PHYS 4760 - Thermal and Statistical Physics

Augmenting the core courses of Physics I to V, this course introduces more systematically the principles of thermodynamics and statistical approach to these phenomena. Thermodynamics topics include laws of thermodynamics; entropy, temperature, reversible/irreversible processes; heat engine and refrigerators; phase transitions, Clapeyron's equation; paramagnetism. Statistical mechanics topics include basic statistical distributions, statistical definition of entropy and temperature; microcanonical, canonical, Gibbs canonical and grand canonical ensembles, Boltzmann distribution and partition function; Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics. Finally, the Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac distributions are applied to degenerate Fermi gas, Debye theory of solids, Bose-Einstein condensation, and other systems of choices by students and instructor.