Physics 632
Statistical Mechanics
Spring 2011
Home Page: http://www.pa.uky.edu/~gardner/p632/
TR: 9:30 - 10:45PM, CP 183
Syllabus
Statistical Mechanics
Spring 2011
Home Page: http://www.pa.uky.edu/~gardner/p632/
TR: 9:30 - 10:45PM, CP 183
Syllabus
General Information:
Lecturer: Prof. Susan Gardner
Grader: Xi Feng
Required textbook:
Recommended textbook:
Physics 632 is a semester's graduate course in statistical mechanics.
Knowledge of thermodynamics and quantum mechanics, at the level of
Phy 522 and Phy 614, is required, as is familiarity with advanced mechanics
at the level of Phy 504. Statistical mechanics is a remarkable
subject which allows us, upon certain reasonable assumptions, to
predict the macroscopic behavior of a system,
such as its pressure, magnetization, etc. from information about
its microscopic structure. We will seek, as
Goodstein puts it, "a feeling for the essential nature of the stuff."
A bevy of texts, of varying sophistication and coverage of applications,
exist in the literature. An annotated bibliography of them has been included
in the course web site.
Kardar is the official text; it is a
more modern book than Landau and Lifshitz, which is the time-honored standard,
and possesses more detailed explanations and many worked examples.
The beginning chapters of Goodstein could very well have been entitled
"Landau and Lifshitz Explained," though Goodstein's inimitable style is
its own pleasure; it is the recommended text. The lectures
will borrow heavily, though not exclusively, from the required and
recommended texts.
The reading assignments and lecture plan will be posted
~1 week before the lecture in question.
"G" and "K" denote Goodstein and Kardar, respectively.
[Updated: 3/11/11]
Office: Chem-Phys 387B
Phone: 257-4391
E-mail: gardner at pa dot uky dot edu
Office Hours: Tuesday, Thursday 4:00PM - 5:00 PM and by appointment.
M. Kardar,
Statistical Physics of Particles (2007)
D. Goodstein,
States of Matter (1985)
Course Description and Prerequisites
Lecture Schedule
| Date | Reading | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Th Jan. 13. | Ch. 1 (K); Ch. 1 (G) | Thermodynamics Review - the 3 Laws | ||
| Tu Jan. 18. | Ch. 1 (K); Ch. 1 (G) | The 3 Laws (cont.) -- Maxwell relations | ||
| Th Jan. 20. | Ch. 1 (K); Ch. 1 (G) | Thermodynamics (cont.) | ||
| Tu Jan. 25. | Ch. 1 (K); Ch. 1 (G) | Entropy and Irreversibility | ||
| Th Jan. 27. | Ch. 2 (K) | Probability; Random variables | ||
| Tu Feb. 1. | Ch. 2 (K) | Cumulants; Common PDFs | ||
| Th Feb. 3. | Ch. 2 (K) | Asymptotic Methods; Stirling's Formula | ||
| Tu Feb. 8. | Ch. 2 (K) | Bayes Theorem; The Central Limit Theorem | ||
| Th Feb. 10. | Ch. 2 (K) | Entropy and Information | ||
| Tu Feb. 15. | Ch. 3 (K) | Liouville's Theorem | ||
| Th Feb. 17. | Ch. 3 (K) | Implications of Liouville's Theorem | ||
| Tu Feb. 22. | Ch. 3 (K) | BBGKY Hierarchy; Boltzmann Equation | ||
| Th Feb. 24. | Ch. 3 (K) | The Boltzmann H-Theorem | ||
| Tu Mar. 1. | Ch. 3 (K) | The H-Theorem and Irreversibility | ||
| Th Mar. 3. | Ch. 4 (K); Ch. 1 (G) | Statistical Counting; The Microcanonical Ensemble | ||
| Tu Mar. 8. | Ch. 4 (K); Ch. 1 (G) | The Microcanonical Ensemble | ||
| Th Mar. 10. | Ch. 4 (K); Ch. 1 (G) | The Canonical Ensemble | ||
| -- | Spring Break | |||
| Tu Mar. 22. | Ch. 4 (K); Ch. 1 (G) | Equipartition Theorem; Einstein Model | ||
| Th Mar. 24. | Ch. 4 (K); Ch. 1,2 (G) | Gibbs Paradox; the Grand Canonical Ensemble | ||
| Tu Mar. 29. | Ch. 4 (K); Ch. 2 (G) | Classical, Perfect Gas | ||
| Th Mar. 31. | Ch. 6 (K) | Classical, Perfect Molecular Gas | ||
