Course requirements and grade:

• Problem sets (60%)
• In-class exam: March 6, 2024 (15%)
• Final exam: May 9, 2024 (25%)

Grade: A 93-100, A- 88-93, B+ 83-88, B 78-83, B- 73-78, C+ 68-73, C 63-68, C- 58-63, D+ 53-58, D 48-53, D- 43-48, F <43

Problem sets:

Reading material:

• Text: 
  M. Kardar, Statistical Physics of Particles, a modern graduate-level textbook with an eye towards practical applications
• Also recommended:
  • R.K. Pathria and P.D. Beale, Statistical Mechanics, a popular textbook.
  • R.P. Feynman, Statistical Mechanics: A Set of Lectures. It's Feynman.
  • L.D. Landau and E.M. Lifshitz, Statistical Physics, a textbook with many insightful discussions
  • David Tong, Lectures on Statistical Physics, an excellent undergraduate course on the subject.

Lecture Notes:

Lecture Notes 1: Thermodynamics - The Zeroth and First Laws

Lecture Notes 2: The Second Law

Lecture Notes 3: Thermodynamic Potentials

Lecture Notes 4: The third law

Lecture Notes 5: Probability - cumulants and moments

Lecture Notes 6: Laws of large numbers, Central limit theorem, Entropy

Lecture Notes 7: Intro to Kinetic Theory, Liouville's Theorem

Lecture Notes 8: The Boltzmann Equation

Lecture Notes 9: The H-Theorem and Irreversibility

Lecture Notes 10: Classical Statistical Mechanics: Microcanonical Ensemble part 1, Gibbs paradox

Lecture Notes 11: Microcanonical Ensemble part 2

Lecture Notes 12: Canonical Ensemble

Lecture Notes 13: Gibbs Canonical Ensemble, Grand Canonical Ensemble

Lecture Notes 14: Quantum Effects in Dilute Polyatomic Gases

Lecture Notes 15: Dilute polyatomic gases continues

Lecture Notes 16: Vibrations in a solid, Debye model

Lecture Notes 17: Blackbody Radiation

Lecture Notes 18: Quantum Microstates

Lecture Notes 19: Quantum Macrostates

Lecture Notes 20: Ideal Quantum Gases: Identical Particles

Problem Sets:
Problem Set 1 (pdf), due Wednesday, February 7. Solutions
Problem Set 2 (pdf), due Wednesday, February 14. Solutions
Problem Set 3 (pdf), due Wednesday, February 21. Solutions
Problem Set 4 (pdf), due Wednesday, February 28. Solutions
Problem Set 5 (pdf), due Wednesday, March 27. Solutions
Problem Set 6 (pdf), due Wednesday, April 3. Solutions
Problem Set 7 (pdf), due Wednesday, April 10. Solutions
Problem Set 8 (pdf), due Wednesday, April 17. Solutions
Problem Set 9 (pdf), due Wednesday,April 24. Solutions
Problem Set 10 (pdf), due Wednesday, May 1.