804806 VO Experimentelle Physik I (2004W)

ECTS-points: 4
This lecture consists of two parts: The first part is devoted to a systematic presentation of classical mechanics and continuum mechanics, where also modern developments such as the theory of chaotic dynamics are considered. Particular emphasis is given to practical applications of the general principles. Active participation in the exercises offered with this course is highly recommended. The topics include Newtonian mechanics, oscillations and waves, noninertial frames, gravitation and central forces, dynamics of particle systems, rigid bodies, constraints, Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics, continuum mechanics, quasi particles, and solitons.

In the second part an introduction to statistical physics will be given. Following a short resumé of thermodynamics and the basic methods of statistics a number of model systems are presented which will be analysed later on. A short excursion into kinetic theory (Boltzmann) is followed by the introduction of the powerful Gibbsean phase space representation. In this context we follow a bottom-up course, starting out with systems having a very few (even just 2) degrees of freedom and proceeding to ever higher-dimensional phase spaces. Finally we find, in the quantity S=k ln W, a microscopic correlate to the macroscopic property that has been introduced in thermodynamics under the name of entropy. A short discussion of the quantum statistical distributions ¿ according to Fermi and Bose, respectively ¿ completes the course.