Statistical Physics. Second Revised English Edition. (Course of Theoretical Physics Volume 5) [Hardcover]

L.D. Landau (Author), E.M. Lifshitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1978

A presentation of statistical physics and thermodynamics which develops from the general principles to give a large number of applications of the theory.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Stimulating reading' New Scientist --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English, Russian (translation)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 484 pages
• Publisher: Pergamon; Enlarged 2nd edition (December 1978)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0080091032
• ISBN-13: 978-0080091037
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,775,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unrivalled Masterpiece, May 5, 2001

By 

Ling-Nan Zou (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Statistical Physics, Third Edition, Part 1: Volume 5 (Course of Theoretical Physics, Volume 5) (Paperback)

This book is a classic, especially in the sense it is somewhat old fashioned in its basic approaches when compared with newer books. For example it examines statistics and entropy from the ergodic as opposed to the ensemble approach. Information Theory and role of symmetry and symmetry breaking is not treated in detail. However I can't hold these omissions against the book since these developments happend mostly in the late 70s.

What Landau does here, and which in explicably very few Statistical Mechanics books do nowadays, is the full Gibbs Formalism. Not only is the Gibbs Formalism more compatible with Quantum Mechanics, it can also fits in beautifully with Ensemble Statistics and Inofrmation Theory. More over, it is at once clear Maxwell and Boltzmann statistics are only special cases of the Gibbs formalism, and can be easily shown in a few lines.

What Landau does, is to gave an elegant and cohesive view the trully fundamental features of Statistical Mechanics. Chapters 1-6 of this book alone displays a deeper level of understanding than whole books that have been written. If you are interested in Statistical Mechanics at all, this must be a centerpiece of your library.

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the most beautiful book on statistical mechanics, July 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Statistical Physics, Third Edition, Part 1: Volume 5 (Course of Theoretical Physics, Volume 5) (Paperback)

This is the first volume of the Statistical Physics of Landau, Lifshitz. It's, of course, an extraordinary book, coming from these authors. The book starts with a chapter which defines entropy and derives its main properties. Then comes a masterly chapter on Thermodynamics where the criterion for equillibrium is that the entropy be maximum. The things they derive from that! Now and then I like to reread this chapter just for fun! After that statistical mechanics of equillibrium is constructed along the lines of Gibbs, starting from the microcanonical distribution, wherefrom the others are derived. Applications then start. Thermodynamical equillibrium in General Relativity is treated, as is gravitational collapse of stars. Chemical equillibrium is wonderfully done, being applied also for relativistic reactions among elementary particles, as neutrinos. There is no other book even close to this, as physics is concerned.

16 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BEST BOOK ON STATISTICAL PHYSICS, July 23, 1998

By 

Paulo ([e-mail]) (Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Statistical Physics, Third Edition, Part 1: Volume 5 (Course of Theoretical Physics, Volume 5) (Paperback)

This is the Volume 5 of the famous Course of Theoretical Physics by L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz. All serious students of theoretical physics must possess the ten volumes of this excellent Course, which cover in detail and rigour practically all the branches of theoretical physics. The Volume 5 treats the subject of classical and quantum statistics. It contains an unusual approach of these subjects, based on the general Gibbs method, avoiding the introduction of ergodic hypotheses and, in the case of the ideal gas, of "a priori" probabilities, which are difficult to justify and serves only to obscure the exposition. The book is complete and contains chapters not usually found in other similar books, such as the chapter on second-order phase transitions. The clarity of exposition and rigour is notorious in this book. A magnific book!