Description
Book SynopsisIn this revised and enlarged second edition, Tony Guénault provides a clear and refreshingly readable introduction to statistical physics. The treatment itself is self-contained and concentrates on an understanding of the physical ideas, without requiring a high level of mathematical sophistication.
Trade ReviewFrom the reviews of the second edition:
"This is an introductory level textbook on the basics of statistical physics. … it is an easy-to-read textbook, suited for bachelor students who want to learn the basics of statistical physics by themselves." (Jacques Tempere, Physicalia Magazine, Vol. 30 (4), 2008)
Table of ContentsPreface 1: Basic Ideas. 1.1. The Macrostate. 1.2. Microstates. 1.3. The Average Postulate. 1.4. Distributions. 1.5. The Statistical method in Outline. 1.6. A Model Example. 1.7. Statistical Entropy and Microstates. 1.8 Summary. 2: Distinguishable Particles. 2.1. The Thermal Equilibrium Distribution. 2.2. What are a and ß? 2.3. A Statistical Definition of Temperature. 2.4. The Boltzman Distribution and the Partition Function. 2.5. Calculation of Thermodynamic Functions. 2.6. Summary. 3: Two Examples. 3.1. A spin-½ Solid. 3.2. Localized harmonic Oscillators. 3.3. Summary. 4: Gases: The Density of States. 4.1. Fitting waves into boxes. 4.2. Other Information for Statistical Physics. 4.3. An Example – Helium Gas. 4.4. Summary 5: Gases: The Distributions. 5.1. Distribution in groups. 5.2. Identical Particles – Fermions and Bosons. 5.3. Counting Microstates for Gases. 5.4. The Three Distributions. 5.5. Summary. 6: Maxwell-Boltzmann Gases. 6.1. The validity of the Maxwell-Boltzmann Limit. 6.2. The Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution of Speeds. 6.3. The Connection to Thermodynamics. 6.4. Summary. 7: Diatomic Gases. 7.1. Energy Contributions in Diatomic Gases. 7.2. Heat Capacity of a Diatomic Gas. 7.3. The Heat Capacity of Hydrogen. 7.4. Summary. 8: Fermi-Dirac Gases. 8.1. Properties of an Ideal Fermi-Dirac Gas. 8.2. Application to Metals. 8.3. Application to Helium-3. 8.4. Summary. 9: Bose-Einstein Gases. 9.1. Properties of an Ideal Bose-Einstein Gas. 9.2. Application to Helium-4. 9.3. Phoney Bosons. 9.4. A Note about Cold Atoms. 9.5. Summary. 10: Entropy in Other Situations. 10.1. Entropy and Disorder. 10.2. An Assembly at Fixed Temperature. 10.3. Vacancies in Solids. 11: Phase Transitions. 11.1. Types of Phase Transition. 11.2. Ferromagnetism of a spin-½ Solid. 11.3. Real Ferromagnetic Materials. 11.4. Order-Disorder Transformations in Alloys. 12: Two New Ideas. 12.1. Statistics or Dynamics. 12.2. Ensembles – a LargerView. 13: Chemical Thermodynamics. 13.1. Chemical Potential Revisited. 13.2. The Grand Canonical Ensemble. 13.3. Ideal Gases in the Grand Ensemble. 13.4. Mixed Systems and Chemical Reactions. 14: Dealing with Interactions. 14.1. Electrons in Metals. 14.2. Liquid Helium-3: a Fermi Liquid. 14.3. Liquid Helium-4: a Bose Liquid? 14.4. Real Imperfect Gases. 15: Statistics under Extreme Conditions. 15.1. Superfluid States in Fermi-Dirac Systems. 15.2. Statistics in Astrophysical Systems. Appendix A – Some Elementary Counting Problems Appendix B – Some Problems with Large Numbers Appendix C – Some Useful Integrals Appendix D – Some Useful Constants Appendix E – Exercises Appendix F – Answers to Exercises Index
