FYS2160 – Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics

Course content

The course introduces the student to statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. Statistical mechanics is the microscopic foundation of thermodynamics. The student is introduced to the fundamental concepts of microscopic many-particle systems and how they are connected to the macroscopic concepts of thermodynamics. The theories are applied to a range of systems like gases, liquids, mixtures, and solids and how these are used in materials science, chemistry, biology, geoscience, and technology. The student learns to build models based on interactions between microscopic particles and find the collective, macroscopic behavior of many particles. The models are studied using simple, analytical theory, numerical models, molecular dynamics, Monte Carlo methods, and experimental data.

Learning outcome

After completing this course:

  • you can master basic statistical methods and concepts like probability, random variables, expected value, variance, estimators, and common probability distributions; you can apply methods of combinatorics to statistical problems.
  • you can construct models to analyze simple systems in the microcanoni