ENS ParisPhysics
Statistical Mechanics: Algorithms and Computations
Werner Krauth's Coursera course on the computational side of statistical mechanics, drawn from the textbook of the same name (Oxford Master Series in Physics). Heavy on Monte Carlo methods, hard disks, path integrals, Ising and XY models, and the kind of code-first treatment that makes the abstractions stick.
Progress to date: roughly 30 percent through. Picking it back up alongside the rest of the physics curriculum.
Syllabus
- Week 1
Monte Carlo methods, sampling and rejection
- Week 2
Hard disks, from Boltzmann to Monte Carlo
- Week 3
Entropic interactions and phase transitions
- Week 4
Sampling and integration in higher dimensions
- Week 5
Density matrices and path integrals
- Week 6
Bose-Einstein condensation
- Week 7
Ising model, enumerations and Monte Carlo
- Week 8
Dynamic Monte Carlo, simulated annealing
- Week 9
Continuous spin systems and the XY model
- Week 10
Project work and review