Fundamentals of Statistical Physics
Leo P. Kadanoff University of Chicago, USA text: Statistical Physics,
Statics, Dynamics, Renormalization Leo Kadanoff
I also referred often to Wikipedia and found it accurate and helpful.
Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
Course Outline
part number text chapter number title length number of (slides) lectures
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Fundamentals of Statistical Physics 1 Once over Lightly 2&3 Basics 4 & 13 &15 Quantum Mechanics and Lattices 5 Diffusion and Hops 6&8 Momentum hops 9 Bose and Fermi 10 Phase Transitions & mean elds 11 & 12 & 13 &14 &15 Phase Transitions: Beyond mean elds
16 24 28 24 27 16 40 42
1 2 3 3 3 1 2 2 17
Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
Part I: Once over lightly
Concepts which specically belong to statistical physics Interesting Physical Science Advances have a Major Statistical Component Probabilities: One die Quantum Stat Mech Classical Stat Mech Averages from Derivatives Thermodynamics From Quantum to Classical: The Ising model Degenerate Distributions Thermodynamic Phases Phase Transitions Random Walk Brownian Dynamics Big Words
Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
Where do we come from?
Undergraduate Institution:
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Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
Not in quantum mechanics or in Classical Mechanics Temperature
Concepts which specically belong to statistical physics:
Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
Interesting Physical Science Advances have a Major Statistical Component
Bekenstein-Hawking: entropy of black holes Fluctuation spectrum of 3 degree kelvin background radiation Bells theorem: statistics of quantum measurements source of complexity in the universe probabilities of hearing from civilizations elsewhere in universe Why do markets crash? Time Reversal Invariance: Nature of Irreversability Probabilities of major earth-asteroid collision Probabilistic interpretation of quantum mechanics and of wave functions. Is our universe likely?
Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
Part 2. Start with Probabilities: Dice
number of times turns up = N; total number of events N =N/N i.1 i.2 z= r = r/z probability of choosing a side with number = total probability =1 -->
=1
r = relative probability of event . e.g. for fair dice r = const fair dice --> all probabilities are equal --> average number on a throw = general rule: To calculate the average of any function f() that gives the probability that what will come out will be , you use the formula =1/6
for all values of
< >= = 3.5
< f ( ) >= f ( )
i.3
Do we understand what this formula means?? How would we describe a loaded die? An average from a loaded die? If I told you that =2 was twice as likely as all the other values, and these others were all equally likely, what would be the probability? What would we have for the average throw on the die?
Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
Part 2. Start with Probabilities: Dice
number of times turns up = N; total number of events N =N/N i.1 i.2 z= r = r/z probability of choosing a side with number = total probability =1 -->
=1
r = relative probability of event . e.g. for fair dice r = const fair dice --> all probabilities are equal --> average number on a throw = general rule: To calculate the average of any function f() that gives the probability that what will come out will be , you use the formula =1/6
for all values of
< >= = 3.5
< f ( ) >= f ( )
i.3
Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
Part 3: Lattices
iterations
2 0
iterations 0 2 flow 3 4 6
stable fixed point unstable fixed point
Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
Part 4: Random Walks & Diffusion
http://particlezoo.les.wordpress.com/2008/09/randomwalk.png
Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
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Part 5 : Statistics of Motion
Albert Einstein (1905) explained this dancing by many, many collisions with molecules in uid dp/dt=......+ (t)-p/ p=(px, py, pz) = (x, y, z) (t) is a Gaussian random variable resulting from random kicks produced by collisions. Since the kicks have random directions <(t)>=0. Different collisions are assumed to be statistically independent <j(t) k(s)> =(t-s)j,k
t f(p,r,t) + (p/m) . r f(p,r,t) - r U(r,t) . p f(p,r,t) = effects of collisions p q q p
Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
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Part 6: Bose & Fermi
particle statistics, i.e. the symmetry properties of the particles wave functions, have a major role in determining the behavior of many interesting physical systems. This is especially true when the system is degenerate, i.e. there is a sufciently high density of identical particles so that there could be a substantial overlap of the wave functions involved. Important degenerate systems include: for fermions: the electrons in atoms for non-conserved bosons
for conserved bosons:
Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
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Part 7: Phase Transitions and Mean Fields
phases of matter:
which symmetries of nature have been lost in the snowake?
are they really lost?
http://azahar.les.wordpress.com/2008/12/snowake_.jpg Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
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Part 8: After Mean Fields: Big Words
Universality: In appropriate limits, very different systems can have essentially identical properties
Scale Invariance Systems look the same at different spatial scales
Renormalization Take advantage of scale invariance and universality to produce a theory of phase transitions.
Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
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A start:
Ising system has as its basic variable a spin, z which takes on the values 1. We shall use the abbreviation, for this spin. The behavior of a physical system is described by its Hamiltonian. If we put this spin in a magnetic eld in the z-direction it has a Hamiltonian H= - Bz , Statistical Mechanics is dened by a probability. Here the probability is () =(1/z) exp[-H/(kBT)]=(1/z) exp[- H/(kBT)]= (1/z) exp[ Bz /(kBT)] We describe this by using the abbreviation, h, for the parameters in the probability () = (1/z) exp(h ) h= Bz /(kBT) normalization: total probability =1= (1) + (-1)= (1/z) exp(h)+ (1/z) exp(-h) therefore z= exp(h)+ exp(-h)=2 cosh h average X =<X> = () X
therefore < > = (1)1 + (-1)(-1)= 1/(2 cosh h) {exp (h)-exp(-h)} = (2 sinh h) /(2 cosh h)= tanh h
Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
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Averages from Derivatives z = exp(h ) = 2 cosh h
d (ln z ) / dh = exp(h ) / z =< >= tanh h
d 2(ln z ) / (dh )2 = ( < >)2 exp(h ) / z =< ( < >)2 >
= 1 < >2 = 1 (tanh h )2
All derivatives of the log of the partition function are thermodynamic functions of some kinds. As I shall say below, we expect simple behavior from the log of Z but not Z itself. The derivatives described above are respectively called the magnetization, M=<> and the magnetic susceptibility, , = dM/dH. The analogous rst derivative with respect to is minus the energy. The next derivative with respect to is proportional to the specic heat, or heat capacity, another traditional thermodynamic quantity. The derivative of partition function with respect to volume is the pressure.
note how the second derivative gives the mean squared uctuations homework: Read Chapters 1 and 2 in textbook. show that -d(ln Z) /d = =<> and d2(ln Z) /d2 =< (-<>)2> and If ln Z = const + N ln + N ln T, with being the volume, nd the average pressure and its uctuations.
Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
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End Survey: Start More Intensive/Extensive Discussions
Do you know what intensive and extensive mean in statistical physics?
Perimeter Institute Lecture Notes on Statistical Physics: part I: Overview Version 1.7 9/13/09 Leo Kadanoff
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