PH3782 Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics

Entropy, temperature, Boltzmann factor and Gibbs factor are developed from a quantum point of view. Blackbody radiation, chemical potential, partition function, Gibbs sum and applications to an ideal gas are covered. Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein statistics and applications to degenerate systems; Gibbs free energy, Helmholtz free energy, enthalpy, kinetic theory, phase transformations, chemical reactions.

Prerequisite

PH2652

Lecture Hours

4

Lab Hours

0

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to analyze and solve problems related to:

·       Basic thermal physics, including the equipartition theorem, the ideal gas law, heat capacity, and ideal gas processes (isothermal, isobaric, isochoric, and isentropic).

·       Heat engines, refrigerators, and heat pumps, particularly relating to the Carnot cycle and physical limits based on energy and entropy conservations.

·       Thermodynamic concepts including energy, entropy, Helmholtz and Gibbs free energies, enthalpy, chemical potential, and Maxwell relations.

·       The fundamental ideas of statistical mechanics, including the multiplicity function and its relation to entropy, the Boltzmann factor, the Gibbs factor, and the partition function, as well as their uses in connection to thermodynamics.

·       A rigorous statistical mechanics treatment of gases, solids, and magnetic systems, including explicit derivation of formulas for the energy, entropy, and heat capacity.

·       Fundamental concepts of boson and fermion statistical mechanics, including Debye theory, phonon gases / blackbody radiation, and Fermi gases.

·       Fundamental concepts of phase transitions, including the Clausius-Clapeyron equation, the Ising model and the van der Waals equation of state.