Physics Optional Syllabus

Here is the official UPSC Physics Optional syllabus for Paper I and Paper II, arranged paper by paper and unit by unit. Under each unit we give the official text first, then break it into numbered topics, so you can track your preparation and match every previous year question to its topic.

Source. UPSC Civil Services Examination 2026 notification (Examination Notice No. 05/2026-CSE, dated 04.02.2026, revised file of 06.02.2026, pp. 133–136), upsc.gov.in. The Physics syllabus has been unchanged in recent years.

Scheme. Two papers of 250 marks each (total 500), 3 hours each. Each paper has two sections (A and B) of four questions each; Questions 1 and 5 are compulsory, and three more are attempted with at least one from each section. The syllabus itself is not divided into sections. Paper I has five units (Mechanics; Waves and Optics; Electricity and Magnetism; Electromagnetic Waves and Blackbody Radiation; Thermal and Statistical Physics), several divided into lettered sub-heads. Paper II has four (Quantum Mechanics; Atomic and Molecular Physics; Nuclear and Particle Physics; Solid State Physics, Devices and Electronics).

Syllabus at a glance

Paper	Unit	Topics
Paper I	1. Mechanics	12
Paper I	2. Waves and Optics	9
Paper I	3. Electricity and Magnetism	6
Paper I	4. Electromagnetic Waves and Blackbody Radiation	5
Paper I	5. Thermal and Statistical Physics	9
Paper II	1. Quantum Mechanics	9
Paper II	2. Atomic and Molecular Physics	9
Paper II	3. Nuclear and Particle Physics	8
Paper II	4. Solid State Physics, Devices and Electronics	11

Paper I

1. Mechanics

1.1 Laws of motion and conservation laws

• Laws of motion
• Conservation of energy and momentum

1.2 Rotating frames

• Centripetal and Coriolis accelerations

1.3 Central forces and Kepler’s laws

• Motion under a central force
• Conservation of angular momentum
• Kepler’s laws

1.4 Gravitational field and potential

• Field and potential due to spherical bodies
• Gauss and Poisson equations
• Gravitational self-energy

1.5 Two-body problem and scattering

• Reduced mass
• Rutherford scattering
• Centre of mass and laboratory frames

1.6 Systems of particles and collisions

• Centre of mass, angular momentum, equations of motion
• Conservation theorems
• Elastic and inelastic collisions

1.7 Rigid body dynamics

• Degrees of freedom, Euler’s theorem, angular velocity
• Moments of inertia, parallel and perpendicular axes
• Equation of motion for rotation

1.8 Molecular rotations, precession, top and gyroscope

• Molecular rotations
• Di and tri-atomic molecules
• Precessional motion, top, gyroscope

1.9 Elasticity

• Hooke’s law
• Elastic constants and their inter-relation

1.10 Fluid flow and viscosity

• Streamline flow, viscosity
• Poiseuille’s and Bernoulli’s equations
• Stokes’ law

1.11 Michelson-Morley experiment and Lorentz transformations

• Michelson-Morley experiment
• Lorentz transformations
• Length contraction and time dilation

1.12 Relativistic kinematics and dynamics

• Addition of velocities
• Aberration and Doppler effect
• Mass-energy relation and decays
• Four-momentum
• Covariance

2. Waves and Optics

2.1 Oscillations

• Simple harmonic motion
• Damped oscillation
• Forced oscillation and resonance
• Beats

2.2 Waves

• Stationary waves in a string
• Pulses and wave packets
• Phase and group velocities
• Huygens’ principle

2.3 Geometrical optics

• Fermat’s principle
• Matrix method, thin lens formula, nodal planes, system of two thin lenses
• Chromatic and spherical aberrations

2.4 Interference

• Young’s experiment
• Newton’s rings
• Thin films
• Michelson interferometer
• Multiple beam interference and Fabry Perot interferometer

2.5 Fraunhofer diffraction

• Single slit, double slit
• Diffraction grating, resolving power
• Circular aperture and Airy pattern

2.6 Fresnel diffraction

• Half-period zones
• Zone plates
• Circular aperture

2.7 Polarisation

• Linearly and circularly polarised light
• Double refraction, quarter wave plate
• Optical activity

2.8 Fibre optics

• Principles of fibre optics, attenuation
• Pulse dispersion in step and parabolic index fibres
• Material dispersion, single mode fibres

2.9 Lasers and holography

• Einstein A and B coefficients
• Ruby and He-Ne lasers
• Spatial and temporal coherence, focusing
• Three-level scheme
• Holography

3. Electricity and Magnetism

3.1 Laplace and Poisson equations, method of images

• Laplace and Poisson equations
• Method of images
• Boundary-value problems: conducting and dielectric spheres

3.2 Charges, dipoles and multipoles

• Energy of a system of charges
• Multipole expansion
• Dipole: potential, field, force and torque

3.3 Dielectrics and polarisation

3.4 Magnetostatics and magnetic materials

• Magnetic shell
• Uniformly magnetised sphere
• Ferromagnetic materials, hysteresis, energy loss

3.5 Magnetic fields and induction

• Biot-Savart law, Ampere’s law
• Faraday’s law, Lenz’ law
• Self- and mutual inductance

3.6 DC and AC circuits

• Kirchhoff’s laws
• Mean and rms values
• Circuits with R, L and C
• Series and parallel resonance, quality factor
• Principle of transformer

