Next student seminar :
Access to the program
Here you can find information about your internships:
Experimental Internship - Undergraduate program
Master ICFP first year Internship
News : ICFP Research seminars
November 14 - 18, 2022 :
All information about the program
Contact us - Student support and Graduate School office :
Tél : 01 44 32 35 60
enseignement@phys.ens.fr
Next student seminar :
Access to the program
Here you can find information about your internships:
Experimental Internship - Undergraduate program
Master ICFP first year Internship
News : ICFP Research seminars
November 14 - 18, 2022 :
All information about the program
Contact us - Student support and Graduate School office :
Tél : 01 44 32 35 60
enseignement@phys.ens.fr
Theoretical Physics = compulsory
Faculty: Frédéric Van Wijland
Tutor: Charlie Duclut
ECTS credits: 6
Language of instruction: English
Examination:
1st session : Homework 30% - written exam with handwritten document only 70%
2nd session :written exam with handwritten document only, 100%
Statistical physics is witnessing a revolution: understanding the dynamics of a very large number of interactive degrees of freedom, which has been from the beginning the main aim of statistical physics, has become now a central problem in many fields such as physics, biology, computer science, to name but a few.
Now more than ever, statistical physics is both for its methods and its applications a very powerful field endowed with a very broad range of theoretical methods and ramifications in many branches of science.
The aim of this series of lectures is twofold. The students will be introduced to this very rich state of the art. This will require learning new techniques and tools, and applying those to modern applications in physics and beyond.
The tentative outline of the lectures is as follows:
Statistical dynamics, Markov processes
Stochastic dynamics
Time reversal, and its consequences
Metastability and rare events
The mean-field approximation
Exactly solvable models
Critical dynamics, and renormalization
Dynamics with disorder
Concepts and techniques to be revised before the beginning of the first semester:
Equilibrium statistical physics: statistical ensembles, thermodynamics, basic notions of phase transitions.
Students should have a good knowledge of statistical ensembles (canonical, micro-canonical and grand-canonical) and their use to compute thermodynamic properties of equilibrium systems. Basic notions and examples of phase transitions are also required.
Students can use their favourite book to revise.
A non-exhaustive list of possible sources from which one can choose:
Statistical Physics of Particles, M. Kardar
Principles of condensed matter physics, P. Chaikin, T. Lubensky
Statistical Mechanics, K. Huang
Statistical Mechanics, R. Kubo
An introduction to modern statistical mechanics, D. Chandler
Mathematical tools : basic probability theory, operator formalism.
A good working knowledge of basic probability theory will be important, in particular probability measures, conditioned probability, averages and moments.
The basic working knowledge on operator formalism used for quantum mechanics will be also required (functional operator, eigenstates, eigenvalues, etc).
The undergraduate texts the students had already used on these topics
will be enough to revise.
Next student seminar :
Access to the program
Here you can find information about your internships:
Experimental Internship - Undergraduate program
Master ICFP first year Internship
News : ICFP Research seminars
November 14 - 18, 2022 :
All information about the program
Contact us - Student support and Graduate School office :
Tél : 01 44 32 35 60
enseignement@phys.ens.fr