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CLASSES AND TUTORIALS


Alexander Schekochihin

Papers CP3 (1st year), A1 (2nd year)
  Michaelmas Term 2026

NOTES:
Your classes will mostly be on Fridays and the corresponding problem sheets will be due on Sunday night following the class (except if indicated otherwise below), with follow-up tutes the week after. I suggest that you attempt the problem sheets before the class, so we could deal with some of the arising problems in class. If you do not do that, it may turn out to be difficult for you to finish your homework on time.

Please turn in all your homework by placing it in your personal Dropbox folder. Raphael De Sousa will be helping me with the marking of CP3 this year and Daniele Fedeli with A1. Raphael, Daniele, and I cannot guarantee that work that is turned in late will be looked at. I will place the marked version of your work back in your Dropbox folder. Please make notes for yourselves while doing the homeworks to make sure you have a plan for what to discuss during the tutes. Note that Raphael and Daniele also serve as a graduate mentors and you are encouraged to seek appointments with them (although it is not guaranteed that they will have time for you in any given week) --- if after the tutes you are still having difficulties with the material. There are other graduate mentors available, listed here. 

CP3: Half of the classes and tutorials will be given by Prof Christopher Ramsey. Please arrange your schedule (and process for turning in homework) with him directly. 
 
clericsMS293.jpg
A sketch of students (or, perhaps, fellows) in a manuscript
of William of Ockham's commentary on Aristotle's
Physics (MS293 from the Merton College library,
image courtesy of J. Walwarth)
.

CP3: Problem Sheets for MT-26 (these are in fact from MT-22 and may be updated in real time)
CP3: Andre Lukas's Problem Sets for V&M (this is the MT-17 version; your current lecturer is using the same problem sets, and so shall we)
CP3: My 2021-22 Lecture Notes and Problem Sets on ODEs (I expect you to read these)
Pre-2013 Merton Maths questions (some of these can be used for revision)

My Lecture Notes on Dimensional Analysis (2011)
Richard Fern's typed, improved version of these notes (2015)

A1: Problem Sheets on Thermodynamics for MT-24 (these are in fact from MT-24 and may be updated in real time)
A1: Julien Devriendt's Lecture Notes on Thermodynamics (from our course some years ago, a good, tight read!)
A1: My Lecture Notes on Kinetic Theory and Statistical Mechanics for 2nd year (updated in real time, check back!)

If you would like to try your hand at more advanced material (or just extra material), the following two books proved a great success in David Hosking's lockdown tutorials with 2nd years in TT-20 (if you want a copy, drop me a line):
If any of the 2nd years are sufficiently fascinated by Kinetic Theory to want to study ahead, and at a higher level, you are welcome to attend the MMathPhys Kinetic Theory course. It is a 4th-year course, but the only "advanced" maths it uses are Laplace and Fourier transforms, so if you have done SO-1 you should be fine (although the pace might be quite brisk and you might encounter some allusions to as yet unfamiliar physics material, so if it proves inaccessible, just drop it).

Week
Date
Time
Place
Year
Class/Tute
Notes
II
Mon 19 Oct
17:00-19:00 Grove 1.8
1
Class-0
Dimensional Analysis

Wed 21 Oct
17:00-18:00
Grove 1.8
1
Tute-1: TBA
Vacation Work or any other questions;
also have the Dimensional Analysis homework
ready with you
Vacation Work is due
immediately upon your arrival in week 0


18:00-19:00
Grove 1.8
1
Tute-1: TBA

Thu 22 Oct
17:00-18:00
Grove 1.8
1
Tute-1: TBA


18:00-19:00
Grove 1.8
1
Tute-1: TBA

Fri 23 Oct
17:00-19:00
Grove 1.8
1
Class-1
MT-2
(look at it it before class, prepare questions)
Differentiation & integration
Gaussian integrals
Language of vector spaces
Einstein notation
NB: read sec 1, 2.1 and 2.2 from
A. Lukas's notes!
III
Wed 28 Oct 17:00-18:00 Grove 1.8
1
Tute-2: TBA MT-2 due Sun 25 Oct at 23:59
to Dropbox


