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Course description: An introductory course in statistical mechanics.
Class meetings:
Tuesday and Thursday 10:30-11:55 am in 269
Lauritsen, starting April 2, 2013.
Feedback: If you want to send a
comment about the course, click here.
Instructor:
John Preskill, preskill@caltech.edu, office hours Mon. 2-3 pm in 206 Annenberg.
Recitation leaders:
Michael Beverland, mbeverla(at)caltech(dot)edu, section Wed. 3-4
pm in 243 Annenberg, office hours Wed. 4-5 pm in 243 Annenberg.
Kung-Yi Su, ksu(at)caltech(dot)edu, section Wed. 7-8 pm in 107 Downs, office hours Wed.
8-9 pm in 107
Graders:
Enrico Herrmann, eherrmann(at)caltech(dot)edu, 421 Lauritsen
Min-Feng Tu, mtu(at)caltech(dot)edu, 54 Bridge
Textbook: Thermal Physics (2nd edition) by Charles Kittel and Herbert Kroemer
We will cover most of the first 10 chapters of Kittel and Kroemer, plus part of
Chapter 14 and some supplementary material.
Grading: Grades will be based on weekly problem sets (30%), a midterm (30%), and a final exam (40%).
Homework: Problem sets will be posted on this page on Thursday, and will be due in the Physics 12c IN-box outside 264 Lauritsen at 5:00 pm the following Thursday. Graded homework will be returned to the Physics 12b OUT-box in 264 Lauritsen by the following Monday morning. Solution sets will be posted on this page.
Extensions:
-- Unexcused late homework will be accepted for half credit up until
one week after the due date; there is no credit if your assignment is more than
one week late.
-- If your homework will be late for a good reason, you may request an
extension before the assignment is due by sending email to that week’s grader.
-- One extension, for up to one week, is allowed without question (your silver
bullet). Please put a note at the top of your problem set indicating that you
are using your silver bullet.
Honor Code: Discussion with others is encouraged, but the work you hand in must be your own. In particular, do not use homework solutions from previous years or exams and exam solutions from previous years.
Lectures
(tentative schedule):
Typed
Lecture Notes: Courtesy of Sam
Elder (2010), available here.
Lecture Videos: Recorded in 2011, available here. These are mkv files, which you may download and play on your own computer. The lectures this year will be somewhat different than in 2011, but the videos may be useful if you miss a lecture.
Ombudsfolks:: Chiraag Nataraj (Fleming), Jeff Picard (Blacker), Nico Salzetta (Page), Ann Wang (Ruddock), Carla Watson (Dabney). We’d like to have an ombudsperson from each house. Contact John Preskill to volunteer.
Homework
assignments:
(Enrico grades Problem Sets 1-4, Min-Feng grades
Problem Sets 5-8.)
Problem
Set 1, due Apr 11. Probability and fluctuations. Solutions
Problem
Set 2, due Apr 18. Boltzmann distribution. Solutions
Problem
Set 3, due Apr 25. Black body radiation. Solutions
Problem
Set 4, due May 2. Chemical potential. Solutions
Problem
Set 5, due May 16. Quantum gases and heat engines.
Solutions
Problem
Set 6, due May 23. Phase coexistence. Solutions
Problem
Set 7, due May 30. Critical phenomena and scaling.
Solutions
Problem
Set 8, due Jun 6. Kinetic theory and diffusion. Solutions
Exams:
Midterm
exam, due May 9. Solutions
Fifty-seven exams were received. The median was 96 and the mean was 92.
Fourteen students scored 100.
Final exam, due Jun 14. Covers everything in the course, with
emphasis on material since the midterm.
Final
exam cover page, with instructions. (You may open this now.)
Final exam. (Open only when you
are ready to take the exam.)