PHYS 301: Thermodynamics and Stat Mech

Instructor:
Prof. Francis-Yan Cyr-Racine
Email: fycr@unm.edu
Office: PAIS 3214

Teaching assistant:
Fernando Garcia-Cortez
Email: fgarcia02@unm.edu
Office: PAIS 3414


Description of the class


In this course, we will first establish the modern basis of statistical mechanics, providing rigorous definitions of entropy, temperature, pressure, and heat capacity, while connecting these to the available microstates of a physical system. We will use simple examples, such as ideal gases and two-level systems, to illustrate these concepts. We will then introduce key tools such as the canonical ensemble, the partition function, and the Helmholtz free energy, that will help us compute macroscopic properties of systems with very large number of constituents. We will then consider weakly interacting systems and how they can undergo phase transitions. We will also discuss the different statistical properties of bosons and fermions. In the last part of the course, we will turn our attention to classical thermodynamics, putting it in its historical context and discussing how the study of simple heat engines led physicists to the fundamental laws of thermodynamics. We will discuss how the thermodynamic definitions of things like entropy and temperature naturally coincide with their equivalent in statistical mechanics.

Syllabus

The detailed syllabus can be found here.

Prerequisites

This is a course aimed a senior undergraduate students. The official prerequisite is PHYS 330 Modern Physics. Good knowledge of classical and quantum mechanics, including Hamiltonia mechanics is an asset. You are expected to have some basic familiarity with coding so you can make plots, do some basic data analysis, perform numerical computation, etc.

Lectures

Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:30-1:45pm in PAIS 1160.

Textbook

Suggested Text
An Introduction to Thermal Physics by Daniel V. Schroeder.

Office hours

Instructor
Wednesdays 2-3pm at my office PAIS 3214 These are my preferred "office" hours. If you can't make my regular office hours, or if your questions cannot wait, please send me an email to set up an appointment.

Teaching assistant
The teaching assistant is Fernando Garcia-Cortez (fgarcia02@unm.edu). He will be available Thursdays 11-12noon for you to come by in PAIS 3414 and discuss any homework grading issues you may have. If you need to schedule an appointment outside of the TA's office hours please send him an email.

Grading

The grading in the course will be based on your performance on the in-class worksheet, homework assignments, two midterm quizzes, and a final exam. The contribution to the final grade is as follows:

  1. In-class worksheets will count for 10% of the final grade.
  2. In-class quizzes (best 4 out of 6) will count for 15% of the final grade
  3. Homework will count for 10% of the final grade.
  4. Two Midterm exams (20% each) will count for 40% of the final grade.
  5. Final exam will count for 25% of the final grade.

If you missed a class in which a worksheet was worked on, please do the worksheet on your own and hand in to me within one week to make sure you don't lose the points. You can find all worksheets in the table below.

Homework assignments

The assignments will be posted in the tentative schedule at least a week before they are due. The homework must be submitted on Canvas on the day and time they are due. Late Homework assignments will be accepted but with a 25% penalty for each day past the deadline. So a homework handed-in within 24 hrs of the deadline will carry a 25% penalty, one handed-in within 48 hrs will carry a 50% penalty, as so on. Let me know if you are planning on submitting your homework late such that I can delay the posting of the solutions. The corresponding solutions will be posted here, and homework assignments submitted after solutions post will not be graded.

While I strongly encourage you to discuss the homework assignments with your classmates, the work you hand in must be entirely yours.

Problems class

Listed officially as PHYS 311, this is a very important adjunct to the main lecture class, taking place every Wednesday from 1 to 2pm in PAIS 1160. It will provide you additional practice with solving problems beyond the homework assignments and self study. Furthermore, the class will also give you a valuable opportunity to bring to my attention your difficulties with any concepts covered in the lecture class so I can address them in a group setting. The problem sheets would be posted here before the problem class. The corresponding solutions will be posted after the class. You will receive credit for the problems class as long as you register and show up for more than 10 sessions. Even if you don't register for the class, I encourage you to attend anyway, just to get the extra practice.

Tentative schedule


Date Lecture Notes   Schroeder Read Homework HW Due Solutions
Week 1
01/19-01/23
 Introduction and microcanonical ensembles
Entropy and the second law
 2.1-2.3, 2.6
 Homework #1
 01/31
Week 2
01/26-01/30
1.6, 2.4, 2.6, 3.1


Week 3
02/02-02/06




Week 4
02/09-02/13




Week 5
02/16-02/20




Week 6
02/23-02/27		 Midterm 1



Week 7
03/02-03/06




Week 8
03/09-03/13




Week 9
03/16-03/20		 Spring Break: No class



Week 10
03/23-03/27




Week 11
03/30-04/03




Week 12
04/06-04/10
 Midterm 2



Week 13
04/13-04/17




Week 14
04/20-04/24




Week 15
04/27-05/01




Week 16
05/04-05/08






Problems class (PHYS 311)


Date Problem Sheets Solutions
01/21
 Problems #1
 Problems #1 Solution
01/28

02/04

02/11

02/18

02/25


03/04

03/11

03/18
 No problem class (Spring Break)
03/25

04/01

04/08

04/15

04/22

04/29

05/06