Statistical Physics

By Tony Guénault

Book Overview

Statistical physics is not a difficult subject, and I trust that this will not be found a difficult book. It contains much that a number of generations of Lancaster students have studied with me, as part of their physics honours degree work. The lecture course was of twenty hours duration, and I have added comparatively little to the lecture syllabus. A pre- requisite is that the reader should have a working knowledge of basic thermal physics (i.e. the laws of thermodynamics and their application to simple substances). The book Thermal Physics by Colin Finn in this series forms an ideal introduc- tion. Statistical physics has a thousand and one different ways of approaching the same basic results. I have chosen a rather down-to-earth and unsophisticated approach, without I hope totally obscuring the considerable interest of the fun- damentals. This enables applications to be introduced at an early stage in the book. As a low-temperature physicist, I have always found a particular interest in statistical physics, and especially in how the absolute zero is approached. I should not, therefore, apologize for the low-temperature bias in the topics which I have selected from the many possibilities.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415002591
• ISBN13: 9780415002592
• Release Date: April 1988
• Publisher: Springer
• Length: 186 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

introduction to stat mech

This is a very clear, though limited, exposition of statistical mechanics. The approach is ground up, from statistical considerations of very simplified systems, generalizations, and subsequent consideration of more complicated systems. I found it interesting that the author chose to consider everything from a purely quantum point of view. And (un)surprisingly, certain calculations become substantially easier to perform. The reader will gain an extremely solid understanding of why the microcanonical and canonical distributions are the way they are. Applications of canonical ensemble theory fill the book. Some examples that come to mind are ortho/para hydrogen gas, BE condensation, cooling by magnetization. For the more advanced reader, there are gaps in motivating certain details. In particular, there is no connection drawn between classical mechanics and kinetic theory and statistical mechanics. Although the lack of which is a debatable subject. I recommend this book because of it's highly focused (quantum), logical approach, that provides a strong framework in stat mech for beginning physics students.