Publisher's Synopsis
This book is an introductory textbook to statistical mechanics that carefully develops new concepts and ideas from basic assumptions and established results. Written for university students in physics and engineering, the prerequisites are mathematics courses on analysis and linear algebra, as well as physics courses on classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and thermodynamics. The first two chapters cover basic probability theory, Markov processes, and classical mechanics. The next three chapters cover ensemble theory with applications to spin systems, lattice vibrations, and black-body radiation. This is followed by a chapter devoted to quantum statistical mechanics and the derivation of the Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac distribution functions. The theory is applied to understand the fascinating white dwarfs, semiconductors, and the quark-gluon plasma. The book is equipped with an appendix that covers useful mathematical material. Each chapter contains a number of exercises that are helpful in understanding the concepts.
