PHYS 504 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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1. General Information
Welcome to PHYS 504 - STATISTICAL PHYSICS!
The course will be held online via Zoom, on Mondays and Wednesdays, at 2:00 – 3:20 pm (US central time).
Jorge’s Office Hours: My office hours will take place on Mondays after class, from 3:20 – 4:20 pm. Please use the same recurring link above. I strongly encourage you to use this opportunity to talk about physics with me (course topics, broader physics questions, you decide!). Feel free to contact me via email at other times as well, although an appointment will be probably needed given my other activities. In any case, remember that email is the best way to reach me.
TA Office Hours: Kai Zheng = Mondays 9:30 am - 10:30 am, Travis Dore = Thursdays 11 am - 12 pm. Same Zoom link for the class.
The lectures will be recorded and they will be available via MediaSpace. Homework assignments will be available on the course web site.
2. Course Grading
Homework: Assignments will be distributed at regular intervals as much as possible, typically every ten days. The lowest grade of the homework assignments will be dropped. I strongly recommend that you develop a regular schedule for doing these assignments, and do not wait until the due date before attempting the problems. Some of the problems can be quite tricky.
The homework assignments should be submitted via GradeScope. We will not accept homework by email. Questions about the grading of homework assignments should be directed to the corresponding TA and, if necessary, to me. Each assignment will have a due date, with late work penalized (10% decrease per week). If you know that you will have a conflict with the due date for some reason, please let me and the TAs know in advance.
The homework is an essential part of the course; you cannot learn physics from just the lectures. The solutions to the homework will not be distributed, but the TAs will provide substantive comments on your work so that you may learn from your mistakes.
Final exam: There will be no midterm, but there will be a final exam in the form of a take-home final.
1-hour research paper review: You will write a short review (which must not take you more than 60 minutes!) about some exciting paper you find on the web about statistical physics (you can search for papers using Google Scholar, iNSPIRE, or check APS journals, for instance). The detailed instructions for the review can be found here. The reviews will also be submitted via GradeScope. To get the full points, you have to submit 5 paper reviews throughout the course (you choose when you send them, but don't send more than one review per week).
Please understand that you will not be graded for your understanding of the papers you review. Rather, you will get the points by making an honest effort to fulfill the instructions, which will teach you an important skill that all scientists must have: efficient paper reading.
Grading: Final grade = 700 homework + 200 final (take-home) exam + 100 (paper reviews).
Maximum = 1000 points.
A >= 900
900 < B <= 800
800 < C <=700
700 < D <=600
F < 600
3. Pre-requisites
PHYS 504 is an advanced, but self-contained course. Nevertheless, you are strongly encouraged to have first attended an undergraduate physics course in thermal physics and quantum mechanics. For instance, the official Physics Department course web site lists PHYS 427 (Thermal and Statistical Physics) and PHYS 486 (Quantum Physics I) as our pre-requisites. A reasonable textbook that covers elementary material is Thermal Physics by C. Kittel and H. Kroemer.
4. Textbooks
There is no official textbook for this course. However, you will have access to my handwritten notes right away on the course website. My notes are not meant to be a substitute for your own notes. Note-taking is a valuable and important skill to learn.
Here are some books that are traditionally recommended when it comes to a graduate level statistical mechanics course.
· M. Kardar, Statistical Physics of Particles.
· L. P. Kadanoff, Statistical Physics: Statics, Dynamics and Renormalization.
· N. D. Goldenfeld, Lectures on Phase Transitions and the Renormalization Group (my personal favorite).
· L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz, Statistical Mechanics (Part I and II); Physical Kinetics (classic, marvelous, mandatory books)
· K. Huang, Statistical Mechanics.
· R. Kubo, M. Toda and N. Hashitsume, Statistical Physics (Parts 1 and 2).
· R. P. Feynman, Statistical Mechanics: A Set of Lectures.
5. Feedback
Please let me know if you have any suggestions or comments about the class, or if I mistakenly assume that you are familiar with some basic material. Your feedback is essential for this course - please enter in contact with me. There is no point in waiting until the end of the semester (or when you fill in an evaluation) because by then it is too late for me to consider acting on the feedback.
6. Course Outline
This course will be basically divided in three parts: equilibrium; near equilibrium phenomena; and far-from-equilibrium phenomena. A standard syllabus would be: single-particle distribution functions; classical and quantum mechanical systems, Boltzmann equation, virial theorem, and equations of state for gases; formal theory: ensembles, identical particles, thermodynamics of simple systems, and distribution functions; nonequilibrium problems; conservation laws and hydrodynamic equations, sound waves, and transport coefficients; plasmas, normal Fermi fluid, superfluids, and systems with internal degrees of freedom.
7. Academic Integrity
As a student it is your responsibility to refrain from infractions of academic integrity, from conduct that may lead to suspicion of such infractions, and from conduct that aids others in such infractions. A short guide to academic integrity issues may be found at https://provost.illinois.edu/policies/policies/academic-integrity/students-quick-reference-guide-to-academic-integrity/ . The authoritative source is the Student Code. I will enforce the University's standards of academic integrity.