Grade: Two exams and 8 problem sets will determine your grade. The exams count for 50% of the total grade. The best 7 out of 8 problem sets will make up the remaining 50%. See canvas for details.
After a short introductory chapter presenting the main concepts of Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics, we will study the kinetic theory of gases and demonstrate that the steady states of classical dilute gases are well-described by the canonical distribution. We will then move on to a detailed construction and study of the microcanonical, canonical, and grand-canonical ensembles for both non-interacting and interacting systems. This includes rederiving standard Thermodynamics results and discussing ensemble equivalence. For interacting systems, we will review the cluster expansion, the Virial expansion, the van der Waals gas, and mean-field theory. Finally, we will turn to quantum statistical mechanics and discuss its applications to lattice vibrations, ideal gas, photon gas, and Fermi and Bose systems.
The following are useful reference books:
| K. Huang | Statistical Mechanics |
| R. K. Pathria | Statistical Mechanics |
| A. B. Pippard | Elements of Classical Thermodynamics |
| S.-K. Ma | Statistical Mechanics |
| L.D. Landau & E.M. Lifshitz | Statistical Physics, Part 1 |
| F. Reif | Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics |
| R.P. Feynman | Statistical Mechanics |
| M. Kardar | Statistical Physics of Particles |