Graduate Statistical Physics 1 (PHYS*7040)
Code and section: PHYS*7040*01
Term: Fall 2021
Instructor: Dmitry Pushin
Details
Instructor
Dmitry Pushin
dmitry.pushin@uwaterloo.ca
Office hours: Tentatively Mondays 2:30 pm - 4 pm (Toronto time)
Evaluation
| Assessment | Weight |
|---|---|
| Homework | 30% |
| Midterm | 30% |
| Final | 40% |
Homework: every 2 weeks (roughly).
Course Topics
- Thermodynamics: Thermal equilibrium, the laws of thermodynamics.
- Probability Theory: Probability densities; central limit theorem; laws of large numbers.
- Kinetic Theory: Phase space densities; Liouville's theorem; the Boltzmann equation.
- Classical Statistical Mechanics: Microcanonical, canonical and grand canonical ensembles.
- Interacting Systems: Virial and cluster expansions; van der Waals theory.
- Quantum Statistical Mechanics: Quantization effects in molecular gases; phonons, photons; density matrix formulation.
- Identical Particles
Course Resources
Texts
- M. Kardar, Statistical Physics of Particles.
- K. Huang, Statistical Mechanics.
- L.D. Landau & E.M. Lifshitz, Statistical Physics.
Piazza
This term we will be using Piazza for class discussion. The system is highly catered to getting you help fast and efficiently from classmates and myself. Rather than emailing questions to the teaching staff, I encourage you to post your questions on Piazza. If you have any problems or feedback for the developers, email team@piazza.com.