TR 12:30-1:45 PM | OPL 107 | http://www.wfu.edu/~natalie/s14phy770/ |
Instructor: Natalie Holzwarth | Phone:758-5510 | Office:300 OPL | e-mail:natalie@wfu.edu |
Examination of the microscopic expressions for the entropy -- Gibbs versus Boltzmann. The following paper published in Nature Physics in December 2013, contains a detailed analysis and could provide a starting point for a project. Original paper Supplementary materials Thanks to Professor William Kerr for bringing this to our attention.
Investigate the Wang-Landau algorithm for converging the configuration densities of states in order to evaluate the partition function as a function of temperature. The following reference was published in the American Journal of Physics and is relatively easy to understand -- Wang-Landau paper There is also a computer code (written in c by Landau and his students: Wang-Landau c code There is also a very helpful discription of the algorithm and java script associated with the OSP (Open Source Physics) webpage . The downloaded explanation and javascript .
Consider the so called HP model (also known as the Ising model of protein folding). The project could involve a literature search on the subject and/or a Monte Carlo simulation of a simple case. A good starting reference for this topic is from David Landau's group -- HPmodel.pdf. A number of other models amenable to study with Monte Carlo techniques are presented in a textbook written by David Landau and Kurt Binder which is available from the library -- link1 linkr21
Prepare a presentation based on our textbook or another textbook at a similar level of difficulty. This could be either new material or material presented at greater depth. For example
For a model periodic system in 2 or 3 dimensions, find the normal modes of vibration as a function of wavevector q and the corresponding phonon density of states. For this system, evaluate the entropy as a function of temperature.
Evaluate the virial coefficient(s) for a model pair potential of your choosing.