18:00-19:00 Grove 1.8
1
Tute-2: TBA

Thu 29 Oct 17:00-18:00
Grove 1.8
1
Tute-2: TBA


18:00-19:00
Grove 1.8
1
Tute-2: TBA

Fri 31 Oct
17:00-19:00
Grove 1.8
1
Class-2
MT-3
(look at it it before class, prepare questions)
Curves, line integrals
Vector geometry
NB: read sec 2.3 from
A. Lukas's notes!
1st-order ODEs
[Tutorials on this material will be
held by Prof Ramsey]
IV
Fri 6 Nov
17:00-19:00 Grove 1.8
2
Stat Phys Class-1
Intro to thermodynamics
Please read through your lecture notes
before class: do you understand
the construction
of thermodynamics?
Some good reads: Kardar, Ford, and Tong
(see links in my lecture notes)
Look at Problem Set 1 before class
V
Fri 13 Nov
17:00-19:00
Grove 1.8
2
Stat Phys Class-2 Thermodynamics cont'd (entropy etc)
Problem Set 1 due Sun 8 Nov 23:59
to Dropbox
Look at Problem Set 2 before class
VI
Wed 18 Nov
17:00-18:00
Grove 1.8 2
Tute-1: Christine Kurinnyy & Toby Sanders Problem Set 2 due Sun 15 Nov 23:59
to Dropbox
In tute, we'll discuss PS-1,2
+ any conceptual issues you care to raise


18:00-19:00
Grove 1.8 2
Tute-1: Aidan Tang & Michael Tang

Thu 19 Nov
17:30-19:00 Grove 1.8 2
Tute-1: Uygar Arabul, Ellie Gowers & Otto Levenson

Fri 20 Nov
17:00-19:00 Grove 1.8
1
Class-3
MT-6
(look at it it before class, prepare questions)
1st-order ODEs (advanced)
Scalar products, rotation, orthogonal bases
2nd-order ODEs

Sat 21 Nov
17:00-19:00
Grove 1.8
2
Stat Phys Class-3 Intro to kinetics; effusion
Kinetics of Brownian particles
Try Problem Set 3 before class!
VII
Wed 26 Nov 17:00-18:00 Grove 1.8
1
Tute-3: TBA MT-6 due Sun 22 Nov 23:59
to Dropbox


18:00-19:00
Grove 1.8
1
Tute-3: TBA

Thu 27 Nov 17:00-18:00
Grove 1.8
1
Tute-3: TBA


18:00-19:00
Grove 1.8
1
Tute-3: TBA

Fri 28 Nov
17:00-19:00 Grove 1.8
1
Class-4 MT-7
(look at it it before class, prepare questions)
2nd-order ODEs: inhomogeneous
Quasipolynomials
Systems of ODEs
Rapidly oscillating force

Sat 28 Nov
17:00-18:00 Grove 1.8
2
Tute-2: Christine Kurinnyy & Toby Sanders Problem Set 3 due Tue 24 Nov 23:59
to Dropbox


18:00-19:00 Grove 1.8
2
Tute-2: Aidan Tang & Michael Tang

Sun 29 Nov
17:30-19:00
Grove 1.8
2
Tute-2: Uygar Arabul, Ellie Gowers & Otto Levenson
VIII
Mon 30 Nov
17:00-19:00
Grove 1.8
2
Stat Phys Class-4 Collisions and transport
Look at Problem Set 4 before class!

Wed 2 Dec
17:00-18:00
Grove 1.8
1
Tute-4: TBA MT-7 due Sun 29 Nov 23:59
to Dropbox


18:00-19:00
Grove 1.8
1
Tute-4: TBA

Thu 3 Dec
17:00-18:00
Grove 1.8
1
Tute-4: TBA


18:00-19:00
Grove 1.8
1
Tute-4: TBA

Fri 4 Dec
17:00-19:00
Grove 1.8
1
Class-5
MT-8
(look at it it before class, prepare questions)
Systems of linear ODEs











1
Vacation work: MT-8
Tute in HT-2027




2
Vacation work: Problem Set 4
Tute in HT-2027