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Welcome to PHYS 406!

Welcome to PHYS 406!. Statistical and Thermal Physics Instructor: Xiaoming Mao. Outline of the first class. Overview: why thermal physics and stat mech are interesting? Important questions we will answer in the course The Syllabus. Overview. What we have already learn?

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Welcome to PHYS 406!

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  1. Welcome to PHYS 406! Statistical and Thermal Physics Instructor: Xiaoming Mao

  2. Outline of the first class • Overview: why thermal physics and stat mech are interesting? • Important questions we will answer in the course • The Syllabus

  3. Overview • What we have already learn? • Mechanics: statics and dynamics of single-/few-body problems • E&M: interactions between charged objects • Quantum Mechanics: single-particle wave-functions in fields • To summarize • Single or few particle problems • Fundamental laws are reversible in time • Objects in our daily life and many more systems in physics study: particles • How to bridge the gap?

  4. Can we just solve the same problem for many particles? • It is not possible • There are better ways to do it • Macroscopic (phenomenological) approach: Thermodynamics • Developed without knowledge of microscopic world • Essential for the industrial revolutions • Microscopic approach: Statistical Mechanics • Explains the origin of irreversibility

  5. Two important questions • “What is the origin of irreversibility in nature?” • “Which quantum phenomena are genuinely many-body physics?”

  6. Irreversibility Friction Inelastic collision Free expansion of gas Electric flow through resistor R Spontaneous chemical reactions Mixing of two fluids

  7. An amusing example • The Dog-Flea model (Ehrenfests) irreversible reversible

  8. Relations between irreversible processes Irreversible Equivalent Reversible “No heat engine can have efficiency ” Kelvin statement of the second law of thermodynamics.

  9. Two important questions • “What is the origin of irreversibility in nature?” • “Which quantum phenomena are genuinely many-body physics?”

  10. Quantum many-body phenomena I Black-body Radiation: one of the founding experiments that led to the discovery of quantum mechanics

  11. Quantum many-body phenomena II Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC) Superconductivity Superfluidity

  12. Quantum many-body phenomena III Insulators Conductors

  13. Quantum many-body phenomena IV White dwarf star

  14. Syllabus I (will be posted on CTools) • Lecture notes will be posted on CTools after each class (including today’s slides, and a detailed Syllabus) • We will roughly follow the course-pack, but not everything will be covered • Additional optional textbooks

  15. Syllabus II • Course work: • Weekly problem sets (20%): posted online on Wed mornings and due the succeeding Wed in class • Final Exam (30%): 1:30-3:30pm, Monday, Dec 17 • Midterm Exams (20% each): week of Oct 8-12 & week of Nov 12-16, afternoon. Let me know your schedule conflictions before Sep 7. • Class participation (10%): • Class discussions • Discussions on Piazza

  16. Syllabus III • Office hour:Mondays 10-12am2251 Randall • Email: maox@umich.edu • Website for lecture notes, homeworks and announcements: CTools • Website for discussion on physics: Piazza (there is a link to Piazza on our CTools page) • Personal webpage:http://www-personal.umich.edu/~maox/index.html

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