PHYS 613, 614 , Statistical Mechanics, Winter, Spring 2013

PHYS 613 Statistical Mechanics: 2^nd half Winter 2013
PHYS 614 Statistical Mechanics: Spring 2013

613,4 will be taught as one integrated course. Taking 614 by itself is NOT recommended. This page and its links contain all of the general information you need, and they will be updated frequently. Please check this page regularly, and make sure you hit your browser's `Reload' button so you get the latest version.

Time and Location:

M,W,F 1:00 - 1:50 in room 318 WIL
Speaking of time, here is pretty accurate time courtesy of NIST :

Table of Contents, and Lecture Notes :

The table of contents will be updated as the course proceeds. To see pdf scans of my lecture notes, click the paragraphs headings.
NB: The notes may not show up in final form until we're done with a paragraph.

Instructor:

Dietrich Belitz
email:
phone: 6-4738
office: 459 Willamette
office hours:
- real: I'll try to keep an open office policy. Catch me after class if possible; otherwise, just stop by my office. If I'm really busy I'll kick you out, but usually I'll be able to accomodate you if I'm in. If your schedule and mine turn out to never overlap, send email and make an appointment.
- virtual: anytime. My e-mail response time is rarely longer than a few hours, and usually it is much shorter.

TA:

Yan Sang
office hours: U 1:00 - 2:00 in room 454 WIL

Textbooks and other helpful material:

Recommended texts:

L.D. Landau and E.M. Lifshitz , Statistical Physics, Part 1
F. Bloch / D. Walecka , Fundamentals of Statistical Mechanics

Other useful books:

V.I. Arnold , Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics
R. Becker , Theory of Heat
C.M. Bender and S.A. Orszag , Advanced Mathematical Methods for Scientists and Engineers
C. Cercignani , The Boltzmann Equation and Its Applications
D. Chandler , Introduction to Modern Statistical Mechanics
R.V. Hogg and A.T. Craig , Introduction to Mathematical Statistics
K. Huang , Statistical Mechanics
R. Kubo , Statistical Mechanics
R.L. Liboff , Kinetic Theory
S.-K. Ma , Statistical Mechanics
R.K. Pathria , Statistical Mechanics
F. Reif , Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics
C.J. Thompson Classical Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics
C.J. Thompson Mathematical Statistical Mechanics
G. Wannier , Statistical Physics

Miscellaneous:

Central Limit Theorem applet by C. Stanton (CSUSB)

Exams and Grading

PHYS 614 Midterm: Friday, May 3, in class
PHYS 614 Final: Thursday, June 13, 3:15 - 5:00, 318 WIL.

Your grade will be mostly based on the exams (see below), but it will be next to impossible to do well on the exams unless you have spent a lot of time and effort on the homework problems.

For 613, homework will be graded and count for 25% of the overall grade; the Final will count for 75%. In marginal cases participation will be taken into account. Grading policy for 614 will be announced at the start of Spring term.

Homework, and Lecture Notes:

Homework problems will be assigned weekly on Friday, and will be due the following Friday in class.

Problems will be posted on this page in pdf format. I will post my solutions, also in pdf format. Homework will account for 25% of the grade, see above.

Collaborating on the homework is okay, and even encouraged. You should make sure, however, that you really understand the material yourself rather than just tagging along. Remember, your grade will be based essentially on the exams only.

I will also make my (hand written) lecture notes available in pdf format. Please keep in mind, however, that anybody else's lecture notes, including the lecturer's, are next to useless unless you have your own set taken by YOU. My notes are only meant as a permanent record of my blackboard art to check against, and you may have trouble reading anything but the equations anyway.