Non-equilibrium thermodynamics and physical kinetics (Q393887)

To the best of our understanding, this textbook can be thought of as a thermodynamical characterization of some phenomena of non-equilibrium in physical kinetics. This is a physics book for students in physics and as such it involves applied (engineering) mathematics as it is illustrated by its presentation of Brownian motion. The book can be divided into four parts. The first part is devoted to the description of non-equilibrium systems and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics; the second part applies the kinetic equation method to non-equilibrium in statistical mechanics, the third part deals with the linear response of systems subject to external perturbations, and the fourth part displays the main contribution of the book which is a non-equilibrium statistical operator method. The power of the latter is clearly illustrated by the study of the response of a highly non-equilibrium system to a weak measuring field. On the pedagogical standpoint, this book is easy to read.