Statistical Mechanics A Survival Guide [Hardcover]

The present book is a teaching text designed to introduce the fundamentals of the subject of statistical mechanics. The treatment given is designed to give the student a feeling for the topic of statistical mechanics without being held back by the need to understand complex mathematics. The text is concise and concentrates on the understanding of fundamental aspects. Numerous questions with worked solutions are given throughout.

1. Back to Basics
1.1. The Role of Statistical Mechanics
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
2. The Statistics of Distinguishable Particles
2.1. The Boltzmann Distribution for Distinguishable Particles
2.2. Lagrange's Method of Undetermined Multipliers
2.3. The Single-Particle Partition Function
2.4. Degeneracy
2.5. The Partition Function of a System
2.6. Summary
2.7. Problems
3. Paramagnets and Oscillators
3.1. A Spin-1/2 Paramagnet
3.2. Paramagnets with Angular MomentumJ
3.3. The Simple Harmonic Oscillator
3.3.1. An Array of 1-D Simple Harmonic Oscillators
3.3.2. An Array of 3-D Simple Harmonic Oscillators
3.4. Summary
3.4. Problems
4. Indistinguishable particles and monatomic ideal gases
4.1. Distinguishable and Indistinguishable States
4.2. Identical Gas Particles - Counting the States
4.3. The Partition Function of a Monatonic Ideal Gas
4.4. Properties of the Monatonic Ideal Gas
4.5. More about Adiabatic Expansions
4.6. Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution of Speeds
4.7. Gibbs Paradox
4.8. Summary
4.9. Problems
5. Diatomic Ideal Gases
5.1. Other Degrees of Freedom
5.2. Rotational Heat Capacities for Diatomic Gases
5.3. The Vibrational Partition Function of a Diatomic Gas
5.4. Putting it All Together for an Ideal Gas
5.5. Summary
5.6. Problems
6. Quantum Statistics
6.1. Indistinguishable Particles and Quantum Statistics
6.2. Bose-Einstein Statistics
6.3. Fermi-Dirac Statistics
6.4. More on tl.