For homework schedule see Homework.
Reading assignments refer to Chapters in the EOPC (text) book.
| Week | Day | Topic | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mon | 9/30 | no class (comp exam) | |
| Wed | 10/2 | particles in a box with periodic boundary conditions, k-space, density of states | 7.6.1 | |
| Fri | 10/4 | review: grand canonical ensemble Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac distributions | 6.1-6.3 7.3-7.4 | |
| 2 | Mon | 10/7 | Non–interacting bosons: black-body radiation phonons: Einstein and Debye models Bose Einstein condensation | 7.6 |
| Wed | 10/9 | Fermions at T=0K, low T (Sommerfeld) expansion | 7.7 | |
| Fri | 10/11 | Fermions at high T, classical limit | ||
| 3 | Mon | 10/14 | Density matrix theory | 7.1-7.2 |
| Wed | 10/16 | Density matrix theory (cont) | ||
| Fri | 10/18 | Density matrix theory (cont) | ||
| 4 | Mon | 10/21 | Introduction to interacting systems, Ising model, Mean-field Theory | 8-8.1 |
| Wed | 10/23 | Mean-field Theory (cont) | ||
| Fri | 10/25 | Mean-field Theory (cont) | ||
| 5 | Mon | 10/28 | Random Walks | 2 |
| Wed | 10/30 | Monte Carlo method | 8.1.4-8.2 | |
| Fri | 11/1 | MIDTERM | ||
| 6 | Mon | 11/4 | Order parameters, Landau-Ginzburg model, abrupt phase transitions | 9,11 |
| Wed | 11/6 | |||
| Fri | 11/8 | |||
| 7 | Mon | 11/11 | Continuous phase transitions, critical phenomena, universality | 12 |
| Wed | 11/13 | |||
| Fri | 11/15 | |||
| 8 | Mon | 11/18 | Correlations, response, dissipation | 10 |
| Wed | 11/20 | |||
| Fri | 11/22 | |||
| 9 | Mon | 11/25 | ||
| Wed | 11/27 | |||
| Fri | 11/29 | no class | ||
| 10 | Mon | 12/2 | Special topic, review | |
| Wed | 12/4 | |||
| Fri | 12/6 | |||
| Thu | 12/12 | Final Exam, 9:30am-11:30am, Weniger 377 |