Physics 677: Advanced Topics in Statistical and Biological Physics, Fall 2023

 


Instructor:

 

Prof. Alexandre V. Morozov
Office: Serin E266
E-mail: morozov AT physics.rutgers.edu
Phone:  (848) 445-1387

Office hour:  by request   




Lectures:
Tuesday and Thursday, 3.50 - 5.10 pm, SRN-287


Textbooks:  
Stochastic Methods: A Handbook for the Natural and Social Sciences by C. Gardiner, Springer;
When Things Grow Many: Complexity, Universality and Emergence in Nature by L. Schulman, Oxford University Press;
A Student's Guide to the Ising Model by J. S. Walker, Cambridge University Press;
Statistical Physics: Statics, Dynamics and Renormalization by L. Kadanoff, World Scientific;
Statistical Mechanics of Phase Transitions by J. M. Yeomans, Oxford Science Publications;
A Guide to First-Passage Processes by S. Redner, Cambridge University Press;
A Kinetic View of Statistical Physics by P. L. Krapivsky and S. Redner, Cambridge University Press  


Prerequisites:  Some knowledge of equilibrium statistical physics.


Homework and Exam: One homework per 2-3 weeks. There will be a final take-home exam (48 hours, open book, open notes).


Student Presentations: 30 min presentations on a topic of interest to the class, including derivations, simulations, results from recent papers, etc.


The grade is determined according to the following formula: total score = 1/3(final) + 1/3(homework) + 1/3(presentation)







Papers to be covered/discussed in class:

1. In-depth review on stochastic processes in physics and astronomy: Chandrasekhar:RevModPhys1943

2. Review on first-passage processes in chemical physics: Weiss:AdvChemPhys1966

3. First-passage processes in population genetics: Kimura:Genetics1962

4. Review of first-passage processes in networks: Bollt:NewJPhys2005

5. Maxwell's demon: Maruyama:RevModPhys2009   Mandal:PNAS2012   Mandal:PRL2013   Lu:PhysToday2014

6. Review of Jarzynski/Crooks results: Pitaevskii:UspFizNauk2011

7. Landauer's principle: Berut:Nature2012

8. Maximum entropy principle in statistical physics: Presse:RevModPhys2013

9. Maximum entropy methods and path ensembles (Filyukov & Karpov): Filyukov:JEngPhysThermophys1967

10. An excellent review of the Legendre transform: Zia:arxiv2009

11. A review of central issues in statistical mechanics Lebowitz:RevModPhys1999

12. An undergraduate introduction to RG Maris:AmJPhys1978



Lecture Notes:

Lecture 1 (09/05): Gardiner 1.1 - 1.3   pdf

Lecture 2 (09/07): Chandrasekhar pp. 3-7   pdf

Lecture 3 (09/12): Chandrasekhar pp. 8-16   pdf

Lecture 4 (09/14): Chandrasekhar pp. 16-24   pdf

Lecture 5 (09/19): Chandrasekhar pp. 24-26, 31-35   pdf

Lecture 6 (09/21): Chandrasekhar pp. 42-44   pdf

Lecture 7 (09/26): Weiss:AdvChemPhys1966 pp. 10-14   pdf

Lecture 8 (09/28): Kimura:Genetics1962   pdf   Kolmogorov equations tutorial

Lecture 9 (10/03): Redner, Chs. 1 & 2   pdf

Lecture 10 (10/05): Redner, Ch. 6   pdf

Lectures 11,12 (10/10,10/12): Yeomans, Chs. 1,2   pdf

Lectures 13,14 (10/17,10/19): Yeomans, Ch. 4   pdf

Lectures 15,16 (10/24,10/26): Yeomans, Ch. 5   pdf

Lecture 17 (10/31): Yeomans, Ch. 9.1   pdf

Lecture 18 (11/02): Yeomans, Ch. 8   pdf

Lecture 19 (11/07): Pitaevskii:UspFizNauk2011   pdf

Lecture 20 (11/09,11/13,11/21): Mandal:PNAS2012   pdf

Lecture 21 (11/28): Lu:PhysToday2014   Mandal:PRL2013   pdf

Lecture 22 (11/30): Presse:RevModPhys2013   pdf

Lecture 23 (12/05): Presse:RevModPhys2013   pdf

Lecture 24 (12/07): Presse:RevModPhys2013   pdf   pdf



Homework:

Homework 1 (due 10/12): Problems

Homework 2 (due 10/31): Problems

Homework 3 (due 11/28): Problems



Note: NO lectures on Tuesday, Nov. 14 and Thursday, Nov. 16

Note: Make-up lecture on Monday, Nov. 13 3.50 - 5.10 pm, Serin W112




Student Presentations:

Serin W112, 3.00-5.30 pm Tue, Dec. 12:

1. Qidong He (pdf)
2. Kaustubh Roy (pdf)
3. Mingyang Ma (pdf)
4. Brandon Chiarito (pdf)
5. Diane Salim (pdf)

FINAL EXAM: Problems


[Due: Fri., Dec. 15 by 5 pm. Please leave your exam in my Physics mailbox or email/bring it to me. Good luck!]




Students with Disabilities


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