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    Overview

    Advanced topics in many-body physics: the quantum ideal gas, classical and quantum transport phenomena, and phase transitions in interacting systems.

    About this paper

    Paper title Advanced Statistical Mechanics
    Subject Physics
    EFTS 0.0833
    Points 10 points
    Teaching period Semester 1 (On campus)
    Domestic Tuition Fees ( NZD ) $704.22
    International Tuition Fees Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website.
    Limited to
    BSc(Hons), PGDipSci, MSc
    Contact
    philip.brydon@otago.ac.nz
    Teaching staff
    Dr Philip Brydon
    Textbooks

    An introduction to thermal physics, Daniel V. Schroeder, Addison Wesley Longman.

    Graduate Attributes Emphasised
    Global perspective, Interdisciplinary perspective, Lifelong learning, Scholarship, Communication, Critical thinking, Information literacy, Self-motivation, Teamwork.
    View more information about Otago's graduate attributes.
    Learning Outcomes
    After completing this paper students are expected to have achieved the following major learning objectives:
    • Define and use free energies, be able to derive their thermodynamic identities, and extract information from thermodynamic partial derivative relations
    • Understand the thermodynamics of systems undergoing a phase transition, with a detailed knowledge of the phase diagram of the van der Waals model
    • Be able to define and apply the microcanonical, canonical and grand canonical ensembles appropriately and understand the statistical basis for thermodynamic equilibrium
    • Derive thermodynamic properties from a microscopic description of standard systems (e.g. ideal paramagnet, Einstein solid, ideal gas)
    • Be able to apply the equipartition theorem and understand its regime of validity
    • Be able to explain the effect indistinguishability has on the statistical properties of matter; derive and apply the quantum distribution functions
    • Apply the appropriate quantum statistical method to calculate the thermal properties of the standard quantum systems: an ideal Fermi gas, photons in a cavity, and an ideal Bose gas; derive and apply the appropriate density of states for these systems
    • Solve the Ising model using the mean-field approximation

    Timetable

    Semester 1

    Location
    Dunedin
    Teaching method
    This paper is taught On Campus
    Learning management system
    None

    Overview

    Advanced topics in many-body physics: the quantum ideal gas, classical and quantum transport phenomena, and phase transitions in interacting systems.

    About this paper

    Paper title Advanced Statistical Mechanics
    Subject Physics
    EFTS 0.0833
    Points 10 points
    Teaching period Semester 1 (On campus)
    Domestic Tuition Fees ( NZD ) $723.96
    International Tuition Fees Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website.
    Limited to
    BSc(Hons), PGDipSci, MSc
    Contact
    philip.brydon@otago.ac.nz
    Teaching staff
    Dr Philip Brydon
    Textbooks

    An introduction to thermal physics, Daniel V. Schroeder, Addison Wesley Longman.

    Graduate Attributes Emphasised
    Global perspective, Interdisciplinary perspective, Lifelong learning, Scholarship, Communication, Critical thinking, Information literacy, Self-motivation, Teamwork.
    View more information about Otago's graduate attributes.
    Learning Outcomes

    After completing this paper students are expected to have achieved the following major learning objectives:

    • Understand the effect of indistinguishability on the statistical properties of matter
    • Apply the appropriate quantum statistical method to calculate the thermal properties of ideal quantum systems
    • Use kinetic theory to understand the transport properties of a gas
    • Solve stochastic differential equations for particles undergoing Brownian motion
    • Use the mean-field approximation to study magnetism in the Ising model
    • Develop a general phenomenological description of a system undergoing a phase transition

    Timetable

    Semester 1

    Location
    Dunedin
    Teaching method
    This paper is taught On Campus
    Learning management system
    None
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