| Tu Apr. 5. | Ch. 6, 7 (K); Ch. 2 (G) | Slightly Degenerate Fermi and Bose Gases | ||
| Th Apr. 7. | Ch. 6 (K); Ch. 3.1-3.3 (G) | Phonons; Debye Model | ||
| Tu Apr. 12. | Ch. 6 (K) | Black Body Radiation | ||
| Th Apr. 14. | Ch. 6, 7 (K); Ch. 2 (G) | Quantum Statistical Mechanics; Completely Degenerate Fermi Gas | ||
| Tu Apr. 19. | Ch. 7 (K); Ch. 2 (G) | Bose-Einstein Condensation; Superfluidity | ||
| Th Apr. 21. | Ch. 5 (K); Ch. 4 (G) | Dilute Imperfect Gases; Virial Expansion | ||
| Tu Apr. 26. | Ch. 5 (K); Ch. 4.4 (G) | Joule-Thompson Effect; Ursell-Mayer Expansion | ||
| Th Apr. 28. | Ch. 5 (K); Ch. 6.3 (G) | Van der Waals EOS; Maxwell Construction | ||
Course Grades
Your grade will be determined in the following manner: problem sets (30%), in-class midterm exam (30%), in-class final exam (40%).
The midterm exam will be a open-required-textbook exam which you will be asked to work in a single two-hour sitting. We will arrange an evening meeting time in early to mid-March in order to conduct the exam. [On 1/13/11 we agreed to have the exam on Friday, March 4 from 6-8PM. Students who wish to do so can work on it until 9PM.]
The final exam will be a in-class, open-required-textbook exam of three hours in duration. You must pass the final examination in order to pass the class.
A significant portion of the course grade is associated with the problem sets, and rightly so. Working significant problem sets is necessary to develop a genuine understanding of the material. You may discuss the problems with others, and even collaborate, but you are required to write out your solutions independently. The problem sets will be issued in one-two week intervals, and late work will not be accepted. In the event that our class is large, I reserve the right to institute ``die'' homework; that is, for each problem set, the homework problem(s) that are actually graded will be determined by the roll of a die. Note that complete problem set solutions will be available on reserve in the King library. [1/13/11: In computing your final homework grade you will be allowed to drop your lowest homework score.]
Examples of excusable absences are (University Senate Rule 5.2.4.2):
It is good for you to discuss the course material with others, but you really must perform all your course work *independently*. You should write out your solutions by yourself, expressing your solutions in your own words. Cheating and plagiarism in tests or exams, indeed, in all aspects of the course, are very serious academic offenses. Violators of the academic code are subject to punishment in accordance to University Senate Rules section 6.3 and 6.4.
On-line Course Evaluation
Course evaluations are an important and mandatory component of our department's instructional management system. The on-line course evaluation system was developed to minimize the loss of classroom time and to allow each student ample time to evaluate each component of the course and its associated instructor, providing meaningful numeric scores and detailed commentary. The evaluation window will open on Monday, April 11, 2011 and and close on Wednesday, April 27, 2011. To access the system during the spring evaluation window, simply go to the Department of Physics & Astronomy web page, click on the link for Course Evaluations, and follow the instructions. You will need to use your student ID# to log into the system; this allows us to monitor who has filled out evaluations. However, when you login you will be assigned a random number, so that all you comments and scores will remain anonymous.