Publisher's Synopsis
This introduction to the subject offers a clear and unified treatment of both the basic theory involved and the diverse range of applications. The authors first give a thorough grounding in the basics of classical statistical mechanics. They then present the quantum picture (including quantization of phase space, basis postulates and the symmetry of the wave function), and statistical mechanics and thermodynamics (including equilibrium conditions, quasistatic processes and entropy and information theory). Later chapters cover canonical and grand canonical ensembles, partition functions, ideal Bose-Einstein gas, ideal Fermi-Dirac gas, semiconductor statistics, non-equilibrium states, fluctuations, co-operative phenomena, Ising model and critical phenomena.
