PHY 418 Statistical Mechanics I

Semester: Spring
Credit Hours: 4
Prerequisite: PHY 227 or equivalent; PHY 407, PHY 408 concurrently

Review of thermodynamics; general principles of statistical mechanics; microcanonical, canonical, and grand canonical ensembles; ideal quantum gases; applications to magnetic phenomena, heat capacities, black-body radiation; introduction to phase transitions.

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syllabus

1. Review of principles of thermodynamics.
2. Statistical theory: ensembles, averages and fluctuations; foundations for equilibrium properties.
3. Applications to simple classical and quantum systems: ideal gases, oscillating systems, magnetic gases.
4. Quantum statistics of identical particle systems: Fermi and Bose gases.
5. Applications to low temperature quantum fluids: Liquid 4He, electron 'gas' in metal.
6. Interacting systems and phase transitions: mean field models and scaling behavior.

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