| 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 |
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| Grader: |
TO BE ANNOUNCED Office: XXXX Tel: XXXXX Email: Office hours: XXX Monday and Thursday |
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| Lecture: |
MWF 3:00-3:50 pm, BPS 1308 | |||||||||
| Text: |
Statistical Mechanics, 2nd edition,
Kerson Huang (Wiley, NY 1987) |
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| 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) |
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| Grading: |
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| 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 |