PH 304 Statistical Physics (Spring 2017-18)

Instructor Name: Sumiran Pujari

Course Type: Theory

Pre-requisites:No formal course pre-requisites. Informal pre-requisites are first year calculus and quantum physics. Some knowledge of probability theory is expected which is covered in the Data Analysis course.

Course Content: Probability Theory, Thermodynamics, Classical Statistical Mechanics - microcanonical, canonical, grand canonical, Gibbs canonical ensembles, Quantum Statistical Mechanics - microcanonical, canonical, grand canonical, Gibbs canonical ensembles, Ideal quantum gases - Bose gas and Fermi gas

Other topics covered: Interacting particles

Books: Statistical Physics of Particles - Mehran Kardar, Statistical Mechanics -Pathria and Beale

Lectures: No attendance mandatory, only blackboard was used. The lectures were very comprehensive in terms of the course content but the math intensive lectures tended to be very vague. There were many quizzes which were open-notebook so it was helpful to attend lectures and make notes. The content and hence the lectures covered content more or less from Kardar only. There were many conceptual points highlighted in the lectures which came in the exams.

Assignments:No assignments given. The questions given in Kardar's book were discussed in the tutorials the answers to which are given in the solution manual to the book.

Exams and Grading: The weightage was laid out in a very vague manner. Two long and four short quizzes were conducted along with a midsem and endsem. The grading was very strict but the professor was open to discussion and was happy to give marks if aptly pointed out. 

Online material: Solution manual to Kardar's book. 

Follow-up Courses: Advanced Statistical Mechanics

Pro-tips: Don't overly rely on Kardar if you want to be in the top 10%. The exams are based on concepts vaguely discussed in the class which makes it important to explore more about the content. However, Kardar is very useful to revise and get an introductory reading as it is highly self explanatory and readable with good examples and clear symbolisms.

Personal Comments: Didn't like the grading pattern. It is mandatory to lay out the manner in which a professor will distribute marks over the course which was not done so. The quiz schedule was also highly random.

Respondent: Sagar Addepalli