PHYS4031 Statistical Mechanics

Prof. HUI Pak Ming
Office: SC 209, Tel: 3943-6351, Email: pmhui@phy.cuhk.edu.hk
Consultation Hour: Stop by any time or make appointment via E-mail

Mr. LAI Kwun Hang
Office: SC 313, Email: khlai@phy.cuhk.edu.hk
Consultation Hour: Tuesday 13:30-15:15

Mr. LEUNG Chun Hei
Office: SC 322, Email: chleung1@phy.cuhk.edu.hk
Consultation Hour: Monday 15:30 - 17:15

Tuesday 10:30 am - 12:15 pm (SC L5)
Thursday 2:30 pm - 4:15 pm (SC L5)

Monday 1:30 pm - 2:15 pm (SC LG23)
Wednesday 3:30 pm - 4:15 pm (MMW 706)

There will be hand-written lecture notes. Students should download classnotes and read them prior to attending lectures.

There are many books on statistical mechanics or statistical physics or statistical thermodynamics. The contents are quite standard. However, I could not find one that is reasonably priced and fits to our course perfectly. Therefore, I will NOT select a textbook. Instead, I would suggest several reference books. These and other books are put on reserve in the reserved-book section in the University Library. There are many "new" statistical physics textbooks published in recent years, as its relevance has been increasingly recognized even at the undergraduate level. Some of these books are available in E-book form, as marked below. See complete book list in download area

Harald J. W. Muller-Kirsten, "Basics of Statistical Physics: A Bachelor Degree Introduction", World Scientific 2010 [QC174.8 .M85 2010]. (The chosen topics are exactly those in our course. A strong point of the book is that there are many worked examples.)

C.J. Adkins, "Equilibrium Thermodynamics", Cambridge University Press 1983 [QC311.A3 1983]

F. Reif, "Fundamental of Statistical and Thermal Physics", McGrawHill. [QC175.R43] (Similar to Kittel and Kroemer.) A simpler version is F. Reif, "Statistical Physics", Berkeley Physics Course, Vol.5, McGrawHill. [QC21.4445 v.5]

David Chandler, "Introduction to modern statistical mechanics", Oxford University Press 1987 [QC174.8.C47]

K. Huang, "Introduction to Statistical Physics", Taylor & Francis. [QC174.8.H82 2001] (This is a very interesting book. Only 270-page in length, the author gave a concise and precise introduction to the key ideas in statistical mechanics. Readers need to digest every sentence carefully. The discussions are quite deep in places. The lack of worked examples is a weak point of the book. The author wrote a classic textbook "Statistical Mechanics" [QC175.8.H8 1987] back in 1963, which gives a rigorous treatment on the subject at the graduate level.)

W.G.V. Rosser, "An introduction to statistical physics", Ellis Horwood. [QC174.8.R67] (Very detailed discussions on how to develop the theory from the basics. The starting point is similar to the book by Guenault, but the book takes the readers farther. Excellent discussion on the connections from statistical mechanics and thermodynamics.)

R. Bowley and M. Sanchez, "Introductory Statistical Mechanics", Oxford University Press. [QC311.5. B684 1999] (The level of presentation fits to a standard undergraduate course. The coverage is slightly more than that in our course.)

D.H. Trevena, "Statistical Mechanics: An introduction", Ellis Horwood [QC174.8.T63 1993] (Same approach as Guenault and similar in coverage. Very practical.)

L. G. Benguigui, "Statistical Mechanics for Beginners", World Scientific 2010. [QC174.8 B46 2010] A very well written new stat mech textbook for first-time learners. We will cover all the topics in this book. For some topics, our treatment will be deeper. The strong points are: the book is short (147 pages) and the simplest/direct approach is chosen.

Tony Guenault, "Statistical physics" 2nd ed. Chapman & Hall. [QC174.8 .G84 1995] (A short book that uses probably the simplest approach in getting the key results in equilibrium statistical physics. Good for students learning the subject for the first time.)

F. Mandl, "Statistical Physics", 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons. [QC174.8.M27 1988] (A standard textbook for final year students in the British university system.)

D.J. Amit, "Statistical physics: an introductory course", World Scientific. [QC174.8.A45 1999] (An excellent book for self-learning written by an excellent author well known for his clarity. The author also wrote "Field Theory, the renormalization group, and critical phenomena" [QC173.4.C74A44 1984], from which many researchers learned how to study critical phenomena using field theoretical approaches.

C. Kittel and H. Kroemer, "Thermal physics" 2nd ed. WH Freeman. [QC311.5 .K52 1980] (A standard undergraduate textbook in US universities.)

S. J. Blundell and K. M. Blundell, "Concepts in Thermal Physics", Oxford University Press 2006 [QC254.2 B58 2006] (Another very well written modern book that covers both thermodynamics and statistical physics at the undergraduate level. The topics are covered in short (but many) chapters, allowing a reader to learn a particular topic within 15 pages or so. A strong point is the part on special topics (mostly applications of statistical mechanics), including shock waves, stars, earth's atmosphere, etc. E-book version is available via UL website.)

C. Hermann, "Statistical Physics: Including Applications to Condensed Matter", Springer 2005. [QC174.8 .H47 2005](We will cover 90% of the topics in this book. There are solved problems as examples. E-book version is available via UL website.)

Gitterman, M., "Phasetransitions : a brief account with modern applications", World Scientific Pub., 2004. [QC175.16.P5 G57 2004]


***Mathematical Skills***

Erich Steiner, "The Chemistry Maths Book", Oxford University Press 1996 [QA37.2 .S7985 1996]

K.F. Riley, M.P. Hobson, and S.J. Bence, "Mathematical methods for physics and engineering : a comprehensive guide", Cambridge University Press 2002. [QA300 .R495 2002]

Homework	20%
Mid-term Test	30%
Final Exam.	50%

See Chapter 1 of class notes in download area