PHYSICS 831: Statistical Mechanics

Syllabus:
Instructor:	S. D. Mahanti Office: BPS4269  Tel: 355-9200 ext. 2303 Email: mahanti@pa.msu.edu Office hours: 3:00-3:50 Tuesday and Thursday
Grader:	TO BE ANNOUNCED Office: XXXX  Tel: XXXXX Email: Office hours: XXX Monday and Thursday
Lecture:	MWF 3:00-3:50 pm, BPS 1308
Text:	Statistical Mechanics, 2nd edition, Kerson Huang (Wiley, NY 1987)
Reference:	Statistical Physics, 3rd edition, Part 1, L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz (Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford 1999) Equilibrium Statistical Physics, 2nd edition, M. Plischke and B. Bergerson (World Scientific 1994)
Grading:	Homework 30% Assigned Weekly Midterm 20% October 13, 3:00-5:00 PM Final 50% December 8, 3:00-6:00 PM
Homework Policy:	Homework will be assigned (almost) every week (Friday) and will be due the next week (Friday). There will be a penalty for late homework submission. No assignments will be accepted after three days of the due date.

Tentative Schedule:
Date	Topic	Chapter(s)
Aug. 25-29	- Laws of Thermodynamics	1
Sep. 3-5	- Laws of Thermodynamics (contd.) - Thermodynamics of Phase Transition	1, 2
Sep. 8-10	- Thermodynamics of Phase Transition (contd.)	2
Sep. 12-24	- Classical Statistical Mechanics	6
Sep. 26-Oct. 10	- Canonical and Grand Canonical Ensembles	7
Oct. 13 (Monday)	- Midterm Examination 3 to 5 PM	1-7
Oct. 15-24	- Quantum Statistical Mechanics	8
Oct. 27-Nov. 7	- Fermi Systems	11
Nov. 10-19	- Bose Systems - Superfluidity	12, 13
Nov. 21-Dec. 3	- Ising Model - Mean Field Theory	14
Dec. 5	- Review Session	16
Dec. 8 (Monday)	- Final Examination 3 to 6 PM	1-16