Lecture Notes

• Lecture 7, Apr 24: Various ensembles

• Lecture 6, Apr 22: "The semi-classical statistical mechanics

• Lecture 5, Apr 17: The irreversibility

• Lecture 4, Apr 15: Big numbers

  • Change: Bayesian inference is upgraded from footnote to sub-section (page 3).—7:52PM, Apr 10, 2014

• Lecture 3, Apr 10: Probability

  • Corrections: Eq. 3.3: $\langle p(x) \rangle \rightarrow \langle e^{-ikx} \rangle$. Eq. 3.12: missing $\langle x \rangle_c$ put back for the 4th term (thanks DH, for spotting this typo!).—12:53PM, Apr 17, 2014

  • Correction: Line 2 of Section 3.2.2: $/N \rightarrow /\sqrt{N}$.—11:19AM, Apr 10, 2014

• Lecture 2, Apr 8: Entropy and thermodynamic potentials

  • More changes: Discussion in Section 2.3 is beefed up a bit (new stuff added here and there). In particular, paragraph 3 (a new one) in page 10 is highly recommended for your careful consumption. In Eq. 2.39 and around it, notation change: $T_0, J_0, S_0 \rightarrow T_R, J_R, S_R$ (better coherence with contents of Section 2.3).—10:13AM, Apr 09, 2014

  • Changes: Lots of little corrections/improvement/clarifications were added in pages 8 through 17. Please, update! Two most important changes: (i) page 8, Gibbs free energy, the $dG$ expression was jumbled--corrected. (ii) on the same page, $\delta$ is now replaced by $d$.—12:34PM, Apr 08, 2014

• Lecture 1, Apr 1: Themodynamics

  • Addition: Some comments are added after Eq. 1.2. Thanks PM, whose question prompted this addition!—11:50AM, Apr 09, 2014