, Pirani, Hot Cathode. Low Temperature: Cooling a sample over a range upto 4 K and measurement of temperature.

Measurement of Energy and Time using electronic signals from the detectors and associated instrumentation: Signal processing, AID conversion & multichannel analyzers, Time-of-flight technique; Coincidence Measurements: true to chance ratio, correlation studies. Error Analysis and Hypothesis testing: Propagation of errors, Plotting of Graph, Distributions, Least squares fitting, criteria for goodness of fits -chi square test.

PAPER -II

Part 'A' ( Weightage 50%) SYLLABUS SAME AS FOR PAPER -I (SECTION -B)

Part '8' Weightage 50%

1. Electronics : CC, CB and CE configuration. Transistor as a switch, OR, AND, NOT gates. Feed back in Amplifiers.

Operational amplifier and its applications: inverting, non - Physics of p-n junction. Diode as a circuit element; clipping, clamping; Rectification, Zener regulated power supply: Transistor as a circuit element inverting amplifier, adder, integrator, differentiator, wave form generator, comparator & Schmidt trigger.

Digital integrated circuits -NAND & NOR gates as building blocks, X-OR Gate, simple combinational circuits, Half & Full adder, Flip-flop, shift register, counters Basic principles of AID & D/A converters; Simple applications of AID & D/A converters.

2. Atomic & Molecular Physics: Quantum states of an electron in an atom. Hydrogen atom spectrum. Electron spin. Stern- Gerlach experiment. Spin-orbit coupling, fine structure, relativistic correction, spectroscopic terms and selection rules, hyperfine structure. Exchange symmetry of wave functions. Pauli's exclusion principle, periodic table alkali -type spectra, LS & JJ coupling, Zeeman, Paschen-Back and Stark effects. X-Rays and Auger transitions, Compton effect.

Principles of ESR, NMR ; Molecular Physics: Convalent, ionic and Van der Waal's interaction. RotationNibration spectra. Raman Spectra, selection rules, nuclear spin and intensity alternation, isotope effects, electronic states of diatomic molecules, Frank-Condon principle. Lasers-spontaneous and stimulated emission, optical pumping, population inversion, coherence (temporal and spatial) simple description of Ammonia maser, CO2 and He-Ne Lasers.

3. Condensed Matter Physics: Crystal classes and systems, 2d & 3d lattices, Bonding of common crystal structures, reciprocal lattice, diffraction and structure factor, elementary ideas about point defects and dislocations. Lattice vibrations, Phonons, specific heat of solids, free electron theory-Fermi statistics; heat capacity.

Electron motion in periodic potential, energy bands in metals, insulators and semi-conductors; tight binding approximation; impurity levels in doped semi-conductors. Electronic transport from classical kinetic theory, electrical and thermal conductivity. Hall effect and thermo-electric power transport in semi-conductors. Di-electrics-Polarization mechanisms, Clausius-Mossotti equation, Piezo, Pyro and ferro electricity.

Dia and Para magnetism; exchange interactions, magnetic order, ferro, anti-ferro and ferrimagnetism.

Super conductivity-basic phenomenology; Meissner effect, Type-1 & Type-2 Super conductors, BCS Pairing mechanism.

4. Nuclear and Particle Physics: Basic nuclear properties -size, shape, charge distribution, spin & parity, binding, empirical mass formula, liquid drop model.

5. Nature of nuclear force, elements of two-body problem, charge independence and charge symmetry of nuclear forces. Evidence for nuclear shell structure. Single particle shell model-its validity and limitations, collective model. Interactions of charged particles and e.m. rays with matter. Basic principles of particle detectors-ionization chamber; gas proportional counter and GM counter, scintillation and semiconductor detectors.

Radioactive decays, basic theoretical understanding. Nuclear reactions, elementary ideas of reaction mechanisms, compound nucleus and direct reactions, elementary ideas of fission and fusion.

Particle Physics: Symmetrics an conservation laws, classification of fundamental forces and elementary particles, iso-spin, strangeness, Gell-Mann Nishijima formula, Quark model. C, P, T, invariance in different interactions, parity-nonconservation in weak interaction.