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Statistical Thermodynamics of Condensed Systems

Class at Faculty of Mathematics and Physics |
NBCM204

Syllabus

The lecture broadens general methods of Thermodynamics and Statistical physics in directions which are specifically important for study of condensed matter systems. As such, it extends the general lecture Thermodynamics and statistical physics OFY031.

The topics covered are organized into four chapters of approximatively same extend. 1. Equilibrium thermodynamics: local forms of conservation laws and thermodynamical relations.

Constitutive relations for thermoelastic body, for liquids, real gases, dielectric and magnetic systems, their thermodynamical analysis. Phase transitions, two-component systems, examples of phase diagrams.

Chemical equilibria. Landau theory of phase transitions, critical phenomena.

Negative absolute temperatures. 2. Nonequilibrium thermodynamics: general description of nonequilibrium processes, principle of minimal entropy production, variational principles.

Linear response, Onsager theory of kinetic coefficients (diffusion theory, transport phenomena, thermoelectric, thermomechanic and Hall effect). Kinetics of chemical reactions, spatial and temporal dissipative structures. 3.

Equilibrium statistical physics: Review and broadening of Gibbs method (T---p ensable). Calculation of partition function.

Systems of non-interacting quantum particles (fermions, bosons, advanced applications). Interacting particles (classical and quantum gases, Ising model), microscopic calculation of internal energy and specific heats.

Scaling theory, universality, renormalization. Percolation, growth models.

Random walks and conformational statistics of macromolecules. Phase transitions, mean field theory, disordered systems. 4. Nonequlibrium statistical physics: Liouville equation for classical and quantum systems, examples of time-resolved dynamics of mixed states (NMR, optical Bloch equations). Boltzmann kinetic equation.

Linear response theory (mechanical, dielectric, magnetic response), fluctuation-dissipation theorem, microscopic calculation of response functions and kinetic coefficients, dynamical structure factor. Mesoscopic description and stochastic methods, theory of fluctuations.

Pauli rate equation, Ehrenfest model, Langevin equation, Fokker-Planck equation, diffusion theory, Nyquist theorem.

Annotation

The lecture presents detailed discussion of methods and models of general Thermodynamics which are specifically important within the domain of the Condensed Matter Physics.. Equations of state for thermoelastic body, for liquid, and for real gases.

Landau theory of phase transitions. Nonequilibrium thermodynamics and response theory.

Nonlinear response, dissipative structures. Ideal quantum gases.

Ising model, critical exponents, renormalization. Relaxation processes.

Theory of Brownian motion.