The Conceptual Foundations of the Statistical Approach in Mechanics
Title | The Conceptual Foundations of the Statistical Approach in Mechanics PDF eBook |
Author | Paul Ehrenfest |
Publisher | Courier Corporation |
Total Pages | 128 |
Release | 2014-11-12 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 0486163148 |
Classic 1912 article reformulated the foundations of the statistical approach in mechanics. Largely still valid, the treatment covers older formulation of statistico-mechanical investigations, modern formulation of kineto-statistics of the gas model, and more. 1959 edition.
The Road to Maxwell's Demon
Title | The Road to Maxwell's Demon PDF eBook |
Author | Meir Hemmo |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | 341 |
Release | 2012-09-20 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 1107019680 |
A philosophical perspective to statistical mechanics for graduate students and researchers in the foundations and philosophy of physics.
The Road to Maxwell's Demon
Title | The Road to Maxwell's Demon PDF eBook |
Author | Meir Hemmo |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | 341 |
Release | 2012-09-20 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 1139576879 |
Time asymmetric phenomena are successfully predicted by statistical mechanics. Yet the foundations of this theory are surprisingly shaky. Its explanation for the ease of mixing milk with coffee is incomplete, and even implies that un-mixing them should be just as easy. In this book the authors develop a new conceptual foundation for statistical mechanics that addresses this difficulty. Explaining the notions of macrostates, probability, measurement, memory, and the arrow of time in statistical mechanics, they reach the startling conclusion that Maxwell's Demon, the famous perpetuum mobile, is consistent with the fundamental physical laws. Mathematical treatments are avoided where possible, and instead the authors use novel diagrams to illustrate the text. This is a fascinating book for graduate students and researchers interested in the foundations and philosophy of physics.
The Concept of Probability in Statistical Physics
Title | The Concept of Probability in Statistical Physics PDF eBook |
Author | Y. M. Guttmann |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Total Pages | 283 |
Release | 1999-07-13 |
Genre | Mathematics |
ISBN | 0521621283 |
A most systematic study of how to interpret probabilistic assertions in the context of statistical mechanics.
Delaware Seminar in the Foundations of Physics
Title | Delaware Seminar in the Foundations of Physics PDF eBook |
Author | Mario Bunge |
Publisher | Springer Science & Business Media |
Total Pages | 204 |
Release | 2013-03-13 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 3642861024 |
This volume collects the lectures on the foundations of physics given by eleven scientists at the University of Delaware. It is neither an anthology of disconnected items nor a smoothly running textbook but rather a progress report on a neglected yet vital area of basic physical research, namely foundations research. The investigation into the foundations of any branch of science is neither loose speculation nor popular science: it is an aspect of scientific research - in fact the deepest-searching part of basic research. Con sequently it must be carried out by the scientist himself. Thus whether the time concept is a numerical variable or a function, whether particle mechanics is the primary mechanical theory or a particular case of continuum mechanics, whether transformation formulas are laws of nature or links between equivalent descriptions, whether thermodynamics has been fully reduced to statistical mechanics, whether the field concept is dispensable, whether the covariance principle is a law or a regulative principle, whether quantum mechanics is completely detached from classical physics or contains fragments of it, whether it has annihilated the physical object or given a more complex picture of it, and to which extent are the field variables measurable - all these are technical questions demanding a careful analysis of pieces of recent basic research. Yet all of these problems and indeed all questions in foundational research are philosophical as well as scientific.
Algebraic Methods in Statistical Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory
Title | Algebraic Methods in Statistical Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory PDF eBook |
Author | Dr. GĂ©rard G. Emch |
Publisher | Courier Corporation |
Total Pages | 352 |
Release | 2014-08-04 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 0486151719 |
This systematic algebraic approach offers a careful formulation of the problems' physical motivations as well as self-contained descriptions of the mathematical methods for arriving at solutions. 1972 edition.
Mathematical and Conceptual Foundations of 20th-Century Physics
Title | Mathematical and Conceptual Foundations of 20th-Century Physics PDF eBook |
Author | G.G. Emch |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Total Pages | 561 |
Release | 2000-04-01 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 0080872115 |
This book is primarily intended for Mathematicians, but students in the physical sciences will find here information not usually available in physics texts.The main aim of this book is to provide a unified mathematical account of the conceptual foundations of 20th-Century Physics, in a form suitable for a one-year survey course in Mathematics or Mathematical Physics. Emphasis is laid on the interlocked historical development of mathematical and physical ideas.