Foundations of statistical mechanics. Vol. II: Nonequilibrium phenomena
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: Foundations of statistical mechanics. Vol. II: Nonequilibrium phenomena
zbMATH Open document ID: 0721.60120
author: Walter T. jun. Grandy
published in: Fundamental Theories of Physics
publication date: 1993-06-05T00:00:00Z
review text: Volume II extends the equilibrium discussions of Volume I [see the preceding review] to nonequilibrium situations. The contents of this volume, after the preface and prologue, are the following: Chapter 1. The equations of classical hydrodynamics, Chapter 2. General theory of nonequilibria, Chapter 3. Theory of dynamical response, Chapter 4. Dynamical response of real systems, Chapter 5. General nonequilibrium processes, Chapter 6. Analysis of covariance functions of simple fluids, Chapter 7. Thermally driven systems, Chapter 8. Transport processes and hydrodynamics, Chapter 9. Sound propagation and attenuation, Epilogue, Appendix A. Operator calculus and identities, Appendix B. Diagrammatic analysis of covariance functions, Appendix C. The density covariance function. This volume is as well written as Volume I, but neither the choice of topics nor the physical or mathematical foundations are as well established as in the equilibrium case. The inclusion of hydrodynamics in Chapter 7 and again along with transport processes in Chapter 8 is unusual and useful. A good discussion of the Kubo theory of dynamical response and sound waves is given. The appendices are complete and make these two volumes self-contained. Despite budgetary pressures, research libraries in mathematics and physics must obtain these volumes. [Reviewer's remarks: Again, it would have been useful to see Kadanoff's complexity structures, and the omission of Brownian motion in the nonequilibrium volume with a paragraph in the preface (on page xii) is passing strange. Still, these are good scholarly volumes which will elicit discussion and controversy. The reviewer expects the principle of maximum entropy to hold up better and last longer than its critics.]
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 60K35
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 82B99
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 82B30
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 82-02
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 81-02
zbMATH DE Number: 193555
zbMATH Keywords: foundations of statistical mechanics
zbMATH Keywords: nonequilibrium situations
zbMATH Keywords: equilibrium case
zbMATH Keywords: transport processes
zbMATH Keywords: Kubo theory of dynamical response
zbMATH Keywords: principle of maximum entropy
MaRDI profile type: Publication
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 193555