Physics 219: Statistical Mechanics
Tue-Thu 9:30 – 10:45am, Girvetz Hall rm 2129
Boris Shraiman, KITP, Kohn Hall rm. 2317
shraiman@kitp.ucsb.edu
Office hours: Thu 3-5pm
Teaching Assistant: Victor Soto (vsoto@physics.ucsb.edu)
Syllabus:
• Laws of thermodynamics. Carnot cycle.
• Entropy. Intensive and extensive variables.
Thermodynamics potentials. Legendre transform.
• Phase space. Liouville theorem. Ergodic hypothesis.
Canonical ensemble.
• Partition function and free energy. Perfect gas.
Boltzman and Maxwell distributions. Max entropy and equipartition.
• Microcanonical and grand canonical ensembles.
Thermodynamics average and fluctuations.
• Quantum statistical mechanics. Bose-Einstein and
Fermi-Dirac distributions
• Specific heat of ideal gas with internal and
rotational degrees of freedom.
• Imperfect gas. Van der Waals equation. Phase
equilibrium.
• Virial coefficients and Mayer cluster expansion.
Two particle distribution function.
• Phonons and specific heat of crystals. Black body
radiation.
• Degenerate Bose gas.
• Degenerate Fermi gas.
• Fluctuations and correlations.
Fluctuation-dissipation theorem.
• Non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. Langevin and
Fokker-Planck equations.
• Boltzman equation.
Recommended texts:
Landau and Lifshitz,
“Statistical Physics” ***
Feynman, "Statistical Mechanics" ***
Fermi,
“Thermodynamics” **
McQuarrie, “Statistical Mechanics”
Expect: 7 homework sets + midterm (Feb 14 or 16)
+ final.
Grade = 0.5 Homework + 0.17 Midterm + 0.33 Final
Problem Set # 1 Due 1/26
Problem Set # 1 solutions
Problem Set # 2 Due 2/2
Problem Set # 2
solutions;
Problem Set #2
solutions_ Addendum
Problem Set # 3 Due
2/9
Problem Set # 3
solutions
Problem Set # 4 Due
3/2
Problem Set # 4
solutions
Problem Set # 5
Due 3/9
Problem Set # 5
solutions
Final
exam.
Start
Tue 3/21 9am due Wed. 3/22 noon (in my office)
Note: I expect you to work on your own.
PLEASE INCLUDE THE SCORES YOU GOT ON
YOUR LAST TWO PROBLEM SETS (#4&5) WITH THE EXAM.
(Unless you have not picked them up,
in which case i have them...)