This book encompasses our current understanding of the ensemble approach to many-body physics, phase transitions and other thermal phenomena, as well as the quantum foundations of linear response theory, kinetic equations and stochastic processes. It is destined to be a standard text for graduate students, but it will also serve the specialist-researcher in this fascinating field; some more elementary topics have been included in order to make the book self-contained.The historical methods of J Willard Gibbs and Ludwig Boltzmann, applied to the quantum description rather than phase space, are featured. The tools for computations in the microcanonical, canonical and grand-canonical ensembles are carefully developed and then applied to a variety of classical and standard quantum situations. After the language of second quantization has been introduced, strongly interacting systems, such as quantum liquids, superfluids and superconductivity, are treated in detail. For the connoisseur, there is a section on diagrammatic methods and applications.In the second part dealing with non-equilibrium processes, the emphasis is on the quantum foundations of Markovian behaviour and irreversibility via the Pauli-Van Hove master equation. Justifiable linear response expressions and the quantum-Boltzmann approach are discussed and applied to various condensed matter problems. From this basis the Onsager-Casimir relations are derived, together with the mesoscopic master equation, the Langevin equation and the Fokker-Planck truncation procedure. Brownian motion and modern stochastic problems such as fluctuations in optical signals and radiation fields briefly make the round.

Introduces many-body theory of modern quantum statistical mechanics to graduate students in physics, chemistry, engineering and biology.

This book encompasses our current understanding of the ensemble approach to many-body physics, phase transitions and other thermal phenomena, as well as the quantum foundations of linear response theory, kinetic equations and stochastic processes. It is destined to be a standard text for graduate students, but it will also serve the specialist-researcher in this fascinating field; some more elementary topics have been included in order to make the book self-contained.The historical methods of J Willard Gibbs and Ludwig Boltzmann, applied to the quantum description rather than phase space, are featured. The tools for computations in the microcanonical, canonical and grand-canonical ensembles are carefully developed and then applied to a variety of classical and standard quantum situations. After the language of second quantization has been introduced, strongly interacting systems, such as quantum liquids, superfluids and superconductivity, are treated in detail. For the connoisseur, there is a section on diagrammatic methods and applications.In the second part dealing with non-equilibrium processes, the emphasis is on the quantum foundations of Markovian behaviour and irreversibility via the Pauli-Van Hove master equation. Justifiable linear response expressions and the quantum-Boltzmann approach are discussed and applied to various condensed matter problems. From this basis the Onsager-Casimir relations are derived, together with the mesoscopic master equation, the Langevin equation and the Fokker-Planck truncation procedure. Brownian motion and modern stochastic problems such as fluctuations in optical signals and radiation fields briefly make the round.

This book offers an interdisciplinary theoretical approach based on non-equilibrium statistical thermodynamics and control theory for mathematically modeling shock-induced out-of-equilibrium processes in condensed matter. The book comprises two parts. The first half of the book establishes the theoretical approach, reviewing fundamentals of non-equilibrium statistical thermodynamics and control theory of adaptive systems. The latter half applies the presented approach to a problem on shock-induced plane wave propagation in condensed matter. The result successfully reproduces the observed feature of waveform propagation in experiments, which conventional continuous mechanics cannot access. Further, the consequent stress–strain relationships derived with relaxation and inertia effect in elastic–plastic transition determines material properties in transient regimes.

Publisher Description

Alternative Mathematical Theory of Non-equilibrium Phenomena presents an entirely new theoretical approach to complex non-equilibrium phenomena, especially Gibbs/Falk thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. This innovative new theory allows for inclusion of all state variables and introduces a new vector-dissipation velocity-which leads to useful restatements of momentum, the Second Law, and tensors for the laws of motion, friction, and heat conduction. This application-oriented text is relatively self-contained and is an excellent guide-book for engineers with a strong interest in fundamentals, or for professionals using applied mathematics and physics in engineering applications. This book emphasizes macroscopic phenomena, focusing specifically on gaseous states, though relations to liquid and crystalline states are also considered. The author presents a new Alternative Continuum Theory of Compressible Fluids (AT) which providesa qualitative description of the subject in predominantly physical terms, minimizing the mathematical premises. The methodology discussed has applications in a wide range of fields outside of physics in areas including General System Theory, TheoreticalEconomics, and Biophysics and Medicine. - Presents the first theory capable of handling non-equilibria phenomena - Offers a unified theory of all branches of macroscopic physics - Considers a consistent and uniform view of reality, supported by modern mathematics, leading to results different than those produced by classical theories - Results in a change of paradigms in physics, engineering, and natural philosophy

This book provides an understanding of conformal field theory and its importance to both statistical mechanics and string theory. It introduces the Wess-Zumino-Novokov-Witten (WZNW) models and their current algebras, the affine Kac-Moody algebras.

Plasma physics is an integral part of statistical physics, complete with its own basic theories. Designed as a two-volume set, Statistical Plasma Physics is intended for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate courses on plasma and statistical physics, and as such, its presentation is self-contained and should be read without difficulty by those with backgrounds in classical mechanics, electricity and magnetism, quantum mechanics, and statistics. Major topics include: plasma phenomena in nature, kinetic equations, plasmas and dielectric media, electromagnetic properties of Vlasov plasmas in thermodynamic equilibria, transient processes, and instabilities.

The aim of this book is to elucidate a number of basic topics in physics of dense plasmas that interface with condensed matter physics, atomic physics, nuclear physics, and astrophysics. The different plasmas examined here include astrophysical dense plasmas - like those found in the interiors, surfaces, and outer envelopes of such astronomical objects as neutron stars, white dwarfs, the Sun, brown dwarfs, and giant planets. Condensed plasmas in laboratory settings cover metals and alloys (solid, amorphous, liquid, and compressed), semiconductors (electrons, holes, and their droplets), and various realizations of dense plasmas (shock-compressed, diamond-anvil cell, metal vaporization, pinch discharges, and more.) Statistical Plasma Physics: Volume II, Condensed Plasmas is intended as a graduate-level textbook on the subjects of condensed plasma physics, material sciences, and condensed-matter astrophysics. It will also be useful to researchers in the fields of plasma physics, condensed-matter physics, atomic physics, nuclear physics, and astrophysics.