← Back to Event List

Colloquium: Dr. William Wootters, Williams College

Location

Physics : 401

Date & Time

March 28, 2018, 3:30 pm4:30 pm

Description

TITLE:  A curious correspondence connecting quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, and statistical mechanics

ABSTRACT: The probabilities physicists use to describe thermal equilibrium are normally derived via a general counting argument, which can be found in almost any textbook on statistical mechanics. This talk shows how, for certain very simple quantum systems, those same probabilities can be obtained, at least for high temperature, just by insisting on a specific kind of agreement between quantum physics and classical physics.