Graduate Statistical Mechanics, PHY1500
Lectures: Tuesday/Friday 10-11 am. TA office hour/tutorial: Thurs evening 5-6 pm. TA email: gunjanlakhlani@gmail.com.
Grading: HWs 60%, Endterm 40%
Problem Set submission: 5 pm of the day of deadline, 50% penalty after that and no submission accepted after the solutions are posted. You may consult with classmates in “study groups”, as long as you write out your own answers, and do not use solution-sets from previous years. Please take a look at http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/osai for code for academic integrity.
Course structure
Thermodynamics (Lectures 1-4)
Probability (Lectures 5-6)
Kinetic theory (Lectures 7-11)
Classical stat mech (Lectures 12-14)
Interacting particles (Lectures 15-18)
QM stat mech (Lectures 19-21)
Ideal quantum gases (Lectures 22-24)
Books (on reserve in physics library):
Statistical Mechanics of Particle, Mehran Kardar (notes & vide0 lectures availed on ocw.mit.edu) Statistical Mechanics, Jim Sethna (also available online on Jim Sethna’s website)
Course schedule
| Mon | Tue | Weds | Thurs | Friday |
| September | ||||
| 13 Lecture 1 | 14 | 15 | 16 Lecture 2 | |
| 19 PS1 -out | 20 Lecture 3 | 21 | 22 Thermo and PS1 review | 23 Lecture 4 |
| 26 | 27 Lecture 5 | 28 PS1 -due | 29 Probability review and Soln.1 | 30 Lecture 6 |
| October | ||||
| 3 PS2 – out | 4 Lecture 7
PS2 review |
5 | 6 | 7 Lecture 8 |
| 10 Thanksgiving | 11 Lecture 9 | 12 PS 2 – due | 13 Kinetic Theory review and Soln.2 | 14 Lecture 10 |
| 17 PS 3 – out | 18 Lecture 11 | 19 | 20 PS3 review | 21 Lecture 12 |
| 24 | 25 Lecture 13 | 26 PS3 – due | 27 Classical Stat Mech review and Soln.3 | 28 Lecture 14 |
| 31 PS4-out | ||||
| November | ||||
| 1 Lecture 15 | 2 | 3 PS4 review | 4 Lecture 16 | |
| 7 Fall break | 8 Fall break | 9 PS4 – due | 10 Interacting Particles review and Soln.4 | 11 Lecture 17 |
| 14 PS5 – out | 15 Lecture 18 | 16 | 17 PS5 review | 18 Lecture 19 |
| 21 | 22 Lecture 20 | 23 PS 5 | 24 QM stat review and Soln.5 | 25 Lecture 21 |
| 28 PS6 – out | 29Lecture 22 | 30 | Lecture 23 | |
| December | ||||
| 1 PS6 review | 2 Lecture 24 | |||
| 5 | 6 Lecture 25 | 7 PS6 – due | 8 Final review | 9 Final Exam |
