Statistical Mechanics of Complex Systems

Lecturer: Gareth Alexander

Syllabus:

• CO904 (Lectures and Classwork 2011 Archive)
  
• PX439 (Lectures only 2011 Archive)

Literature:

• J. P. Sethna: Statistical Mechanics: Entropy, Order Parameters, and Complexity
• E. T. Jaynes: Probability theory: The logic of science (Cambridge University Press, 2003)
• More literature will appear here as we encounter them.
  

Resources for lectures

• Timetable for lectures (2012 Autumn term, weeks 6-10):

  Mon 14-16	D1.07	Complexity Seminar room, Zeeman building
  Thu 11-13	D1.07

  
  
  
• Lecture notes:
  
  • Simple in-class notes:
    lecture 3
    lecture 4
    lecture 9-10
  • Detailed notes:
    lecture 1-2
    lecture 3-4
    lecture 5-6
    lecture 7-8
    lecture 10
    lecture 11-12
    lecture 13 (surface growth), slides
    lecture 14 (flocking), slides, movie on youtube
    
  
  
• PX439 past exams
  

Resources for classwork

• Timetable for classwork (2010 Autumn term, weeks 6-10):
  

  Mon 09:30-11:30	D1.07	Complexity seminar room
  Thu 14:15-16:00	D1.07

  exception: week 7 Thu (Nov.17): 15:00-16:00, B3.01
  
  
• instructions for accessing CSC computers
  A good introduction to Linux and programming is
  CY900: Foundations in Scientific Computing. See sessions 1-3
  
  
• Problem sheets:
  problem sheet 1
  problem sheet 2
  problem sheet 3
  
  
• Example codes:
  lissajous.c
  koch.c
  eden.c