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Statistical Physics

Period of duration of course
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Course info
Number of course hours
40
Number of hours of lecturers of reference
40
CFU 6
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Modalità esame

Written and oral exam.

Note modalità di esame

Written exam in December/January followed by an oral exam.

Lecturer log

Access the lecture log

Prerequisiti

Course in Statistical Physics for third-year Physics students.

Programma

  1. Introduction to Thermodynamics: basic concepts, perfect gas, thermodynamic potentials, Maxwell relations
  2. Applications I: adiabatic demagnetization, thermal radiation, fluids
  3. Applications II: real gases, phase transitions in real gases, Maxwell construction
  4. Introduction to Statistical Mechanics: Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, microcanonical ensemble, Sackur-Tetrode formula, Canonical and Grancanonical ensembles, Gibbs paradox, mixing entropy
  5. Quantum Statistics: Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac distributions, black-body radiation
  6. Theory of Phase Transitions I: Ising model, Curie-Weiss model
  7. Theory of Phase Transitions II: Landau Theory, Spontaneous symmetry breaking
  8. Theory of Phase Transitions III: Advanced topics


Obiettivi formativi

Learn the key concepts of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. Gain familiarity with the formalism of statistical mechanics and the theory of phase transitions

Riferimenti bibliografici

Kerson Huang, Statistical Mechanics, second edition


Derek Frank Lawden, Principles of Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics


Luca Peliti, Statistical Mechanics in a Nutshell, second edition


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