An introduction to Thermodynamic Universality

It is well known that permanent magnets lose their magnetic property beyond the Curie temperature, and liquids turn into gases via a second order phase transition at the critical point. It turns out that these two phase transitions are very similar in nature. Certain experimental quantities, like the magnetization of an Ising Ferromagnet, and the density of a gas behave in the very same manner near their critical point, irrespective of the constituent material, as if the system forgets whether it is a fluid or a magnet, and what atoms it was made of.

In this talk, I will try to discuss why they behave in the same manner.

-Archisman Panigrahi (5th Year UG)

The details are as follows: Venue: F12, OPB Timings: 9:15 - 10:00 PM Date: Today! 29th April Prerequisites: Basic Thermodynamics, the talk will not go into the detailed mathematics of the subjects and is meant to be an intuitive and qualitative introduction to the subject of Thermodynamic Universality

Now that most of the exams are over, we have scheduled this talk to be attended by majorly second years and onwards. First years are encouraged to attend, (unless you are yet to binge NESO).