Topics In Statistical Mechanics (Imperial College Press Advanced Physics Texts)

$22.92
by Brian Cowan

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Building on the material learned by students in their first few years of study, this book presents an advanced level course on statistical and thermal physics. It begins with a review of the formal structure of statistical mechanics and thermodynamics considered from a unified viewpoint. After a brief revision of non-interacting systems, emphasis is laid on interacting systems. First, weakly interacting systems are considered, where the interest is in seeing how such interactions cause small deviations from the non-interacting case. Second, systems are examined where interactions lead to drastic changes, namely phase transitions. A number of specific examples are given, and these are unified within the Landau theory of phase transitions. The final chapter of the book looks at non-equilibrium systems and the way these evolve towards equilibrium. Here, fluctuations play a vital role, as is formalized in the Fluctuation-Dissipation theorem. The text is rather clearly, motivating and understandably written ]] it covers a great deal of material and makes acquaintance with many models, objects and concepts that are useful for a deeper study of Statistical Mechanics. -- Zentralblatt MATH "Zentralblatt MATH" an excellent graduate-level textbook ....concise but provides an accurate and well-balanced introduction to a remarkable breadth of topics

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