Elementary Lectures in Statistical Mechanics PDF

This volume is based on courses on Statistical Mechanics which I have taught for many years at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

My objective is to treat classical statistical mechanics and its modem applications, especially interacting particles, correlation functions, and time-dependent phenomena.

My development is based primarily on Gibbs's ensemble formulation.

Elementary Lectures in Statistical Mechanics is meant as a (relatively sophis- ticated) undergraduate or (relatively straightforward) graduate text for physics students.

It should also be suitable as a graduate text for physical chemistry stu- dents.

Physicists may find my treatment of algebraic manipulation to be more explicit than some other volumes.

In my experience some of our colleagues are perhaps a bit over-enthusiastic about the ability or tendency of our students to complete gaps in the derivations.

I emphasize a cyclic development of major themes. I could have begun with a fully detailed formal treatment of ensemble mechanics, as found in Gibbs's volume, and then given material realizations.

I instead interleave formal discussions with simple concrete models.

The models illustrate the formal definitions. The approach here gives students a chance to identify fundamental principles and methods before getting buried in ancillary details.