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PHY 418: Statistical Mechanics I
Prof. S. Teitel: stte@pas.rochester.edu ---- Spring 2021

 Monday, May 17, 2021

The Endterm Exam has been graded, and you can see your graded exam on Blackboard. Solutions, and a histogram of grades, can be found on the Endterm Exam page on Blackboard.

Course grades have now been made and entered with the registrar.

I hope you all have a nice break and an enjoyable summer!

 Wednesday, May 5, 2021

The recording of today's discussion session is now posted online. The link is on the calendar page.

 Sunday, May 1, 2021

The last homework, Problem Set 12, is due this week Thursday at 5pm. There is no Discussion Question this week.

All notes and videos through the end of the course are now posted. Unfortunately we do not have enough time to get to the end of unit 4 by the scheduled end of the course. So there is only one problem on Problem Set 12 dealing with material from unit 4, which you can probaby do just by reading Notes 4-1, though it may help to read through Notes 4-4 to answer the very last line of the problem. There will also be no questions on the material of unit 4 on the Endterm Exam. But, still, this is very interesting stuff! So I urge you to read the notes for unit 4 anyway, and I am always happy to discuss and answer questions, even after the course is over.

The Endterm Exam will be Wednesday, May 12, from 12:30-2:30pm. You will then have an additional 30 minutes to scan and upload your work to Blackboard, so you work is due in by 3:00pm. Note, this is an endterm exam rather than a final exam, which means it is focused on the material since the midterm exam (so from Notes 2-16 through Notes 3-11), and it will count the same number of points towards your final grade as the midterm exam. But, since the course builds upon itself, you will have to be familiar with concepts from the entire semester. There will be three problems.

A good way to study for the exam is to carefully review the homework problems and solutions. You may also see exams from prior years of the course by going to: www.pas.rochester.edu/~stte/teitel/teaching.html Exams are on the “Homework” page of the course websites.

The procedure for taking the exam will be the same as was for the Midterm Exam. At the start time of the exam you will download the exam from the "Endterm Exam" page on the course's Blackboard site (the link is in the blue left side panel). You will then use the upload link on this same page to submit your work. If you experience problems with Blackboard, email me at stte@pas.rochester.edu, and I will send you the exam by email, or you may send me your work by email. You may bring to the exam one 8.5"x11" sheet of paper on which you can write whatever notes you like -- writing on one side of the page only, and with a usual spacing between the lines. No other books, notes, online resources, or consultations with others are permitted. There will be a Zoom session during the time of the exam (same link as our usual Discussion Sessions) which you can use to ask questions, and hear if I reply to other's questions. But you are not required to join this Zoom session. I will also monitor our Slack channel, so you may post questions there, but PLEASE post them in the "statistical-mechanics" channel so everyone can see; do not use DM unless it is a personal matter.

Abroad students, for whom the regular exam time will be inconveniently late in the day, must contact me to discuss whether you need an earlier time, or if you prefer to take the exam at the regular time.

The online evaluation survey for the course is now up and available on Blackboard. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, take a few moments to fill it out. Your feedback is important to me and will be very much appreciated!

 Wednesday, April 28, 2021

The recording of today's discussion session is now posted online. The link is on the calendar page.

There will be no Discussion Question next week!

 Wednesday, April 21, 2021

The recording of today's discussion session is now posted online. The link is on the calendar page.

Discussion Question 11 is a very interesting quesstion, that will help you think about how quantum gases differ from clasical gases. You should think about, and struggle with, this problem with your classmates -- I will decline to give any hints, and will only answer questions to clarify what the problem is asking for!

 Tuesday, April 20, 2021

A number of students have asked about the hint in problem 2a of Problem Set 10, that says you should use the condition kBT >> ℏω.

I realize now that this condition does not really play a role because we are discussing a fermi gas. The condition you need for this part is rather εF >> ℏω. But this condition is automatically satisfied for a fermi gas as long as the number of particles N in the system is large.

The condition kBT >> ℏω is needed only for part (e).

 Wednesday, April 14, 2021

The recording of today's discussion session is now posted online. The link is on the calendar page.

I have posted a corrected version of the solutions to Problem Set 8. There had been some small errors in the solution to the first problem.

