Advanced Statistical Physics II Winter 2021/2022
Participation: registration in Campus Management required
General information: pdf
Lectures: Mo, Wed 10:15-12:00, Hörsaal A
Tutorials: Fr 14-16 (1.4.03 Seminarraum T2)
Content: Selected topic in statistical physics, in particular theory of phase transitions (Landau theory, Gaussian fluctuations, correlation functions, renormalization group)
Prerequisites: Good knowledge of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics (e.g., Advanced Statistical Mechanics I or equivalent)
Problem sets: published online on this webpage on Mondays, must be submitted the following Monday before the beginning of class; active participation will require 50% of points
Exam: written exam on course material on Mo, Feb 28, 2022, 10-12am HÖRSAAL A!
Second exam: Friday, April 22, 2022, 10-12am, room to be announced (please register by email to instructor if you plan to take the exam)
Problem Sets:
Set 10 see lecture notes
Set 12 see lecture notes
Class notes:
Chapter 1 Phases and phase transitions, models (Ising, xy, n-vector), structure and scattering, elasticity
Chapter 2 Review of thermodynamics and statistical physics
Chapter 3 Mean field theory: applications to magnetic systems, simple fluids, and liquid crystals, Landau theory and critical exponents, variational mean field theory
Chapter 4 Fluctuations: Landau functional, Ginzburg criterion, loop expansion, Hartree approximation
Chapter 5 Scaling relations, real-space RG
Chapter 6 Field theory formulation of (momentum-space) RG: epsilon expansion, crossover, n-vector model with cubic anisotropy
Chapter 7 Elastic theories: non-linear sigma model and 2+epsilon expansion, xy model and topological defects, Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, real-space RG, momentum-space RG, and sine-Gordon model
Chapter 8 Growth models: Langevin and Fokker Planck equations, Edwards-Wilkinson equation, Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation, RG treatment