Methods of Statistical Physics by Tomoyasu Tanaka - 9780521580564

Methods of Statistical PhysicsAuthor(s): Tomoyasu Tanaka\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Cambridge University Press\nISBN-13: 9780521580564, 978-0521580564\nSynopsis\nThis graduate-level textbook on thermal physics covers classical thermodynamics, statistical mechanics and its applications. It describes theoretical methods to calculate thermodynamic properties, such as the equation of state, specific heat, Helmholtz free energy, magnetic susceptibility and phase transitions of macroscopic systems. In addition to the more standard material covered, this book also describes powerful techniques, which are not found elsewhere, to determine the correlation effects on which the thermodynamic properties are based. Particular emphasis is given to the cluster variation method and a novel formulation is developed for its expression in terms of correlation functions. Although a basic knowledge of quantum mechanics is required, the mathematical .