PHYS 5330 Statistical Mechanics

This course develops the methods of statistical mechanics and uses them to calculate observable properties of systems in thermodynamic equilibrium. Topics treated include the principles of classical thermodynamics, canonical and grand canonical ensembles for classical and quantum mechanical systems, partition functions, fluctuations, ideal gasses of quanta, atoms and polyatomic molecules, Fermi and Bose gasses, chemical equilibrium, introduction to simple interacting systems. The course will elucidate the relations between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, which are essential ingredients of many fields of modern physics and related sciences.