Elementary Statistical Physics

Geared toward graduate students in physics, this text covers such important topics as stochastic processes and transport theory to provide students with a working knowledge of statistical mechanics. To explain his subject, the author uses the method of ensembles developed by J. Willard Gibbs. Topics include the properties of the Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein distributions; the interrelated subjects of fluctuations, thermal noise, and Brownian movement; and the thermodynamics of irreversible processes. Negative temperature, magnetic energy, density matrix methods, and the Kramers-Kronig causality relations are treated briefly, and most sections include illustrative problems. 1958 edition.