The table below provides information on the course’s lecture (L), recitation (R) and exam (E) sessions.
| SES # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| I. Thermodynamics | ||
| L1 | Fundamental Definitions, The Zeroth Law, The First Law | |
| L2 | The Second Law, Carnot Engines and Thermodynamic Temperature, Entropy | |
| L3 | Approach to Equilibrium and Thermodynamic Potentials, Useful Mathematical Results | |
| L4 | Stability Conditions, The Third Law | |
| II. Probability | ||
| L5 | General Definitions, One Random Variable, Some Important Probability Distributions | |
| R1 | Recitation | |
| L6 | Many Random Variables, Sums of Random Variables and the Central Limit Theorem, Rules for Large Numbers, Information, Entropy, and Estimation | Problem set 1 due |
| III. Kinetic Theory of Gases | ||
| L7 | General Definitions, Liouville’s Theorem | |
| L8 | The Bogoliubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon Hierarchy, The Boltzmann Equation | |
| L9 | The H-Theorem and Irreversibility, Equilibrium Properties | |
| R2 | Recitation | |
| E1 | In-class Exam 1 | |
| R3 | Recitation | |
| L10 | Conservation Laws | Problem set 2 due |
| L11 | Zeroth Order Hydrodynamics, First Order Hydrodynamics | |
| IV. Classical Statistical Mechanics | ||
| L12 | General Definitions, The Microcanonical Ensemble, Two-Level Systems | |
| R4 | Recitation | |
| L13 | The Ideal Gas, Mixing Entropy and Gibbs’ Paradox, The Canonical Ensemble | Problem set 3 due |
| L14 | Examples, The Gibbs Canonical Ensemble, The Grand Canonical Ensemble | |
| V. Interacting Particles | ||
| L15 | The Cumulant Expansion | |
| R5 | Recitation | |
| E2 | In-class Exam 2 | |
| L16 | The Cluster Expansion | |
| L17 | The Second Virial Coefficient and Van der Waals Equation, Breakdown of the Van der Waals Equation, Mean Field Theory of Condensation | |
| L18 | Variational Methods, Corresponding States, Critical Point Behavior | |
| VI. Quantum Statistical Mechanics | ||
| L19 | Mean field theory of condensation, Corresponding states, Critical point behavior (from L17 & L18) | |
| R6 | Recitation | |
| L20 | Dilute Polyatomic Gases, Vibrations of a Solid, Black-body Radiation | Problem set 4 due |
| L21 | Quantum Microstates, Quantum Macrostates | |
| VII. Ideal Quantum Gases | ||
| L22 | Hilbert Space of Identical Particles | |
| R7 | Recitation | |
| R8 | Recitation | Problem set 5 due |
| E3 | In-class Exam 3 | |
| L23 | Canonical Formulation, Grand Canonical Formulation | |
| L24 | The Degenerate Fermi Gas | |
| R9 | Recitation | |
| L25 | The Degenerate Bose Gas | Problem set 6 due |
| L26 | Superfluid He4 | |
| E4 | Final Exam | |
