Statistical Physics: Statics, Dynamics and Renormalization

From Book News, Inc.
Kadanoff (physics and mathematics, U. of Chicago) presents a textbook that has been tested in a graduate survey of statistical physics and another offering a rather personal perspective on critical behavior. He begins at the book-learning part of graduate education and ends with topics at the research level supplemented with some research papers. He includes more material than can reasonably be covered in one quarter, or even two, in order to allow instructors to tailor their courses more finely.Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR


Joel L Lebowitz, Rutgers University
This book is full of such goodies and is a pleasuer to read and contemplate.


Physics Today, 2001
"Both the text and the reprints display Kadanoff's ingenuity, imagination, and clarity. They're worth having and reading."


Journal of Statistical Physics, Dec 2001
"This wonderful book excels not only in the topics covered but also in the author's unique approach to these topics."


Edouard Brezin, Ecole Normale de Superieure, Paris
"Avoiding any heavy formalism, Kadanoff has chosen to introduce the main concepts through simple models."


Ed Ott, University of Maryland
"... providing tools appropriate to the most active and important new research areas in statistical physics."


Progress in Quantum Electronics, 2002
"Kandoff is a famous and reliable guide. At 23 punds this is a good buy."


Benjamin Widom, Cornell University
This is a mixture of pedagogy, history and original thoughts with many startling insights.


Mathematical Reviews, 2003
Highly recommended as an excellent graduate textbook on statistical physics


Nigel Goldenfeld, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
An elegant and rather personal account of statistical mechanics that stands out from the pack for many reasons.


Contemporary Physics, 2003
This book can serve both as the basis of a modern statistical physics course and a guide to modern developments.


Book Description
The material presented in this invaluable textbook has been tested in two courses. One of these is a graduate-level survey of statistical physics; the other, a rather personal perspective on critical behavior. Thus, this book defines a progression starting at the book-learning part of graduate education and ending in the midst of topics at the research level. To supplement the research-level side the book includes some research papers. Several of these are classics in the field, including a suite of six works on self-organized criticality and complexity, a pair on diffusion-limited aggregation, some papers on correlations near critical points, a few of the basic sources on the development of the real-space renormalization group, and several papers on magnetic behavior in a plain geometry. In addition, the author has included a few of his own papers.


Buy from Amazon     Compare Prices

Kadanoff (physics and mathematics, U. of Chicago) presents a textbook that has been tested in a graduate survey of statistical physics and another offering a rather personal perspective on critical behavior. He begins at the book-learning part of graduate education and ends with topics at the research level supplemented with some research papers. He includes more material than can reasonably be covered in one quarter, or even two, in order to allow instructors to tailor their courses more finely. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)


Buy from Barnes & Noble     Compare Prices