Back to course documents.
| Week | Date | Topic/Reading Event | Presented by |
| 1 | Jan. 9 | Introduction | Norton, Wallace |
| Primer on thermodynamics D. Elwell and A. J. Pointon, Classical Thermodynamics. Penguin, 1972. Especially, Ch. 1-4. Checklist. Fragments |
Norton | ||
| Primer on statistical physics D.Wallace, “The quantitative content of statistical mechanics,” Sections 1-4. |
Wallace | ||
| 2 |
Jan. 16 |
The Boltzmann framework as an alternative to orthodoxy |
|
| S. Goldstein, “Boltzmann’s Approach to Statistical Mechanics”, in J. Bricmont et al, “Chance and Physics: Foundations and Perspectives” (Springer, 2001), p.39. http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0105242 | Jennifer Whyte |
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| C. Callender, “Reducing Thermodynamics to Statistical Mechanics: the Case of Entropy”, Journal of Philosophy 96 (1999) pp. 348-373. | Bixin Guo |
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| Option background reading E. Jaynes, “Gibbs vs. Boltzmann Entropies”, American Journal of Physics 33, 391 (1965). |
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| 3 |
Jan 23 |
The Gibbs framework: pro and anti |
|
| D. Wallace, “The Necessity of Gibbsian Statistical Mechanics”, forthcoming; http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/15290/ | Wallace |
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| S. Goldstein, J. Lebowitz, R. Tumulka, N. Zanghi, “Gibbs and Boltzmann Entropy in classical and quantum mechanics”, forthcoming; https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.11870 | Erin Sheridan Erin's handout |
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| Optional background reading C. Werndl and R. Frigg, “Mind the Gap: Boltzmannian versus Gibbsian Equilibrium”, Philosophy of Science 84 (2017) pp. 1289-1302. |
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| 4 |
Jan 30 |
Non-equilibrium thermodynamics: the past hypothesis |
|
| D. Albert, Time and Chance (Harvard, 2000) chapter 4. [NB this discusses reversibility/recurrence in passing.] | Justin Shin |
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| D. Wallace, “The logic of the past hypothesis”, manuscript; http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/8894/ | Gal Ben Porath |
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| 5 |
Feb 6 |
The concept of a thermodynamically reversible process |
|
| John D. Norton, "The Impossible Process: Thermodynamic Reversibility," Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 55(2016), pp. 43-61. | Norton Powerpoint here. |
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| David A. Lavis, “The problem of equilibrium processes in thermodynamics” Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 62 (2018), pp. 136-144 | Justin Shin |
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| 6 |
Feb 13 |
Sadi Carnot’s caloric-thermodynamics, its sources and
consequences. |
|
| Sadi Carnot, Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire. Trans. New York: Wiley, 1897. | Tanner Leighton |
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| Lazare Carnot, “Essay upon Machines in General,” Philosophical Magazine, XXX(1808), pp. 8-15, 154-58, 207-221, 310-20. | Norton | ||
| Optional background reading W.Thomson, “On an Absolute Thermometric Scale founded on Carnot's Theory of the Motive Power of Heat, and calculated from Regnault's Observations” Philosophical Magazine, XXXIII (1848), pp. 313-317. |
Norton Handout Thomson 1848 |
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| 7 |
Feb 20 |
The two laws of thermodynamics and the notion of entropy appear | |
| Rudolf Clausius, “On the Moving Force of Heat, and the Laws regarding the Nature of Heat itself which are deducible therefrom,” Philosophical Magazine, II (1851), pp. 1-21, 102-19. | Marco Maggiani |
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| William Thomson, “On
the Dynamical Theory of Heat, with numerical results deduced from
Mr. Joule's equivalent of a Thermal Unit, and M.Regnault's
Observations on Steam,” Philosophical Magazine, IV
(1852), pp. 8-21, 105-17, 168-76, 256-260, 304-306 Handout |
Gal Ben Porath |
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| Optional background reading Rudolf Clausius, “On Several Convenient Forms of the Fundamental Equations of the Mechanical Theory of Heat,” Ninth Memoir, pp. 327-365 in The Mechanical Theory of Heat. London: John Van Voorst, 1867. |
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| 8 |
Feb 27 |
The statistical mechanics of gases |
|
| James Clerk Maxwell, "Illustrations
of the Dynamical Theory of Gases.—Part I. On the Motions and
Collisions of Perfectly Elastic Spheres." Philosophical
Magazine, 19 (1860), pp. 19-32. For a thorough analysis, see Balazs Gyenis, "Maxwell and the normal distribution: A colored story of probability, independence, and tendency toward equilibrium" https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.01411 and Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 57 (2017) 53–65. |
Norton Handout Handout 2 |
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| Section 4.2 The Boltzmann equation and H-theorem (1872) in Jos Uffink, Compendium of the foundations of classical statistical physics.(2006) http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/2691/ For the brave, the original is L. Boltzmann “Further Studies on the Thermal Equilibrium of Gas Molecules.” 1872 |
Tanner Leighton | ||
