Physics 420
Statistical Physics II
Spring 2020
J. A. Sauls
Lectures:
Monday & Wednesday, 10:00 am -11:20 pm
Where:
Room: LG72 Tech Institute -- Canvas
This is a graduate-level course on nonequilibrium statistical physics and phase transitions
covering topics ranging from Brownian motion, stochastic dynamics, Langevin theory and
Fokker-Planck dynamics. This quarter will cover fluctuations in thermodynamic systems,
space-time correlations of fluctuations, origins of dissipation, linear response theory
and the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. The course will also include selected topics on
spontaneous symmetry breaking and the theory of second-order phase transitions.
Pre-requisites: undergraduate-level statistical physics and quantum mechanics.
Details:
- Format: Lectures and Discussion
- Course Materials: Lecture Notes and Assigned Reading
- Evaluation: Exercises, problems and course project
Topics
- Stochastic Processes in Physics
- Brownian Motion, Random Walk and Diffusion
- Einstein and Langevin's Theories of Brownian Motion
- Noise and Stochastic Processes in Electrical Circuits
- Transport Processes
- Hydrodynamics, Diffusion, and Fokker-Planck Equations
- Entropy and Approach to Equilibrium
- Boltzmann's Kinetic Theory of Dilute Gases
- Linear Response Theory
- Weak disturbances from Equilibrium
- Kubo's Theory: Causality, Analyticity
- Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem
- Random Systems
- Statistical Mechanics of Quenched Disorder
- Electrical Transport in "Dirty" Metals
- Strong Disorder - Anderson Localization
- Phase Transitions
- Symmetry Breaking Phase Transitions
- Fluctuations of the Broken Symmetry Phase
- Nonequilibrium 2nd order phase transitions
File translated from TEX by
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TH, version 3.81.
On April 4, 2020.