Thermodynamics and phase transitions

Thermodynamics and phase transitions

This course will need complete familiarity with every term in the index of the course notes given above. In case the notes are not enough for you to brush up on thermodynamics, please consult one of the numerous books. There is a web page on thermodynamics, but it is short, like most pages. For a more detailed intro you have to go to a good textbook. If you just want to test yourself, take a look at The Thermodynamics Game at the University of Basel.

Lagrange multipliers

There are several web resources for Lagrange multipliers (here and here). There is a tutorial with problems and hints.

Homogeneous functions

Look at a simple introduction to homogeneous functions. Here is another page with definitions, examples and exercises.

Phase transitions

A good set of links has been put together in Thermodynamical Phases and States of Matter. (If you have difficulties getting to it, try the mirror site.)

General References

1. Thermodynamics, article by M.J. Buckingham in Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena, Vol 2, eds. C. Domb and M.S. Green, Academic Press, 1972.
2. Field Theory, the Renormalization Group and Critical Phenomena, by D. Amit, World Scientific, Singapore, 1984.
3. B. Widom, Journal of Chemical Physics 43 (1965) 3898.
4. Universal Critical-Point Amplitude Relations, article by V. Privman, P.C. Hohenberg and A.H. Aharony in Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena, Vol 14, eds. C. Domb and J.L. Lebowitz, Academic Press, 1991.
5. Scaling, Universality and Operator Algebras, article by L.P. Kadanoff, in Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena, Vol 5A, eds. C. Domb and M.S. Green, Academic Press, 1975.