Jonathan Bain
Dept. of Technology, Culture and Society
Tandon School of Engineering, New York University

TCS-UY.4504 Advanced Seminar: Entropy

Courses


Syllabus

Modified Schedule

Reading:

1.
[An22] Ananthaswamy, A. (2022) "Is Our Universe a Hologram?", Scientific American.
2.
[Ben87] Bennett, C. (1987) "Demons, Engines and the Second Law", Sci Am, 108-116.
3.
[B01] Bub, J. (2001) "Maxwell's Demon and the Thermodynamics of Computation", Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 32: 569-79.
4.
[EN99] Earman, J. & J. Norton (1999) "Exorcist XIV: The Wrath of Maxwell's Demon. Part II. From Szilard to Landauer and Beyond", Stud Hist Phil Mod Phys 30: 1-40.
5.
[EN98] Earman, J. & J. Norton (1998) "Exorcist XIV: The Wrath of Maxwell's Demon. Part I. From Maxwell to Szilard", Stud Hist Phil Mod Phys 29: 435-71.
6.
[FW11] Frigg, R. & C. Werndl (2011) "Entropy: A Guide for the Perplexed", in C. Beisbart & S. Hartmann (eds.) Probabilities in Physics, Oxford Univ. Press, 115-42.
7.
[FW19]  Frigg, R. & C. Werndl (2019) "Statistical Mechanics: A Tale of Two Theories", The Monist 102, 424-438.
8.
[Gol01]  Goldstein, S. (2001) "Boltzmann's Approach to Statistical Mechanics", in Bricmont, J. et al. (eds.) Chance in Physics: Lecture Notes in Physics 574, Springer: 39-54.
9.
[Mus20]  Musser, G. (2020) "The Most Famous Paradox in Physics Nears Its End", Quanta Magazine.
10.
[Pru20]  Prunkl, C. (2020) 'On the Equivalence of von Neumann and Thermodynamic Entropy', Philosophy of Science 87, 262-280..
11.
[PT19] Prunkl, C. & C. Timpson (2019) 'Black Hole Entropy is Thermodynamic Entropy', arXiv:1903.06276.
12. [Wal20]  Wallace, D. (2020) "Why Black Hole Information Loss is Paradoxical", in N. Huggett, et al. (eds.) Beyond Spacetime, Cambridge University Press, 209-236.
13.
[Wal18]  Wallace, D. (2018) "The Case for Black Hole Thermodynamics Part I: Phenomenological Thermodynamics", Stud Hist Phil Mod Phys 64, 52-67.
14. [Wol21]   Wolchover, N. (2021) "This Physicist Discovered an Escape from Hawking's Black Hole Paradox", Quanta Magazine.
 
Lecture Slides:
01.Heat Engines and the 2nd Law
02.Thermodynamic Entropy   
03.Maxwell's Demon
04.Entropy in Statistical Mechanics
05.Shannon Entropy
06.Information and Maxwell's Demon
07.Quantum Mechanics: Basics
08.Density Operators
09.Entanglement
10.Entanglement Correlations
11.von Neumann Entropy
12.von Neuman Entropy vs. TD Entropy
13.Black Hole Thermodynamics
14.Black Hole Entropy vs. TD Entropy
15.Black Hole Entropy vs. Entanglement Entropy
16.The Black Hole Information Loss Paradox
17.The Black Hole Info Loss Paradox, Part II    

Assignments:
hw01
hw02
hw03
hw04
hw05
hw06
hw07
extra credit 

Paper Assignment #1
Paper Assignment #2
Paper Assignment #3
Paper Guidelines

Handouts:
Notes on Entanglement 
Notes on Entropy

Relevant articles in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
"Boltzmann's Work in Statistical Physics"
"Computation in Physical Systems"
"Information Processing and Thermodynamic Entropy"
"Philosophy of Statistical Mechanics"
"Quantum Entanglement and Information"
"Quantum Mechanics"
"Singularities and Black Holes"