Theoretical Physics: A Primer for Philosophers of Science

Abstract

We give a overview of the main areas in theoretical physics, with emphasis on their relation to Lagrangian formalism in classical mechanics. This review covers classical mechanics; the road from classical mechanics to Schrödinger’s quantum mechanics; electromagnetism, special and general relativity, and (very briefly) gauge field theory and the Higgs mechanism. We shun mathematical rigor in favor of a straightforward presentation.

Keywords

• Theoretical physics
• lagrangian
• classical mechanics
• quantum mechanics
• electromagnetism
• relativity
• Higgs mechanism