Introduction to Statistical Mechanics

Contents......Page 5
Preface......Page 3
Section 1: The Aims of Statistical Mechanics......Page 8
Section 2: Classical Mechanical Averages......Page 10
Phase Space and Liouville's Theorem......Page 12
The Microcanonical Ensemble......Page 15
Section 3: The Perfect Gas......Page 16
Section 4: Quantum Mechanical Averages......Page 18
Section 5: Types of Assembly......Page 20
Section 7: The Expression of Averages as Integrals......Page 26
Section 8: The Classical Assembly: Evaluation of Integrals......Page 30
The Partition Function......Page 32
Section 9: The Condition for Thermal Equilibrium......Page 33
The Identification of Temperature......Page 36
Other Thermodynamic Quantities......Page 38
Section 10: The Perfect Monatomic Gas......Page 39
Section 11: The Macrocanonical Ensemble......Page 43
The Macrocanonical and Microcanonical Ensembles......Page 46
Section 12: Fluctuations......Page 48
Section 13: The Specific Heats of Real Gases: Translational, Electronic and Vibrational Contributions......Page 51
The Rotational Specific Heat......Page 56
The Specific Heat of HD......Page 58
The Specific Heat of H_2......Page 59
The Specific Heat of D_2......Page 63
Section 14: The Weiss Theory of Ferromagnetism: the Partition Function......Page 64
The "Average Field" Assumption......Page 66
Hysteresis: Domain Theory......Page 71
Section 15: Quantum Assemblies......Page 74
The Use of Classical Statistics......Page 76
Section 16: Thermodynamic Variables and the Grand Partition Function......Page 78
Section 17: The Grand Canonical Ensemble......Page 83
The Physical Significance of the Grand Canonical Ensemble......Page 85
The Use of Different Ensembles......Page 86
The Classical Grand Canonical Ensemble......Page 87
Some Useful Formulae......Page 89
Fluctuations......Page 90
Assemblies with Several Different Constituents......Page 92
Section 18: The Sommerfeld Model of Electrons in Metals: The Fermi Distribution......Page 93
The Electronic Specific Heat......Page 96
The Validity of the Sommerfeld Model......Page 101
Section 19: Thermionic Emission: the Richardson Effect......Page 103
Section 20: Equilibrium Conditions for Assemblies with Interacting Constituents: a Simple Type of Equilibrium......Page 109
The Law of Mass Action......Page 112
General Conditions for Equilibrium......Page 116
Equilibrium of Hydrogen Isotopes......Page 121
Section 21: Absolute Entropy......Page 125
Section 22: The Nernst Heat Theorem......Page 127
Section 23: The Harmonic Oscillator and the Field of Radiation: the Oscillator Partition Function......Page 131
The Field of Radiation: Oscillator and Photon Pictures......Page 133
Properties of the Field of Radiation......Page 136
Section 24: The Debye Theory of Crystals: Oscillations and Phonons......Page 139
The Debye Assumption......Page 142
The Specific Heat and the Debye Temperature......Page 144
Section 25: The Complete Grand Partition Function for a Crystal......Page 147
Section 26: The Equilibrium of a Crystal and Its Vapour......Page 151
Appendix......Page 158
Book List......Page 162
Index......Page 163