Thursday, 12 August 2010

mp.mathematical physics - Where does a math person go to learn statistical mechanics?


So, is there a good resource for statistical mechanics for the mathematically-minded?




If you are looking for a book, the real answer is "not really". As a mathematician masquerading as a physicist (more often than not of a statistical-physical flavor) I have looked long, hard, and often for such a thing. The books cited above are some of the best for what you want (I own or have read at least parts of many of them), but I would not say that any are really good for your purposes.



Many bemoan the lack of The Great Statistical Physics text (and many cite Landau and Lifshitz, or Feynman, or a few other standard references while wishing there was something better), and when it comes to mathematical versions people naturally look to Ruelle. But I would agree that the Minlos book (which I own) is better for an introduction than Ruelle (which I have looked at, but never wanted to buy).



Other useful books not mentioned above are Thompson's Mathematical Statistical Mechanics, Yeomans' Statistical Mechanics of Phase Transitions and Goldenfeld's Lectures On Phase Transitions And The Renormalization Group. None of them are really special, though if I had to recommend one book to you it would be one of these or maybe Minlos.



You might do better in relative terms with quantum statistical mechanics, where some operator algebraists have made some respectable stabs at mathematical treatments that still convey physics. But really that stuff is at a pretty high level (and deriving the KMS condition from the Gibbs postulate in the Heisenberg picture can be done in a few lines) so the benefit is probably marginal at best.

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