Nonequilibrium Statistical Physics

Lectures: Tuesdays 09:15, room 1.03

Tutorials: Wednesdays 09:15, room B0.14

Important dates

Mid-term exam: Wednesday 30/04/2025, 09:15 - 11:00, room B0.14,

Final exam (written): Monday 16/06/2025, 09:15 - 13:00, room 1.01

Final exam (oral): Tuesday, Wednesday 17-18/06/2025, from 09:15

Retake (written): to be announced

Retake (oral): to be announced

Study material

Lecture notes for the classical part (updated 28/05 - contain now all the material)

Topics from Lectures 10 and 11 are covered in R. Liboff,
"Kinetic Theory: Classical, Quantum, and Relativistic Descriptions".

Quench dynamics and relaxation in isolated integrable quantum spin chains
Review article by F. Essler and M. Fagotti, we use it for "intro to quantum" and Lectures 12 and 13.

A short introduction to Generalized Hydrodynamics
Review article also by Fabian H.L. Essler, Lecture 15 is based on it.

Course outline
Lecture 125/02Microscopic and macroscopic dynamical systems
Lecture 204/03BBGKY hierarchy and correlation functions
Lecture 311/03Vlasov and Landau equations
Lecture 418/03Boltzmann equation
Lecture 525/03Navier-Stokes equations (Maciej Lisicki)
Lecture 601/04More on the Boltzmann equation
Lecture 708/04Linearized Boltzmann equation
Lecture 815/04Linearized Navier-Stokes equations and transport coefficients
Lecture 929/04Self-diffusion and intro to quantum
Lecture 1006/05Density matrix, Liouville and Pauli equations
Lecture 1113/05Wigner function and Wigner-Moyal equation
Lecture 1220/05Fermionic pairing model and its dynamics
Lecture 1327/05Time evolution and stationary states in the fermionic pairing model
Lecture 1403/06Quantum many-body systems which break ergodicity (Krzysztof Jachymski)
Lecture 1510/06Generalized hydrodynamics of free fermions
Key concepts
  1. From the Liouville equation to the BBGKY hierarchy
  2. Different truncations of the BBGKY hierarchy: Vlasov, Landau and Boltzmann
  3. Role of the collision invariants of the kinetic equations
  4. Transport coefficients: microscopic origins and macroscopic consequences
  5. From the density matrix through Wigner function to the Wigner-Moyal equation
  6. Quasi-classical kinetic equations: formulation and predictions
  7. Formulation of the Gibbs ensemble and generalized Gibbs ensemble
  8. Subsystem relaxation of homogeneous and local relaxation in inhomogeneous systems