Flashcards: Statistical mechanics

The path integral formulation of quantum mechanics is a description of quantum theory which generalizes the action principle of classical mechanics.

Quantum statistical mechanics is statistical mechanics applied to quantum mechanical systems.

The Boltzmann constant (kB or k), named after Ludwig Boltzmann, is a physical constant relating energy at the individual particle level with temperature.

("Super atom" redirects here. For clusters of atoms that seem to exhibit some of the properties of elemental atoms, see Superatom.) A Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter of a dilute gas of bosons cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero (that is, very near 0 K or −273.15 °C).

Brownian motion or pedesis (from Ancient Greek: πήδησις /pέːdεːsis/ "leaping") is the random motion of particles suspended in a fluid (a liquid or a gas) resulting from their collision with the fast-moving atoms or molecules in the gas or liquid.

A density matrix is a matrix that describes a quantum system in a mixed state, a statistical ensemble of several quantum states.

A Fermi gas is an ensemble of a large number of fermions (named after Enrico Fermi).

Planck's law describes the spectral density of electromagnetic radiation emitted by a black body in thermal equilibrium at a given temperature T.

Econophysics is an interdisciplinary research field, applying theories and methods originally developed by physicists in order to solve problems in economics, usually those including uncertainty or stochastic processes and nonlinear dynamics.

In theoretical physics, the renormalization group (RG) refers to a mathematical apparatus that allows systematic investigation of the changes of a physical system as viewed at different distance scales.

In classical statistical mechanics, the equipartition theorem is a general formula that relates the temperature of a system with its average energies.

An ideal Bose gas is a quantum-mechanical version of a classical ideal gas.

Magnetic refrigeration is a cooling technology based on the magnetocaloric effect.

In statistical mechanics, the Gibbs algorithm, introduced by J.

The spin-stiffness or spin rigidity or helicity modulus or the "superfluid density" (for bosons the superfluid density is proportional to the spin stiffness) is a constant which represents the change in the ground state energy of a spin system as a result of introducing a slow in plane twist of the spins.

Granularity (also called "graininess", the quality of being grainy) is the extent to which a material or system is composed of distinguishable pieces or grains.

In statistical mechanics, the ensemble average is defined as the mean of a quantity that is a function of the microstate of a system (the ensemble of possible states), according to the distribution of the system on its micro-states in this ensemble.