Quantum Statistical Mechanics - Hardcover

Schieve, William C.; Horwitz, Lawrence P.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521841461 ISBN 13: 9780521841467

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2009

Synopsis

The book provides a contemporary understanding of irreversibility, particularly in quantum systems. It explains entropy production in quantum kinetic theory and in the master equation formulation of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. The first half of the book focuses on the foundations of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics with emphasis on quantum mechanics. The second half of the book contains alternative views of quantum statistical mechanics, and topics of current interest for advanced graduate level study and research. Unique to textbooks on this subject, this book contains a discussion of the fundamental Gleason theorem. Quantum entanglements are treated in application to quantum computation and the difficulties arising from decoherence. The relativistic generalization of the Boltzmann equation is derived, and modern transport applications to reservoir ballistic transport are developed.

About this title

Book Description:

Many-body theory stands at the foundation of modern quantum statistical mechanics and it is introduced here to graduates in physics, chemistry, engineering and biology. The book focuses on the foundations of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, and provides alternative views of quantum statistical mechanics.

About the Author:

W. C. Schieve is Professor Emeritus in the Physics Department and Center for Complex Quantum Systems at the University of Texas, Austin. His research interests lie in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics and its applications to areas such as quantum optics, relativistic statistical mechanics, dynamical models in biophysics, and chaos theory.

L. P. Horwitz is Professor of Physics Emeritus in the School of Physics at Tel Aviv University. He is also Professor of Physics at Bar Ilan University, and Research Director in Theoretical Physics at Ariel University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0521841461
• ISBN 13: 9780521841467
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 428