Statistical Mechanics

International Series in Natural Philosophy, Volume 45: Statistical Mechanics discusses topics relevant to explaining the physical properties of matter in bulk. The book is comprised of 13 chapters that primarily focus on the equilibrium states of physical systems. Chapter 1 discusses the statistical basis of thermodynamics, and Chapter 2 covers the elements of ensemble theory. Chapters 3 and 4 tackle the canonical and grand canonical ensemble. Chapter 5 deals with the formulation of quantum statistics, while Chapter 6 reviews the theory of simple gases. Chapters 7 and 8 discuss the ideal Bose and Fermi systems. The book also covers the cluster expansion, pseudopotential, and quantized field methods. The theory of phase transitions and fluctuations are then discussed. The text will be of great use to researchers who wants to utilize statistical mechanics in their work.