The Conceptual Foundations of the Statistical Approach in Mechanics

The Conceptual Foundations of the Statistical Approach in Mechanics PDF Author: Paul Ehrenfest
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486163148
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Classic 1912 article reformulated the foundations of the statistical approach in mechanics. Largely still valid, the treatment covers older formulation of statistico-mechanical investigations, modern formulation of kineto-statistics of the gas model, and more. 1959 edition.

The Conceptual Foundations of the Statistical Approach in Mechanics

The Conceptual Foundations of the Statistical Approach in Mechanics PDF Author: Paul Ehrenfest
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486163148
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Classic 1912 article reformulated the foundations of the statistical approach in mechanics. Largely still valid, the treatment covers older formulation of statistico-mechanical investigations, modern formulation of kineto-statistics of the gas model, and more. 1959 edition.

The Conceptual Foundation of the Statistical Approach in Mechanics

The Conceptual Foundation of the Statistical Approach in Mechanics PDF Author: P. Ehrenfest
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


The Road to Maxwell's Demon

The Road to Maxwell's Demon PDF Author: Meir Hemmo
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107019680
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
A philosophical perspective to statistical mechanics for graduate students and researchers in the foundations and philosophy of physics.

The Road to Maxwell's Demon

The Road to Maxwell's Demon PDF Author: Meir Hemmo
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139576879
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Time asymmetric phenomena are successfully predicted by statistical mechanics. Yet the foundations of this theory are surprisingly shaky. Its explanation for the ease of mixing milk with coffee is incomplete, and even implies that un-mixing them should be just as easy. In this book the authors develop a new conceptual foundation for statistical mechanics that addresses this difficulty. Explaining the notions of macrostates, probability, measurement, memory, and the arrow of time in statistical mechanics, they reach the startling conclusion that Maxwell's Demon, the famous perpetuum mobile, is consistent with the fundamental physical laws. Mathematical treatments are avoided where possible, and instead the authors use novel diagrams to illustrate the text. This is a fascinating book for graduate students and researchers interested in the foundations and philosophy of physics.

The Concept of Probability in Statistical Physics

The Concept of Probability in Statistical Physics PDF Author: Y. M. Guttmann
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521621283
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
A most systematic study of how to interpret probabilistic assertions in the context of statistical mechanics.

Mathematical and Conceptual Foundations of 20th-Century Physics

Mathematical and Conceptual Foundations of 20th-Century Physics PDF Author: G.G. Emch
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080872115
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 561

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Book Description
This book is primarily intended for Mathematicians, but students in the physical sciences will find here information not usually available in physics texts.The main aim of this book is to provide a unified mathematical account of the conceptual foundations of 20th-Century Physics, in a form suitable for a one-year survey course in Mathematics or Mathematical Physics. Emphasis is laid on the interlocked historical development of mathematical and physical ideas.

Delaware Seminar in the Foundations of Physics

Delaware Seminar in the Foundations of Physics PDF Author: Mario Bunge
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642861024
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
This volume collects the lectures on the foundations of physics given by eleven scientists at the University of Delaware. It is neither an anthology of disconnected items nor a smoothly running textbook but rather a progress report on a neglected yet vital area of basic physical research, namely foundations research. The investigation into the foundations of any branch of science is neither loose speculation nor popular science: it is an aspect of scientific research - in fact the deepest-searching part of basic research. Con sequently it must be carried out by the scientist himself. Thus whether the time concept is a numerical variable or a function, whether particle mechanics is the primary mechanical theory or a particular case of continuum mechanics, whether transformation formulas are laws of nature or links between equivalent descriptions, whether thermodynamics has been fully reduced to statistical mechanics, whether the field concept is dispensable, whether the covariance principle is a law or a regulative principle, whether quantum mechanics is completely detached from classical physics or contains fragments of it, whether it has annihilated the physical object or given a more complex picture of it, and to which extent are the field variables measurable - all these are technical questions demanding a careful analysis of pieces of recent basic research. Yet all of these problems and indeed all questions in foundational research are philosophical as well as scientific.

Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Molecular Simulation

Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Molecular Simulation PDF Author: Mark Tuckerman
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 9780191523465
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 720

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Book Description
Complex systems that bridge the traditional disciplines of physics, chemistry, biology, and materials science can be studied at an unprecedented level of detail using increasingly sophisticated theoretical methodology and high-speed computers. The aim of this book is to prepare burgeoning users and developers to become active participants in this exciting and rapidly advancing research area by uniting for the first time, in one monograph, the basic concepts of equilibrium and time-dependent statistical mechanics with the modern techniques used to solve the complex problems that arise in real-world applications. The book contains a detailed review of classical and quantum mechanics, in-depth discussions of the most commonly used ensembles simultaneously with modern computational techniques such as molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo, and important topics including free-energy calculations, linear-response theory, harmonic baths and the generalized Langevin equation, critical phenomena, and advanced conformational sampling methods. Burgeoning users and developers are thus provided firm grounding to become active participants in this exciting and rapidly advancing research area, while experienced practitioners will find the book to be a useful reference tool for the field.

Statistical Mechanics

Statistical Mechanics PDF Author: Giovanni Gallavotti
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9783642084386
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
This clear book presents a critical and modern analysis of the conceptual foundations of statistical mechanics as laid down in Boltzmann's works. The author emphasises the relation between microscopic reversibility and macroscopic irreversibility, explaining fundamental concepts in detail.

Equilibrium and Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics

Equilibrium and Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics PDF Author: Carolyne M Van Vliet
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
ISBN: 9813101628
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 992

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Book Description
This book encompasses our current understanding of the ensemble approach to many-body physics, phase transitions and other thermal phenomena, as well as the quantum foundations of linear response theory, kinetic equations and stochastic processes. It is destined to be a standard text for graduate students, but it will also serve the specialist-researcher in this fascinating field; some more elementary topics have been included in order to make the book self-contained. The historical methods of J Willard Gibbs and Ludwig Boltzmann, applied to the quantum description rather than phase space, are featured. The tools for computations in the microcanonical, canonical and grand-canonical ensembles are carefully developed and then applied to a variety of classical and standard quantum situations. After the language of second quantization has been introduced, strongly interacting systems, such as quantum liquids, superfluids and superconductivity, are treated in detail. For the connoisseur, there is a section on diagrammatic methods and applications. In the second part dealing with non-equilibrium processes, the emphasis is on the quantum foundations of Markovian behaviour and irreversibility via the Pauli–Van Hove master equation. Justifiable linear response expressions and the quantum-Boltzmann approach are discussed and applied to various condensed matter problems. From this basis the Onsager–Casimir relations are derived, together with the mesoscopic master equation, the Langevin equation and the Fokker–Planck truncation procedure. Brownian motion and modern stochastic problems such as fluctuations in optical signals and radiation fields briefly make the round.