Statistical Physics (II)

Credits: 4

Lecturer: Chen, Yeng-Long (陳彥龍老師)

Class time: Friday morning 9:10-12:10
Recitation: Friday afternoon 1:10-2:10
Classroom:
Class website:

Description:

This course will first review fundamental concepts in statistical physics and the relation to the thermodynamics of gases and liquids. Modern developments in equilibrium and statistical physics including mean field theory and density functional theory are introduced. Non-equilibrium statistical mechanics formulation for particle dynamics, kinetics, and hydrodynamics are introduced. Applications in complex systems, such as complex fluids, biological systems, and economic systems will be discussed.

Course outline:

1. Thermodynamics: Laws of thermodynamics; partition functions (2 Lectures)
2. Classical Statistical Mechanics: Microcanonical, canonical and grand canonical ensembles. (1 Lecture)
3. Interacting Systems: van der Waals theory, virial expansions.(1 Lecture)
4. Phase transitions and Critical Phenomena: Density correlation functions and structure factor. Liquid-gas phase transitions. Universal scaling. (2 Lectures)
5. Lattice models, mean field theory and density functional theory: Ising and Potts models; Monte Carlo simulations; mean field theory. Density functional theory (3 Lectures)
6. Time correlation functions: correlation time; relaxation; time series. (1 Lecture)
7. Dynamics: Langevin equation; Smoluchowski equation; conservation laws. (2 Lectures)
8. Kinetic Theory and Hydrodynamics: kinetic theory of gases; transport coefficients. (1 Lectures)
9. Complex systems: collective modes, polymers networks, colloidal glasses, and other networks. (3 lectures)
10. Statistical physics in other fields (biology, economics). (If time allows)

Grades:

Homeworks – 30%
Literature reviews -- 40% -- 500-word reports on a selected articles every 4 weeks
Final exam: 20%
Final presentation on literature: 10%