Statistical mechanics Definition and 398 Threads

Hi all, I am thinking of doing a PhD in theoretical statistical mechanics and would like to do it in Europe. I am having trouble finding institutes with a focus on SM or Physics/Mathematics departments strong in the field. Some guidance would be really appreciated. Thanks, and best...

I'm a junior chemical engineering major. How much overlap is there between stat mech and engineering theromdynamics? I was thinking about taking both next semester assuming they are not too similar. Are the topics different enough to warrant taking them at the same time?

Hallo Everybody, I am following Professor Susskinds lectures on statistical mechanics, but can't find an appropriate book that is in line with what is presented in the lectures. Can anyone recommend a book that the lectures follow or which presents the same ideas as in the lectures? Your...

So I am going into my senior year at a Canadian university this year. I plan on pursuing graduate school in accelerator physics thus I am trying to take courses that will prepare me well for this discipline. As such, I am trying to take several EM/RF engineering courses along with...

I'm taking Statistical Mechanics this semester. I already took Thermodynamics, covering the first three laws (0,1,2) at the level of Fermi's Thermodynamics book (and other similar ones). My Stat. Mech. teacher is a condensed matter experimentalist and he's boss at what he does, no question about...

I'm reading through Reif's "Statistical Mechanics" to prepare for the upcoming semester. Basically, a drunk guy takes N total steps, n1 to the right and n2 to the left. The probability that the current step will be to the right is "p," while the probability that the current step will be to the...

Hi, I'm looking for a good book on statistical mechanics (to go with a course) and I've been considereing Tolman's book http://books.google.be/books?id=4TqQZo962s0C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false Is this book still up to date with the quantum mechanics...

I see a lot of talk about QM, relativity, particle physics, classical mechanics, electrodynamics, etc. But I hardly see statistical mechanics (or pure thermodynamics, for that matter) related matters, beyond the pure basics, that is. What's the reason for this? Is it perceived to be less...

hi! i study statistical mechanics from this book at the moment and I'm a little bit confused somtimes. i thougt if anybody else is using this book, we could discuss and clarify confusions (or errata) here. please let me know if anyone is out there... greetings!

I am reading chapter three of Huang's Statistical Mechanics and I have a problem with equation (3.22). Having discussed the derivation of the classical cross section for a scattering process, Huang moves on to the quantum version of it. He states that in quantum mechanics the fundamental...

Right now I have Schroeder, and I'm not a fan of it, despite some of the rave reviews I have read. I'm thinking I need another text to learn from while taking this class. I have a copy of Fermi's Thermodynamics (somewhere), but I'm not exactly sure what's in it. I just think it's silly that I'm...

For example the microcanonical ensemble uses a dirac delta distribution on a certain energy shell E, which is not actually a uniform distribution (even on the energy shell), but it comes close. Why is uniformity (in phase space, or a relevant restriction thereof) natural for equilibrium...

According to quantum mechanics, every particle has an uncertainty of position and momentum. Particles have quantum vibrations. So is it possible for all the atoms in an object to vibrate at the same time in the same direction making the object as a whole move? If so, what kind of energy would...

Homework Statement 500 blue and 500 orange bacteria are placed in a growth medium. Each bacterium divides every hour. A predator eats exactly 1000 bacteria per hour irrespective of color. a) What is the ultimate probability distribution for the colors of bacteria in the growth medium? b) How...

Homework Statement We have N particles, each of which can either be spin-up (s_i = 1) or spin-down (s_i = -1) with i = 1, 2, 3...N. The particles are in fixed position, don't interact and because they are in a magnetic field with strength B, the energy of the system is given by: E(s_1...

Homework Statement A classical particle with mass m is in thermal equilibrium with a fluid at temperature T. The particle is stuck to a harmonic ('Hookean') spring and can only move on a horizontal line (-\infty < x < \infty). The position of the particle is x = 0 if the spring is in its...

I'm starting a self teaching in statistical mechanics, so I would appreciate suggestions about the most appropriate textbook for this purpose. Thanks.

Homework Statement We have a surface that can adsorb identical atoms. There are N possible adsorption positions on this surface and only 1 atom can adsorb on each of those. An adsorbed atom is bound to the surface with negative energy -\epsilon (so \epsilon > 0). The adsorption positions are...

\Omega^(0)(E) = \Omega(E)\Omega(E^(0) - E), a) Write this equation in terms of entropy b)Taylor series expand this resulting equation to 2nd order in the individual energies.Use the fact that the subsystems are in equilibrium with a total xed energy to simplify the resulting expression...

Hey guys, In statistical mechanics I need to explain why the mean value is approximately equal to the most probable value for systems with a large number of random variables. Now I can provide an example of the binomial distribution and show what happens when N tends to infinity ( it goes...

In A. Zee's book "QFT in a Nutshell" he glosses over the idea that the path integral approach and the partition function are related loosely by the correspondence principle, and alludes to some deep fundamental insight behind QFT. But then he moves on. Anyone know where I could read up more on this?

could we use three ensembles(microcanonic, canonic, grandcanonic) in cases of each problems? or can we solve any problem by using every one of these ensembles?

Statistical Mechanics -- Maximum Temperature We know that at zero degrees kelvin the only energy is zero point energy. As we heat a substance, the atoms move faster and faster. The question is, is there a maximum temperature since the fastest a atom can move is the speed of light?

why do we say that a classically behaved gas is non-degenerate and a quantum behaved gas is degenerate? I can't get why the word of "degeneracy" here can distinguish two kinds of behavior of gas.

