Updated Days, Times, and Locations for Consultation Sessions

I already circulated this information by e-mail, but here it is again anyway.


Fri, week 2 [3 May], 12 - 2 pm, Somerville College, Park 40

Wed, week 3 [8 May], 5 - 7 pm, DHSR1

Fri, week 4 [15 May], 8:30 - 9:30 am, Somerville College, Park 40


We will cover the 2012 mock exam in week 2 and the 2012 exam in week 3.

Consultation Sessions

The consultation sessions, which will all take place in DHSR2 in Dartington House, have now been set up. (Note that you will need me to let you into the 2nd floor of Dartingon House, as this remove is behind a door that requires card access.)

The sessions will occurs in weeks 2 (Tues, 10 am - noon), 3 (Tues, 10 am - noon), and 4 (Tues, 11 am - noon). We'll cover the mock exam from last year in week 2 and the actual exam from 2012 in week 3. I think it is best to try these tests under exam conditions before the consultation session. You can find the mock exam among the course materials.

Statistical Mechanics on the BBC

Here are the BBC shows by Jim Al-Khalili on statistical mechanics that Mark Wilkinson mentioned in lecture today:

Order and Disorder, Episode 1: Energy

Order and Disorder, Episode 2: Information

(P.S. The titles of the shows make me want to make snarky comments about Episodes 1 and 2 of Star Wars.)

Update: Mark mentions that Maxwell's Demon is discussed at 24:40 in Episode 2.

Online Introduction to Renormalization and Universality

One of the more difficult conceptual topics in this module concerns renormalization groups.

Just posted on the arXiv today are some nice-looking lecture notes from some summer school that aims to give an introduction to renormalization and universality.

These notes look pretty good, so you might want to take a look at them when we get to that part of the module. I am posting this today because I am just seeing these now and I might forget to post this link later. We're not going to get to renormalization until close to the end of the module, so this introduction is actually for several weeks from now.

MT 2012 Edition

Lectures are held Th, F: 11:00 am - noon, L2, MI.

There are two classes. I will be the tutor for both of them, and Mark Wilkinson will be the TA.

The classes will be held at the following times: Fridays at 2 - 3 pm and 3 - 4pm starting in week 2. They will occur in SG SR1.

Problem sheets will be due by 4pm on Wednesday in weeks 2-8. There will be seven sheets (one for each class). As usual, a box will magically appear in the basement of the MI.

Note: I am using the same scribbled lecture notes (see scanned versions on the Course Materials website) as last year, except possibly for the "special topic" to be covered in the last lecture or two (which isn't in the scanned notes anyway). I like to have student input in determining such special topics, so I'll figure that out later.

I have now posted all 7 problem sheets.

One of my favorite quotes ever from the opening of a book: Ludwig Boltzman, who spent much of his life studying statistical mechanics, died in 1906, by his own hand. Paul Ehrenfest, carrying on the work, died similarly in 1933. Now it is our turn to study statistical mechanics. Perhaps it will be wise to approach the subject cautiously. (David Goodstein, in the opening lines of States of Matter)

Thursday 10 May Consultation Session Moved (Slightly)

As announced by e-mail, the Thursday 10 May consultation session --- in which I'll be covering the mock exam --- is now taking place from 11 am to 1 pm in DHRS1.

Mock Exam Posted

I have posted a mock exam (aka, a "fake past exam") for the Statistical Mechanics module. It has not been vetted the way actual exams are, but hopefully it will be helpful.

Part III of Lecture Notes Posted

I have now posted p. 40a-48a of the lecture notes. This takes us through the end of Chapter 12 of Sethna's book and should basically get us to the end of lecture 14.

The two lectures in week 8 will be on a 'special topic' to be determined. If there are any particular topics that interest you, please let me know. It is my intention for the last couple of lectures to vary from year to year depending on student interest.

One Class to Rule Them All

We have 10 students left, so the 2 classes have been combined and will meet as one class from 3 - 4 pm starting in week 4. (The 2 - 3 pm class will still meet tomorrow.)

Homework Sheets 5-7

I have now created and posted homework sheets 5-7.

Lectures Notes: Pages 1a--39b

I have posted pages 1a-20b and 21a-39b on the course website. I'll estimate that there will be somewhere between 54 and 60 pages in total (so twice that many sides), with around 54 being more likely than around 60.

It will be a while before I post the remaining lecture notes (which I need to finish preparing) and homework sheets.

As I mentioned in an earlier entry, I am following Jim Sethna's book (freely available online) closely. Thus far, I am following it---though with some small differences based on whether I agree with what is written or want to change or add perspective on certain details---except a small unit on "nonequilibrium statistical mechanics" in which I gave an introduction to kinetic theory (this topic isn't covered in Sethna). There are, of course, numerous other topics in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics---it is a huge subject---and some of them show up briefly in other parts of the lecture notes, though in those cases there are discussions (for the notes I have prepared thus far) in Sethna's book.

Homework Sheets 1-4

I have posted Homework Sheets 1-4 on the course website.

Homework sheet 1 is due Wednesday of Week 2, homework sheet 2 is due Wednesday of Week 3, and so on. There will be 7 homework sheets in total. Homework sheet 5 will cover kinetic theory, and homework sheets 6 and 7 will cover material about phase transitions and related things.

Welcome to Statistical Mechanics (Maths c6.2a): MT 2011

Statistical Mechanics (Maths C6.2a) is a brand new Part C course in the Mathematical Institute.

Lectures are held Th, F: 11:00 am - noon, L1, MI.

There will be two classes. I will be the tutor for both of them, and Puck Rombach will be the TA.

Classes will be held on Fridays at 2 - 3 pm and 3 - 4pm starting in week 2. In weeks 2 and 4-8, they will be held in New Higman Room (SGSR). In week 3, they will be held in SGSR1.

[SGSR1 is in the basement of the MI. The New Higman Room is the meeting room that can be divided off at the end of the Common Room.]

Problem sheets will be due by 4pm on Wednesday in weeks 2-8. There will be seven sheets (one for each class). As usual, a box will magically appear in the basement of the MI.

I haven't yet made the problem sheets. Some of them should starting appearing among the course resources soon.

Note that I will be out of town on Nov. 24-25, so somebody else will cover my lecture that day.

One of my favorite quotes ever from the opening of a book: Ludwig Boltzman, who spent much of his life studying statistical mechanics, died in 1906, by his own hand. Paul Ehrenfest, carrying on the work, died similarly in 1933. Now it is our turn to study statistical mechanics. Perhaps it will be wise to approach the subject cautiously. (David Goodstein, in the opening lines of States of Matter)