Statistical Mechanics (PHYS 70009, CRN 24480)

• General Information (Syllabus)

• Lecture 1. Fundamental notions of thermodynamics. The Zeroth Law.
• Lecture 2. The First law. Thermodynamic engines. The Second Law. Entropy.
• Lecture 3. Clausius' theorem. The Gibbs-Duhem relation. Gibbs' Phase Rule. Phase transitions.
• Lecture 4. Thermodynamic Potentials. The Third Law.
• Lecture 5. Probability theory.
• Lecture 6. Kinetic Theory of Gases. The BBGKY hierarchy. Boltzmann's H-theorem.
• Lecture 7. Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics: Ensemble Theory. Online notes: 033020 040120
• * Lecture 8. A Prelude to Quantum Statistical Mechanics. Black-body Radiation. Extra material, not required for the final exam
• Lecture 9. Quantum Statistical Mechanics. Density operator. Quantum ideal gases.
• Lecture 10. Degenerate Quantum Ideal Gases.
• Addendum to Lectures 9-10. (Overview without detailed calculations.)

• Appendix A: Exact (total) differentials.
• Appendix B: Kinetic theory of the ideal gas.
• Appendix C: The Legendre Transform.
• Appendix D: Dirac delta function.
• Appendix E: Information Theory and Entropy.
• Appendix F: The saddle point method.

1. HW1  (due Wed Jan 31, 11:59pm)  
2. HW2  (due Mon Feb 12, 11:59pm);  
3. HW3  (due Mon Mar 20, 11:59pm);  
4. HW4  (due Tue Apr 2, 11:59pm); 
5. HW5  (due Wed Apr 17, 11:59pm); 

1. Midterm exam. (due Sat. March 1, 11:59PM).  Solutions  
2. Final exam. (due Sat. May 11, 11:59PM ).  Solutions  

• Cédric Villani's Ted talk. He received the 2010 Fields Medal, for his work on the Boltzmann equation.
• A nice paper on Real-time single-molecule imaging of quantum interference

• Follow this link for uploading materials.