Overview

This textbook for graduate students and advanced undergraduates in physics and physical chemistry covers the major areas of statistical mechanics and concludes with a demonstration of applications of statistical mechanics at the level of current research. The presentation begins with the fundamental ideas of averages and ensembles, focusing on classical systems described by continuous variables such as position and momentum, and using the ideal gas as an example. It then turns to quantum systems, beginning with diatomic molecules and working up through blackbody radiation and chemical equilibria. The discussion of equilibrium properties of systems of interacting particles includes presents such techniques as cluster expansions and distribution functions and uses non-ideal gases, liquids, and solutions as examples. Dynamic behavior - treated more extensively than in other texts - is discussed from the point of view of correlation functions. The text concludes with a problem of current research, namely diffusion in a suspension of interacting hard spheres and what can be learned about such a system from scattered light. Intended for a one-semester course, the text includes several ""asides"" on topics that are usually omitted from introductory courses, as well as numerous problems at the ends of chapters.

Full Product Details

Author:   George D.J. Phillies
Publisher:   Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Imprint:   Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Edition:   2000 ed.
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   1.780kg
ISBN:  

9780387989181

ISBN 10:   0387989188
Pages:   431
Publication Date:   28 December 1999
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of print, replaced by POD  
We will order this item for you from a manufatured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

I Fundamentals: Separable Classical Systems.- Lecture 1. Introduction.- Lecture 2. Averaging and Statistics.- Lecture 3. Ensembles: Fundamental Principles of Statistical Mechanics.- Lecture 4. The One-Atom Ideal Gas.- Aside A. The Two-Atom Ideal Gas.- Lecture 5. N-Atom Ideal Gas.- Lecture 6. Pressure of an Ideal Gas.- Aside B. How Do Thermometers Work—The Polythermal Ensemble.- Lecture 7. Formal Manipulations of the Partition Function.- Aside C. Gibbs’s Derivation of.- Lecture 8. Entropy.- Lecture 9. Open Systems; Grand Canonical Ensemble.- II Separable Quantum Systems.- Lecture 10. The Diatomic Gas and Other Separable Quantum Systems.- Lecture 11. Crystalline Solids.- Aside D. Quantum Mechanics.- Lecture 12. Formal Quantum Statistical Mechanics.- Lecture 13. Quantum Statistics.- Aside E. Kirkwood-Wigner Theorem.- Lecture 14. Chemical Equilibria.- III Interacting Particles and Cluster Expansions.- Lecture 15. Interacting Particles.- Lecture 16. Cluster Expansions.- Lecture 17. ? via the Grand Canonical Ensemble.- Lecture 18. Evaluating Cluster Integrals.- Lecture 19. Distribution Functions.- Lecture 20. More Distribution Functions.- Lecture 21. Electrolyte Solutions, Plasmas, and Screening.- IV Correlation Functions and Dynamics.- Lecture 22. Correlation Functions.- Lecture 23. Stability of the Canonical Ensemble.- Aside F. The Central Limit Theorem.- Lecture 24. The Langevin Equation.- Lecture 25. The Langevin Model and Diffusion.- Lecture 26. Projection Operators and the Mori-Zwanzig Formalism.- Lecture 27. Linear Response Theory.- V A Research Problem.- Aside G. Scattering of Light, Neutrons, X-Rays, and Other Radiation.- Lecture 28. Diffusion of Interacting Particles.- Lecture 29. Interacting Particle Effects.- Lecture 30. Hidden Correlations.

Reviews

FROM THE REVIEWS: <p>MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS<br> Critical depth and vivid presentation of concepts are the best qualities of this textbook, which can be recommended for an introductory course in statistical mechanicsa ]a

"FROM THE REVIEWS: MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS ""Critical depth and vivid presentation of concepts are the best qualities of this textbook, which can be recommended for an introductory course in statistical mechanics!"""

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