Course Information

 WarmUp Exercise

 Homework

 Syllabus

 Bulletin Board

Instructor: Andy Gavrin

Prerequisites: Phys 310 (Intermediate Mechanics) and Phys 330 (Intermediate Electricity and Magnetism).

Primary Text: Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physicsby F. Reif

Suggested Texts:

• At or below our level.
• Statistical Physics by F. Reif (McGraw-Hill )
  More elementary than our text.
• Thermal Physicsby C. Kittel and H. Kroemer (W. H. Freeman)
  About the same level as our text, and some people prefer it. However, it uses a lot of nonstandard notation, so beware.
• An Introduction to Thermal Physics by Daniel V. Schroeder
  This is a good, recent text with some nice examples. I will occasionally borrow material from this text.
• Thermodynamicsby H. B. Callen (Wiley)
  A classic text, focusing much more on thermodynamics and less on statistical mechanics. It will be particularly helpful while we are in chapters 5, 6, and 8.

  More advanced texts

• Statistical Mechanicsby R. K. Pathria (Pergamon)
• Introduction to Modern Statistical Mechanicsby D. Chandler (Oxford)
• Statistical Mechanicsby K. Huang (Wiley)
• Statistical Physicsby L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz (Pergamon)

Organization: Class meets Monday and Wednesday from 11:00 to 12:20 PM in LD004.

Homework: There will be two forms of homework, WarmUp exercises and Problem sets. I will post WarmUps on the site as needed throughout the semester. Please check the site at least twice each week so you don't miss any. The problem sets will also be posted on the site.

Exams: There will be three one hour exams and a comprehensive final exam.

Syllabus: Please follow the link at the left to see the course syllabus. This is the first time teaching these courses together, and my first time ever with 517, so the syllabus is somewhat tentative. I will try to stick to it, but if adjustments become necessary I will let you know in class and on this site.

Late Work: Homework that is handed in after the due date will be graded, however, the maximum scores will be

• 1 day late: 80%
• 2 days late: 65%
• 3 days late: 50%
• 4 or more days late: 25%

Grading: For 416 students, grades will be based on

• Problem sets: 30%
• WarmUps: 10%
• Hour exams: 40%
• Final Exam: 20%

• Problem sets: 25%
• WarmUps: 10%
• Hour exams: 30%
• Final Exam: 20%
• Final Project 15%