Trinity College Dublin

Lecturer: Stefan Sint

Lectures:
Wed, 10:00 - 10:50  East End Lecture Theatre 3
Fri, 10:00 - 10:50  Salmon
Fri, 11:00 - 11:50  Salmon

• Synopsis
  Quantum Statistical Mechanics, density matrix formalism, Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein statistics, free Fermi gas, free Bose gas, Bose-Einstein condensation, photon gas (black body radiation), phonons in a solid (Debye model). Magnetic properties of Fermi systems: Landau diamagnetism, Pauli paramagnetism. Ising model of a ferromagnet.

• Textbooks
  The course is not based on any single text book. A number of good textbooks are
  
  1. L.D. Landau and E.M. Lifshitz, ``Statistical Physics''
  2. K. Huang, ``Statistical Mechanics'' (includes some advanced topics)
  3. K. Huang, ``Introduction to Statistical Physics" (more accessible than 2.)
  4. I. Sachs, S. Sen and J. Sexton, ``Elements of Statistical Mechanics" (by former School of Maths staff members)
  5..L. Reichl, ``A Modern Course in Statistical Physics"
  6. R. K. Pathria, ``Statistical Mechanics''
  7. R. Balian, ``Du microscopique au macroscopique" (2 vols., English translation available, based on a course at Ecole Polytechnique Paris)

• Assignment for Reading Week (February 25 - March 1, 2013)
  I have compiled an assignment (pdf) with 5 problems.

• Assessment
  The final grade for MA3444 will be based on the end-of-year examination (90 percent) and on the reading week problem sheet (10 percent). The exam paper will have 2 parts for MA3443 and MA3444, each containing 4 questions. Permitted time for the combined exam is 3 hours. The 3 best questions will be marked for each part. All questions have equal weight.

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