4. Electromagnetic Waves and Blackbody Radiation

4.1 Maxwell’s equations and EM waves

• Displacement current
• Maxwell’s equations
• Wave equations in vacuum
• Poynting theorem

4.2 Potentials and covariance

• Vector and scalar potentials
• Electromagnetic field tensor
• Covariance of Maxwell’s equations

4.3 EM waves at dielectric boundaries

• Wave equations in isotropic dielectrics
• Reflection and refraction
• Fresnel’s relations
• Total internal reflection

4.4 Dispersion and scattering

• Normal and anomalous dispersion
• Rayleigh scattering

4.5 Blackbody radiation

• Planck’s radiation law
• Stefan-Boltzmann law
• Wien’s displacement law
• Rayleigh-Jeans law

5. Thermal and Statistical Physics

5.1 Laws of thermodynamics and entropy

• Laws of thermodynamics
• Reversible and irreversible processes
• Entropy and entropy changes in processes

5.2 Heat engines

• Otto and Diesel engines

5.3 Phase rule and phase transitions

• Gibbs’ phase rule
• Chemical potential
• Clausius-Clapeyron equation

5.4 Real gases

• Van der Waals equation
• Critical constants
• Joule-Kelvin effect
• Liquefaction of gases

5.5 Kinetic theory

• Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of velocities
• Transport phenomena
• Equipartition and virial theorems

5.6 Specific heat of solids

• Dulong-Petit
• Einstein
• Debye

5.7 Maxwell relations and adiabatic demagnetisation

• Maxwell relations and application
• Adiabatic demagnetisation

5.8 Statistical distributions

• Macro and micro states
• Maxwell-Boltzmann, Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac distributions

5.9 Applications of statistical physics

• Specific heat of gases
• Blackbody radiation
• Negative temperatures

Paper II

1. Quantum Mechanics

1.1 Wave-particle duality and uncertainty principle

• Wave-particle duality
• Uncertainty principle

1.2 Schroedinger equation and expectation values

1.3 Free particle and wave packets

• Gaussian wave-packet

1.4 Particle in a box and finite well

• Particle in a box
• Finite well
• Three dimensional box
• Density of states

1.5 Linear harmonic oscillator

1.6 Step potential and barrier

• Reflection and transmission by a step potential
• Rectangular barrier

1.7 Free electron theory of metals

1.8 Angular momentum and hydrogen atom

• Angular momentum
• Hydrogen atom

1.9 Spin and Pauli matrices

• Spin half particles
• Pauli spin matrices

2. Atomic and Molecular Physics

2.1 Stern-Gerlach experiment and fine structure

• Stern-Gerlach experiment
• Electron spin
• Fine structure of hydrogen atom

2.2 Coupling and spectroscopic notation

• L-S coupling
• J-J coupling
• Spectroscopic notation of atomic states

2.3 Zeeman effect

2.4 Molecular spectra

• Rotational spectra
• Vibrational spectra
• Electronic spectra
• Franck-Condon principle

2.5 Raman effect

• Raman effect and molecular structure
• Laser Raman spectroscopy

2.6 Hydrogen in astronomy

• Neutral hydrogen atom
• Molecular hydrogen and molecular hydrogen ion

2.7 Fluorescence and phosphorescence

2.8 NMR and EPR

2.9 Lamb shift

3. Nuclear and Particle Physics

3.1 Basic nuclear properties

• Size
• Binding energy
• Angular momentum and parity
• Magnetic moment

3.2 Semi-empirical mass formula

• Mass formula and applications
• Mass parabolas

3.3 Deuteron and nuclear forces

• Ground state of deuteron, magnetic moment, non-central forces
• Meson theory
• Salient features of nuclear forces

3.4 Shell model

3.5 Radioactive decays

• Violation of parity in beta decay
• Gamma decay and internal conversion
• Mossbauer spectroscopy

3.6 Nuclear reactions and Q-value

3.7 Fission, fusion and reactors

• Nuclear fission
• Fusion and energy production in stars
• Nuclear reactors

3.8 Elementary particles

• Classification and interactions
• Conservation laws
• Quark structure of hadrons
• Field quanta
• Unification of forces
• Neutrinos

4. Solid State Physics, Devices and Electronics

4.1 Crystal structure and its determination

• Crystalline and amorphous structure
• Crystal systems, space groups
• X-ray diffraction
• Electron microscopies

4.2 Band theory of solids

• Conductors, insulators and semi-conductors

4.3 Thermal properties of solids

• Specific heat
• Debye theory

4.4 Magnetism

• Dia, para and ferromagnetism

4.5 Superconductivity

• Meissner effect
• Josephson junctions
• High temperature super-conductivity

4.6 Semiconductors

• Intrinsic and extrinsic semi-conductors

4.7 Transistors, amplifiers and oscillators

• p-n-p and n-p-n transistors
• Amplifiers
• Oscillators

4.8 Op-amps and field effect transistors

• Op-amps
• FET, JFET and MOSFET

4.9 Digital electronics

• Boolean identities, De Morgan’s laws
• Logic gates and truth tables
• Simple logic circuits

4.10 Thermistors and solar cells

4.11 Microprocessors and digital computers

Total: 78 numbered topics across 9 units.

Last updated: 30 October 2026