Physics and Astronomy - Course Details
PHYS617: Statistical Mechanics (PAST/FUTURE SEMESTER)
Offering:
Spring, Class 3, cr. 3
Prerequisites:
PHYS-600 or equivalent
View Additional Prerequisites
Description:
This is a core course in Statistical Mechanics intended for all Physics graduate students at Purdue.
The material covered is at a somewhat more advanced level than the typical undergraduate course
on the subject. Topics will range from a treatment of the Boltzmann equation to an introduction to
phase transitions and critical phenomena. A good knowledge of Thermodynamics is necessary. If
you have not taken a course in Thermodynamics a number of good books on the subject are
available and should be studied before attending the course. Although a certain knowledge of
mathematical methods for Physics (like for instance the material covered in PHYS-600 and
PHYS-601 at Purdue) would be very useful, the course is mostly self-contained.
Instructor(s):
LYANDA-GELLER, YULI
Email:
yuli@purdue.edu
Textbook(s) for Spring 2009
| Title | Author | Edition | ISBN | Publisher | Req/Opt | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| REQUIRED: Statistical Physics | L.D. Landau & E.M. Lifshitz | 3rd; Part 1 | 0750633727 | Butterworth-Heinemann | Optional | |
| REQUIRED: Notes on Thermodynamics and Statistics (Midway Reprints) | Enrico Fermi | Sept 1988 | 0226243796 | University of Chicago Press | Optional | |
| REQUIRED: Physical Kinetics | E.M. Lifshitz and L.P. Pitaevskii | Latest | 0750626356 | Oxford; Pergamon Press | Optional | |
| RECOMMENDED: Statistical Physics | Kerson Huang | April 1987 | 0471815187 | Wiley & Sons | Optional | |
| RECOMMENDED: Statistical Physics: Vol. 1 & 2 | M. Toda, R. Kubo, N. Saito | 1991 | 0387536620 | Spring-Verlag | Optional | |
| RECOMMENDED: Statistical Physics: Statics, Dynamics & Renormalization | Leo P. Kadanoff | 2000 | 9810237588 | World Scientific Publishing | Optional | |
| RECOMMENDED: Statistical Mechanics, An Advanced Course With Problems and Solutions | R. Kubo, H. Ichimura, T. Usui & N. Hashisume | 12th repr. 1992 Ed. (April 1, 1990) | 0444871039 | North Holland | Optional |
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