| Ludwig Boltzmann, "On the Relationship between the Second Fundamental Theorem of the Mechanical Theory of Heat and Probability Calculations Regarding the Conditions for Thermal Equilibrium" (1877) Translation in Entropy 17(4) (2015) 1971-2009 | Jennifer Whyte | ||
| 9 |
Mar 5 |
Reversibility and recurrence objections (These are shorter readings, so we can cover more in one week.) |
|
| Paul and Tatiana Ehrenfest, The Conceptual Foundation of the
Statistical Approach in Mechanics. 1912. Pp. 14-16. This very short reading is the classic, textbook statement of the two objections. |
Everyone | ||
| Ernst Zermelo: On a Theorem of Dynamics and the Mechanical Theory of Heat (from Annalen der Physik, 1896) | Harrison Payne |
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| Ludwig Boltzmann: Reply to Zermelo's Remarks on the Theory of Heat (from Annalen der Physik, 1896) | Tanner Leighton | ||
| Ernst Zermelo: On the Mechanical Explanation of Irreversible Processes (from Annalen der Physik, 1896) | Siddharth Muthu | ||
| Ludwig Boltzmann: On Zermelo's Paper "On the Mechanical Explanation of Irreversible Processes" (from Annalen der Physik, 1897) | Bixin Guo |
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| Paul and Tatiana Ehrenfest, The Conceptual Foundation of the
Statistical Approach in Mechanics. 1912. Pp. 10-13. (This classic toy example is commonly called the "wind tree model.") |
Norton handout |
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| Mar 12 |
Spring Break |
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| Mar 19 | Classes cancelled to allow preparation for transition to virtual meetings. All seminar plans and deadlines moved one week later. (Last iteration of schedule prior to move.) | ||
| 10 |
Mar 26 |
Non-equilibrium statistical mechanics: coarse-graining |
|
| D. Wallace, “Probability and Irreversibility in Modern Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics: classical and quantum”, forthcoming; https://dornsife.usc.edu/assets/sites/1045/docs/oxfordstatmech.pdf . (Focus on the classical part.) | David Wallace |
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| E. Calzetta and B-L. Hu, Non-Equilibrium Quantum Field Theory (Cambridge, 2008), chapter 1: Basic issues in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. | Siddharth Muthu | ||
| 11 |
Apr 2 |
Non-equilibrium statistical mechanics: fluctuation-dissipation theorem, regression hypothesis | |
| R. Zwanzig, Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics (Oxford, 2001), chapter 1: Brownian motion and Langevin equations. | Siddharth Muthu |
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| J. Luczak, “On How to Approach the Approach to Equilibrium”, Philosophy of Science 83 (2016) pp. 393-411. | Erin Sheridan handout |
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| Apr 9 | Term paper proposal due | ||
| 12 |
Apr 9 |
Maxwell’s G*dd*m bl**dy demon | |
| John D.Norton "The Worst
Thought Experiment," The Routledge Companion to Thought
Experiments. Eds. Michael T. Stuart, James Robert Brown, and Yiftach
Fehige. London: Routledge, 2018. pp. 454-68. John D. Norton "Maxwell's Demon Does not Compute." in Michael E. Cuffaro and Samuel C. Fletcher, eds., Physical Perspectives on Computation, Computational Perspectives on Physics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2018. pp. 240-256. |
Norton Powerpoint |
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| "Waiting for Landauer" Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 42(2011), pp. 184-198. | Javier Anta handout |
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| Neal G. Anderson, Conditional Erasure and the Landauer Limit. in C. S. Lent et al. (eds.), Energy Limits in Computation, Springer Nature 2019. | Sam Fletcher presentation |
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| 13 |
Apr 16 |
Gravitational thermodynamics and statistical mechanics: Black hole
thermodynamics |
|
| J. Dougherty and C. Callender, “Black Hole Thermodynamics: more than an analogy?”, forthcoming; http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/13195/ | Harrison Payne handout |
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| D. Wallace, “The case for black hole thermodynamics, part I: phenomenological thermodynamics”, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 64 (2018), pp. 52-67. https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.02724 | Marco Maggiani | ||
| Apr 17 | Last day of undergraduate classes on old schedule. | ||
| 14 |
Apr 23 |
Gravitational thermodynamics and statistical mechanics: The
information-loss paradox |
|
| D. Wallace, "Why black hole information loss is paradoxical,"
forthcoming; https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.03783 Supplementary reading: S. Mathur, “The information paradox: a pedagogical introduction”, Classical and Quantum Gravity 26 (2009) 224001. https://arxiv.org/abs/0909.1038 |
Siddharth Muthu |
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| G. Belot, J. Earman and L. Ruetsche, "The Hawking information loss
paradox: the anatomy of a controversy." British Journal for the
Philosophy of Science 50 (1999) pp.
189-229. Supplementary reading: W. Unruh and R. Wald, “Information loss”, manuscript (2017), https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.02140 |
Sam Fletcher |
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| Friday May. 1 | Term papers due by 5pm in email. | ||
| May 4 | By 11:59pm. Instructors submit grades to Pitt. We will try to have the grading complete by then. If we don't succeed, we will submit "G" or "I" grades temporariliy. |