This is a graduate-level statistical physics course (one-semester) aimed for 1st-year graduate students and advanced undergraduate students. The course provides essential ingredients in thermodynamics and statistical physics that are necessary and useful for physics students for their research.

Students are expected to have basic knowledge and experience in thermodynamics and statistical physics in thermal physics (undergraduate).

• Attendance 10 %
• Homework 30 %
• Mid-term exam 30 %
• Final exam 30 %

1. Statistical Mechanics (John Wiley & Sons, 1987), written by K. Huang
2. Mehran Kardar, Statistical Physics of Particles
3. Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics (Springer, 1987), written by W. Greiner
4. Lectures on phase transitions and the renormalization groups (Westview press), written by N. Goldenfeld

• Thermodynamics (2nd law, free energy, ideal gas, van der waals gas, etc)
• Classical statistical mechanics (phase space, Liouville’s theorem, microcanonical/canonical/grandcanonical ensembles)
• Quantum non-interacting ideal systems (quantum statistics, ideal bose systems, ideal fermi systems)
• Interacting systems (cluster expansion, virial expansion, etc)
• Phase transitions (fluid/Ising models, mean-field, scaling hypothesis, etc)
• Critical phenomena (scaling theory, renormalization group approaches)
• *Introduction to nonequilibrium statistical physics
(*) TOPICS CAN BE SKIPPED DEPENDING ON THE SCHEDULE OF THE LECTURES

This course is operated with a typical physics lecture style (blackboard) in the lecture room.
However, there will be several occasions that the lecture will be given via Zoom or the recorded version.
(This will be announced in advance).

See the remark in 9.