Department of Physics and Astronomy
PHYS 8310 - ADVANCED STATISTICAL PHYSICS
Spring Semester 2017

Monday, Wednesday 2:00-3:15 pm --- 272 Natural Sciences Center

Instructor: Mark Stockman
Office: 406 Science Annex
Office hours: M,W 10:00-11:30
Phone: 678-457-4739 (personal mobile)
E-mail: mstockman@gsu.edu
Web site: http://www.phy-astr.gsu.edu/stockman/
Grading:  20% midterm exam, 30% homework, 50% final exam

Final Exam: Wednesday, April 25 from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm in the regular classroom

Text: L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz, Statistical Physics, Part 1 (Paperback - 544 pages, 3 edition), Vol. 5, 1980, Butterworth Heinemann; ISBN: 0750633727, or later editions

Supplementary text: H. B. Callen, Thermodynamics and Introduction to Thermostatistics, Wiley, New York, 1985, or later editions

Basic Rules of the Class

These rules are designed to allow students to get the maximum benefit for their time and money spent.
The physical attendance of lectures is not required but strongly recommended. If you happen to be late, enter class, do not apologize, quietly take your seat and start working. If you need to leave, do so also as quietly as possible, do not ask permission.
Do not talk in class even in a low voice since it is disruptive (asking a fellow student a brief question is admissible, but should be kept to the minimum). Do not hesitate to interrupt the lecturer with any questions or comments, since it may be beneficial for the class. (Do not assume that your question is too trivial to ask -- it may well be not so trivial. Many students may have a similar problem. Your questions and comments in class will not affect your grades in any way.)
At the exams, you may not use any notes or books, unless specifically allowed. You may briefly (for not longer than five minutes) leave the class room after one hour of work without asking permission. Please bring only your pen and/or pencils. No smart phones are allowed at the exam. The paper needed will be given to you. The date and time of the final exam cannot be changed.

SYLLABUS

1. Thermodynamics

Macroscopic and microscopic description.

Internal energy, work and heat. Perfect and imperfect differentials

Carnot theorem. Entropy and the Second Law. Maximum of entropy and equilibrium.

Fundamental relations. Entropy of ideal gas. Van der Waals fluid.

Entropy of mixture. Chemical potential.

Maximum work theorem. Thermodynamic potentials.

Equilibria and minima of potentials.

Thermodynamic identities. Maxwell identities and Gibbs-Duhem relations. Reduction of derivatives, method of Jacobians.

Stability and thermodynamic inequalities.

Phases and Gibbs phase rule.

Thermodynamic fluctuations.

2. Equilibrium statistical mechanics

Principle of maximum disorder and Gibbs distribution.

Microcanonical, canonical, and grand canonical ensembles.

Monatomic ideal gas.

Einstein and Debye heat capacity.

Rotational contribution to heat capacity.

3. Ideal quantum gases

Fermi gas. Grand partition function. Fermi distribution and Fermi energy. Heat capacity.

                  Bose systems. Bose condensation.

Black body radiation. Photons and Planck distribution.

Thermodynamic fluctuations in ideal gases.

4. Dielectric and magnetic systems

                  Thomas-Fermi approximation for interacting electron gas. Debye screening. Plasmons.

Thermodynamics of magnetics.

Pauli paramegnetism and Landau diamagnetism. Quantum oscillations.

5. Thermodynamic of phase transitions

Phase transitions and stability.

Classification of phase transition. Transitions of first and second order.

First order transitions. Latent heats. Clapeyron relation.

Second order transitions. Landau theory.

---