6 ▪ Interacting systems
CHAPTER 6 Interacting systems THE systems treated in Chapter 5 are valuable examples of systems for which all mathematical steps can be implemented and the premises of statistical mechanics tested….
7 ▪ Phase transitions and critical phenomena
CHAPTER 7 Phase transitions and critical phenomena PHASE, as the term is used in thermodynamics, refers to a spatially uniform equilibrium system.1 A body of given chemical composition can exist…
8 ▪ Scaling theories and the renormalization group
CHAPTER 8 Scaling theories and the renormalization group THE primary goal of modern theories of critical phenomena is the evaluation of critical exponents from first principles, implying the need to…
5 ▪ Ideal systems
CHAPTER 5 Ideal systems NOW that we’ve developed the basic formalism of statistical mechanics (,!Chapter 4), we can proceed to applications. Measurable quantities can be calculated once the partition function…
4 ▪ Ensemble theory
CHAPTER 4 Ensemble theory RESUMING where we left off in Chapter 2, if we had the phase-space probability density ρ(p,q), we could calculate averages of phase-space functions, 〈A〉=∫ΓA(p,q)ρ(p,q)dΓ, Eq. (2.53)….