Special Topics in Physics: Application of Statistical Physics (PH489, Spring 2022)
Textbooks
TBA
Class time
Tuesday and Thursday, 13:00~14:30
Classroom
Basic Science Bldg. (E6-6), 119
Prerequisites
Statistical physics
Course Descriptions
This course aims to provide a better perspective of the main concepts of statistical physics and to discover the power of statistical physics to explain a wide range of problems beyond the conventional boundaries of physics. This exploratory course is designed to achieve the goal through an example/issue-driven approach, i.e., dealing with various specific problems and topics. They range from conventional examples that can be found in textbooks of statistical physics, such as magnetism and mean-field theories for gases, to rather exotic, human behavior-related topics such as epidemics and econophysics. This is an introductory level course for senior undergraduate and first-year graduate students.
Tentative Course Outline (Topics to be covered)
Note that these are only tentative and are subject to change
- Brief review of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics
- Canonical examples: magnetism, mean-field theories for gases, Bose/Fermi gases
- Polymer solutions: phase and reaction equilibria
- Kinetics: population growth and spread of infectious diseases
- Social physics: target search and game theory
- Econophysics
Tentative evaluation criteria
Mid (30%), Final (40%), Attendance, homework, quiz, and class participation (30%).
Be advised that it is only tentative and can be subject to a change: In case that a proper way of fair evaluation is not secured due to Covid-19, the grading may be given on the S/U basis, instead of the letter grade.
Homework sets
Notices
Teaching Assistant
Hyogeon Park (dshyo@kaist.ac.kr)
