FIZ 502E - Statistical Physics

Course Objectives

This is a one-semester course on statistical mechanics. Basic principles examined in this course are: The laws of thermodynamics and the concepts of temperature, work, heat, and entropy, postulates of classical statistical mechanics, microcanonical, canonical, and grand canonical distributions; applications to lattice vibrations, ideal gas, photon gas, quantum statistical mechanics; Fermi and Bose systems, interacting systems: Cluster expansions, van der Waal's gas, and mean-field theory.

Course Description

This is a one-semester course on statistical mechanics. Basic principles examined in this course are: The laws of thermodynamics and the concepts of temperature, work, heat, and entropy, postulates of classical statistical mechanics, microcanonical, canonical, and grand canonical distributions; applications to lattice vibrations, ideal gas, photon gas, quantum statistical mechanics; Fermi and Bose systems, interacting systems: Cluster expansions, van der Waal's gas, and mean-field theory.