Description
Book SynopsisA new and updated edition of the successful Statistical Mechanics: Entropy, Order Parameters and Complexity from 2006. Statistical mechanics is a core topic in modern physics. Innovative, fresh introduction to the broad range of topics of statistical mechanics today, by brilliant teacher and renowned researcher.
Trade ReviewReview from previous edition Since the book treats intersections of mathematics, biology, engineering, computer science and social sciences, it will be of great help to researchers in these fields in making statistical mechanics useful and comprehensible. At the same time, the book will enrich the subject for physicists who'd like to apply their skills in other disciplines. [...] The author's style, although quite concentrated, is simple to understand, and has many lovely visual examples to accompany formal ideas and concepts, which makes the exposition live and intuitvely appealing. * Olga K. Dudko, Journal of Statistical Physics, Vol 126 *
Sethna's book provides an important service to students who want to learn modern statistical mechanics. The text teaches students how to work out problems by guiding them through the exercises rather than by presenting them with worked-out examples. * Susan Coppersmith, Physics Today, May 2007 *
Table of ContentsPreface Contents List of figures What is statistical mechanics? 1.1: Quantum dice and coins 1.2: Probability distributions 1.3: Waiting time paradox 1.4: Stirling>'s formula 1.5: Stirling and asymptotic series 1.6: Random matrix theory 1.7: Six degrees of separation 1.8: Satisfactory map colorings 1.9: First to fail: Weibull 1.10: Emergence 1.11: Emergent vs. fundamental 1.12: Self-propelled particles 1.13: The birthday problem 1.14: Width of the height distribution 1.15: Fisher information and Cram´erDSRao 1.16: Distances in probability space Random walks and emergent properties 2.1: Random walk examples: universality and scale invariance 2.2: The diffusion equation 2.3: Currents and external forces 2.4: Solving the diffusion equation Temperature and equilibrium 3.1: The microcanonical ensemble 3.2: The microcanonical ideal gas 3.3: What is temperature? 3.4: Pressure and chemical potential 3.5: Entropy, the ideal gas, and phase-space refinements Phase-space dynamics and ergodicity 4.1: Liouville>'s theorem 4.2: Ergodicity Entropy 5.1: Entropy as irreversibility: engines and the heat death of the Universe 5.2: Entropy as disorder 5.3: Entropy as ignorance: information and memory Free energies 6.1: The canonical ensemble 6.2: Uncoupled systems and canonical ensembles 6.3: Grand canonical ensemble 6.4: What is thermodynamics? 6.5: Mechanics: friction and fluctuations 6.6: Chemical equilibrium and reaction rates 6.7: Free energy density for the ideal gas Quantum statistical mechanics 7.1: Mixed states and density matrices 7.2: Quantum harmonic oscillator 7.3: Bose and Fermi statistics 7.4: Non-interacting bosons and fermions 7.5: MaxwellDSBoltzmann 's regression hypothesis and time correlations 10.5: Susceptibility and linear response 10.6: Dissipation and the imaginary part 10.7: Static susceptibility 10.8: The fluctuation-dissipation theorem 10.9: Causality and KramersDSKr¨onig Abrupt phase transitions 11.1: Stable and metastable phases 11.2: Maxwell construction 11.3: Nucleation: critical droplet theory 11.4: Morphology of abrupt transitions Continuous phase transitions 12.1: Universality 12.2: Scale invariance 12.3: Examples of critical points A Appendix: Fourier methods A.1: Fourier conventions A.2: Derivatives, convolutions, and correlations A.3: Fourier methods and function space A.4: Fourier and translational symmetry References Index
