Statistical physics

Duration

30h Th, 30h Pr

Number of credits

Lecturer

Nicolas Vandewalle

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

1. Introduction 2. Statistics 3. Statistical approach 4. Gibbs measures 5. Ideal gas revisited 6. Fluids 7. Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution 8. Fermi-Dirac distribution 9. Bose-Einstein distribution 10. Phase transitions 11. Spin models 12. Critical phenomena and scale invariance 13. Random walks 14. Percolation

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

The aim of this lecture is to introduce modern tools of statistical physics and to emphasize their applications : gas, amorphous systems, exotic materials, phase transitions, diffusion, ... The second objective is to show original experiments to student as well as research projects.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

The lecture is based on general physics, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics and hamiltonian mechanics.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Exercises and additional examples to illustrate the theory. Research projects in the lab.

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

Second semester.

Recommended or required readings

PDF files can be found on the website of Prof. Nicolas Vandewalle.

Assessment methods and criteria

Obligation to follow lab projects. 
Written/oral examination (65%). Presentation of the research project (35%).

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

...

Contacts

Nicolas Vandewalle : 04/366.3703, nvandewalle@ulg.ac.be

Items online