Statistical Mechanics

Catalog description

This course focuses on those topics in statistical mechanics of interest to scholars in many fields. Topics include random walks and emergent properties; temperature and equilibrium; phase space dynamics and ergodicity; entropy; free energies; quantum statistical mechanics; calculation and computation; order parameters, broken symmetries, and topology; correlations, response, and dissipation; abrupt phase transitions; and continuous phase transitions, fractals, and the renormalization group. Taught in conjunction with the graduate course PHYS 6562 , this version is advised for undergraduates and interested graduates outside of Physics.