Elementary statistical physics

Monte Carlo for Statistical Physics: An Elementary Introduction

A brief introduction to the technique of Monte Carlo for simulation of statistical physics systems is presented. Ising spin model is taken as an example. The topics covered include Metropolis algorithm, phase transition, finite size scaling, critical slowing down and cluster algorithms. A macroscopic system consists of a very large number of microscopic constituents. A gas contained in a volume...

Supersymmetry in Elementary Particle Physics

These lectures give a general introduction to supersymmetry, emphasizing its application to models of elementary particle physics at the 100 GeV energy scale. I discuss the following topics: the construction of supersymmetric Lagrangians with scalars, fermions, and gauge bosons, the structure and mass spectrum of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), the measurement of the parameter...

Elementary particle physics: The origins

I. The Mists of Scotland S25 II. ‘‘Cosmic Rays Go Downward, Dr. Anderson’’ S25 III. On Making a Particle Take a Photograph of Itself S26 IV. The Slow Discovery of the Mesotron S27 V. The Mesotron is Not the Yukon S28 VI. ‘‘Even a Theoretician Might be Able To Do It’’ S28 VII. The Reservoir of Ideas Runneth Over S29 VIII. ‘‘There is No Excellent Beauty That Hath Not Some Strangeness in the Propo...

Statistical Physics

Statistical Physics

1 Basic principles. 3 1.1 Distribution in the phase space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.2 Microcanonical distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.3 Canonical distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.4 Two simple examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1.4.1 Two-level system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 1.4.2 Harmonic osci...