Equilibrium Statistical Physics: Phases of Matter and Phase Transitions

✍ Scribed by Marc Baus, Carlos F. Tejero (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 361
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This is a textbook which gradually introduces the student to the statistical mechanical study of the different phases of matter and to the phase transitions between them. Throughout, only simple models of both ordinary and soft matter are used but these are studied in full detail. The subject is developed in a pedagogical manner, starting from the basics, going from the simple ideal systems to the interacting systems, and ending with the more modern topics. The latter include the renormalisation group approach to critical phenomena, the density functional theory of interfaces, the topological defects of nematic liquid crystals and the kinematic aspects of the phase transformation process. This textbook provides the student with a complete overview, intentionally at an introductory level, of the theory of phase transitions. References include suggestions for more detailed treatments and four appendices supply overviews of the mathematical tools employed in the text.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages I-XIV
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Mechanics....Pages 3-20
Thermodynamics....Pages 21-43
Statistical Physics....Pages 45-63
Front Matter....Pages 65-65
Microcanonical Ensemble....Pages 67-88
Canonical Ensemble....Pages 89-119
Grand Canonical Ensemble....Pages 121-159
Front Matter....Pages 161-161
Classical Systems with Interactions....Pages 163-183
Phases of Matter....Pages 185-231
Phase Transitions....Pages 233-265
Front Matter....Pages 267-267
Critical Phenomena....Pages 269-289
Interfaces....Pages 291-306
Topological Defects....Pages 307-313
Phase Transformation Kinetics....Pages 315-334
Back Matter....Pages 335-364

✦ Subjects

Statistical Physics;Soft Matter, Complex Fluids;Thermodynamics;Statistics for Engineering, Physics, Computer Science, Chemistry &Geosciences