Descriptif

The most dramatic success of thermodynamics is to provide us with a universal description of macroscopic physical systems. It equally applies to systems as various as molecular gases, magnetic materials, stellar systems, and electromagnetic radiation to name a few. It was later realized that the laws of thermodynamics can be established from a statistical description. The statistical approach represented a genuine paradigm shift in our understanding of physical systems and paved the way to major advances in many fields.The aim of  this course is to give a theoretical background to thermodynamics and statistical physics, as well as applications in a variety of contexts, from classical to quantum. The following subjects are expected to be treated:

• Axiomatic thermodynamics (reminder and complements; laws 0-3, energy, entropy, universal relations)
• Statistical description of isolated systems
• From isolated to open systems: The canonical Gibbs ensembles
• Statistical physics of the ideal classical gas
• Ideal quantum gases: fermions and bosons
• Other applications of thermodynamics and statistical physics
• Phase transitions