ABSTRACT
Thermal and statistical physics has established the principles and procedures needed to understand and explain the properties of systems consisting of macroscopically large numbers of particles. By developing microscopic statistical physics and macroscopic classical thermodynamic descriptions in tandem, Statistical and Thermal Physics: An Introduction provides insight into basic concepts and relationships at an advanced undergraduate level. This second edition is updated throughout, providing a highly detailed, profoundly thorough, and comprehensive introduction to the subject and features exercises within the text as well as end-of-chapter problems.
Part I of this book consists of nine chapters, the first three of which deal with the basics of equilibrium thermodynamics, including the fundamental relation. The following three chapters introduce microstates and lead to the Boltzmann definition of the entropy using the microcanonical ensemble approach. In developing the subject, the ideal gas and the ideal spin system are introduced as models for discussion. The laws of thermodynamics are compactly stated. The final three chapters in Part I introduce the thermodynamic potentials and the Maxwell relations. Applications of thermodynamics to gases, condensed matter, and phase transitions and critical phenomena are dealt with in detail.
Initial chapters in Part II present the elements of probability theory and establish the thermodynamic equivalence of the three statistical ensembles that are used in determining probabilities. The canonical and the grand canonical distributions are obtained and discussed. Chapters 12-15 are concerned with quantum distributions. By making use of the grand canonical distribution, the Fermi–Dirac and Bose–Einstein quantum distribution functions are derived and then used to explain the properties of ideal Fermi and Bose gases. The Planck distribution is introduced and applied to photons in radiation and to phonons on solids. The last five chapters cover a variety of topics: the ideal gas revisited, nonideal systems, the density matrix, reactions, and irreversible thermodynamics. A flowchart is provided to assist instructors on planning a course.
Key Features:
- Fully updated throughout, with new content on exciting topics, including black hole thermodynamics, Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chains, entropy and information theory, renewable and nonrenewable energy sources, and the mean field theory of antiferromagnetic systems
- Additional problem exercises with solutions provide further learning opportunities
- Suitable for advanced undergraduate students in physics or applied physics.
Michael J.R. Hoch spent many years as a visiting scientist at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University, USA. Prior to this, he was a professor of physics and the director of the Condensed Matter Physics Research Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where he is currently professor emeritus in the School of Physics.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|144 pages
Classical Thermal Physics
part Section IA|52 pages
Introduction to Classical Thermal Physics Concepts
part Section IB|43 pages
Microstates and the Statistical Interpretation of Entropy
part Section IC|46 pages
Applications of Thermodynamics to Gases and Condensed Matter, Phase Transitions, and Critical Phenomena
part II|161 pages
Quantum Statistical Physics and Thermal Physics Applications
part Section IIA|32 pages
The Canonical and Grand Canonical Ensembles and Distributions
part Section IIB|49 pages
Quantum Distribution Functions, Fermi–Dirac and Bose–Einstein Statistics, Photons, and Phonons
part Section IIC|40 pages
The Classical Ideal Gas, Maxwell–Boltzmann Statistics, Nonideal Systems
part Section IID|37 pages
The Density Matrix, Reactions and Related Processes, and Introduction to Irreversible Thermodynamics