Statistical Mechanics [Hardcover]

Franz Schwabl (Author), W.D. Brewer (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 16, 2002 | ISBN-10: 3540431632 | ISBN-13: 978-3540431633 | Edition: 1

In addition to a deductive approach to equilibrium statistics and thermodynamics based on a single hypothesis - the form of the microcanonical density matrix - this book treats the most important elements of non-equilibrium phenomena. Intermediate calculations are presented in complete detail. Problems at the end of each chapter help students to consolidate their understanding of the material. Beyond the fundamentals, this text demonstrates the breadth of the field and its great variety of applications. Modern areas such as renormalization group theory, percolation, stochastic equations of motion and their applications to critical dynamics, as well as fundamental considerations of irreversibility, are discussed. The text will be useful for advanced students of physics and other natural sciences; a basic knowledge of quantum mechanics is presumed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews of the second edition: "This book gives a thorough account of the subject in a logical  manner.  Each chapter concludes with a reference list and a number of detailed problems.  The book has a clear pedagogic style and is recommended for physics students from third year on.  This one will be a valuable resource for both researchers and teachers alike." (Murray Batchelor, Australian Physics, Vol. 32 (6), 2007) "The book under review is an English translation of the second edition of the popular textbook on equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.  This is a well-written and well-balanced textbook, accessible to anybody with knowledge of analysis, probability theory and quantum mechanics. The scope of presentation makes it useful not only to physicists but to a much larger audience of non-physicists who need a quick introduction to the statistical aspects in their own field." (Jacek Banasiak, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1131 (9), 2008) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

The completely revised new edition of the classical book on Statistical Mechanics covers the basic concepts of equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical physics. In addition to a deductive approach to equilibrium statistics and thermodynamics based on a single hypothesis - the form of the microcanonical density matrix - this book treats the most important elements of non-equilibrium phenomena. Intermediate calculations are presented in complete detail. Problems at the end of each chapter help students to consolidate their understanding of the material. Beyond the fundamentals, this text demonstrates the breadth of the field and its great variety of applications. Modern areas such as renormalization group theory, percolation, stochastic equations of motion and their applications to critical dynamics, kinetic theories, as well as fundamental considerations of irreversibility, are discussed. The text will be useful for advanced students of physics and other natural sciences; a basic knowledge of quantum mechanics is presumed. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 573 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (December 16, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3540431632
• ISBN-13: 978-3540431633
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,962,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #57 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > Entropy

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars cogent grad level text, November 28, 2004

By 

Margaret Trias "london moment" (New Haven, CT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Statistical Mechanics (Hardcover)

I have found Schwabl's Statistical Mechanics to be an indispensible reference this semester even though it's not on the reading list for my stat mech course (intro graduate level). I should qualify that statement by saying that I've used it primarily for the Ch.6 on magnetism, and the Ch.4 on ideal quantum gases, and I have not looked at any of the exercises at the end of chapters so I cannot attest to their (non)usefulness.

The text is well made (LaTeX!) and full of illuminating diagrams. Other than a persistant occurence of the word "und" the translation from german seems to be flawless, and the notation seems pretty standard, consistent, and intuitive.

As for the presentation, it seems a bit eclectic. Not that I'm an expert, but Ch.1 is an extremely terse forray into some advanced concepts that are irrelevant until about Ch.3. It seems odd to bring up the microcanonical/grand canonical ensembles before the chapter on thermodynamics, but that could just be my bias due to the structure of the course I'm taking right now.

The Ch 8 on Brownian motion, the Fokker-Plank and Langevin eqns is not standard, but actually quite fascinating & I don't see why those topics are usually left for more advanced stat mech books.

In short, a great supplement! And to the professors out there, I would suggest at least mentioning the existence of this book.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This should be the canonical undergrad Stat Mech text, March 17, 2007

By 

Shiva Thiagarajan - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Statistical Mechanics (Hardcover)

I took Stat Mech in my senior year of college, and the assigned text book was Reif's "Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics." I'm glad somebody recommended that I supplement my course with this one, because it's a far more thorough handling of the subject.

For one thing, it approaches statistical physics with a quantum mechanical point of view (Reif doesn't). This was immensely useful for my understanding of the subject since I'd already taken QM. It's also exceedingly easy to read - well laid out and with helpful diagrams. Sections are well labeled and organised, as are equations (yeah, LaTeX!). And the problems at the end of each section are numerous, and fun to do (you won't find the answers at the back, though).

As for the material itself, the entire book takes a deductive approach based on the form of the microcanonical density matrix. It's a beautifully simple albeit non-standard approach. In fact, the text is peppered with non-standard forms of many of the key equations, which are very interesting.

All in all, this is a very well written/translated, easy to understand introduction to statistical physics, with enough additional material to serve you beyond your first course with it.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars holy bible of statistical mechanics, February 26, 2007

By 

C. RUILIN - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Statistical Mechanics (Advanced Texts in Physics) (Hardcover)

There are too many junky books on statistical mechanics, reading them is a waste of time. This book is extremly eleganlty writen, you will enjoy reading it.