Physics 4230: Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics
Instructor: John Price
A spectacular high-energy collision between two gold nuclei, captured by the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The collision energy is about 100 GeV per nucleon. STAR hopes to find evidence for a phase transistion from ordinary nuclear matter to a quark-gluon plasma, thought to occur at a temperature of about 10^12 K.
In Chapter 6 of Schroeder we return to microscopic statistical mechanics with more powerful methods. Midterm 2 is on Monday, April 8th.
Chapter 6 and 7 of Schroeder.
Home page from weeks 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10
I welcome your comments on the class and this website. Send them to John Price