PHYS 603, Spring 2008
"Methods of Statistical Physics"
Prof. Victor M. Yakovenko

Textbook: Silvio Salinas "Introduction to Statistical Physics",
Springer 2001, ISBN 0-387-95119-9

Typos in the textbook

Ch. 1 Introduction to Statistical Methods

Page 16, Problem 1.4.  Use the capital N in l=Np.

Ch. 2 Statistical Description of a Physical System

Page 34. Eqs. (2.54)-(2.57).  Technically not an error, but αρest probably means αρstat.

Page 35, Problem 2.4.  The same letter A is used for the coordinate x and for the area in the phase space.  It better to write x=Rcos(...).

Ch. 3 Overview of Classical Thermodynamics

Page 59, Problem 3.1.  The isothermal compressibility.

Page 59, Problem 3.4.  The given equations of state are rather unphysical.  A more reasonable choice would be u=3Pv and P=aT4, which describes the photon gas.

Ch. 4 Microcanonical Ensemble

Page 83, Problem 4.4.  The statement that the entropy of the Boltzmann gas has the term -kBTlnT is wrong.  The entropy of the Boltzmann gas is given in Eqs. (6.13) and (8.70) (with some typos!).

Ch. 5 Canonical Ensemble

Pages 92-93, Eqs. (5.38)-(5.39).  The should be no H in Eq. (5.39) and no H in the prefactor of Eq. (5.38).

Page 101, Problem 5.8.  The term in the potential energy should be (1/2)mw2q2.

Ch. 6 The Classical Gas in the Canonical Formalism

Page 105, Eq. (6.13).  The last term should be +(3/2)kB.

Ch. 7 The Grand Canonical and Pressure Ensembles

Page 132, Eq. (7.63).  The prefactor should be 1/b instead of b.  The total power of b should be -5/2.

Page 135, Sec. E.  The correct reference to the second paper by Lee and Yang is Phys. Rev. 87, 410 (1952).

Ch. 8 The Ideal Quantum Gas

Page 153, Eq. (8.71).  The last term should have the opposite sign -kBln[...].

Pages 157-158, problem 8.3.  The equation of state PV=(2/3)U applies only to the particles with the quadratic dispersion E=p2/2m.  For particles with the linear dispersion E=cp, the equation of state is PV=(1/3)U.

Ch. 10 Free Bosons: Bose-Einstein Condensation; Photon Gas

Page 190, Eq. (10.11).  The power 3/2 should be a 2/3, just like for the N/V.

Page 199, the bottom paragraph.  "Not" is missing:  u(n) depends on the equilibrium temperature T, but does not depend on the geometrical form of the cavity.

Page 200, Eq. (10.45).  The equation of state should be PV=(1/3)U.

Last updated May 15, 2008