This will contain PDF files for the class notes. They will be posted after we complete a one- to-two week section of material:
- Part 1 – Classical Mechanics, Lagrangian & Hamiltonian formulations, Exact Differentials, Canonical Transformations, Action/Angle Variables
- Part 2 – A simple quantum picture of Entropy, review of Probability & Statistics, The Boltzmann Expression for Entropy, Extensivity and Maximizing the Entropy with constraints, The Ergodic Hypothesis, Liouville’s theorem, Ensembles
- Part 3 – Extensivity and constraints predict Boltzmann weights, The Partition Function, Tricks with the Partition Function, Derivation of the Ideal Gas law, translational, electronic, vibrational, and rotational partition functions, Equipartition,
- Part 4 – Thermodynamics: State Variables, Laws, Heat, Work, Reversibility, Stirling’s Approximation, Chemical Equilibria, the Grand Canonical Ensemble, Quantum statistics, Fermi levels, Bose-Einstein condensates, Models for Crystals (Einstein, and Debye)
- Part 5 – Phase transitions, The Ising Model, Frustration, Critical Exponents, Transfer Matrices, Exact solution of Ising in 1-D, Peierls’ Theorem, Mean Field Theory
- Part 6 – Liquids, Reduced Distribution Functions, g(r), reversible work theorem,
- Part 7 – Monte Carlo methods, Molecular Dynamics, time correlation functions, Green-Kubo relations, Transition State Theory