Following our discussion today, I have updated the lecture Notes 3-6 to show how the Debye model can give you the leading high temperature corrections to the Law of Dulong and Petit for the specific heat of a solid.

Notes for Unit 4 are starting to appear!

 Wednesday, April 7, 2021

The recording of today's discussion session is now posted online. The link is on the calendar page.

To be clear about problem 2 on Problem Set 8, the spin state does not effect the energy of the particles. That is, there is no external magnetic field, and we are ignoring any interaction between the two particles that might exist due to a magnetic dipole interaction.

 Sunday, April 4, 2021

I see now that problem 1 on Problem Set 8 assumed some material in Notes 3-6 that you have not been asked to read yet! My apologies for this oversight. But you can still do the problem if you understand that one photon just corresponds to one level of excitation of a quantized harmonic oscillator.

So I have now added some additional notes to the end of Notes 3-1, where the quantized harmonic oscillator is discussed, and changed the wording of problem 1 on Problem Set 8 to make it clearer what you have to do. Please ask if it is still not clear.

 Wednesday, March 31, 2021

The recording of today's discussion session is now posted online. The link is on the calendar page.

 Tuesday, March 30, 2021

The Midterm Exam has been graded. You may find your graded exam, the exam solutions, and a histogram of exam grades on the Midterm Exam page of the course on Blackboard. The exams were graded by Prof. Teitel, so if you have any questions or complaints, please contact Prof. Teitel by the end of this week.

Problem Set 7 is due this Thursday at 5pm.

At the end of this week we begin Unit 3 on quantum statistical ensembles. The first few lecture videos are now posted. There have been a few minor updates to the first three sets of notes.

 Wednesday, March 17, 2021

The recording of today's discussion session is now posted online. The link is on the calendar page.

On the Blackboard site for the course, there is now a new link "Midterm Exam" in the blue left side navigation panel. This link will take you to the page where you will download the midterm exam and upload your solutions. It also has a reminder about the rules for the exam and what will be covered. So please take a look to familiarize yourself with how the exam will be administered, and ask if you have any questions. The link to download the exam will not appear on this page until 10:25am the day of the exam.

 Sunday, March 14, 2021

Due to some conflicts arising from my attendence at a virtual conference all this week, I have to make the following changes to our usual schedule, for this week only:

1) Office hour on Monday is shifted 1/2 hour earlier, from 2:00-3:00pm.

2) Discussion Session on Wednesday is moved to 2:00-3:00pm. My apologies to the abroad students for whom this time is too inconvenient, and to anyone else inconvenienced by this change. As always, the discussion session will be recorded for those who cannot attend live.

If you have any questions as you prepare for the Midterm Exam the following week, please feel free to email or post on Slack. The Midterm Exam will consist of three problems, and will cover the material through the end of Notes 2-15. The will exam take place Wednesday, March 24, 10:25am-12:25pm. You will download the exam from Blackboard, work for two hours, and then have an additional 1/2 hour to scan your work an upload it to Blackboard. Reminder: you may bring to the exam one 8.5"x11" sheet of paper on which you can write whatever notes you like -- writing on one side of the page only, and with a usual spacing between lines. No other books, notes, online resources, or consultations with others are permitted.

 Saturday, March 13, 2021

I have now posted a second, cleaner, solution to Discussion Question 5. In this version, working directly with the N-particle probability density, I explicity show that the probability P(M), that there are exactly M of the N particles on the right hand half of the system, is the same whether the particles are distinguishable or indistinguishable. This exercise helps clarify issues regarding the difference between distinguishable and indistinguishable particles, so I suggest you have a look at this new solution!

 Wednesday, March 10, 2021

The recording of today's Discussion Session is now posted online. The link is on the Calendar page.

In today's Discussion Session a question was raised with regard to Discussion Question 5, as to whether it is correct to use the binomial distribution to give the probability to have M of the N particles in the right side of the box. I have updated the solution of Discussion Question 5, found on the Problem Sets page of the Blackboard site for the course, to comment on this matter. I do believe that the binomial distribution is correct.

 Friday, March 5, 2021

Please take just a couple of minutes to complete the quick mid-semester TA/TI evaluation survey at:

https://webapps.pas.rochester.edu/secure/phpQ/

The survey is anonymous. Your TA/TI wll have the opportunity to review the survey results and utilize the feedback provided for the remainder of the semester. Your feedback will be greatly appreciated!

