Welcome to the 8.334 webpage,
Spring 2003, Statistical Physics II
Lectures: We, Fr, 2-3:30,
in Rm. 12-142
by Prof Leonid Levitov,
Office 12-112,
Telephone: x3-6817,
levitov@mit.edu,
Office hours: Fri, 3:30-4:30;
Recitations: Mo, 2-3:30,
in Rm. 12-142
by Mr Vadim Roytershteyn,
Office 26-205,
Telephone: x3-8539,
roytersh@mit.edu,
Office hours: Tu, 3-4;
Problem sets:
weekly, 12 in total, due Wednesday in class (at the beginning of the lecture);
Term paper:
A list of term paper topics
postscript
will be provided and discussed in class,
due May 9;
Final exam:
May 14 (the last lecture), 1.5 hr long, closed book;
Grade:
problem sets 33.3%, final exam 33.3%, term paper 33.3%
Please tell us what you expect to learn in 8.334
and provide information on your background by filling this
questionnaire:
postscript
Course syllabus
postscript
and weekly schedule
postscript
(Note: the schedule is tentative and probably will be revised
as we go on).
Selected lecture notes are available
Problem Set #1:
postscript
Solutions:
postscript
Problem Set #2:
postscript
Solutions:
postscript
Problem Set #3:
postscript
Solutions:
postscript
Problem Set #4:
postscript
Solutions:
postscript
Problem Set #5:
postscript
Solutions:
postscript
Problem Set #6:
postscript
Solutions:
postscript
Problem Set #7:
postscript
Solutions:
postscript
Problem Set #8:
postscript
Problem Set #9:
postscript
Problem Set #10:
postscript
Problem Set #11:
postscript
Problem Set #12:
postscript
new, re-edited 05/01/03
Lecture 1: Long-range order, symmetry and soft modes
postscript
Lecture 2: Phase transitions, the mean field approach
postscript
Lecture 3: Symmetry breaking, Landau theory
postscript
Lecture 4: Universality classes. Susceptibility and fluctuations
postscript
Lecture 5: Fluctuations near phase transition.
Renormalization group
postscript
Lecture 6: Real space RG. Blocking, decimation, bonds-moving
postscript
Lecture 7: Scaling theory near critical point
postscript
Lecture 8: Field-theoretic RG. Low dimensional systems.
Nonlinear sigma model.
postscript
Lecture 9:
Topological transition in the XY model.
in preparation
Lecture 10: Sine-Gordon model and Coulomb gas.
Villain duality.
postscript
Lecture 11: Topological melting in 2D.
Dislocations, disclinations, instantons.
postscript
Lecture 12: Field-theoretic RG. Wilson-Fisher fixed point.
postscript
new
Lecture 13: Asymptotic symmetry.
Run-away RG trajectories.
in preparation
Lecture 14: Functional integral in statistical mechanics.
in progress
Guest lecture by
Prof John Negele,
Quantum Chromodynamics on a Lattice
LINK
Guest lecture by
Prof Gregory Falkovich,
Critical Phenomena and
Scaling Laws in Turbulence
gzipped postscript
Useful links
Lecture notes on Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in the XY model by
Ben Simons \A>
( postscript
pdf ),
Matthew J. W. Dodgson
( postscript
pdf ),
Henrik Jeldtoft Jensen
( postscript
pdf )
A clear and simple discussion
of phase transitions, Landau theory, mean field theory, Ising model, mixtures,
binary alloys, can be found in
lectures by Edward Groth (Princeton)
--- Also, check other lectures, from lect22.pdf through lect27.pdf
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Last modified: May 2, 2003
Leonid Levitov
levitov@mit.edu