Preface to Second Edition
Preface to First Edition
Introduction: Theories of Thermodynamics, Kinetic Theory and
Statistical Mechanics
Chapter 1 Elementary Concepts in Statistics and Probability
1.0.Random Variables and Their Distributions
1.1.The Binomial Distribution
1.2.Length of a Winning Streak
1.3.Brownian Motion and the Random Walk
1.4.Poisson versus Normal (Gaussian) Distributions
1.5.Central Limit Theorem (CLT)
1.6.Multinomial Distributions, Statistical Thermodynamics
1.7.The Barometer Equation
1.8.Other Distributions
Chapter 2 The Ising Model and the Lattice Gas
2.0.Physical Applications of the Binary Model
2.1.Some Background and Motivation
2.2.First-Principles Statistical Theory of Paramagnetism
2.3.More on Entropy and Energy
2.4.Some Other Relevant Thermodynamic Functions
2.5.Mean-Field Theory, Stable and Metastable Solutions
2.6.The Lattice Gas
2.7.The Nearest-Neighbor Chain: Thermodynamics in 1D
2.8.The Disordered Ising Chain
2.9.Other Magnetic Systems in One Dimension
Chapter 3 Elements of Thermodynamics
3.1.The Scope of Thermodynamics
3.2.Equations of State and Some Definitions
3.3.Maxwell Relations
3.4.Three Important Laws of Thermodynamics
3.5.The Second Derivatives of the Free Energy
3.6.Phase Diagrams for the van der Waals Gas
3.7.Clausius-Clapeyron Equation
3.8.Phase Transitions
3.9.The Carnot Cycle
3.10. Superconductivity
Chapter 4 Statistical Mechanics
4.0.An Axiomatic Approach and the Ergodic Hypothesis
4.1.The Formalism - and a False Start
4.2.Gibbs' Paradox and Its Remedy
4.3.The Gibbs Factor
4.4.The Grand Ensemble
4.5.Non-Ideal Gas and the 2-Body Correlation Function
4.6.The Virial Equation of State
4.7.Weakly Non-Ideal Gas
4.8. .Two-body Correlations
4.9.Configurational Partition Function in 1D
4.10. One Dimension versus Two
4.11. Two Dimensions versus Three: The Debye-Waller Factors
4.12. Specific Heat of Quasi-Ideal Dilute Atomic and Diatomic Gases
4.13. Nanophysics and Inhomogeneity
Chapter 5 The World of Bosons
5.0. Quantum "Statistics"
5.1.Two Types of Bosons and Their Operators
5.2.Number Representation and the Many-Body Problem
5.3.The Adiabatic Process and Conservation of Entropy
5.4.Many-Body Perturbations
5.5. Photons
……
Chapter 6 All About Fermions: Theories of Metals,Superconductors, Semiconductors
Chapter 7 Kinetic Theory
Chapter 8 The Transfer Matrix
Chapter 9 Monte Carlo and Other Computer Simulation Methods
Chapter 10 Critical Phenomena and the Renormalization Group
Chapter 11 Some Uses of Quantum Field Theory in Statistical Physics