 Thursday, March 4, 2021

Discussion Question 5, due next Tuesday, March 9, at 5pm, and Problem Set 5, due next Thursday, March 11, at 5pm, are now posted.

You should be reading/watching the material for Unit-2, and have completed through Notes 2-12 for our Discussion Session next Wednesday, March 10.

 Friday, February 26, 2021

The recording of Wednesday's Discussion Session is now posted online. Sorry for the delay. The link is on the Calendar page.

Notes for all of Unit 2 are now posted. Videos will follow soon.

Since next Wedneday, March 3, is a University study break day, we will have no Discussion Session next week, and no Discussion Question that week. Problem Set 4 is due Thursday, March 4, by 5pm. If you have questions, please feel free to see me or the TA during office hours, or post a question on the Blackboard Discussion Board for Unit 2, or on Slack, or email me. We can zoom to chat if needed.

 Thursday, February 18, 2021

During the Discussion Session yesterday, a student asked a question about the Carnot cycle, asking why one could not improve the efficiency of the cycle by making a suggested change to the geometry of the loop in the S-T plane. My answer on the spot was not very precise. So I have now added a short supplemental note to Unit 1 to give a clearer answer to this question. You may find this note here.

 Wednesday, February 17, 2021

The recording of today's Discussion Session is now posted online. The link is on the Calendar page.

 Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Reminder: Problem Set 2 is due this Thursday February 18, uploaded to Blackboard by 5pm.

Discussion Question 3, due Tuesday next week, and Problem Set 3, due Thursday next week, are now posted.

The solution to Discussion Question 1 has been updated to reflect some of the discussion we had last week, as well as some additional interesting points.

Additional notes for Unit 2 have been posted. The videos for Unit 2 are lagging the notes, but some are up and more should be soon!

If there is something in particular you'd like me to discuss in our Discussion Session tomorrow, please email to let me know.

 Wednesday, February 10, 2021

The recording of today's Discussion Session is now posted online. The link is on the Calendar page. My apologies that the beginning of the session did not get recorded.

In response to the discussion we had concerning the Energy Minimum Principle, I have updated the notes 1-3 to include more discussion concerning this principle. I now give an algebraic proof and an agrument based on a physical example.

The simple answer to this week's discussion question is now available on the Problem Sets page of the course on Blackboard. But I will be updating that solution within the next day or so to include some of the additional points that were discussed during today's Discussion Session.

Remember, Problem Set 1 is due tomorrow, Thursday February 11, uploaded to Blackboard by 5pm.

 Monday, February 8, 2021

Reminder: Discussion Qestion 1 is due tomorrow, Tuesday February 9, posted by 5pm on the Blackboard Discussion Board.

If there are any particular topics you would like me to review in our Discussion Session on Wednesday, please send me an email or DM so I can be prepared. Feel free to also ask questions on the fly.

The texts by Pathria and Beale, by Peliti, by Plischke and Bergersen, and by Reichl are now available online via the POA library. You must be logged in with your URNet ID to access them. The link is on the Course Information page.

If you have had any problem accessing the sign up page for my office hour, please let me know. If you are not receiving email from me (for example this message), please let me know.

Some of the notes for Unit 2 are now posted online. I hope the videos will be posted shortly.

 Wednesday, February 3, 2021

The recording of today's Discussion Session is now posted online. The link is on the Calendar page.

 Monday, February 1, 2021

Welcome to PHY 418, Statistical Mechanics I.

This Home Page is the place to find announcements related to the course.

This website has all the information you need to take and do well in the course. If it is on this website, you are responsible for knowing it!

The Communications page has information about all the methods we will use to keep in touch with each other for this online class.

Please start the course by going to the Course Overview and Introduction where you can read about the structure of this website.

Note, to access several features of this website, such as viewing lecture videos, emailing classmates, posting to discussion boards, uploading homework, and viewing your grades, you must first login the the University's Blackboard system using your UR NetID. Once logged into Blackboard, you can go to the PHY418 Home Page.

If you click on any Blackboard link before you have logged into Blackboard, you will be taken to a page that says "Access Denied". From there, just click on the house icon at the top right of the page to go to the Blackboard login page (do not click on the "Login" link!).