Statistical Mechanics

Graduate Lecture Notes

A graduate-level introduction to the dynamics of stellar systems: orbits, distribution functions, relaxation, stability, and N-body methods. Notes for the Part III course at the University of Cambridge.

Welcome to my notes for Stellar Dynamics.

These notes accompany the Part III lecture course. They are a living document — if you find typos or errors please open an issue.

Prerequisites

• Classical mechanics (Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations)
• Basic statistical mechanics
• Some familiarity with ordinary and partial differential equations

Recommended reading

• Binney & Tremaine, Galactic Dynamics (2nd ed., Princeton 2008)
• Binney & Merrifield, Galactic Astronomy (Princeton 1998)