TR 11:00-12:20, 2005 Malott

3 credit hours

Prerequisites: Two semesters of undergraduate physical chemistry or equivalent.

Instructor: Krzysztof Kuczera, 5088 Malott, phone: 864-5060, e-mail: kkuczera@ukans.edu

Textbook: D. Chandler, Introduction to Modern Statistical Mechanics.

Course covers advanced classical thermodynamics and introduction to statistical mechanics with emphasis on problems of chemical interest. Topics include: the mathematical foundations of thermodynamics, fluctuations and irreversible thermodynamics, partition functions, ensemble distribution functions, chemical equilibrium, ideal systems, classical fluids and quantum statistics.

The overall grade will be determined by the sum of four components: homework problem sets, midterm exam (held in class), computer project and final exam (take home):

grade = 0.333(homework) + 0.167(midterm) + 0.167(project) + 0.333(final)

Recommended reading:

D. McQuarrie, Statistical Mechanics

2. Landau & Lifschitz, Statistical Mechanics

3. S.-K. Ma, Statistical Mechanics

4. R. K. Pathria, Statistical Mechanics

5. H. Callen, Thermodynamics

SYLLABUS

Date	Topic	Chapter
08/20-08/27	Overview & Introduction to thermodynamics	0,1
09/01-09/8	Equilibrium, stability & fluctuations	1,2
09/10-09/17	Phase transitions & critical phenomena	2
09/22	Postulates of statistical mechanics	3
09/24-10/08	Ensembles: microcanonical, canonical & grand	3
10/13-10/15	Ideal systems: classical and quantum	4
10/20	Molecular partition functions	4
10/22	Midterm Exam
10/27-11/03	Classical fluids	7
11/05-11/10	Computer simulations in statistical mechanics	6
11/12-11/19	Phase transitions: mean field & renormalization group	5
11/24-12/08	Statistical mechanics of nonequilibrium systems	8

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