PH5624: Introduction to Statistical Mechanics
Syllabus
Module 1: Review of thermodynamics
Lecture hours: 10 · Tutorial hours: 0 · Lab hours: 0
Equilibrium and state quantities, ideal gas, kinetic theory of gases, distribution of molecular speeds, Pressure, work, chemical potential, heat, heat capacity, specific heat, entropy, Equation of state of an ideal and non-ideal gas, Laws of thermodynamics, thermodynamic potentials, free energy, phase transitions .
Module 2: Probability theory and the statistical foundations of mechanics
Lecture hours: 9 · Tutorial hours: 0 · Lab hours: 0
Basics of probability theory and different probability distributions, Central limit theorem, random walk, Brownian motion, Connecting statistics with mechanics: phase space concept, evolution in phase space, Many-body interactions leading to steady state and equilibrium .
Module 3: Statistical Mechanics and Ensemble Theory
Lecture hours: 23 · Tutorial hours: 0 · Lab hours: 0
Counting microstates, statistical definition of entropy, Gibbs paradox, Phase space density and ergodicity, Liouville's theorem, Microcanonical, canonical and grand canonical ensembles and partition functions, Calculations of physical properties and equivalence of ensembles, Review and derivation of thermodynamic relations from ensemble theory, Fluctuations and correlations, Examples: ideal gas, non-interacting magnetic systems .
Study Materials
Textbooks
- Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics, Walter Greiner, Ludwig Neise, Horst Stoecker, Springer, ISBN: 978-0-387-94299-5
References
- Statistical Mechanics, R. K. Pathria and Paul D. Beale, Academic Press (Elsevier), 3rd Edition, ISBN: 978-0123821881
- Statistical Physics, F. Reif, Berkeley Physics Course (Volume 5), McGraw Hill Education (India) Pvt Ltd, ISBN: 978-0-07-070219-6
- Statistical Physics of Particles, M. Kardar, Cambridge University Press, ISBN: 978-1108448239