Thermal Physics

3 credits · Graduate

Thermal properties of matter treated using the basic concepts of entropy, temperature, chemical potential, partition function, and free energy. Topics include the laws of thermodynamics, ideal gases, thermal radiation and electrical noise, heat engines, Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein distributions, semiconductor statistics, kinetic theory, and phase transformations. An assignment will ask the student to relate this course to their research. Department consent required.