Statistical Mechanics

Syllabus

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Basic principles: phase space, Liouville's theorem, the ergodic hypothesis, mixing, chaos, coarse graining.

Theory of statistical ensembles: density matrix; Liouville's theorem;  Partition functions.

Quantum ideal gases, state equations (Fermi, Bose, photons)

Phase transitions: Ising model, Mean field theory,  Landau's theory, critical exponents, scaling.

Boltzmann's kinetic theory: the H theorem, Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.

Langevin equation. Correlation functions and linear response theory. Fluctuation-dissipation theorems, Onsager relations

Sources:

1. R. K. Pathria, Statistical Mechanics
2. K. Huang, Statistical Mechanics
3. Landau-Lifshitz, Statistical Physics
4. R.P. Feynman,  Statistical Mechanics
5. Shang-Keng Ma, Statistical Mechanics
6. F. Mohling, Statistical Mechanics Methods and Applications
   

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