Spring 2027

Statistical Mechanics

Graduate course covering statistical foundations, ensembles, distribution functions, thermodynamics, quantum gases, phase transitions, and non-equilibrium problems in statistical mechanics.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Ilya Esterlis4.0/5

Summary

1 / 2

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.33 GPA, 53.7% A/AB (n=41 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.14 GPA, 60.0% A/AB (n=35 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.31 GPA, 66.7% A/AB (n=39 letter grades).

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Graduate/professional standing

  • Graduate/professional standing
PHYSICS 715 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Graduate/professional standing

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 5.00/5 from 7 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

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Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

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SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 460

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.33 GPA, 53.7% A/AB (n=41 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.14 GPA, 60.0% A/AB (n=35 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.31 GPA, 66.7% A/AB (n=39 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Statistical foundations, Liouville's theorem, ensembles, and distribution functions.
  • Thermodynamics, partition functions, quantum gases, and non-ideal gases.
  • Phase transitions, critical phenomena, non-equilibrium problems, and the Boltzmann equation.

Skills

  • Application of statistical mechanics concepts including partition functions, ensembles, and transport properties to physical systems.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
PHYSICS 715 · Spring 2027

Statistical Mechanics

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:754:015670",
    "course_id": "PHYSICS 715",
    "course_uid": "course_d3d77310dbc52463fabd7327",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "015670",
    "source_subject_id": "754",
    "title": "Statistical Mechanics",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "7c85945bca737e527a3f1fdf9b2d9a56e9545d48b98287536cee7b5a34deb00c",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}