PHYS 4230 - Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics

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Lecture Notes

  • Lecture set 1: introduction basics
    • overview of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics
    • heat, energy, and work
    • 1st law of thermodynamics
    • ideal gas
    • equation of state
    • heat capacity
    • random walk and diffusion
  • Lecture set 2: microcanonical statistical mechanics
    • micro- vs macro-states
    • counting microstates
    • binary systems: Ising magnet, 1d random walk
    • quantum oscillators: bosons
    • Boltzmann gas
    • 2nd law of thermodynamics
  • Lecture set 3: thermodynamics
    • temperature
    • pressure
    • chemical potential
    • thermodynamic potential
    • entropy and heat
    • 3rd law of thermodynamics
  • Lecture set 4: heat engines and refrigerators
    • entropy, heat and temperature
    • heat engine
    • Carnot cycle engine
    • refrigerator
    • real heat engines
  • Lecture set 5: thermodynamic potentials
    • enthalpy, Helmholtz and Gibb's free energies
    • heat engine
    • Maxwell relations
    • phase transitions (P-V-T phase diagram)
    • Clausius-Claperon relation
    • mixtures
    • osmotic pressure
  • Lecture set 6: canonical statistical mechanics
    • system and reservoir: Boltzmann weight
    • the partition function
    • paramagnet
    • rotation of diatomic molecules
    • oscillators
    • equipartition
    • Boltzmann ideal gas
    • Maxwell distribution
    • Helmholtz free energy
  • Lecture set 7: grand-canonical statistical mechanics
    • system and reservoir: Gibb's weight
    • grand partition function
    • grand free energy
    • lattice gas
    • Fermi gas: electrons in metals, degeneracy pressure, Fermi-Dirac distribution
    • Black-body radiation
    • Debye phonons in solids
    • Bose gas: Bose-Einstein Condensation

Additional Materials