This book contains a modern selection of about 200 solved problems and examples arranged in a didactic way for hands-on experience with course work in a standard advanced undergraduate/first-year graduate class in thermodynamics and statistical physics. The principles of thermodynamics and equilibrium statistical physics are few and simple, but their application often proves more involved than it may seem at first sight. This book is a comprehensive complement to any textbook in the field, emphasizing the analogies between the different systems, and paves the way for an in-depth study of solid state physics, soft matter physics, and field theory.

Innovative, wide-ranging treatment, suitable for advanced undergraduates and graduate students, covers negative temperatures and heat capacities, general and special relativistic effects, black hole thermodynamics, gravitational collapse, and more. Problems with worked solutions. 1978 edition.

Well respected, widely used volume presents problems and full solutions related to a wide range of topics in thermodynamics, statistical physics, statistical mechanics. Suitable for undergraduates and graduate students, self-study, reference. 1989 edition.

A thorough understanding of statistical mechanics depends strongly on the insights and manipulative skills that are acquired through the solving of problems. Problems on Statistical Mechanics provides over 120 problems with model solutions, illustrating both basic principles and applications that range from solid-state physics to cosmology. An introductory chapter provides a summary of the basic concepts and results that are needed to tackle the problems, and also serves to establish the notation that is used throughout the book. The problems themselves occupy five chapters, progressing from the simpler aspects of thermodynamics and equilibrium statistical ensembles to the more challenging ideas associated with strongly interacting systems and nonequilibrium processes. Comprehensive solutions to all of the problems are designed to illustrate efficient and elegant problem-solving techniques. Where appropriate, the authors incorporate extended discussions of the points of principle that arise in the course of the solutions. The appendix provides useful mathematical formulae.

Volume 5.

Well respected and widely used, this volume presents problems and full solutions related to a wide range of topics in thermodynamics, statistical physics, and statistical mechanics. The text is intended for instructors, undergraduates, and graduate students of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and engineering. Twenty-eight chapters, each prepared by an expert, proceed from simpler to more difficult subjects. Similarly, the early chapters are easier than the later ones, making the book ideal for independent study. Subjects begin with the laws of thermodynamics and statistical theory of information and of ensembles, advancing to the ideal classical gases of polyatomic molecules, non-electrolyte liquids and solutions, and surfaces. Subsequent chapters explore imperfect classical and quantum gas, phase transitions, cooperative phenomena, Green function methods, the plasma, transport in gases and metals, Nyquist's theorem and its generalizations, stochastic methods, and many other topics.

In order to equip hopeful graduate students with the knowledge necessary to pass the qualifying examination, the authors have assembled and solved standard and original problems from major American universities – Boston University, University of Chicago, University of Colorado at Boulder, Columbia, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan Tech, MIT, Princeton, Rutgers, Stanford, Stony Brook, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison – and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. A wide range of material is covered and comparisons are made between similar problems of different schools to provide the student with enough information to feel comfortable and confident at the exam. Guide to Physics Problems is published in two volumes: this book, Part 2, covers Thermodynamics, Statistical Mechanics and Quantum Mechanics; Part 1, covers Mechanics, Relativity and Electrodynamics. Praise for A Guide to Physics Problems: Part 2: Thermodynamics, Statistical Physics, and Quantum Mechanics: "... A Guide to Physics Problems, Part 2 not only serves an important function, but is a pleasure to read. By selecting problems from different universities and even different scientific cultures, the authors have effectively avoided a one-sided approach to physics. All the problems are good, some are very interesting, some positively intriguing, a few are crazy; but all of them stimulate the reader to think about physics, not merely to train you to pass an exam. I personally received considerable pleasure in working the problems, and I would guess that anyone who wants to be a professional physicist would experience similar enjoyment. ... This book will be a great help to students and professors, as well as a source of pleasure and enjoyment." (From Foreword by Max Dresden) "An excellent resource for graduate students in physics and, one expects, also for their teachers." (Daniel Kleppner, Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics Emeritus, MIT) "A nice selection of problems ... Thought-provoking, entertaining, and just plain fun to solve." (Giovanni Vignale, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri at Columbia) "Interesting indeed and enjoyable. The problems are ingenious and their solutions very informative. I would certainly recommend it to all graduate students and physicists in general ... Particularly useful for teachers who would like to think about problems to present in their course." (Joel Lebowitz, Rutgers University) "A very thoroughly assembled, interesting set of problems that covers the key areas of physics addressed by Ph.D. qualifying exams. ... Will prove most useful to both faculty and students. Indeed, I plan to use this material as a source of examples and illustrations that will be worked into my lectures." (Douglas Mills, University of California at Irvine)