Having learned the fundamentals of quantum mechanics from Ballentine, I am now looking around for books on quantum statistical mechanics. However, I find most of them in-complete. I don't want to fuss, but I really liked Ballentine's approach and would like to continue with something similar. Do...

Homework Statement I'm working through an example from class and the textbook, but I'm confused about how the steps progress mathematically. The example involves the Gibb's partition for a paramagnet. \sum_{s} exp(\beta \mu B \sum_{i}^{N} s) Where s = -a,-a+1...a for each spin...

1. Homework Statement Given y = xz5 and x = zg find : (∂y / ∂x)z (∂y / ∂x)g 2. Homework Equations 3. The Attempt at a Solution I understand the concept of a partial derivative, but I've never seen one such that there is a variable held fixed, or one where ∂x is not changing...

What are the classics in the area of (classical) statistical mechanics / kinetic theory? Is there anything as universally-lauded as, say, Jackson's Classical Electrodynamics or Goldstein's Classical Mechanics are in their respective fields?

Homework Statement Optical tweezers have been used to control and manipulate atoms. For simplicity, we model a very small quantum tweezer as a structure having quan- tum levels with energies E n = n, where n = 0, 1, 2...N, and N  1. A) Assume that the atoms are distinguishable and...

Homework Statement Neutrinos are massless spin-1/2 particles (ignore their tiny finite masses). There are 6 types of neutrinos (3 flavours of neutrinos and 3 of anti-neutrinos), and each has just one possible polarization state. In the early universe neutrinos and antineutrinos were in...

Hi, I'm studying statistical mechanics from Reif's book. In his book Reif is reaching the conclusion that the number of states avaiable to a system at energy E (up to some small uncertainty in the energy due to finite observation) with f degrees of freedom is proportional to E^f . There is...

I was reading the solution to a statistical mechanics problem and this showed up: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/196/grddar.jpg/ S2N-1 = the area of the 2N-1 dimensional unit sphere. Could anyone shed some light on how these expressions equal each other, I am quite dumbfounded :(.

Homework Statement Consider a system composed of 2 harmonic oscillators with frequencies w and 2w respectively (w = omega). The total energy of the system is U=q * h_bar * w, where q is a positive negative integer, ie. q = {1, 3, 5, ...}. Write down the number of microstates of the system...

Homework Statement Give an physical explanation to why the specific heat capacity goes to zero as temperature goes to zero. Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution I was simply thinking that around absolute zero the average kinetic energy of the particles should be zero...

Im having a hard time visualizing the 2 level energy state that my professor is lecturing about in our discussions on the Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution within our Thermodynamics section. He keeps saying the "molecule will jump up to the next level at a higher temperature" What exactly is he...

Homework Statement You have a latice of particles that all have spin 1, but they can change the direction of their spin so constraint \left|S_j\right|=1. There is only interaction with the closest neighbours so we have the following hamiltonian: H = -J \sum_{\left\langle ij \right\rangle}...

Homework Statement Please look at P9 in http://panda.unm.edu/pandaweb/graduate/prelims/SM_S09.pdf "Now consider a metal surface in which the M adhesion sites are comprised of equal populations of sites of two different types..." Homework Equations The entropy and the chemical potential of a...

I'm looking for a demo on video that illustrates some elementary point about Maxwell and stat mechanics. I have a video from TV of the Mr. Wizard (one of the first science programs on TV) show that talks about "Predicting the Improbable." I'd like to show it to a class, but it's one of his...

Homework Statement Trying to solve 2(a) on this problem set...

Homework Statement Consider a polymer formed by connecting N disc shaped molecules into a one dimensional chain. Each molecule can align along either its long axis (of length 2a) or short axis (of length a ). The Energy of the monomer aligned along its shorter axis is higher by e, that is the...

Homework Statement A box of volume .5m^3 contains air pressure 3*10^5 n/m^2, and air composition of 80% N2 and 20% O2. There is a small hole of area 1*10^6 m^2 in one face. The exterior of the box has air of the same composition and temperature but pressure of 1*10^5. How long will it...

Homework Statement A box of volume .5m^3 contains air pressure 3*10^5 n/m^2, and air composition of 80% N2 and 20% O2. There is a small hole of area 1*10^6 m^2 in one face. The exterior of the box has air of the same composition and temperature but pressure of 1*10^5. How long will it...

I just want to ask why Causal Dynamical Triangulations use a partition function for describing the dynamics of the whole theory. Does the theory have some deep relation to statistical mechanics because of this formulation of the theory? Or is the partition function also a usual terminology to...

why phase transitions and points in phase diagrams important?

Hi there PF. I just want to ask, whether Quantum Statistical Mechanics is a Quantum field theory. If not, is there anything else that describes entropy and thermodynamics in terms of a Quantum field theory?

Dear Colleagues, I would like to submit to your court the article in which we attempt a physical analysis of living matter. Biology is a very difficult field for physics as a result errors are very likely. We would appreciate guidance on possible errors. Prokhorenko DV and Matveev VV. The...

Are they different in any significant ways? Are they frequently confusing? For whatever reason, I find pchem books somewhat hard to read (for now) because something with the notation is confusing me. Statistical Mechanics books are much more readable. Okay, for some reason, I understand things...

As the title suggests, does anyone know any good books for (introductory) Statistical Mechanics and/or Nuclear Physics? Any input is greatly appreciated :-p.

Homework Statement I am working a problem similar to this problem, (problem 2.18)...

One of the things I've learned about probability is that it seldom = 0. For example, the probability of a giant meteor hitting Earth is incredibly low, but it isn't zero. Thats why it happened (eventually). So let's extend this to statistical mechanics. My understanding of (say) a thermometer...