Statistical Physics of Particles

Textbook on statistical physics for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses.

Mehran Kardar (Author)

9780521873420, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 June 2007

330 pages, 94 b/w illus. 89 exercises
25.5 x 19.5 x 2.3 cm, 0.882 kg

'This is one of the most valuable textbook I have seen in a long time. Written by a leader in the field, it provides a crystal clear, elegant and comprehensive coverage of the field of statistical physics. I'm sure this book will become 'the' reference for the next generation of researchers, students and practitioners in statistical physics. I wish I had this book when I was a student but I will have the privilege to rely on it for my teaching.' Alessandro Vespignani, Indiana University

Statistical physics has its origins in attempts to describe the thermal properties of matter in terms of its constituent particles, and has played a fundamental role in the development of quantum mechanics. Based on lectures taught by Professor Kardar at MIT, this textbook introduces the central concepts and tools of statistical physics. It contains a chapter on probability and related issues such as the central limit theorem and information theory, and covers interacting particles, with an extensive description of the van der Waals equation and its derivation by mean field approximation. It also contains an integrated set of problems, with solutions to selected problems at the end of the book and a complete set of solutions is available to lecturers on a password protected website at www.cambridge.org/9780521873420. A companion volume, Statistical Physics of Fields, discusses non-mean field aspects of scaling and critical phenomena, through the perspective of renormalization group.

1. Thermodynamics
2. Probability
3. Kinetic theory of gases
4. Classical statistical mechanics
5. Interacting particles
6. Quantum statistical mechanics
7. Ideal quantum gases
Solutions to selected problems
Index.

Subject Areas: Statistical physics [PHS]