LFU:online

The students will master concepts of computer simulatiions in statistical physics and acquire the skills for practical implementations of the computer codes

Computer simulations have become besides experiments and theory the third colummn of physics. In contrast to experiments, the relevant mechanisms are known already in the set-up, the complexity emerges by the interactions of many elementary building blocks. In contrast to theory, they allow to extract detailed information beyond exactly solvable models or approximate theories.

In the class we will introduce basic algorithms to run efficient simulations in statistical physics. A tentative outline is

Part I (this lecture)

1. Introduction
2. Reminder to Statistical Physics
3. Monte Carlo Methods
4. Statistical Physics of Fluids
5. Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Part II

6. Linear Response
7. Molecular Dynamics at constant Temperature
8. Advanced Methods for Free Energy Calculations
9. Stochastic Dynamics and Brownian Motion

The simulations will be performed in hands-on classes. The lectures provide the key concepts and introductions to the relevant physics.

Regular participation in lectures and programming tutorials. Final oral exam and pragramming project.

Lecture notes and videos (will be available on OLAT)

Solid knowledge on Statistical Physics at Bachelor level

The VU includes lectures as well as tutorials. This  Part 1 is 6h per week until end of November. Part II then covers the rest of the semester. Students can participate only in Part 1.

This class is valid for the specialisations many-body physics, computational physics, and quantum sciences.